Azerbaijani

Nizami Ganjavi was a Persian Sunni Muslim poet. Widely regarded as the greatest romantic epic poet of all time in Persian literature, Ganjavi is credited with bringing a realistic and colloquial style to the Persian epic. Ganjavi's works has had huge impact in many places around the world including India where his style was imitated by many poets like Hatefi.

Heydar Aliyev was an Azerbaijani politician. From 1993 to 2003, Aliyev served as the president of Azerbaijan. His presidency has attracted criticism and Aliyev was accused of establishing a dictatorial, repressive, and authoritarian regime. He was also accused of muzzling the press and rigging elections. He died of ill health on 12 December 2003.

Iranian Azerbaijani author and philosopher Mirza Fatali Akhundov was the first literary critic and realist writer from his country. He developed the Azerbaijani alphabets and script. The 19th-century author is also remembered as the pioneer of atheism and nationalism in his country. He also criticized Islam and other religions.

Khurshidbanu Natavan was an Azerbaijani poet and philanthropist. Regarded as one of the most prominent lyrical poets of Azerbaijan, Natavan was best known for her lyrical ghazals. Also a well-known philanthropist, Khurshidbanu Natavan worked towards promoting the cultural and social development of Karabakh. She is credited with building an aqueduct, which relieved the townsfolk of their water problem.

Nariman Narimanov was an Azerbaijani Bolshevik revolutionary, writer, publicist, and politician. He headed the government of Soviet Azerbaijan for just over one year in 1920-21 and served as the chairman of the Azerbaijani Revolutionary Committee (Azrevkom). As a literary expert, he translated into Turkic Nikolai Gogol's The Government Inspector and authored many plays, stories, and novels.