Bekir Çoban-zade

Bekir Vaap oğlu Çoban-zade (pronounced [tʃobanzade], 27 May [O.S. 15 May] 1893 – 13 October 1937) was a prominent Crimean Tatar poet and professor of Turkic languages who was one of the victims of the Great Purge.

In the midst of a successful academic career, at the age of 44, Çoban-zade was arrested by Soviet authorities for alleged subversive activities against the state and was sentenced to death. His writings have outlived him; his poetry, in particular, continues to enjoy popularity among Crimean Tatars.

Çoban-zade was the first professor in the Soviet East in his specialty, who read the first lectures in the native languages of the peoples of these countries, was the first to develop university courses in his specialty. During the entire period of his scientific activity, he wrote approximately one hundred and fifty scientific works, of which at least one hundred were the first attempts to scientifically substantiate the problems of the Azerbaijani language and literature in the Azerbaijani language. Most of these works have not lost their scientific significance to this day. He trained hundreds of linguists and literary scholars, and among his students there were dozens of highly qualified scientific workers — associate professors and assistants, who have proven themselves with their scientific works outside the country.