Azernews.Az

By Sabina Idayatova

September 18, the death anniversary of great poet Shahriyar, was marked as the day of national poetry and literature, according to the 2002 decision of the Iraninan parliament.

The poet has been commemorated in various Iranian cities and regions, Mehr news agency reported.

Seid Mahammad Husseyn Behdzhat Tabrizi, mostly known under the pen name Shahriyar, has written poems in Azerbaijani and Persian languages​​. He was born in the village of Hoshginab near Tabriz in 1906.

Shahriyar received his primary and secondary education in Tabriz, then was admitted to the medical department of the University of Tehran but could not graduate. He was one of the most outstanding poets of the XX century.

Shahriyar's first poem was published in the "Adab" journal, which was published in Tabriz. He has created such beautiful and abundant poems as "Yalan dunya" (Deceptive world), "Turk dili" (The Turkish language ), "Derya eledim", "Belali bash", "Sazli shairimiz Xazinin ruhuna" ("To the honor of our poet Khazi"), "Azadlig gushu" "Freedom bird"), "Varlig",etc.

Shahriyar`s lyrical poems written in Persian include "Azerbaijan", "Unudulmush saz" (Forgotten saz), "Intizar", "Arazin qayiqlari" ("Boats of Araz") and his big poems such as "Haqqin sesi" ("The voice of justice"), "Sheir ve hikmet" ("The poem and the wisdom"), and "Nishapurda gunesh batarken" ("When the sun sets in Nishapur").

Shahriyar wrote his famous poem "Heyderbabaya salam" in 1954. This poem revealed the wide horizons for the development of Azerbaijani poetry in the world. The poem broke the cultural isolation and silence of South Azerbaijan. Essentially, it was responsible for reviving the Azerbaijani literary language in Iran. It quickly became known not only in South Azerbaijan but throughout the rest of the Turkic world and ushered in a new chapter in the literary history in South Azerbaijan as the Azeri language at that time was not officially recognized in Iran.

The acclaimed poet died in 1988.