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The Legend of Sumgayit

City Takes Its Name from a Legend of Love

A city doesn't have to be ancient to be associated with a legend. In Azerbaijan, even comparatively new towns and settlements are named after old stories and legends. Sumgayit, located about 30 miles away from Baku on the northern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, is the third largest city in Azerbaijan (after Baku and Ganja). It was built 50 years ago and has an estimated population of 300,000. The city's name refers to the legend of two lovers who lived by a nearby river.


The story's setting takes place on the banks of the river near which a tribal group had settled. Central to so many stories throughout the world is a love story and so it is with this legend. A young man named Sum and a young woman named Jeyran fell deeply in love with each other. Their tribe was doing quite well, getting most of their food by fishing in the river. However, one morning the people were horrified to see that the river had completely dried up. Since the river had its source high up in the mountains, the tribesmen decided to send the strongest and most courageous man to go up and see what had happened. And so it was that Sum was chosen for this dangerous mission.


Sum climbed and climbed until he reached the top of the highest mountain. Then he discovered what the problem was. A terrible monster had dammed up the river with a huge boulder. A fierce battle ensued and eventually Sum managed to overcome the beast and strangle it to death. Then he went over to the boulder and pushed it out of the way, but the force of the water swallowed him up and his body was swept downstream. As the water carried him away, only his hand could be seen sticking up above the surface of the water. That's why this mountain where Sum carried out his heroic deed is called "Beshbarmag" Mountain, which means "Five Fingers." Its five tall peaks look like the hero's fingers.


But the river began flowing again and everything returned to normal. The tribe was saved. Everyone was happy again except, of course, for Jeyran. She missed Sum terribly. Every day she would go down to the river and call for her beloved to return. In Azeri, her cry sounded like, "Sum Gayid!" (Sum, Come back). And that's how the river that Sum saved came to be called, "Sumgayit Chay" ("chay," meaning river). And the city that was built there shortly after WWII was named Sumgayit. It became Azerbaijan's largest chemical and industrial center.

Jeyran-Batan

But that's not the end of the story. When Jeyran realized that Sum would never come back, she started to cry and eventually she, too, died, drowning in her own tears. The place where this is supposed to have happened is called Jeyran-Batan, which in Azeri means, "The place where Jeyran drowned." Today, there is a reservoir there which supplies the city of Baku with water. This reservoir was created about the same time that the city of Sumgayit was built. So the names of both places can be traced to olden times and are bound up with the same legend.

( Fuad Akhundov, Azerbaijan International)


General Information

SumqayitSumqayitSumqayitSumqayitSumqayitSumqayit,  formerly Sumgait, city in eastern Azerbaijan, about 39 km (about 24 mi.) north of Baku, the capital.  Population (1989) 300,000. Sumqayit is located at the mouth of the Sumqayit River, where it empties into the Caspian Sea. Sumqayit was founded in 1944 as an industrial center to support Soviet engagement in World War II.  It rapidly developed into a major chemical and metallurgical center, using petroleum from the Absheron Peninsula around Baku and natural gas from the Karadag gas fields southwest of Baku. The natural gas deposits around Karadag recently have been depleted.  Sumqayit also is a major steel producer, and supplies about 40 percent of the steel for Caucasia.  Sumqayit's steel, made from scrap, is used to construct oil pipelines. An aluminum plant built in 1955 in Sumqayit uses bauxite ores shipped in from the Ural Mountains of Russia. Because of the large deposits of salts nearby and the availability of cheap hydroelectricity, Sumqayit is a major producer of sodium hydroxide (also known as caustic soda or lye), used in the manufacture of chemicals and soaps and in petroleum refining. Industries in Sumqayit also produce synthetic rubber, fertilizers, detergents, and petrochemicals.

Fighting broke out between Azeri and Armenian residents of the city in 1988 as part of the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh  in western Azerbaijan.

Currently  one -fourth of Azerbaijan territory occupied by Armenians.


Business

  • SK  Synthetic Rubber Company

  • Organic Syntheses Corporation

  • Sumgait Compressor Company

  • Azerkimya -- Chemistry Association of Sumgait


Banks

Amanet Bank 
Joint stock bank 
9th Quarter, 11 Dostlug Street
Sumgait,  Azerbaijan  373204 
Tel: 2-00-38, 5-66-14 

Azerdemiryolbank 
Joint stock bank 
5 Samad Vurghun Street
Sumgait,  Azerbaijan  373200 
Mobile: (8-50) 213-33-08 

Industrial Investment Bank 
Joint stock commercial bank 
40th Quarter, Jafar Jabbarly Street
 Sumgait, Azerbaijan  373204 
Tel: 2-23-75
Tel/Fax: 2-04-74 

International Bank of Azerbaijan 
14th Quarter, 112 Samad Vurghun Street
Sumgait,  Azerbaijan  373204 
Tel/Fax: 2-20-55 

Parabank 

Joint stock bank 
5th Microdistrict
Sumgait, Azerbaijan  373200 
Tel/Fax: 2-12-76 

Sumgait Social Investment Bank 

Merchant / investment bank 
4 Jafar Jabbarly Street
Sumgait,  Azerbaijan  373204 
Tel: 2-00-42, 2-18-39 

The Caucasus Development Bank 

Joint stock commercial bank 
120 Samad Vurghun Street
Sumgait,  Azerbaijan  373204 
Tel: 5-13-73
Fax: 5-90-03
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