A sweeping tapestry of pre-Islamic Turkic history unfolds, challenging long-held beliefs and drawing the gaze towards a forgotten cradle of civilization. This monumental work, "Doqquz Bitik," embarks on an arduous, thirty-year journey of research, meticulously charting the lineage and legacy of Azerbaijani Turks across ten millennia, long before the advent of Islam. It is a profound re-evaluation, not merely a chronicle, proposing a radical new perspective that redefines the very origins of the Turkic ethnos.
At its heart lies the audacious "Urmu theory," a paradigm that boldly asserts Anterior Asia, specifically the region around Lake Urmia, as the primordial homeland where Turkic identity first coalesced. This stands in stark contrast to the widely accepted "Altai theory," urging a reconsideration of ancient migratory patterns and the geographical genesis of a vast cultural and linguistic heritage. The implications of this theory ripple through the entirety of the work, offering a fresh lens through which to view the ancient world.
The nine volumes, each a "bitik" or scroll of knowledge, systematically unravel different facets of this vast pre-Islamic era. The first bitik delves into the very bedrock of historical inquiry, scrutinizing both national and foreign sources with a novel methodological approach. It examines anthropological and archaeological evidence, deciphering stone inscriptions, rock carvings, pre-writing symbols, and tamgas, tracing the genesis of writing in conjunction with other Turkic peoples.
Following this foundational exploration, the second bitik ventures into the realm of historical geography. Here, the ancient oikoumenes and ethnic demographics are meticulously mapped, along with the biosphere, cosmonymy, and geographical conditions that shaped the early Turkic world. It re-evaluates the etymology of ancient place names like Alban, Aran, Atropaten, Azerbaijan, and Armenia, presenting new interpretations rooted in ethnolinguistic analysis of written records.
The third bitik casts its light upon the ancient states that rose and thrived in Azerbaijan, detailing the intricate tapestry of Turkic state-building traditions and military systems. It brings to the fore the existence of several Turkic states in Anterior Asia and Azerbaijan during the pre-Islamic period, a revelation previously uncharted in Turkology.
Subsequent volumes continue this exhaustive exploration, each dedicated to a crucial aspect of the pre-Islamic Turkic experience. One bitik meticulously reconstructs historical onomastics, delving into the names that echoed through ancient lands and their profound cultural significance. Another immerses itself in historical ethnography, painting vivid pictures of the daily lives, customs, and social structures of these early communities.
Further still, the work explores the profound historical insights embedded within folklore and mythology, discerning the echoes of ancient truths in narratives passed down through generations. The evolution of the Azeri language itself forms another dedicated bitik, tracing its linguistic journey and its connections to broader Turkic linguistic developments. Finally, the culminating bitik meticulously examines the very ethnogenesis of Azerbaijani Turks, weaving together all the preceding threads to present a comprehensive understanding of their ancestral roots.
Through this meticulous, multi-volume endeavor, a profound understanding emerges: that the rich history of the Azeri Turks, creators of magnificent states and custodians of enduring ethnic-cultural values for millennia, has been obscured. This work seeks to illuminate that obscured past, presenting a wealth of historical documents and evidence, gathered over decades, to finally bring the true narrative of the Azeri Turkic people to the forefront for contemporary generations.
