Mahammad Amin Akhund Haji Molla Alakbar oghlu Rasulzade (31 January 1884 – 6 March 1955) was an Azerbaijani politician, journalist and the head of the

Azerbaijani National Council Azerbaijani National Council () was the first delegated legislative body of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR) from 27 May 1918 to 17 June 1918 and again from 16 November 1918 to 3 December 1918. It was succeeded by the ''Parliament'' (), a ...

. He is mainly considered the founder of

Azerbaijan Democratic Republic The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (), also known as the Azerbaijan People's Republic (; ), was the first secular democracy, democratic republic in the Turkic peoples, Turkic and Muslim worlds. *Tadeusz Swietochowski. ''Russia and Azerbaijan: ...

in 1918 and the father of its statehood. His expression "" ("The flag once raised shall never fall!") became the motto of the independence movement in Azerbaijan in the early 20th century.

Early life

Born on 31 January 1884 to

Akhund Akhund () is a Persian language, Persian title or surname for Islamic scholars, common in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Azerbaijan. Other names for similar Muslim Scholar include Sheikh and Mullah. The Standard Chin ...

Haji Hajji (; sometimes spelled Hajjeh, Hadji, Haji, Alhaji, Al-Hadj, Al-Haj or El-Hajj) is an honorific title which is given to a Muslim who has successfully completed the Hajj to Mecca. Etymology ''Hajji'' is derived from the Arabic ' (), which ...

Molla Alakbar Rasulzadeh in Novkhany, near

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

, Mahammad Amin Rasulzade received his education at the Russian-Muslim Secondary School and then at the

Technical College An institute of technology (also referred to as technological university, technical university, university of technology, polytechnic university) is an institution of tertiary education that specializes in engineering, technology, applied science ...

in Baku. In his years of study he created ''"Muslim Youth Organisation Musavat",'' the first secret organisation in Azerbaijan's contemporary history, and beginning from 1903 Rasulzade began writing articles in various opposition newspapers and magazines. At that time, his anti-monarchist platform and his demands for the national autonomy of

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

, aligned him with

Social Democrats Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...

and future

Communists Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...

. In 1904 he founded the first Muslim social-democrat organisation "

Hummet The Muslim Social Democratic Party, usually referred to as Hummet (), was a political party in South Caucasus. In 1920, it merged with the Baku communist group Adalat ( 'Justice') to form the first Communist Party of Azerbaijan. "Old" Hummet (1 ...

" and became editor-in-chief of its newspapers, ''Takamul'' (1906–1907) and ''Yoldash'' (1907). Rasulzade also published many articles in non-partisan newspapers such as ''Hayat'', ''Irshad'', and the journal ''Fuyuzat''. His dramatic play titled ''The Lights in the Darkness'' was staged in

in 1908. Rasulzade and his co-workers were representatives of the Azerbaijani intelligentsia. Most of them, including Rasulzade himself, had been members of the Baku organization of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers' Party (

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

) in 1905. A photograph is extant in Soviet archives, showing Rasulzade with Prokopius Dzhaparidze and

Meshadi Azizbekov Mashadi Azizbey oghlu Azizbeyov, also spelled Azizbekov (; ; January 6, 1876 - September 20, 1918) was a Soviet Union, Soviet revolutionary of Azerbaijani people, Azerbaijani origin, leader of the revolutionary movement in Azerbaijan, one of the ...

, Bolsheviks who later became famous as two of the

26 Baku Commissars The 26 Baku Commissars were Bolshevik and Left SR, Left Socialist Revolutionary (SR) members of the Baku Commune. The commune was established in the city of Baku, which was then the capital of the briefly independent Azerbaijan Democratic Repub ...

shot during the civil war. During the

First Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution of 1905, also known as the First Russian Revolution, was a revolution in the Russian Empire which began on 22 January 1905 and led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy under the Russian Constitution of 1906, t ...

