Azərbaycan Demokratik Respublikası
Azerbaijan Democratic Republic

Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Odlar Yurdu Land of the Eternal Fire
Anthem: Azərbaycan Respublikasının Dövlət Himni March of Azerbaijan
Location of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic
Map of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic as presented at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. It should be noted that this map presented by the government of the ADR does not accurately depict the territorial disputes with the Democratic Republic of Armenia, the Democratic Republic of Georgia, or the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus and the areas that were administered by these short-lived states.
Capital	Ganja, Baku
Largest city	Baku
Official language	Azerbaijani
Government Speaker Prime Ministers	Parliamentary democracy Mammed Amin Rasulzade, Mammad-Yusif Jafarov Fatali Khan Khoyski, Nasib-bey Usubbeyov (Yussifbeyli)
Independence - Declared - Formerly	From the Russian Empire May 28, 1918 Transcaucasian Federation
Population	ca 3,0 million

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History of Azerbaijan
Prehistory Stone Age  • Bronze Age  • Iron Age Shulaveri–Shomu culture c.6000–c.4000 BC Chalcolithic culture of Nakhchivan c.4945–c.3800 BC Leyla-Tepe culture c.4350–c.4000 BC Kura–Araxes culture c.3400–c.2000 BC Nakhchivan culture c.3000–c.2000 BC Talish–Mughan culture c.1400–c.700 BC Khojaly–Gadabay culture c.1300–c.700 BC
Antiquity Kingdom of Iškuza c.700 BC–c.590s BC Achaemenid Empire 550 BC–330 BC       • Satrapy of Media c.550 BC – 323 BC Seleucid Empire 312 BC – 63 BC Parthian Empire 247 BC – AD 224 Caucasian Albania c.200 BC – c.AD 800 Roman Empire 27 BC – AD 395
Early Middle Ages Sasanian Empire 224–651       • Satrapy of Albania c.252–636 Khazar Khaganate c.650–969 Rashidun Caliphate 632–661       • Islamic conquest 633–654       • Arran c.650–705 Umayyad Caliphate 661–750       • Arran c.650–705       • Emirate of Arminiya 705–884 Abbasid Caliphate 750–1258       • Emirate of Arminiya 705–884 Shirvanshahs 861–1538 Sajids 889–929 Shaddadids 951–1199 Sallarid dynasty 919–1062
High Middle Ages Seljuk Empire 1037–1194 Khwarazmian Empire 1077–1231 Eldiguzids 1135–1225 Mongol Empire 1206–1368 Ilkhanate 1256–1335 Chobanids 1335–1357 Timurid Empire 1370–1507 Qara Qoyunlu 1374–1468 Aq Qoyunlu 1378–1503
Early modern history Safavid Iran 1501–1736       • Safavid Shirvan 1501–1736       • Safavid Karabakh 1501–1747       • Chokhur-e Sa'd 1502–1736 Ottoman Empire 1299–1922       • Shirvan Eyalet [az] 1578–1607       • Ganja-Qarabagh Eyalet (I) [az] 1588–1606       • Revan Eyalet (I) [az] 1583–1604           • Nakhchivan Sanjak (I) [az] 1583–1604       • Ganja-Qarabagh Eyalet (II) [az] 1725–1735       • Revan Eyalet (II) [az] 1724–1736           • Nakhchivan Sanjak (II) [az] 1724–1736       • Tiflis Eyalet (II) [az] 1723–1735           • Kazak Sanjak (II) [az] 1723–1735 Afsharid Iran 1736–1796       • Division of Afsharid Empire 1747 Khanates of the Caucasus 1604–1844       • Elisu Sultanate 1604–1844       • Kazakh sultanate 1605–1801       • Djaro-Belokani c.1600s–c.1800s       • Shaki Khanate 1743–1819       • Ganja Khanate 1747–1805       • Talysh Khanate 1747–1828       • Nakhichevan Khanate 1747–1828       • Qutqashen Sultanate 1747–1841       • Baku Khanate 1747–1806       • Shamshadil sultanate 1747–1801       • Quba Khanate 1747–1806       • Karabakh Khanate 1748–1822           • Treaty of Kurakchay 1805       • Shirvan Khanate 1748–1820 Zand dynasty 1751–1794 Qajar Iran 1789–1925       • Fourth Russo-Persian War 1804–1813           • Treaty of Gulistan 1813       • Fifth Russo-Persian War 1826–1828           • Treaty of Turkmenchay 1828 Russian Empire 1721–1917       • Second Russo-Persian War 1722–1723       • Caucasus Viceroyalty 1801–1917           • Baku Governorate 1846–1920           • Erivan Governorate 1849–1917           • Zakatal okrug 1859–1918           • Elizavetpol Governorate 1867–1920       • Special Transcaucasian Committee 1917
Modern history Transcaucasian Commissariat 1917–1918       • March Days 1918 Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic 1918 Baku Commune 1918 Centrocaspian Dictatorship 1918 Republic of Aras 1918–1919 Mughan Soviet Republic 1919 Azerbaijan Democratic Republic 1918 - 1920       • Armenian–Azerbaijani War 1918–1920           • Battle of Baku 1918       • Red Army invasion of Azerbaijan 1920 Azerbaijan Socialist Soviet Republic 1920–1922       • Treaty of Kars 1921 Soviet Union 1922–1991       • Transcaucasian SFSR 1922–1936           • Azerbaijan SSR 1922–1936       • Azerbaijan SSR 1936–1991           • World War II 1941–1945           • Black January 1990       • Republic of Azerbaijan 1991
Contemporary history Republic of Azerbaijan 1991–present       • I Nagorno-Karabakh War 1988–1994           • Bishkek Protocol 1994       • II Nagorno-Karabakh War 2020           • Ceasefire Agreement 2020
Topics Name Heads of state Genetic history Economic history Military history Jewish history Wars
Historical regions Sakasene Utik Arran Cambysene Gardman Shirvan Maskut Mughan Balasagan Caspiane Paytakaran
Azerbaijan portal

Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR; Azerbaijani : Azərbaycan Xalq Cümhuriyyəti) was the first modern establishment of an Azerbaijani republic. It was founded on May 28 1918, with Ganja as its capital. The ADR proclaimed itself a sovereign and independent country after the collapse of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic. It was the first democratic and secular state in the Islamic world (predating the Republic of Turkey). Furthermore, its democratic standards were higher than that of many western democracies of the time (in Azerbaijan, women voted for the first time during the Russian Constituent Assembly election on November 25, 1917. At the same time, in most of the western countries, women had no right to vote; including United States).

Much like its other counterparts in the Caucasus, the ADR's early years of existence were plagued with territorial disputes. In particular, these included disputes with Armenia (Nakhichevan, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Zangezur (today the Armenian province of Syunik)), Georgia (Balakan, Zaqatala, and Qakh) and the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus (Derbent). On 12 January 1920 at the Paris (Versailles) Peace Conference the Supreme Council of the Allied Powers de-facto recognized the independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Due to occupation and cessation of the existence of ADR on 27-28 April 1920, the application for de jure recognition and membership in the League of Nations, made on 1 November 1920, was turned down on 24 November 1920. Nevertheless, in 1918-1920, the Republic of Azerbaijan had diplomatic relations with a number of states. Agreements on the principles of mutual relations were signed with some of them; sixteen states established their missions in Baku.^[1]

Controversy

Historically, the territory of the ADR was called Arran, a term thought to be derive from the name of the leader who founded the Albanian kingdom in the Caucasus. Azerbaijan was historically the name of north west Iran, which still goes by the name.

With the collapse of Tsarist Russia in 1917, the pan-Turanist Turkish Democratic Musavat Party, along with other groups, came together to form the Transcaucasian Federative Republic. The republic did not last long as the Armenians and Georgians split to create their own independent states. With this break up, the Turkish Democratic Musavat Party met in Tbilisi on May 27,1918 to create their own state. The name they chose for their new nation was Azerbaijan, although the name change was protested against by both Russian and Iranian scholars, in hopes of claiming north western Iran.

