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Relatives seek restoration of January 20 martyr Ismayil Mursagulov’s name to school in Georgia -PHOTO

20 January 2026 18:06 (UTC +04:00)

The memory of Ismayil Mursagulov, one of the January 20 martyrs of Georgian origin, was once commemorated in his native village of Gizilhajili in Georgia’s Marneuli district. One of the streets in the village and Secondary Incomplete Azerbaijani-Language School No. 2 were named after him. The street still bears the name of Ismayil Mursagulov today, but his name has been removed from the educational institution. Although the martyr did not study at that school, it is located, together with the street, in Gizilhajili, on the ancestral land of the Mursagulov family, a close relative of the martyr, Farid Mursagulov, told APA’s Georgia bureau.

The school was named after Ismayil Mursagulov in the years following the January 20 tragedy, but the name was removed in the early 2000s.

“On April 28 last year, as required, I submitted an appeal to the Marneuli mayor’s office and the municipal council requesting that the name of Ismayil Mursagulov be restored to the school. My appeal was accompanied by nearly 140 signatures from residents of Gizilhajili. I was informed that my appeal would be reviewed at a commission meeting. Unfortunately, despite nearly nine months having passed, no response has been given to my appeal,” he said.

Farid Mursagulov noted that the school administration and teaching staff have verbally expressed their consent to restoring the educational institution’s former name:

"The school building is in a dilapidated condition and needs restoration. I hope that after it is possible to return the name of Ismayil Mursagulov to the school, repair and restoration work will be carried out at the educational institution."

He added that he plans to visit the Marneuli mayor’s office in the coming days to find out at what stage his appeal is being reviewed.

It should be noted that although the naming of state schools with special names was discontinued in Georgia in 2009, since 2019 several secondary educational institutions have been given such names by orders of the country’s Ministry of Education, Science, and Youth. In August last year, by decision of the ministry, the school in the village of Chaisubani in the Chokhatauri district was named in honor of writer Nodar Dumbadze, while the Tetritskaro village school was named after Tsar David the Builder.

Recall that Professor Ismayil Mursagulov was a scientist at the Sumgayit Institute of Polymer Materials and became a victim of the massacre on January 24 while heading to work together with his colleagues Ibrahim Ibrahimov and Svetlana Mammadova. He passed away at the age of 50 on February 3 and was laid to rest at the Alley of Martyrs in Baku.