Ziya Bunyadov

Ziya Bunyadov was born in Astara.

He spent his secondary school years in Goychay. In 1939, he went to Baku. He studied at the Baku Infantry School named after S. Ordzhonikidze. In 1941, he graduated from the military school with the rank of lieutenant and was sent to Bessarabia. During World War II, he fought on the front line all the way to Berlin. On February 27, 1945, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. He worked as an assistant to the commandant in the most prestigious district of Berlin - Pankov. For his active participation in the restoration and normalization of the economic and cultural life of Berlin, he was awarded the "Arthur Becker" and "Waffenbruderschaft" gold medals.

After being discharged from the army, he entered the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies (1946-1950), and also studied at postgraduate level (1950-1954). In 1954, he defended his PhD thesis on “Italian Imperialism in Africa” and, returning to Baku, continued his scientific research at the Institute of History of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences. He worked as a teacher at the Faculty of Oriental Studies of the Azerbaijan State University (1958-1959). Since 1964, he has been the head of the “History of the Middle Ages” department at the Institute of the Peoples of the Near and Middle East. He defended his doctoral dissertation on the topic “Azerbaijan in the 7th-9th centuries” and received the degree of Doctor of Historical Sciences (1964). He was elected a full member of the Academy of Sciences (1976). He was appointed editor-in-chief of the journal “News of the Academy of Sciences of the Azerbaijan SSR. Social Sciences Series” (1970). The book “The State of the Atabeys of Azerbaijan. 1136-1225 Years” (1978) was awarded the State Prize of the Azerbaijan SSR in the field of science and technology (1980). He was the director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan (1981-1986, 1988-1990, 1992). He was elected vice-president of the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan (1990). Together with Professor Vasim Mammadaliyev, he completed the translation of the Quran into Azerbaijani (1991). He was the deputy chairman of the New Azerbaijan Party (1992). He was elected a deputy of the Milli Majlis (1995).

Orientalist, historian, Hero of the Soviet Union (1945), laureate of the State Prize, Honored Scientist (1982) Ziya Bunyadov was murdered by a criminal group in front of his building on February 21, 1997. He was buried in the Alley of Honor. He was posthumously awarded the Order of "Independence" (1998).