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YEREVAN, APRIL 12, ARMENPRESS. "Stone Dreams" novel-requiem by Azerbaijani author Akram Aylisli telling about the massacres of the Armenian population in Azerbaijan has already been published in Armenian. Artak Vardanyan translated the novel into Armenian. Aram Ananyan authored the preface of the book. The publication was edited by Seyranuhi Geghamyan. The book was published in "Graber" publishing house.
Translator Artak Vardanyan was born in the last Armenian populated village of Nakhichevan– Aznaberd. The Agulis scenery introduced in the novel is very dear to him. In a conversation with "Armenpress" Artak Vardanyan noted: "I have heard about Aylisli yet in the Soviet period. I knew that there is such a poet and novelist. In 1990s during the pogroms of the Armenian population in Baku I was listening to the morning news of the Azerbaijani radio and the words of an intellectual, who kept asking and urging his compatriots to abstain from violence and hostility against the Armenians and find a peaceful solution of the problems attracted my attention. A couple of days later I learned that the man whom I heard speaking was Akram Aylisli. Azeri slaughterers intruded his house, beat and tortured him, only because he "dared" to protect the Armenians."
Among other things Artak Vardanyan emphasized: "Aylisli is a great author. Notwithstanding it’s of a certain importance to know that there are noble intellectuals like Aylisli living in neighboring Azerbaijan. Among them are Rustam Ibrahimbekov and Rahman Badalov."
“Stone Dreams” caused a lot of noise and hysteria in Azerbaijan. On February 7, 2013, the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed a presidential decree that stripped Aylisli of the title of "People's Writer" and the presidential pension. Earlier, Aylisli confirmed reports that his son, a customs official, and wife were dismissed from their jobs. Hafiz Haciyev, the leader of the pro-government political party Muasir Musavat (Modern Equality), said his party would pay $13,000 to anyone who would cut Aylisli's ear off. Aylisli was born in the village of Aylis in 1937 in the Ordubad region of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. He received his higher education at the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute in Moscow. His first work, a poem entitled "Qeşem ve onun Kürekeni", was published in the journal Azerbaycan. From 1968-70, he became the editor-in-chief of Gençlik, and later worked as a satirist for the journal Mozalan. From 1974-78, he served on the Azerbaijan SSR's State Committee for Cinematography.
by Arusik Zakharyan