Editing Azerbaijan (section)

===Literature===
The earliest known figure in written [[Azerbaijani literature]] was [[Izzeddin Hasanoghlu]], who composed a [[Diwan (poetry)|divan]] consisting of Persian and Azerbaijani [[ghazal]]s.<ref name="beale">{{cite book |title=An Oriental Biographical Dictionary |last=Beale |first=Thomas William |author2=Keene Henry George |year=1894 |publisher=W.H.Allen |page=311 |isbn=9781404706484 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lxgaAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA311}}</ref><ref name="caferoglu">A.Caferoglu, "Adhari(azeri)", in ''Encyclopedia of Islam'', (new edition), Vol. 1, (Leiden, 1986)</ref> In Persian ghazals he used a pen-name, while his Azerbaijani ghazals were composed under his own name of Hasanoghlu.<ref name="beale" /> Among the medieval authors was Persian poet and philosopher [[Nizami Ganjavi|Nizami]], called Ganjavi after his place of birth, [[Ganja, Azerbaijan|Ganja]], who was the author of the [[Khamsa of Nizami|Khamsa]] ("The Quintuplet"), composed of five romantic poems, including "The Treasure of Mysteries", "Khosrow and Shīrīn", and "Leyli and Mejnūn".<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/46781/Azerbaijan/44294/Education Azerbaijan. Cultural life]. ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''.</ref>

Classical literature was formed in the 14th century based on the various Early Middle Ages dialects of [[Tabriz]] and [[Shirvan]]. Among the poets of this period were [[Kadi Burhan al-Din|Gazi Burhanaddin]], Haqiqi (pen-name of [[Jahan Shah|Jahan Shah Qara Qoyunlu]]), and [[Habibi (poet)|Habibi]].<ref name="tyrrell1">{{cite book |title=Aesopian Literary Dimensions of Azerbaijani Literature of the Soviet Period, 1920–1990 |last=Tyrrell |first=Maliheh S. |year=2001 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-0-7391-0169-8 |page=12 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h4N_dneMybQC&pg=PA12}}</ref> The end of the 14th century was the start of literary activity of [[Nesimi|Imadaddin Nasimi]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Průšek |first=Jaroslav |title=Dictionary of Oriental Literatures |year=1974 |publisher=Basic Books |page=138 }}</ref> one of the greatest Azerbaijani<ref>{{cite web |title=AZERBAIJAN viii. Azeri Turkish |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/azerbaijan-viii |website=Encyclopaedia Iranica |access-date=9 May 2022 |date=15 December 1988 |quote=The oldest poet of the Azeri literature known so far (and '''indubitably of Azeri''', not of East Anatolian of Khorasani, '''origin''') is ʿEmād-al-dīn Nasīmī (about 1369–1404, q.v.).}}</ref><ref name="burrill">{{cite book |last=Burrill |first=Kathleen R.F. |title=The Quatrains of Nesimi Fourteenth-Century Turkic Hurufi |year=1972 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG |page=46 |isbn=978-90-279-2328-8 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Balan |first1=Canan |title=Transience, absurdity, dreams and other illusions: Turkish shadow play |journal=Early Popular Visual Culture |date=1 July 2008 |volume=6 |issue=2 |page=177 |doi=10.1080/17460650802150424 |s2cid=191493938 |issn=1746-0654}}</ref> [[Hurufism|Hurufi]] mystical poets of the late 14th and early 15th centuries<ref name="nesimibritannica">{{cite encyclopedia
 |url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9055331/Seyid-Imadeddin-Nesimi
 |title=Seyid Imadeddin Nesimi
 |access-date=1 September 2008
 |year=2008
 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080118133336/https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9055331/Seyid-Imadeddin-Nesimi
 |archive-date=18 January 2008
 |url-status=live
}}</ref> and one of the most prominent early divan masters in Turkic literary history,<ref name="nesimibritannica" /> who also composed poetry in Persian<ref name="burrill" /><ref name="babinger">{{cite web | url = http://www.brillonline.nl/public/LOGIN?sessionid=9e48c95d2ac06a8aacef322fe2b5e652&authstatuscode=400 | title = Nesīmī, Seyyid ʿImād al-Dīn | access-date = 1 September 2008 | last = Babinger | first = Franz | year = 2008 | website = Encyclopaedia of Islam | publisher = Brill Online | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200729045944/http://www.brillonline.nl/public/LOGIN?sessionid=9e48c95d2ac06a8aacef322fe2b5e652&authstatuscode=400 | archive-date = 29 July 2020 | url-status=dead }}</ref> and Arabic.<ref name="nesimibritannica" /> The divan and ghazal styles were further developed by poets [[Qasem-e Anvar]], [[Fuzuli (poet)|Fuzuli]] and [[Safavid dynasty|Safavid]] [[Shah Ismail I]] who wrote under the pen name "Khata'i".

