Azernews.Az

I hold the opinion that novels by writers aged above 40 are complete and comprehensive, featuring characters who are wise and have fathomed the philosophy of life; readers are able to derive a variety of meanings from such literary works.

One of such writers is Yunus Oguz, who began to create in the novel genre at the age of over 40. In the past decade Oguz has written such historical novels as ``Atilla``, ``Shah Nadir``, ``Shah Tahmasib``, and ``Emir Teymur``. ``Shah Nadir``, which was released four times, was translated into English and published in London in 2010.

This is Oguz`s second literary work translated into the English language. His monograph, titled ``Karabakh - uncontrolled zone``, was published in 2003 in English and Russian. The writer`s last historical novel, ``Emir Teymur``, was published in 2011. Since this book is of great interest to readers in the post-Soviet countries, it is currently being translated into Russian and the languages of the Turkic nations of Central Asia.

Oguz is also a researcher of Turkic history. A number of his monographs, including ``Secret history of Turks``, ``Ancient Turks and passionarity theory`` and ``Ancient Anatolia and Azerbaijani Turks``, have become favorite books of many youths. The underlying cause of Oguz`s works becoming popular in a short period of time is the blatant distortion of history during the times of the Soviet Empire when Communist ideology dominated public thought. After the USSR`s collapse in 1991, a need arose for people, especially the new generation, to read literary works objectively reflecting historical developments. In his creative work Oguz exercises a new approach to the history of both Azerbaijan and the entire Turkic world and focuses on realities and impartiality in his research.

AzerNEWS have approached Mr. Oguz to enquire about the reasons the writer focuses on historical books in his creative endeavors.

``The education I received during the Soviet times was quite `unipolar` in terms of historical science. This was particularly reflected in the studies and research of Turkic history. The Soviet Union distorted Turkic history from head to toes and attempted to deprive Turkic nations living there of their indigenous roots. Likewise, the heroes and rulers of Turkic nations were labeled as enemies and a policy of instigating hate toward them was pursued. During the post-independence period, however, after researching new sources, I realized that they had essentially taken away our history and great personalities.``

Biography
Yunus Oguz, an Azerbaijani writer of the new era, was born in present-day Shirvan in 1960 and received secondary education in his home town. In 1988, Oguz graduated from Rostov State University in Russia with a degree in philosophy. From 1988-1992, he worked as a junior research fellow at the Philosophy and Law Institute of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences. In 1989, Oguz started a political career and was actively involved in the national liberation movement. In 1994, he published a book titled ``Principles of administration in political power``. In 1991-92, he worked as editor-in-chief of Ordu (Army) newspaper. In 1993, during the Popular Front government, Oguz served as an aide to the President of Azerbaijan. Since 1995, he has headed the Olaylar newspaper and a news agency of the same name.

Oguz has been granted a state medal, an honorary title and the ``Golden word`` award.