Azernews.Az

By Seymur Aliyev, AzerNews Staff Writer

Ancient Azerbaijani and Turkish manuscripts have been returned to Azerbaijan from the Polish cities of Warsaw, Poznan, Wroclaw and Krakow, deputy director of the Institute of Manuscripts Pasha Kerimov told AzerNews.

Nizami Ganjavi's "Khamsa", Muhammad Fizuli's "Divan", Sahib Tabrizi's "Divan", the "Tovheyi Shahidi" dictionary, "Nusehi Jahanara" and "Khoja Nasreddin's anecdotes" are among the returned manuscripts.

"The manuscripts are very valuable for Azerbaijan," Kerimov said. "Some of them -- for example, a copy of the well-known "Khamsa" by Nizami, rewritten by Nizameddin Ahmed, dates back to the 17^th century."

"Another no-less valuable manuscript is Fizuli's 'Divan', rewritten 20 years after his death," Kerimov stressed. "These two works are more ancient among the other returned manuscripts."

Kerimov said that these Azerbaijani and Turkish manuscripts were scattered in Europe during the Ottoman period. Ancient Azerbaijani manuscripts are often seen in European countries which were under the Ottoman rule.

He noted that the manuscripts will help to study Azerbaijani history and literature more thoroughly.

The attached photo is a copy of the last page of Nizami's "Khamsa" rewritten in 1686.