In its 113th issue, the prestigious "Nizwa" (Nizwa) literary journal of the Sultanate of Oman devoted a lot of space to Azerbaijani literature.
"History of Azerbaijan-Arab Literary Relations" article by prominent Oriental scholar Prof. Imamverdi Hamidov in Derig, doc. Ahmad Sami's article "Azerbaijani literature during the period of independence", writing about Khushudbanu Natavan and the poet's ghazals, Aziza Jafarzade's "Stone boy", folk writer Anar's stories "A woman working in a prison", with Salim Babullaoglu entitled "We have historical and deep ties with Arab culture" extensive interview (the interview was prepared by Malahat Gambarova), poems of Selim Babullaoglu and Damet Salmanoglu were included. Although some of the materials in the magazine are written in Arabic, many materials were translated by Ahmad Sami and Kamil Sharifov.
Salim Babullaoglu, secretary for international relations of the Azerbaijan Writers' Union, considers this event a remarkable literary event: "The initiative to prepare the magazine belongs to the well-known Omani scientist, semiotician, Dr. Aisha al-Darmaki. Aisha al-Darmaki is also a well-known cultural figure of Oman, a public figure, a member of the State Council of the Sultanate of Oman, and the head of the Culture, Media and Tourism Committee. At that time, he was the head of the Oman Culture Club, and we signed a memorandum of cooperation with this club many years ago, and within the framework of this cooperation, we also published the "Oman Literature Special Issue" of the "World Literature" magazine.
You know that last year, by the order of AR President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, the 190th anniversary of the outstanding Azerbaijani poetess, the heir of the Karabakh khans, Khurshudbanu Natavan was celebrated. That's why we sent an article about this poetess and selections from her poetry to the journal. Then, the stories of Anar, Aziza Jafarzadeh, Prof. Imamverdi Hamidov and doc. Ahmad Sami's interesting articles on our literature and Azerbaijan-Arab literary and cultural relations, as well as an interview, poems by Damet Salmanoglu and myself were included in that issue. Of course, we took into account the journal's suggestions regarding the volume, genre, and types of materials.
Allocating space to Azerbaijani literature in "Nizwa" literary journal and presenting it in this volume is highly commendable, we welcomed it with great satisfaction. I sent an official letter to Dr. Aisha ad Darmaki and the editor-in-chief of the journal for taking this wonderful initiative on behalf of the leadership of the Azerbaijan Writers' Union, as well as on behalf of our writers and translators, and on my own behalf. This event is an important step towards the exchange and rapprochement of our literatures and cultures, I think that being the first example, it will always be remembered as an important reference point and source in the literary history of our nations. I am deeply grateful to all our scientists and translators - Imamverdi Hamidov, Ahmed Sami and especially Kamil Sharifov..."
"Literary Department". January 25, 2023