(1905–1907), Rasulzade actively participated in revolutionary developments. As the story goes, it was Rasulzade who saved young

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

in 1905 in

, when police were searching for the latter as an active instigator of riots. In 1909, under the persecution from

Tsarist Tsarist autocracy (), also called Tsarism, was an autocracy, a form of absolute monarchy in the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire. In it, the Tsar possessed in principle authority and ...

authorities, Rasulzade fled

to participate in the

Iranian Constitutional Revolution The Persian Constitutional Revolution (, or ''Enghelāb-e Mashrūteh''), also known as the Constitutional Revolution of Iran, took place between 1905 and 1911 during the Qajar era. The revolution led to the establishment of a parliament in I ...

of 1905–1911. While in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, Rasulzade edited ''Iran-e Azad'', or "Independent Iran", newspaper, became one of the founders of Democrat Party of Persia and began publishing its newspaper Iran-e Now which means "New Iran" and which has been described as "the greatest, most important and best known of the Persian newspapers, and the first to appear in the large size usual in Europe". In 1911, Rasulzade also published his book "''Saadet-e bashar''" ("Happiness of Mankind") in defense of the revolution. Rasulzade was fluent in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

. After

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

troops entered

in 1911 and, in cooperation with

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

, assisted Qajar Court to put an end to Iranian Constitutional Revolution, Rasulzade fled to

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, then capital of

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. Here, in the wake of

Young Turk Revolution The Young Turk Revolution (July 1908; ) was a constitutionalist revolution in the Ottoman Empire. Revolutionaries belonging to the Internal Committee of Union and Progress, an organization of the Young Turks movement, forced Sultan Abdul Hamid II ...

, Rasulzade founded a journal called ''

Türk Yurdu ''Türk Yurdu'' is a monthly Turkish magazine that was first published on the 30 November 1911. It was an important magazine propagating Pan-Turkism. It was founded by Yusuf Akçura, Ahmet Ağaoğlu, Ali bey Huseynzade, Ali Hüseynzade. Ziya Gö ...

'' (''The Land of Turks''), in which he published his famous article "İran Türkleri" about the Iranian Turks.

The Musavat Party and Azerbaijan Democratic Republic

Opening of the Parliament of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic

After the Amnesty Act of 1913, dedicated to the

300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty The Romanov Tercentenary () was a country-wide celebration, marked in the Russian Empire from February 1913, in celebration of the ruling House of Romanov. After a grand display of wealth and power in St. Petersburg, and a week of receptions at ...

, Rasulzade returned to

, left the Hummet party he was previously member of, and joined the then secret

Musavat The Müsavat Party (, from ''musāwāt'', ) is the oldest existing political party in Azerbaijan. Its history can be divided into three periods: Early Musavat, Musavat-in-exile and New Musavat. The party was prohibited from contesting the 1995 ...

(Equality) party in 1913, established in 1911, which initially promoted pan-Islamist,

pan-Turkist Pan-Turkism () or Turkism () is a political movement that emerged during the 1880s among Turkic intellectuals who lived in the Russian region of Kazan (Tatarstan), South Caucasus (modern-day Azerbaijan) and the Ottoman Empire (modern-day Turkey) ...

and Socialist ideas, or more precisely

Pan-Islamism Pan-Islamism () is a political movement which advocates the unity of Muslims under one Islamic country or state – often a caliphate – or an international organization with Islamic principles. Historically, after Ottomanism, which aimed at ...

yet with affinity for greater cultural bonds with the Turkic world, and which eventually became Azerbaijani nationalist party, and quickly became its chief. In 1915 he started to publish the party's newspaper "''Açıq Söz''" (Open word) which lasted until 1918. When the

February Revolution The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...

happened, Musavat together with other secret political parties in the Russian Empire, were quickly legalized and became a leading party of Caucasian Muslims after it merged with Party of Turkic Federalists headed by

Nasib Yusifbeyli Nasib bey Yusif bey oghlu Yusifbeyli () or Usubbeyov ( ; 5 July 1881 – 31 May 1920) was an Azerbaijani publicist, statesman and major political figure in the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. Early years Nasib bey Yusifbeyli was born in 1881 in ...

. The

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

in 1917 lead to the secession of

Transcaucasia The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and West Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Armenia, ...

from Russia and Rasulzade became head of Muslim faction in the Seym, the parliament of the Transcaucasian Federation. After the dissolution of the Transcaucasian Federation, the Muslim faction re-organized into the

, whose head Rasulzade was unanimously elected in May 1918. On 28 May 1918 the

, headed by Rasulzade, declared an independent Azerbaijan Republic. Rasulzade also initiated the establishment of

Baku State University Baku State University (BSU) (BDU; ) is a public university located in Baku, Azerbaijan. Established on 1 September 1919 by the Parliament of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the university started with faculties of history and philology, physics ...

together with

Rashid Khan Gaplanov Rashid Khan Zavid oghlu Gaplanov (', , '; 1883–1937), also known as Rashit-han Gaplanov, was a North Caucasian-Azerbaijani statesman of Kumyk ethnicity who served as the Minister of Finance and Minister of Education and Religious Affairs in th ...

