A jadid educator and journalist from Kokand who wrote school textbooks and studies of the Uzbek language. He was a victim of the 1937 repressions.
Six languages from Kokand
Ashurali Zohiriy was born in 1885 in the village of Oyim near Kokand. He finished the Madalixon madrasa in Kokand in 1914 and taught himself Arabic, Persian, Azerbaijani, Turkish, Tatar and Russian. He taught in Kokand's schools, including its Dorulmuallimin teacher-training school, and later at the Fergana pedagogical college.
Primers, dictionaries and Navoiy
His work was building the tools of a modern Uzbek education. In 1912 he co-compiled a Turkic reader, in 1916 he published Imlo, a spelling primer, and in 1925 a Russian–Uzbek dictionary. He studied Navoiy's writings on language and prepared an edition of Muhokamat al-lughatayn, printed in 1917, and in 1926 he compiled the anthology Adabiyot parchalari with Cho'lpon. He also co-founded the G'ayrat library in Kokand.
Newspapers and a death sentence
He wrote for the regional press for more than a decade — Sadoyi Farg'ona from 1916, then Farg'ona and Yangi Farg'ona until 1928. First arrested in 1930, he was arrested again on 5 September 1937 and shot on 28 December 1937. He was rehabilitated in 1958.
Key achievements
- Published the spelling primer Imlo (1916) and co-compiled an early Turkic reader (1912)
- Prepared an edition of Navoiy's Muhokamat al-lughatayn (1917) and studied his works
- Compiled a Russian–Uzbek dictionary (1925) and, with Cho'lpon, the anthology Adabiyot parchalari (1926)