Turkic-speaking country Azerbaijan and Persian-speaking country Iran are competing for historical heritage: Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, now claims to possess the legacy of the Safavid dynasty

Editor's note: The Safavid dynasty, also known as the Safavid Empire, Safavid Persia, Safavid Empire, or the Third Persian Empire, was called "Bala Xi" during the Ming Dynasty. It ruled Iran from 1501 to 1736. This dynasty officially established Shia Islam as the state religion of Iran, unified the provinces of Iran, and was a transitional period from the medieval to the modern era in Iran.

In the age of sovereignty, Azerbaijan revived one of the largest and longest-lasting empires in the Muslim world, and in the struggle against Tehran, it reasserted its historical roots. Historian Akhmedov: "We should study the political and economic reforms of its founding king Shah Ismail Khataj." Ancient events are key to interpreting the current campaigns of the Aliyev dynasty.

Baku (Asia News) – In an era of rediscovering national and state identity, Azerbaijan defines itself as the heir of an ancient dynasty, the Safavid dynasty originating from the Turan language and culture, which inherited the rulers of the Persian Empire on Azerbaijani territory, who ruled Persia from 1501 to 1736, one of the largest and longest-lasting empires in the Muslim world, often considered the beginning of modern Iran.

The Azerbaijani national website Zerkalo published an interview with Sabit Ahmadoğlu, a scholar of historical philosophy at the Khazar University, one of the main supporters of the thesis that the Safavid dynasty is "a phenomenon of Azerbaijani statehood," which has fueled the dispute between Baku and Tehran. He opened with a quote from the poet Abbas Kuliyev Aga Bakikhanov: "Living in the present without looking back at the past is like wandering aimlessly in the desert."

Ahmadoğlu explained that the Safavid dynasty originated from older Turanian tribes living in the territories of present-day Azerbaijan and surrounding Anatolia, later calling themselves one of the most important Islamic movements, "the Shi'a of their own religion," until the battle of Šakh Ismail Khataj in 1501, who successfully and forcefully united different lineages, "comparable to Alexander the Great of Macedonia."

The professor explained that in the post-Mongol era, the Safavid dynasty "was able to preserve the essence of the Tatar-Mongol rule," such as financial and economic relations, military relations, and cultural and moral relations, "successfully transforming the Mongol administrative system into a true state." Various groups in Azerbaijan gathered around a strong central government, and although later divisions caused them to lose this "state consciousness," it must be restored today, remembering the many victories of the Safavid dynasty rather than the few failures.

In terms of the rise of the empire, compared to the Ottoman Empire, which also gathered many nations after the fall of the Mongol Khanate, Ahmadoğlu pointed out that Azerbaijanis only remember Shah Ismail as "a poet and intellectual," but his great political and economic reforms and his military actions also deserve study, including his first military action when he was only 14 years old, defeating the Kingdom of Ak Khorlo, whose territory extended to eastern Anatolia and Armenia. In this way, the ancient story clarifies the modern wars under the rule of the Aliyev, Heydar, and Ilham dynasties, who lead the country under the name of the "New Safavid Dynasty" in the post-Soviet era.

Ismail was more "enlightened" than his contemporaries; instead of eliminating enemies, he incorporated them all, utilizing their abilities in the new united kingdom, which was uncommon at the time, "almost revolutionary and demonstrating special talents as a thinker and politician." By uniting various nomadic and semi-nomadic Turanian tribes, he could prove that progress "was not merely a privilege of settled nations," and 17th-century Muslim chieftains could appear "more modern than many rulers today."

Ahmadoğlu's conclusion is: "We should not complain that the republics like the Soviet Union only existed for 70 years, but we should restore the tradition of a country that was established by young Azerbaijanis and lasted for over two centuries." "Ismail also created a large library in the capital and participated personally in the 'Bed of the Tabriz Poets,' because he realized that 'a true nation cannot exist without its own culture,' and today 'we need museums and libraries to reveal our history, the history of the Safavid dynasty or the history of Caucasian Albania, and many other periods and stages of our nation-building. Our opponents claim these histories only existed for a century... Sometimes scholars here are like people feeling corpses in the dark without realizing the size of the elephant.'

Author: Vladimir Rozanskij

Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1840678255138827/

Statement: The article represents the views of the author."