Although many Russian scholars protested against changing the name from Arran to Azerbaijan, siting that the name change was politically motivated, the Bolsheviks, who had taken power in Russia, re-conquered the Caucasus and kept the name Azerbaijan, in hopes of later adding north western Iran into the Soviet Union.^[2][3]

Politics of the ADR

Political life in ADR was dominated by Musavat (Equality) Party, the local winner of the Constituent Assembly elections of 1917. First parliament of the republic opened on December 5, 1918. Musavat had 38 of its members in the parliament that consisted of 125 deputies. The republic was governed by five cabinets, all formed by a coalition of the Musavat and other parties including the Socialist Bloc, the Independents, the Liberals, the Social-Democratic Party Hummat (or Endeavor) Party and the Conservative Ittihad (Union) Party. The premier in the first three cabinets was Fatali Khan Khoyski; in the last two, Nasib Yusufbayli. The president of the parliament, Alimardan Topchubashev, was recognized as the head of state. In this capacity he represented Azerbaijan at the Versailles Paris Peace Conference in 1919.

The first Prime Minister of ADR, Fatali Khan Khoyski established close ties with Turkey, Azerbaijan's traditional ally (during the period of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic, Ottoman Turkey supported Azerbaijan, Germany supported Georgia and Great Britain supported Armenia ).

The ADR government always remained neutral on the issue of Russian Civil War and never sided with the Red or White Army.

The fight for Baku

The city of Baku became the capital of the ADR only in September, 1918 (until that time the Azeri National Government was first in Tblisi, then in Ganja); previously, the city was in many different hands. Following the October Revolution, a government of the local Soviet was established in Baku: the so-called Baku Commune (November 1917 - 31 July 1918). The Commune was formed by 85 Social Revolutionaries and Left Social Revolutionaries, 48 Bolsheviks, 36 Dashnaks, 18 Musavatists and 13 Mensheviks. Stepan Shaumyan, a Bolshevik, and Prokopius Dzhaparidze, a leftist SR, were elected Chairmen of the Council of People's Commissioners of the Commune of Baku. The Baku Soviet was at odds with emergent Transcausian Federation and was supportive of Bolshevik governments in most areas, except peace treaty with Ottoman Empire. Uneasy truce existed between different faction, until Treaty of Brest-Litovsk exposed weakness of the coalition.

In March 1918, ethnic and religious tension grew and the Armenian-Azeri conflict in Baku began. Musavat and Ittihad parties were accused of Pan-Turkism by Bolsheviks and their allies. Muslim militia engaged in armed confrontation with the forces of the ruling Baku Soviet. All the non-Azeri political groups of the city joined the Bolsheviks against the Muslims: Bolsheviks, Dashnaks, Social Revolutionaries, Mensheviks and even the anti-bolshevik Kadets found themselves for the first time on the same side of the barricade. As a result, between 3,000 and 3,500 Muslims were killed. ^{[4] [5]} Muslims were expelled from Baku, or went underground. At the same time the Baku Commune was involved in heavy fighting with the advancing Ottoman Caucasian Army of Islam in and around Ganja. Major battles occurred in Yevlakh and Agdash, where the Turks routed and defeated Dashnak and Russian forces.

In the summer of 1918, the Dashnaks, together with the SRs and the Mensheviks, expelled the Bolsheviks, who refused to ask for British support, and founded the Centro Caspian Dictatorship (1 August 1918 - 15 September 1918). The CCD was supported by the British who sent an expeditionary force to Baku to help the Armenians and the Mensheviks. Fleeing the coup, The 26 Baku Commissars of the Soviet Commune were captured by British troops in Turkmenistan and executed by a firing squad. The purpose of the British forces (led by Major General Lionel Dunsterville, who arrived from Persia's Enzeli at the head of a 1,000-strong elite force) was to seize the oil fields in Baku ahead of Enver Pasha's advancing Turkish troops (Army of Islam) or the Kaiser's German troops (who were in neighboring Georgia) and to block a Bolshevik consolidation in the Caucasus and Central Asia.

