The Black Sea was storming

A poem "The Black Sea was storming" was written by Ahmad Javad in 1914, in Ganja. The poet dedicated it to the Army of Islam and its general Nuri Pasha. Ahmad Javad was troubled by the situation of the Ottoman Empire in the beginning of the 20th century. He joined the ranks of Caucasian voluntary regiment located in Istanbul, as a voluntary soldier with the poet and pedagogue Abdulla Shaig. He fought nip and tuck with Turkish brothers at Trakya front for the independence of Turkey. In 1914, during the World War I, Turkey's battles at the eastern front led to Sarikamish failure. The eastern part of the Ottoman Empire was occupied by the Russian Army and the population of Kars and Erzurum was killed by Russians and Armenians.

The "Charitable Society of Azerbaijan", located in Baku helped the population of eastern provinces of Turkey. Ahmad Javad participated in this charitable work, too. In spite of Russians' confusion to railway between Baku and Kars, he went to Turkey, helped Turkish brothers. He wrote many poems dedicated to historical events in Ottoman Empire. One of these poems is "The Black Sea was storming". He glorified the Ottoman Army, Turkish flag in this poem. He mentioned the strength of the Turkish Army and noted that neither enemies, nor storms could withstand it. He describes his desire of unity of all Turkish nations and calls all Turkic nations to raise the Turkish flag.

The poem was written in patriotic spirit was greeted by Azerbaijani and Turkish intelligentsia heartily. It was published in 1919, in Ahmad Javad's second book "Dalga".

Uzeyir Hajibeyov, one of the outstanding enlighteners and founders of Azerbaijani theoretical music composed wonderful music according to the words of the poem.

Today it is one of the valuable example of Azerbaijani music art and has become as a patriotic anthem of all Turkic nations.