Mastan Aliyev

Mastan Aliyev (Mastan Gunar) was born in the Asrik-Jirdakhan village of Tovuz.

He studied at the Language and Literature Faculty of the Azerbaijan State Pedagogical Institute (1953-1957).

His first poems were published in the "Socialism Village" district newspaper. He appeared in the republican press in 1955 with the poems "Warm Shirt" and "Bridge" published in the "Literature and Art" newspaper. He also wrote journalistic and critical articles. His works were published under the names "Mastan Demirchioglu", "Mastan Asrikli", "Mastan Masum", "Qartal", "Masum Aliyev", "Mastan Aliyev", "Mastan Gunar". He began his career as a journalist. He worked as a literary worker, editor, department head, and editor-in-chief at the Azerbaijan State Television and Radio Broadcasting Committee. Then he worked as a department head in the editorial office of the "Literature and Art" newspaper, senior editor and deputy editor-in-chief in the "Ganjlik" publishing house. For a while, he was a correspondent for Azerinform. He also worked as the first deputy head of the Tovuz region executive authority. He was a member of the board of the Azerbaijan Writers' Union.

The State Prize laureate (1980) Mastan Aliyev died in 2010.