The ''[[Book of Dede Korkut]]'' consists of two manuscripts copied in the 16th century,<ref name="Meeker">Michael E. Meeker, "The Dede Korkut Ethic", International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 24, No. 3 (Aug. 1992), 395–417. excerpt: The Book of Dede Korkut is an early record of oral Turkic folktales in Anatolia, and as such, one of the mythic charters of Turkish nationalist ideology. The oldest versions of the Book of Dede Korkut consist of two manuscripts copied in the 16th century. The twelve stories that are recorded in these manuscripts are believed to be derived from a cycle of stories and songs circulating among Turkic peoples living in northeastern Anatolia and northwestern Azerbaijan. According to Lewis (1974), an older substratum of these oral traditions dates to conflicts between the ancient Oghuz and their Turkish rivals in Central Asia (the Pecheneks and the Kipchaks), but this substratum has been clothed in references to the 14th-century campaigns of the Akkoyunlu Confederation of Turkic tribes against the Georgians, the Abkhaz, and the Greeks in Trebizond. Such stories and songs would have emerged no earlier than the beginning of the 13th century, and the written versions that have reached us would have been composed no later than the beginning of the 15th century. By this time, the Turkic peoples in question had been in touch with Islamic civilization for several centuries, had come to call themselves "Turcoman" rather than "Oghuz," had close associations with sedentary and urbanized societies, and were participating in Islamized regimes that included nomads, farmers, and townsmen. Some had abandoned their nomadic way of life altogether.</ref> and was not written earlier than the 15th century.<ref name="Kafadar">Cemal Kafadar(1995), "in Between Two Worlds: Construction of the Ottoman states", University of California Press, 1995. Excerpt: "It was not earlier than the fifteenth century. Based on the fact that the author is buttering up both the Akkoyunlu and Ottoman rulers, it has been suggested that the composition belongs to someone living in the undefined border region lands between the two states during the reign of Uzun Hassan (1466–78). G. Lewis, on the other hand, dates the composition "fairly early in the 15th century at least."</ref><ref name="IranicaOguzKhan">İlker Evrım Bınbaş, Encyclopædia Iranica, "Oguz Khan Narratives" [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/oguz-khan-narratives Encyclopædia Iranica | Articles]. Retrieved October 2010. "The Ketāb-e Dede Qorqut, which is a collection of twelve stories reflecting the oral traditions of the Turkmens in the 15th-century eastern Anatolia, is also called Oḡuz-nāma"</ref> It is a collection of 12 stories reflecting the oral tradition of Oghuz nomads.<ref name="IranicaOguzKhan" /> The 16th-century poet [[Fuzuli (poet)|Fuzuli]] produced his timeless philosophical and lyrical ''Qazals'' in Arabic, Persian, and Azerbaijani. Benefiting immensely from the fine literary traditions of his environment, and building upon the legacy of his predecessors, Fuzuli was destined to become the leading literary figure of his society. His major works include ''The Divan of Ghazals'' and ''The Qasidas''. In the same century, Azerbaijani literature further flourished with the development of ashik ({{langx|az|Aşıq}}) poetic genre of bards. During the same period, under the pen-name of Khatāī ({{langx|ar|خطائی}} for ''sinner'') Shah Ismail I wrote about 1,400 verses in Azerbaijani,<ref name="minorsky1">{{cite journal |last=Minorsky |first=Vladimir |year=1942 |title=The Poetry of Shah Ismail |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London |volume=10 |issue=4 |page=1053 |doi=10.1017/S0041977X00090182 |s2cid=159929872 }}</ref> which were later published as his ''Divan''. A unique literary style known as ''qoshma'' ({{langx|az|qoşma}} for ''improvisation'') was introduced in this period and developed by Shah Ismail and later by his son and successor, Shah [[Tahmasp I]].<ref name="Mino">V. Minorsky, "The Poetry of Shah Ismail I," ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'', University of London 10/4 (1942): 1006–53.</ref>

In the span of the 17th and 18th centuries, Fuzuli's unique genres as well ashik poetry were taken up by prominent poets and writers such as [[Qovsi of Tabriz]], [[Abbas II of Persia|Shah Abbas Sani]], {{ill|Agha Mesih Shirvani|ru|Ага Масих Ширвани|vertical-align=sup}}, Nishat, [[Molla Vali Vidadi]], [[Molla Panah Vagif]], Amani, Zafar and others. Along with Turks, [[Turkmens]] and [[Uzbeks]], Azerbaijanis celebrate the [[Epic of Koroglu]] (from {{langx|az|kor oğlu}} for ''blind man's son''), a legendary folk hero.<ref name="samuel">{{cite book |title=Tantra and Popular Religion in Tibet |last1=Samuel |first1=Geoffrey |last2=Gregor |first2= Hamish|last3=Stutchbury |first3= Elisabeth |year=1994 |publisher=International Academy of Indian Culture and Aditya Prakashan |isbn=978-81-85689-68-5 |page=60 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n74KAAAAYAAJ}}</ref> Several documented versions of Koroglu epic remain at the Institute for Manuscripts of the [[National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan]].<ref name="caferoglu" />