Unable to resist advancing Turkish troops, Dunsterville ordered the evacuation of the city on September 14, after six weeks of occupation, and withdrew to Iran; most of the Armenian population escaped with British forces. The Ottoman Army of Islam and its Azeri allies, led by Nuri Pasha, entered Baku on September 15 and slaughtered between 10,000 - 20,000 Armenians. ^{[6] [7]} The capital of the ADR was finally moved from Ganja to Baku. However, after the armistice of Mudros between Great Britain and Turkey on October 30, Turkish troops were substituted by the Allies of World War I. Headed by British general W. Thomson, who had declared himself the military governor of Baku, 5,000 Commonwealth soldiers arrived in Baku on November 17, 1918. By General Thomson's order, martial law was implemented in Baku.

Fight for survival

The ADR found itself in a difficult position, hemmed in from the north by advancing Denikin forces, unfriendly Iran in the south; the British administration was not hostile but indifferent to the plight of Muslims. General Thomson initially did not recognize the Republic ^{[citation needed]} but tacitly cooperated with it. Qajar Iran objected to Azerbaijan's independence, and protested the chosen name for the republic.^{[citation needed]}By mid-1919 the situation in Azerbaijan had more or less stabilized, and British forces left in August 19, 1919.

This made the ADR pursue a neutral policy with regards to the Russian Civil War. On June 16, 1919, the ADR and Georgia signed a defensive treaty against the White troops of General Anton Denikin's Volunteer Army who were threatening to start an offensive on their borders. Denikin concluded a secret military pact with Armenia. The Republic of Armenia with its forces formed the 7th corps of Denikin's army and gained military support from the White Movement. This fact increased the tension between the ADR and Armenia. However, the war never materialized as by January 1920, Denikin's army was completely defeated by the XI Red Army, that later started to concentrate its troops on Azerbaijan's borders.

Armenia and Azerbaijan were engaged in fighting over Karabakh for some part of 1919. The fighting increased in intensity by February 1920 and martial law was introduced in Karabakh, which was enforced by the newly formed National Army, led by general Samedbey Mehmandarov.

End of ADR

By March 1920, it was obvious that Soviet Russia would attack the much-needed Baku. Vladimir Lenin said that the invasion was justified by the fact that Soviet Russia couldn't survive without Baku oil. According to prevailing opinion in Moscow, Russian Bolsheviks were to assist Baku proletariat in overthrowing the "counter-revolutionary nationalists."

After major political crisis, the Fifth Cabinet of Ministers of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic gave its resignations on April 1, 1920. On April 25, 1920, the Russian XI Red Army crossed into Azerbaijan and entered Baku on April 27. They demanded the dissolution of Azerbaijani Parliament (Majlis) and set up their own Bolshevik government headed by Nariman Narimanov. The deputies obliged to do so to avoid bloodshed, and on April 28, 1920, the ADR officially ceased to exist. The Red Army met very little resistance from Azerbaijani forces in Baku, which were tied up on Karabakh front.

In May 1920, there was a major uprising against the occupying Russian XI Army in Ganja, intent on restoring Musavatists in power. The uprising was crushed by the Bolsheviks by May 31. Leaders of the ADR either fled to Menshevik Georgia, Turkey and Iran, or were captured by Bolsheviks, like Mammed Amin Rasulzade (who was later allowed to emmigrate) and executed (like Gen. Selimov, Gen. Sulkevich, Gen. Agalarov, a total of over 20 generals)[2], or assassinated by Armenian militants like Fatali Khan Khoyski and Behbudagha Javanshir.[3] Most students and citizens travelling abroad remained in those countries never to return again to their country.

Despite existing for only two short years, the multiparty Azerbaijani Parliamentary republic and the coalition governments managed to achieve a number of measures on national and state building, education, creation of an army, independent financial and economic systems, international recognition of the ADR as a de facto state pending de jure recognition, official recognitions and diplomatic relations with a number of states, preparing of a Constitution, equal rights for all, etc. This has laid an important foundation for the re-establishment of independence in 1991.

Footnotes

See also

• Gulistan Treaty
• Turkmanchai Treaty
• Kurekchay Treaty
• History of Azerbaijan
• Azerbaijan
• Aftermath of World War I
• Democratic Republic of Georgia
• Democratic Republic of Armenia

External links

• Account of British Force in Baku
• Monuments of ADR Prime Minister to be erected in Paris
• Chronology of Major Events (1918-1920)