Azerbaijani literature

Azerbaijani literature (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan ədəbiyyatı) refers to the literature written in Azerbaijani, a Turkic language, which currently is the official state language of the Republic of Azerbaijan and is the first-language of most people in Iranian Azerbaijan. While the majority of Azeri speakers live in Iran, modern Azerbaijani literature is overwhelmingly produced in the Republic of Azerbaijan, where the language has official status. Three scripts are used for writing the language (Latin script (Azerbaijani alphabet) in the Republic of Azerbaijan, Arabic script with the Persian alphabet in Iran and Cyrillic script with the Russian alphabet in Russia).

The first examples of Azerbaijani literature date to the late 1200s following the Mongol conquest and were written in Arabic script. Several major authors helped to develop Azeri literature from the 1300s until the 1600s and poetry figures prominently in their works. Towards the end of the 19th century popular literature such as newspapers began to be published in Azeri. The production of written works in Azeri was banned in Persia under the rule of Reza Shah (1925-41) and in Soviet Azerbaijan Stalin's "Red Terror" campaign targeted thousands of Azeri writers, journalists, teachers, intellectuals and others and resulted in the changing of the Azerbaijani alphabet into one with a Cyrillic alphabet.

Modern Azeri literature is almost exclusively produced in the Republic of Azerbaijan and despite being widely spoken in Iranian Azerbaijan, Azeri is not formally taught in schools nor are publications in Azeri easily available.

...
Wikipedia