We've been delighted to work on the concept, design and content of a new website commissioned for the Ashurov-Malikov family organisation.
Their website is dedicated to the history of the Azerbaijani families, Ashurov and Malikov, who were famous international traders, from the eighteenth century and though and beyond the years of the Soviet Union. The families were united in the early twentieth century, with the marriage of the remarkable Teymur Malikov and Kyubra Khanum Ashurova. The subsequent Malikov descendants also played important roles in the development and modernisation of independent Azerbaijan and continue to do so today.
The Ashurov-Malikov Family Organisation is dedicated to preserving and explaining the history of the two families. In so doing, it also hopes to shine a light on the extraordinary history of Azerbaijan - particularly in the twentieth century - and the country's quest for independence and the recovery of Azerbaijan's prosperity. Neither the website, nor the Ashurov Malikov Family Organisation, plays any role in politics in Azerbaijan or elsewhere.
Northern & Eurasia was lucky enough to work with Nargiz Mahmudova, and to feature documents and pictures to be found in the family archives. These evocatively tell the story of Azerbaijan, particularly at the end of the Tsarist epoch; through the Soviet era; and onwards towards independence.
"Amongst other things," said Northern & Eurasia's Stephen Lock "you get a real sense of the distinct and fascinating story of the Azeri nation, in and of itself, quite separate to Russia's story."
As part of the website project, Northern & Eurasia curated these wonderful life stories to create a visual chronology, as well as a family tree "as a great way of telling the history of the families in an immediately accessible way", Lock added.
These were based on a wonderful book, the 'biography' of the Ashurov family, published in Baku in 2015, written by professor Adalet Tahirzade. Copies of the book are available in Azeri, English or Russian, by making a request via the Contact section of the website.