Mahmud Bayazidi

Mahmud Bayazidi, born in 1797 in Doğubeyazıt (present-day Turkey) and died in 1859 in Erzurum, was an Ottoman Kurdish philosopher and polymath. He received his early education in religious and linguistic studies, including the Koran, Arabic, Persian, Ottoman, and Kurdish languages. He furthered his studies in Tabriz, Iran, before returning to his hometown to teach. Following political changes, he relocated to Erzurum. Bayazidi's scholarly contributions were significant, particularly in the fields of Kurdish history, language, and culture. In 1856, he collaborated with A.D. Jaba, the Russian consulate in Erzurum, assisting in the analysis of Kurdish documents and contributing his own writings to the Russian Academy of Sciences. Between 1858 and 1859, he edited a grammar book and authored a collection of 3,000 Kurdish phrases that offered insights into 19th-century Kurdish life, which was later translated into French by Jaba. He also wrote 'Habits and Customs of Kurds,' published in 1963, and is credited with translating the 'Sharafnama' (history of the Kurdish nation) from Persian into Kurdish, considered the first modern Kurdish history book. Bayazidi, alongside Jaba, played a crucial role in preserving ancient Kurdish literature by collecting over 50 volumes of handwritten texts. He also co-authored the first Kurdish-French and French-Kurdish dictionary, published in 1879. His main interests included Kurdish history, Kurdish language, and ethnography.