, minister of education with the funding of oil baron Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev in 1919. Rasulzade taught

Ottoman literature Turkish literature () comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Turkish language. The Ottoman Turkish, Ottoman form of Turkish, which forms the basis of much of the written corpus, was highly influenced by Persian literature, Persi ...

at the university. After the collapse of

in April 1920, Rasulzade left Baku and went into hiding in the mountainous village of

Lahıc, Ismailli Lahıc ( Azerbaijani: Lahıc, Tat: ''Löhij'') is a village and municipality on the southern slopes of Greater Caucasus within the Ismailli Rayon of Azerbaijan. Population is approximately 860 people who speak the Tat language, also known as Ta ...

to direct the resistance to Sovietization. But in August 1920, after the Soviet Russian army crushed the rebellions of

Ganja ''Ganja'' (, ; ) is one of the oldest and most commonly used synonyms for cannabis flower, specifically marijuana or hashish. Its usage in English dates to before 1689. Etymology ''Ganja'' is borrowed from Hindi (, IPA: �aːɲd͡ʒa� ...

Karabakh Karabakh ( ; ) is a geographic region in southwestern Azerbaijan and eastern Armenia, extending from the highlands of the Lesser Caucasus down to the lowlands between the rivers Kura and Aras. It is divided into three regions: Highland Kara ...

, Zagatala and

Lankaran Lankaran (, ) or Lánkon () is a city in Azerbaijan, on the coast of the Caspian Sea, near the southern border with Iran. As of 2021, the city had a population of 89,300. It is next to, but independent of, Lankaran District. The city forms a disti ...

, led by ex-officers of the Azerbaijani National Army, Rasulzade was arrested and brought to Baku. It was only due to an earlier rescue of Joseph Stalin, as Rasulzade hid Stalin from the police, that Rasulzade was released and transferred from Azerbaijan to Russia. For the next two years, Rasulzade worked as the press representative at the Commissariat on Nations in Moscow. He was seconded to

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

in 1922 from where he escaped to

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

Exile

For the rest of his life, Rasulzade lived in exile first in Turkey. Between 1923 and 1927, he was an editor-in-chief of the magazine called ''

Yeni Kafkasya ''Yeni Kafkasya'' () The journal first published by Azerbaijani emigrants living in the Republic of Turkey. Starting its publication on September 26, 1923, in Istanbul under the organization of Mahammad Amin Rasulzade, M. A. Resulzade, the “Y ...

'' (Turkish: ''New Caucasus'') which was suspended by the Kemalist government by the request of Moscow. Rasulzade continued to publish various articles, newspapers, and magazines from 1928 until 1931 in Turkey. However, the 1931 suppression of the emigre publications coincided with Rasulzade's expulsion from Turkey, and some saw it as the result of caving in to Soviet pressure. In exile Rasulzade published a pamphlet titled ''O Pantiurkizme v sviazi s kavkazskoi problemoi'' (''О Пантюркизме в связи с кавказской проблемой'', Pan-Turkism with regard to the Caucasian problem), in which he firmly stated his view: Pan-Turkism was a cultural movement rather than a political program. Thus, he went to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

in 1938, where he met his wife, Wanda, niece of Polish statesman

Józef Piłsudski Józef Klemens Piłsudski (; 5 December 1867 – 12 May 1935) was a Polish statesman who served as the Chief of State (Poland), Chief of State (1918–1922) and first Marshal of Poland (from 1920). In the aftermath of World War I, he beca ...

, then to Romania in 1940. During his exile in 1942, Rasulzade was contacted by the leadership of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

, who, when forming national legions from representatives of the peoples of the Soviet Union, relied on well-known and authoritative representatives, such as Rasulzade and other leaders of the 1918 Caucasian republics.

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

tried to recruit Rasulzade as a leader of a German-occupied Caucasus. Rasulzade was convinced of the close connection between

ism and

Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

. He noted that the social program of the Musavat party was of a national socialist nature. During a meeting with the German leadership in May 1942, Rasulzade attempted to form a strategic alliance with Nazi Germany in order to restore Azerbaijan's independence. Rasulzade demanded that Nazi Germany announce its absolute commitment to the restoration of the Transcaucasian states, however, due to the evasive nature of the Reich in the conversation, he left Berlin. Finally, after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he went back to

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

, Turkey in 1947, where he participated in the politics of the marginal Pan Turkic movement. Due to sensitivity of his presence in either Turkey or Iran, and being often exiled, Rasulzade "cherished bad memories of both Iran and Turkey". In his appeal to Azerbaijani people in 1953 through

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is an international broadcasting network funded by the federal government of the United States that by law has editorial independence from the government. It is the largest and oldest of the American internation ...

