Alimardan bay Topchubashov

Alimardan bay Topchubashov

Alimardan bay Toptschubaschow ( Azerbaijani Əlimərdan bəy Ələkbər oğlu Topçubaşov * May 4, 1863 in Tbilisi , Government Tbilisi , Russian Empire , † November 8, 1934 in Paris ) was an Azerbaijani statesman, lawyer, journalist, member of the First State Duma of the Russian Empire , Foreign Minister and Chairman of the Parliament of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR).

biography

When Topchubashov was 5 years old, he lost both parents and was raised by his grandmother. In 1884 he graduated from the 1st city high school in Tbilisi and enrolled in the Faculty of History Philology at the Imperial University of Saint Petersburg (today Saint Petersburg State University ) and received the Caucasus scholarship for this . A year later he gave up the financial support and switched to law school. In 1888 he acquired the academic degree as a state-certified legal candidate. Topchubascow worked for some time as the secretary of the District Court in Tbilisi and taught at the State Surveying School in Tbilisi before moving to Baku that same year and working as a sworn lawyer.

In Baku, Topchubashov's journalistic skills came to the fore. From 1888 he was editor of the daily newspaper "Bakuer Handels- und Industrieblatt". In June 1898 he became editor of the newspaper "Kaspi". At the same time, he was editor of the newspapers "Baku" and "Həyat" (Life) for some time. Up to the first Russian revolution 1905-1907 Topchubashow worked as the spokesman for the State Duma of Baku, was on the orphan board of the Marinskaya women's high school , member of the Baku commercial academy and the Muslim women's school.

During the Russian Revolution, Topchubashov took an active part in the work of the First All-Russian Muslim Congress in Nizhny Novgorod in August 1905 . At the 2nd and 3rd assemblies he was elected chairman of the Central Committee of the Ittifak al-Muslimin party (the first political party of the Russian Muslims ). In addition, Topchubashov was elected as a member of the First State Duma from the Baku Governorate . Politically, he was close to the left-wing "People's Freedom Party". After the dissolution of the First State Duma, he signed the Vyborg Manifesto , for which the Tsarist government arrested Topchubashov for three months and then withdrew the right to be re-elected to the Duma.

At a meeting of the Caucasian peoples in Tbilisi in 1916, Topchubashov presented the idea of ​​establishing a Caucasian confederation for the first time.

After the February Revolution of 1917 Topchubashov spoke out in favor of preserving the Russian Empire and the formation of a constituent assembly . He himself did not belong to any party. From March 1917 he headed the Azerbaijani National Committee and also shaped the activities of the Caucasian Muslim Congress (April 1917 in Baku) and the First All-Russian Muslim Congress (May 1917 in Moscow ).

Alimardan bay Topchubashov together with the members of the Azerbaijani delegation at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919

After the proclamation of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan on May 28, 1918 Topschubashow was used as the extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of Azerbaijan in Georgia , Armenia and the Ottoman Empire . During his stay in Istanbul , the Azerbaijani government appointed him foreign minister of the country. Topchbashov only held this post for two months. On December 7, 1918, he was appointed chairman of the Azerbaijani parliament in absentia.

Plaque on the facade of the building in Paris where Alimardan bay Topchubashov lived.

Topchubashov headed the Azerbaijani delegation to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 . Here he managed to meet US President Woodrow Wilson personally and to achieve de facto recognition of the ADR by the Entente states and allied powers on January 12, 1920. It was the greatest diplomatic success of the young ADR on the international stage.

After the establishment of Soviet power in Azerbaijan in April 1920, the founding fathers of the ADR were persecuted, arrested or murdered. Since Topchubashov and the other members of the Azerbaijani delegation awaited the same fate, they could not return home.

Topchubashov took part in the Genoa and Lausanne conferences and tried to draw the world's attention to the illegal occupation of Azerbaijan by the Red Army .

Topchubashov died on November 8, 1934 in Paris and was buried there in a cemetery in Saint-Cloud .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jamil Hasanli: Alimardan bay Topchubashov. "Irs" magazine (The Legacy), April 22, 2013, accessed on September 22, 2018 . 
2. ↑ Топчибашев Али-Мардан бек Аликпер оглы - - общественный деятель, председатель парламента АДР. Наш Баку. История Баку и бакинцев, May 25, 2018, accessed September 22, 2018 (Russian). 
3. ↑ Топчибашев Алимардан-бек - Биография. Retrieved September 22, 2018 (Russian).