APersonIndependent states
Magtymguly Pyragy
The great poet and thinker of the Turkmen people (c. 1724–1807), founder of written Turkmen literature.
Magtymguly, son of the poet Döwletmämmet Azady, was born in the Turkmen lands of today's north-eastern Iran and studied at madrasas in Bukhara and Khiva, writing under the pen name Pyragy ("the one apart").
His poems are in a plain Turkmen close to the people's speech and call the quarrelling Turkmen tribes to unity, justice and love of the homeland — a call that later became a symbol of Turkmen national consciousness.
He is ranked with Yunus Emre, Navoi and Fuzuli among the great poets of the Turkic world. His 300th anniversary in 2024 was celebrated in Turkmenistan and many other countries, and a monument to him stands in Ashgabat.
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Updated: October 3, 2026