, he stressed his hope that one day it will become independent again. He died in 1955, a broken man according to

Thomas Goltz Thomas Goltz (October 11, 1954 – July 29, 2023) was an American author and journalist best known for his accounts of conflict in the Caucasus region during the 1990s. He spent 15 years in and around Turkey and the Caucasus. Career He directed a ...

, and was buried in

Cebeci Asri cemetery The Cebeci Asri Cemetery () is a cemetery located in the Cebeci quarter of central Ankara, Turkey serving multiple religions. It was the first modern burial place in the capital city, and is the final resting place of many prominent figures. As o ...

in Ankara.

Legacy and honors

Rasulzade was commemorated by many memorials throughout Azerbaijan, such as

, which was named after his honor. Rasulzade was depicted on the

obverse The obverse and reverse are the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ''obverse'' ...

of the Azerbaijani 1000 manat banknote of 1993–2006. The Mehmet Emin Resulzade Anatolian High School was named after him and is a public high school at Ankara, Turkey.

Major works

Rasulzade's works include: * The critic of the party of Etedaliyun (). Teheran, 1910 (in Persian); * The happiness of the mankind (). Ardebil, 1911 (in Persian); * Two views on the form of government (together with Ahmet Salikov). Baku, 1917 (in Azerbaijani); * Democracy. Baku, 1917 (in Azerbaijani); * Which government is good for us? Baku, 1917 (in Azerbaijani); * Role of Musavat in the formation of Azerbaijan. Baku, 1920 (in Azerbaijani); * Azerbaijan Republic: characteristics, formation and contemporary state. Istanbul, 1923 (in Ottoman Turkish); * Siyavush of our century. Istanbul, 1923 and second edition in 1925 (in Ottoman Turkish); * Ideal of liberty and youth. Istanbul, 1925 (in Ottoman Turkish); * Political Situation in Russia. Istanbul, 1925 (in Ottoman Turkish); * The collapse of revolutionary socialism and the future of democracy. Istanbul, 1928 (in Ottoman Turkish); * Nationality and Bolshevism. Istanbul, 1928 (in Ottoman Turkish); * Panturanism in regard with the Caucasian problem. Paris, 1930 (in Russian; reprinted with an English introduction in 1985 in Oxford); * Azerbaijan's struggle for independence. Paris, 1930 (in French); * Shefibeycilik. Istanbul, 1934 (in Turkish); * Contemporary Azerbaijani literature. Berlin, 1936 (in Turkish); * Contemporary Azerbaijani literature. Berlin, 1936 (in Russian); * The problem of Azerbaijan. Berlin, 1938 (in German); * Azerbaijan's struggle for independence. Warsaw, 1938 (in Polish) * Azerbaijan's cultural traditions. Ankara, 1949 (in Turkish); * Contemporary Azerbaijani literature. Ankara, 1950 (in Turkish); * Contemporary Azerbaijani history. Ankara, 1951 (in Turkish); * Great Azerbaijani poet Nizami. Ankara, 1951 (in Turkish); * National Awareness. Ankara. 1978 (in Turkish); * Siyavush of our century. Ankara, 1989 (in Turkish); * Iranian Turks. Istanbul, 1993 (in Turkish); * Caucasian Turks. Istanbul, 1993 (in Turkish).

Notes

References

External links

* *
Mahammad Amin Rasulzade, Founding Father of the First Republic
" by grandson Rais Rasulzade, Azerbaijan International, Vol. 7:3 (Autumn 1999), pp. 22–23.

(1918–1920), in Azerbaijan International, Vol 6:1 (Spring 1998), pp. 26–30. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rasulzade, Mammed Amin Azerbaijani-language writers 1884 births 1955 deaths People from Absheron District Russian Constituent Assembly members Azerbaijan Democratic Republic politicians Musavat politicians Azerbaijani anti-communists People of the Persian Constitutional Revolution Azerbaijani exiles Azerbaijani emigrants to Iran Azerbaijani emigrants to Turkey Burials at Cebeci Asri Cemetery Azerbaijani nationalists Pan-Turkists Democrat Party (Persia) politicians Azerbaijani independence activists 20th-century Persian-language writers Azerbaijani Persian-language writers Azerbaijani collaborators with Nazi Germany Muslims from the Russian Empire Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Iran