Ashraf Heybatov: Main theme of my work is my homeland, my Azerbaijan

Report news agency presents an interview with Ashraf Heybatov – People’s Artist of Azerbaijan, member of the UNESCO Artists’ Federation, holder of the international diploma ‘Ambassador for Peace,’ laureate of the International Association ‘Art of the Nations of the World,’ member of the Presidium of the friendship society ‘Azerbaijan-Germany,’ member of the German Association of Artists. He has received numerous national and international awards.

- I know that despite that you have lived in Germany for a long time, you often visit Azerbaijan. What is the reason for your current visit to your homeland and what interesting things it was marked with?

- I try to visit Baku regularly. Once or twice a year, as soon as possible. Arrivals, as a rule, are associated with events to which I am invited, or creative cases accumulate that need to be solved in Baku. For example, publishing a series of paintings, organizing an exhibition or a presentation. My current visit is connected with the presentation of the painting “Victory Day in Karabakh.” As a muralist, I create large-scale works. These include panels, paintings, mosaics.

As soon as the second Karabakh war, rightly called the Patriotic War, began, I started working on a triptych 1.5 meters high and 3 meters long. I was fully confident that we would win. Before starting work on the composition, and choosing a color scheme, I named my painting “Victory Day in Karabakh” in advance. I brought it to Baku and presented it at the center named after Hazi Aslanov, the former House of Officers in the city center. The cadets of the military school, representatives of the intelligentsia came, and there I handed it over to the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan, where it will be kept in its military museum. I was presented with a Certificate of Honor from the Defense Ministry.

They wanted to buy it from me for a private collection, but I said that this one is not for sale. Such things are not for sale. I perceive this panel as fulfilling my duty to the Motherland as an Azerbaijani artist and citizen.

My current arrival is associated with another important event for me - obtaining Azerbaijani citizenship. This year I turned 70 years old, and I appealed to the respected President of the Republic, Ilham Aliyev, with a request to grant me Azerbaijani citizenship. After graduating from university in Baku, I moved to Moscow, where I worked in the team of Zurab Tsereteli, and therefore had Russian citizenship.

I will also add that when I come to Baku, I definitely try to visit the districts, meet with residents, hold express exhibitions, talk about my work, the situation in Europe, and answer questions about what people are interested in. This time I was in Saatli, Shamakhi, and with the assistance of the State Committee for Work with the Diaspora, I happened to visit Shusha.

- You said that you started work on a panel dedicated to the victory at the very beginning of the war. What was your confidence in this based on, since almost 30 years of occupation deprived many of their optimism?

- The foundation of my confidence in this outcome was the belief in justice, in the fact that Karabakh is our land, and sooner or later it will return to us. Like many others, I didn’t believe that this could happen during my lifetime - the imitation of peace negotiations dragged on for so long that it seemed like it would be endless. The victory was a huge surprise for me. When our army went on the offensive, I, taking brushes and paints, went on the offensive on canvas.

- For you, as well as for each of us, the occupation of Azerbaijani lands was an ongoing pain. This is evidenced by your works dedicated to the tragedy of Khojaly, destroyed Aghdam and others, with which you, in a vivid emotional form, told the world about the troubles that befell our people due to the Armenian occupation. How were these works of art created, being far from their homeland?

- The main theme of my work, so to speak, is my homeland, my Azerbaijan. Its history, its ancient culture, my favorite mugham, its traditions, holidays, nature, in a word, everything. During my student years, I was lucky to travel around the districts, I was in Shusha twice. Sketches written there have survived. True, they were small and on cardboard (after all, a student has no money). But the one who saw them immediately recognizes these places. It sounds pompous, but I am a singer of Azerbaijan, as they say about my friend, the wonderful Azerbaijani artist Sattar Bahlulzade. Therefore, I think that it is not surprising that our holidays and tragic events touch me very closely as an Azerbaijani artist. The tragedy of Khojaly, and the tragedy of January 20, and the destroyed Aghdam - all this deeply touches me, and I didn’t remain indifferent as an artist, I simply could not.

During my last visit, I didn’t attend the Kharybulbul festival, but with the film crew of the AzTV channel I made a trip to Aghdam, or rather, to what was left of it. I saw a landscape that resembled some kind of cosmic apocalypse, modern Hiroshima, as one foreign journalist correctly called what he saw there. It touched me deeply, to tears. There is no city, it is practically destroyed. But it was one of the fairly large settlements in Azerbaijan, known for its sights, beautiful nature, and winemaking. Now it is gone. Unfortunately, information about this barbarism, committed in the 21st century, reaches Europe very poorly. The Europeans do not want to know, or they keep silent about this truth. I considered it my duty to create works not from the perspective of ‘Blooming Azerbaijan,’ as I usually write, but to create a black-and-white series of graphics ‘Occupied Aghdam.’ I made 12 sheets, the photos of which I brought to Baku, and left the works themselves in Berlin, because showing them in Germany is more relevant. There, demonstrating them, I can tell my European fellow citizens about the barbarity committed by the Armenian fascists. I’m not afraid to call it that. But at the same time, I do not blame the entire Armenian people. The people were deceived - by the Dashnaks, the Armenian diaspora, by those whom I call Armenian fascists, who have done so much evil on our land.

- The victory of the Azerbaijani people, the liberation of the cities and villages occupied by Armenia, the exploits of the martyrs are probably no less significant impetus for creativity.

- Undoubtedly. But I’m not a painter of battle-pieces. Creating a monumental triptych ‘Victory Day in Karabakh,’ depicting symbols of the precious land for every Azerbaijani - the great composer Uzeyir Hajibeyov, the wonderful poetess Khurshidbanu Natavan, the beautiful flower Kharybulbul, which grows only here, the dance ‘Yalla’ and, of course, our heroes - soldiers and officers who did not spare their lives, liberating their native land. I will say it as it is: I did my best. I said everything there. I think other artists will do a lot more.

Now I have begun work on a historical theme - a large compositional portrait of Shah Ismail Khatai, the founder of the Safavid dynasty, the greatest statesman of the Middle Ages.

- Then let’s move on to the next question about your plans.

- I was lucky to be friends with many wonderful people. These are, firstly, our three outstanding Azerbaijani artists - Sattar Bahlulzade, Togrul Narimanbekov and Tahir Salakhov, as well as the famous Mexican ‘trio’ - Jose Orozco, Diego Rivera and David Siqueiros, who determined the main directions of development of their national fine arts. I happened to be the first and only representative of Azerbaijani art, whose exhibitions were held at the Palace of Nations in Geneva, in the presidential palace of Romania, NATO headquarters, the royal palace of Jordan, the residence of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Palace of the Holy Office in Vatican, as well as in many other European countries and the world.

The outstanding writer Chinghiz Aitmatov considered me his spiritual brother. In addition to the opportunity to acquaint countries, where there were no exhibitions of our art before, with Azerbaijan, these meetings gave me extraordinary happiness to get to know outstanding people of the world scale, to communicate with them, to experience the beneficial effects of such contacts. These are not only artists, but also the scientist Kapitsa, the healer Djuna and others. This is how the idea of ​​writing the book ‘Time and Chance’ arose, which I am currently working on.

Eleonora Abbasguliyeva