of the name "Kurban Said" was totally accidental—the result of a misunderstanding—which later became a private joke between him and Essad Bey. According to Vacca, the incident took place in Turkey during the festival of kurban Bayrami, the religious Muslim Festival of Sacrifice (Eid), which is commemorated annually to acknowledge God's mercy in providing Abraham with a ram as a substitute sacrifice for his son Ismayil. Vacca described the scenario as follows: 1936. A lecture hall in the National Library of Istanbul (Old City). He and Essad Bey had set aside four days to work together on "Ali and Nino." Essad Bey was conversing with someone when Vacca arrived. "I addressed them both with the greeting, "Kurban Said," which Vacca explained, means "Happy Kurban Holiday." Vacca continued: It turned out that it was a foreigner—a tourist—who had been talking with Essad Bey. He misunderstood the custom and thought I was introducing myself as "Kurban Said." And so the foreigner had smiled and replied: "Nice to meet you, Mr. Kurban Said." "Ever since then, Essad Bey jokingly called me 'Kurban Said,' and when he was looking for a pseudonym for the novel, he asked me if he could use it and I agreed." Objections Others, however, have objected to Vacca's claims. For example, Azerbaijan International shows that from a cultural point of view, Vacca's claims do not stand up to scrutiny. There is no greeting, "Kuban Said" or "Gurban Said," in any of the countries which celebrate this holiday – not in Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iran, or other Turkic-speaking or Islamic countries in Central Asia, or Arabic-speaking countries. And since this holiday Gurban Bayrami was and still is the biggest holiday in Turkey, all libraries would have been closed. Furthermore, other than Vacca's account, there is no proof that Essad Bey had even gone to Istanbul to work on the novel. Nor is there any other witness claiming that Vacca had been involved at all with editing "Ali and Nino." References Notes External links Covers of Ali and Nino translated into more than 30 languages. Who Wrote Azerbaijan's Most Famous Novel – Ali and Nino, The Business of Literature." in Azerbaijan International, Vol. 15:2–4 (2011). 364 pages. Available in Azeri or English . What People are saying about Azerbaijan International's research about the Authorship of Ali and Nino. Paul Goble, "Not Just a Question of Authorship: A Literary Excavation into "Ali and