Israfil Suleyman oglu Mammadov was born on 8 November 1927 in Amrakar village of Meghri district of Western Azerbaijan. After graduating from secondary school in 1943-1944 he worked as a teacher in the neighbouring village of Vartanizor. In 1944-1948 he worked in various positions in the Komsomol Committee of Meghri district, in the editorial office of the regional newspaper, and in 1948-1951 he was elected the first secretary of Meghri District Committee of Youth of Armenia. At the same time he edited materials in the Azerbaijani language in the editorial office of Meghri regional newspaper – “Kolkhoznoe Selo” and in radio programmes. In 1952-1955 I. Mammadov studied at the three-year party school under the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia, and in 1954 graduated from the History Department of the Azerbaijan State Pedagogical Institute in absentia. From 1956-1987 he was assistant editor, head of the Party and Propaganda Department, executive secretary, deputy editor of “Sovetskaya Armenia” newspaper, from 1987-1989 he was deputy minister of education of the Armenian SSR, from 1989-1990 he was editor of “Sovetskaya Armenia” newspaper. At the same time, he was a member of the Party Commission under the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia, the Presidium of the “Znanie” Society of the Armenian SSR, and the Central Council of the Peace Protection Committee of the Armenian SSR.

In 1972, he defended his PhD thesis on “The History of Azerbaijani Press in Armenia”. From 1964 he taught at the Iravan Pedagogical University.

From 1991 he was the head of the “Armenian Editorial Office” of the Azerbaijan State TV and Radio Company.

Later he was head of the Department of Deportation and Genocide of Azerbaijanis at the Department of National Relations and the Institute of History of ANAS.

He is the author of more than 20 books on genocide, deportation of Azerbaijanis, history of press and history of public opinion.

By the decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan of 25 May 2012, as one of the authors of the monograph “Iravan Khanate”, he was awarded the title of a laureate of the State Prize in the field of science.

Israfil Mammadov passed away on 25 June 2019 in Baku.