Molla Nasreddin

an Azerbaijani illustrated satirical weekly magazine. Founded in 1906 in Tbilisi by Dzh. Mamedkulizade, the magazine appeared until March 1912. It resumed publication in January 1913 but was again closed down in October 1914. The magazine propagated the ideas of the Revolution of 1905–07 and the worker’s movement in Transcaucasia. It circulated throughout the Near East and influenced the development of the democratic press. Publication of Molla Nasreddin resumed in 1917 but was interrupted at the end of that year. In 1921 the magazine appeared for a time in Tabriz, Iran, and from 1922 to 1931 it was published in Baku.

The magazine occupies an important place in the history of the Azerbaijani periodical press. Among its contributors were the progressive Azerbaijani writers M. A. Sabir, A. Akhverdov, and Gamgiusar. In the prerevolutionary period the magazine exposed patriarchal-feudal customs, appealed to the people to struggle for freedom, and denounced imperialism and the despotic regimes in the Oriental countries. During the Soviet period Molla Nasreddin conducted a campaign to eradicate vestiges of the past and called for the liberation of the colonial countries of Asia and Africa.