13.1 Reader's Forum:Rememberin the Giants

Spring 2005 (13.1)
Page 8

Reader's Forum
Remembering the Giants

Thank you very much for your tribute: "Ismikhan Rahimov: In Defense of My Mother Tongue", AI 12.4 (Winter 2004). Back in 1960, I was one of Ismikhan's first students in his English language classes at Azerbaijan State University. He had just started to teach after being "rehabilitated" and released from Stalin's prisons. Truly, he was a man of principles - full of sincerity, nobility, knowledge and honesty. He loved Byron and tried to teach us to love his poems and English literature.

A few years ago when I was in Baku, I went to visit him in the hospital and we had a long conversation. Unfortunately, it was my last meeting with him. He told me how proud he was that his students had become contributing members of society and our nation, and I told him how proud we were that we had him as our professor.

I believe that Ismikhan Rahimov was one of the most significant figures in our contemporary history. We must remember him, with gratitude for what he did and what he tried to do for the Azerbaijani people. "Allah rahmat elasin" (May God rest his soul).

Dr. Fikrat Abdullayev
Experimental Oncological Laboratory
National Institute of Pediatrics
Mexico City, Mexico