Akinchi

{{Short description|Azerbaijani-language newspaper (1875–1877)}} {{Infobox newspaper | name = Əkinçi (Akinchi) | logo = Akinchi Logo.png | image = Əkinçi 1875 N1.jpg | caption = Front page of ''Akinchi'', 1875, No. 1 | type = Weekly | format = | owners = Hasan bey Zardabi | founder = | publisher = | editor = | chief_editor = Hasan bey Zardabi | associate_editor = | managing_editor = | news_editor = | campus_editor = | campus_chief = | opinion_editor = | photo_editor = | staff_writers = | founded = {{start date and age|1875|7|22|df=yes}} | ceased_publication = 29 September 1877 | political_position = | language = Azerbaijani | headquarters = Baku, Russian Empire | circulation = 300-400 (1875) | sister_newspapers = | ISSN = | oclc = | website = }}

'''''Akinchi''''' ({{langx|az|Əkinçi}}, {{lang|az-Arab|اکينچی|italics=yes}}), also transliterated as '''''Ekinchi''''' ("The Cultivator"), was the first Azerbaijani-language newspaper, published in Baku (then part of the Russian Empire, now the capital of the Republic of Azerbaijan) between 1875 and 1877. It was the first newspaper fully printed in Azerbaijani, as well as the first private newspaper in Russia printed in a Turkic language.<ref>{{cite book |author=Н. |first=А. |url=http://feb-web.ru/feb/litenc/encyclop/le4/le4-3151.htm?cmd=0&istext=1 |title=ЗАРДАБИ Гасан-бег Меликов. Литературная энциклопедия |publisher=издательство Коммунистической академии |year=1930 |editor-last=Луначарский |editor-first=А. В. |editor-link=Anatoly Lunacharsky |volume=4 |location=Москва |language=ru}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bennigsen |first1=Alexandre |author-link=Alexandre Bennigsen |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783112318256/html |title=La presse et le mouvement national chez les musulmans de Russie avant 1920 |last2=Lemercier-Quelquejay |first2=Chantal |author-link2=Chantal Lemercier-Quelquejay |publisher=Mouton & Co. |year=1964 |isbn= |location=La Haye, Paris |pages=27 |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Landau |first=Jacob M. |title=Pan-Turkism in Turkey: A Study of Irredentism |publisher=C. Hurst & Co |year=1981 |location=London |pages=14 |author-link=Jacob M. Landau}}</ref>

==History== Founded by a journalist, teacher, and scientist, and a Moscow University alumnus Hasan bey Zardabi, ''Akinchi'' was regarded almost as revolutionary not only as the first periodical published in Azeri, but for being also the means of reaching the masses. In order to make media accessible to lower classes, Zardabi propagated reforms in the literal Azeri language aimed at making it more vernacular by excluding bulky expressions and loanwords from Persian and Arabic used mostly in religious texts and classical poetry. ''Akinchi'' hence would often be subject to criticism by the literati who found its written style too colloquial.<ref name="nashvek">{{in lang|ru}} [http://nashvek.media-az.com/322/lider.html Everything Began with ''Akinchi''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928011741/http://nashvek.media-az.com/322/lider.html |date=2007-09-28 }} by Nigar Jafarova. ''Nash vek''. 5 August 2005. Retrieved 19 May 2007</ref> In fact, it was deliberately chosen to be written and published using simple, colloquial language so the lower, mainly uneducated (back then) masses would find it easier to grasp the main idea behind all those satirical poems and articles

The Russian governor of the Caucasus, Dmitry Staroselsky, sympathized with Zardabi's endeavours and supported him in the establishment of ''Akinchi''. He was also the one proposing the name for the newspaper that in his opinion would convince the authorities that ''Akinchi'' was a non-political magazine that dealt with spreading agricultural technique. In addition to agriculture-oriented articles, Zardabi published materials related to medicine and biology as well as editorials dealing with the social and cultural state of Muslims in the Caucasus.<ref>[http://www.geocities.com/evan_j_siegel/Akinji/Akinji.html ''Äkinjý'' and Azerbaijani Self-Definition] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091027110315/http://geocities.com/evan_j_siegel/Akinji/Akinji.html |date=2009-10-27 }} by Evan Siegel. Originally published in Michael Ursinus, Christoph Herzog, & Raoul Motika (ed.), Heidelberger Studien zur Geschichte und Kultur des modernen Vorderen Orients, vol. 27 (Frankfurt am Main, etc.: Peter Lang, 2001). [https://web.archive.org/web/20091027110315/http://geocities.com/evan_j_siegel/Akinji/Akinji.html Archived] 2009-10-24.</ref> The first issue of ''Akinchi'' was printed on 22 July 1875.

