On the 5^th of December the discussion of the book “Is Bodenstedt a thief, or not?” by Doctor of Philosophy in Philology, Associate Professor Mati Osmanoglu was held in the Electronic Assembly Hall of the Institute of Literature named after Nizami Ganjavi of ANAS.

The event, jointly organized by the Institute of Literature named after Nizami Ganjavi of ANAS, the Institute of Folklore of ANAS and the Faculty of Philology of Baku State University (BSU), was attended by employees of various institutes of the Academy, intellectuals, public figures, BSU faculty, students and members of the media.

The event was opened by the Director of the Institute of Folklore, Doctor of Philology Hikmat Guliyev, who shared his impressions of the book with an introductory speech. He also spoke about the complex reforms implemented at the Academy in recent times under the leadership of Academician Isa Habibbeyli, the promotion of new approaches in scientific research, the strengthening of the position of independence and Azerbaijanizm, as well as the important results achieved in the field of humanitarian and social sciences.

Hikmet Guliyev mentioned that the work comprehensively describes Friedrich Martin von Bodenshtedt’s trip from Tbilisi to Yerevan from the perspectives of folklore, historiography and diplomacy. He noted that for the first time, the author interpreted the cultural codes of the trip by applying the concepts of collective and communicative memory in the context of Azerbaijani literary studies.

Then some scientists such as PhD Elchin Mammadov, PhD Aygun Bagirli, Professor Seyfaddin Rzasoy, Doctor of Sciences in Philology Shahbaz Musayev, Professor Maharram Mammadli, Doctor of Sciences in Philology Leyla Mammadova, Professor Asif Rustamli, Doctor of Sciences in Philology Safa Garayev, Professor Badirkhan Ahmedli, Doctor of Sciences in Philology Matanat Abbasova, associate professor Etibar Talibzade, Doctor of Sciences in Philology Rustam Kamal spoke and shared their impressions about the book.

At the end of the event, Mati Osmanoglu expressed his gratitude to the organizers, noting that this discussion was not only a presentation of the book, but also an important platform where memory culture, and scientific thought came together.

It should be noted that in the book the occupation policy of Tsarist Russia in the Caucasus, as well as the topic of Azerbaijan, in the work of Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt, who published a series of works on the history, political situation and culture of the Caucasus, including Azerbaijan, in Europe in the 19^th century is studied. The translation of the texts from German took advantage of the capabilities of modern digital language technologies.