Press of Azerbaijan and humor: Semiotic analysis of Molla Nasreddin magazine's drawing

The national, civil and intellectual awaekening of a nation had a major role at the press. The press, which served for the development of the public in the social sophere, and the raising of education and culture levels, was also one of the basic tools of communication with the society. Molla Nasreddin magazine had an important role in the development of social political ideas. The magazine is the first humor magazine of Azerbaijan and it is a valuable magazine that deals with the general problems of national struggle and society. Molla Nasreddin started to be published in Tbilisi in 1906 and his publishing life continued until 1931. The publication period of the journal covers three periods: Tbilisi, 1906-1917, Tabriz in 1921 and Baku in 1922-1931. The time - time was closed by Tsarist Russia, but the magazine managed to continue its publication life for twenty-five years. The editor of the journal was Celil Memmedkuluzade. The author, who made great efforts to continue his publication in the formation of the journal, was the intellectual father of Molla Nasreddin. Addressing the problems of society by using black humor, the magazine addresses the problems of women in society and language, religion and education, and looks for solutions to these problems. In the research, the first newspaper works in the Azerbaijani media were examined, the publication of the first national newspaper, Ekinçi newspaper, and the activities of newspapers and magazines published from Ekinçi to Molla Nasreddin magazine were evaluated. In addition, Molla Nasreddin's process of formation, the main topics covered by the journal were discussed, Mirze Celil and Molla Nasreddinci's speech on the press struggles were analyzed. At the same time, the formation of the element of humor in the history of Azerbaijan was dealing with and semiotic analysis of certain cartoons including "women" and "religion and education" was made. Keywords: Humor, Cartoon, National Awakening, Modernization of Education, Fight Against Supersatition