Little-Known Pages from the Biography of Sona Khanym Akhundov

The article highlights the difficult and long, but successful path of an Azerbaijani girl in overcoming obstacles of state policy and social stereotypes of the Caucasus, which saw a girl’s education in her upbringing as a future wife – the guardian of the home, in the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20th century. An example of a successful experience of women’s emancipation was the life and professional path of the outstanding Azerbaijani ophthalmologist Sona Khanym Akhundova. In turn, the interest of Ukrainian historians in the figure of S. Akhundova is due to the fact that it was during the “Kyiv period” of her life and activity that she joined the Turkic student movement and became a participant in the founding congress of Muslim students (April 17, 1913). So along with that, a number of previously unknown documents relating to the congress itself have been found and analyzed. It was at that time that S. Akhundova’s social views were formed, and she gained her first experience of social and political work. In Kyiv Sona met her future husband, Agabek Bagirbekov, then a student of the law department of the University of St. Volodymyr. Thanks to the documents of the Kyiv archive, the real date of birth of Sona Khanym Akhundova was determined – August 23, 1893, and the information that she graduated the Baku Women’s Educational Institution of St. Nina with a gold medal was refuted (in fact, she was awarded a silver cross). It is substantiated that S. Akhundova got the opportunity to study at the Kyiv Higher Women’s Courses thanks to the scholarship of the famous Azerbaijani businessman and philanthropist H. Tagiyev. The widespread information that she received her medical education at the Kyiv University of St. Volodymyr was refuted. It has been suggested that in April-July 1913, S. Akhundova served one more month of imprisonment than other participants of the Muslim students’ convention, due to the fact that this student gathering took place in the apartment she rented. Attention has been drawn to the fact that the “Kyiv period” of activity was extremely rarely mentioned by S. Akhundova herself. In general, the pre-revolutionary period of Sona’s life was described by her relatives in few words. It is noted that Sona Akhundova was formed as a highly qualified ophthalmologist in Odesa under the guidance of Academician V. Filatov, when in 1940 she was an intern at the Ukrainian Institute of Experimental Ophthalmology. Thus, the article comprehensively researches the biography of Sona Khanym Akhundova, highlights, analyzes and specifies certain facts and judgments.