Ahmet Ağaoğlu
| Ahmet Ağaoğlu | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | December 1869 Shusha, Elisabethpol Governorate, Russian Empire
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| Died | 19 May 1939 (aged 69–70) Istanbul, Turkey
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| Resting place | Feriköy Cemetery, Istanbul, Turkey |
| Occupation | Writer, author, politician |
| Nationality | Azerbaijani |
Ahmet Ağaoğlu, also known as Ahmed bey Agayev (Azerbaijani: Əhməd bəy Ağayev; 1869–1939) was a prominent Azerbaijani and Turkish publicist and journalist. He was recognized as one of the founders of pan-Turkism.
Ağaoğlu was born in December 1869 to a Shia Muslim family in the town of Shusha, of the Elisabethpol Governorate then controlled by the Russian Empire. His father, Mirza Hassan, was a wealthy cotton farm owner of Qurteli tribe, and his mother, Taze Khanum, was of the seminomadic Sariji Ali tribe.
In 1888, he arrived in Paris and came under the influence of French Orientalists like Ernest Renan and James Darmesteter on Persianocentricism. He was a well-educated person who had graduated from universities in Saint Petersburg and the Paris. He was also a famous journalist and spoke five languages fluently. He wrote articles on current affairs for many popular newspapers in the country and abroad.
He returned to the Caucasus in 1894 and taught French. He then went to Baku to contribute in the formation of a national identity. He wrote monographs in various subjects. It was during that period that he took a different position from the French Orientalists who influenced him and began embracing his Turkish identity.
He considered cultural and educational progress to be the major part for national liberation and viewed the emancipation of women as part of the struggle. Ağaoğlu was the first member of the Azeri national intelligentsia to raise his voice for the equal rights for women. In his book Woman in the Islamic World, published in 1901, he claimed that "without women liberated, there can be no national progress".
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