Staroselsky's departure was a factor that among others contributed to the shutting down of the periodical on 29 September 1877. Other reasons were lack of sponsorship and low number of readers (who would often be misled by the reactionist clergy into believing in the "sinful nature" of non-religious texts) despite the fact that the newspaper was given away for free. For the 26 months that it existed, ''Akinchi'' had attracted only 300 constant readers.<ref name="nashvek"/> Nevertheless, its existence profoundly contributed to the development of journalism in Azerbaijan and the establishment of Azeri-language newspapers and magazines such as ''Ziya'' (in 1879), ''Ziya Gafgaziya'' (in 1880), ''Keshkul'' (in 1883), ''Sharg-i rus'' (in 1903), ''Irshad'', ''Hayat'' (both in 1905), ''Fiyuzat'', ''Takammul'' and ''Molla Nasraddin'' (all in 1906) after which the Azeri press entered a new stage of development.<ref>{{in lang|ru}} [http://www.sakharov-center.ru/publications/azrus/az_003.htm Between Adaptation and Self-Assertion] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071015172853/http://www.sakharov-center.ru/publications/azrus/az_003.htm |date=2007-10-15 }} by Eva Maria Auch. ''Sakharov-center.ru''</ref>

22 July, the day of the first publication of ''Akinchi'', was declared in 2010 as the National Press Day in Azerbaijan.<ref>[http://www.anspress.com/index.php?a=2&lng=ru&nid=214660 Today is National Press Day] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402111344/http://www.anspress.com/index.php?a=2&lng=ru&nid=214660 |date=2015-04-02 }}. Azerbaijan Press Agency. 22 July 2013. Retrieved 27 February 2015.</ref>

== Importance and impact == The establishment of ''Akinchi'' was important for several reasons. To start with, with the release of ''Akinchi,'' people started to regard press as a means of mass media, basis for educational reforms, and as an instrument with which social and public conscience was formed. Hasan Bey Zardabi said in the first issue of the journal that a newspaper should mirror the reality of the place it represents and should reflect the needs and wants of the people of the given territory.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Azərbaycan mətbuatı tarixi|last=Aşırlı|first=Akif|publisher=Elm və Təhsil|year=2009|location=Baku|pages=11, 12|quote=Həsən bəy Zərdabi "Əkinçi”nin timsalında mətbuata kütləvi informasiya vasitəsi, maarifçiliyin əsası, ictimai-siyasi şüurun formalaşması faktı kimi yanaşdı. "Hər bir vilayətin qəzeti gərək o vilayətin aynası olsun", "yaxşı-yamanlığı aşkar eləsin", "xalqın hər bir dərdi və xahişi o qəzetdə çap olunsun ki, o qəzetə baxan xalqı aynada görən kimi görsün" kimi dərin mənalı fikirlər çağdaş mətbuatımızın da əsas prinsipləri olaraq qalmaqdadır.}}</ref> Another important factor and effect ''Akinchi'' has caused was that the journalism system and the generation of journalists appeared for the first time. Professional principles also started to appear for the first time. An official use of the Azerbaijani language became the basis for the functioning of the journal. ''Akinchi'' also helped a lot in terms of getting educated people together and of paving the way for the next educated and thinker generations to come.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Azərbaycan mətbuatı tarixi|last=Aşırlı|first=Akif|publisher=Elm və Təhsil|year=2009|location=Baku|pages=11, 12|quote="Əkinçi" nəşri ilə Azərbaycanda jurnalistika sistemini və nəslini formalaşdırdı, peşə prinsiplərini yaratdı, Azərbaycan dilini rəsmi statusda öz fəaliyyətinin əsasına çevirdi. Maarifçilik ideyasının daşıyıcısı olan bu qəzet milli təfəkkürlü ziyalılar nəslinin yetişməsində böyük tarixi xidmətlər göstərdi. Milli mətbuat tariximizin “Əkinçi”nin nəşri ilə bağlanması tarixi reallıqları özündə əks etdirir.}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *{{in lang|az}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20071009224624/http://www.zmm.az/index.php?s=zerdabi_ekinchi Several articles from ''Akinchi'']

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akinchi}} Category:19th century in Azerbaijan Category:1875 establishments in the Russian Empire Category:1877 disestablishments in the Russian Empire Category:Azerbaijani-language newspapers Category:Defunct newspapers published in Azerbaijan Category:Mass media in Baku Category:Newspapers established in 1875 Category:Publications disestablished in 1877 Category:Mass media in the Russian Empire