UNLAWFULNESS TOWARD WOMEN REFLECTED ON AZERBAIJANI LITERATURE IN EARLY 20TH CENTURY

Abstract

Constitutionalist movement that emerged in Russia led to a partial easing of the pressure on the Azerbaijani Muslim Turkish people. Turkish intellectuals, who became able to express their ideas a little more comfortably than the past, have published newspapers and journals since 1905; and have started to publish books in the fields of poetry, novels, stories and theatre, as well. With the freedom given, issues such as liberty, independence, human rights, labor exploitation, ignorance, lack of education, religious fanaticism and superstitions have been focused on more through publication activities. Literati and intellectuals in Azerbaijan, including especially Molla Nasreddin, gathering around the influent newspapers and journals of the period began to discuss women's issues as well as other current issues. Unlawfulness toward women was one of the basic problems mostly discussed in the early 20th century. Literati such as Celil Memmedquluzade dealt with unlawfulness toward women in their works. They discussed the lack of women's right to speak about the decisions made and women's isolation from society, as major problems. The poets and authors criticized that women were treated as second-class people and they did not find the value they deserved. They also put great emphasis on issues such as not sending girls to school, forcing girls at young age to marry elder men, polygyny, and the so called "muta marriage" also known as the short-term temporary marriage. Unlawfulness toward women and isolation of women from society were sharply criticized. In this study, unlawfulness toward women reflected on Azerbaijani literature in the early 20th century was presented through examples, commented on, analyzed and evaluated.