On the Eighth Commemoration of the Death of Ahmad Qazi

1.

Ahmadi Qazi's personality and works were remarkable in several ways; the first was as a journalist who spent the best days of his life as editor-in-chief of Sirwa magazine, and he benefited society more than getting benefit from it. Because his job there, at least in the 1980s and 1990s, was to fill the gaps in a magazine that was once the only source of Kurdish language and literature. Therefore, the personality of the journalist Qazi is a multidimensional personality and his writing in this field is multifaceted and we can even say that it is scattered. That depends on what his task was. Qazi prepared articles in Sirwa according to the magazine's intentions, from social satire to cultural articles, linguistics, translation, replying to readers' literary letters, etc.

In other words, Ahmadi Qazi wrote articles for 20 years according to the framework set for Sirwa magazine and the articles responded to the wishes and intentions of different sections of society. However, his work and the way he performed his job may have had ups and downs during his 20 years of work, and he was obviously more active in his first decade at Sirwa. This article does not focus on Qazi's work in journalist experience and this article requires a separate discussion. As a reminder of Mr. Qazi’s writings and translations, I will briefly mention some of his translated texts.

2.

Before joining Sirwa magazine, Ahmad Qazi's main work was writing and translating, and after leaving Sirwa, he returned to his work. Therefore, his life can be regarded in three parts. As an active and educated man, he became interested in the language and literature of nations and began translating politically motivated literary texts, and joined the group of Tehran Intellectuals. His books included translating several foreign novels into Persian and writing the short comic novel "Baqaben" in Kurdish. But apart from that, the experience of literary thinking in the Iranian cultural center is even more important to him than the translations of the time.

In addition to getting familiar with talented Persian writers and translators, he became acquainted with the dominant literary movements and was among the Kurdish writers who were close to the cultural movement in Tehran. This caused him to recognize literary discourses and then these experiences, at least if not reflected in his creative works, were in his literary writings and letters and talent for the Kurdish language. They were people like Swara, Hassaniani, Chawa, etc. who took creative literary thought from the center and created texts within the framework of the Kurdish language, and writers like Qazi had a great role in it and created great works in Kurdish.

During his work in Sirwa, he translated several works, including Mark Twain's Strange Twins in Kurdish and Persian and Saddam Hussein and the Crisis in the Gulf, and "The Gulf Crisis and the Kurdish Problem" in Persian.

Mr. Qazi retires from journalism after two decades. That period coincides with the last decade of his life. During those years, which were actually years of his rest, he did not give up and used his last abilities in the field of language and translation and presented several great works to the Kurdish library because there was no obstacle to stop him from working. But he could expect the limit of his life. That is why he began writing and translating with love and fear. I say with love, whenever we met, he asked about the reflection and impact of his work among his readers. He cared about what he wrote, how he wrote it, and what the readers said. And I say with fear because he knew that life would not let him complete his unfinished projects. He thus embarked on a work that, if he had done 20 years earlier, would have translated and written dozens of larger and more important works. Unfortunately, the talented author passed away on 07/06/2015 in Mahabad due to cancer.

3.

Some of Ahmad Qazi's writings:

Don Quixote, translating Cervantes novel. The book is translated in two volumes, it has very concise language and is one of the best epic texts to read. Qazi translated this book based on the famous translation of Mohammad Qazi.

Ahmad Qazi has translated Mark Twain's novel "Strange Twins" into both Kurdish and Persian. It has been published in both Kurdish and Persian, and it is one of the first novels translated into Kurdish in the East part of Kurdistan.

Kitk u Mishk is a poetic translation of a story and poem by Obaid Zakani. This is a small comic book by an old Persian author, Obaid Zakani. This book is a political discussion expressed in poetry and comic language by Obaidi Zakani and translated by Ahmad Qazi according to the political needs of the time. It was well received in Kurdistan too.

Dragon Seed is a translation of a novel by Pearl Buck, that is translated in prison.

Klila and Demna is a Persian book translated by Ahmad Qazi at the end of his life. The book is one of the oldest books in the world. It includes a group of stories about animals.

Kurdish Grammar in Kurdish and Persian published by Salahaddin Publishing House, Urmia.

Baqaben, is a novelette, critical writing on the social and political situation during the Iranian People's Revolution that was criticized by many for its anti-war thought.

Saddam Hussein and the Crisis in the Gulf is an English language book on the Gulf Problem and Saddam Hussein's role in the Middle East conflict that has been translated into Persian and welcomed by Persian readers.

The legend of Gilgamesh. This legend is one of the oldest legends of the region between Choman and has been translated into Persian by many people in Iran, but the most poetic translation belongs to the famous Persian poet Ahmad Shamlu. Ahmad Qazi translated this work into Kurdish based on Shamlu's translation in an archaic language and it has been reprinted several times.

A Brief History of Kurdistan is a historical book for those who want to be generally aware of the history and events of Kurdistan from ancient times to the present. The book gives some general information about Kurdish history instead of being a scientific research book.

 With time, Memoirs of Ahmad Qazi, the 600-page book is a collection of memoirs of Ahmad Qazi. However, Ahmad Qazi has tried to focus on two points. First, he has told his memories and his family in detail. He has selected and narrated political memoirs of those he liked, and he has narrated some of his literary memoirs, but the part about the Iranian People's Revolution is worth looking at because it contains some political details about Kurdish and state meetings that they are being discussed for the first time. They can be relied upon as sources because he was present as a member of these delegations.