Aziz Aliyev group
The Aziz Aliyev group consisted of 3816 people who traveled to Azerbaijan from the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic on September 21, 1941 as part of the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran in order to promote Stalinization there . It was supposed to spread news about the social and economic successes of the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic, founded in 1936, especially in the fields of literature, art and culture and industrialization. Press work and concrete economic support for the population through the delivery of wheat, sugar, kerosene and all kinds of finished goods were intended to win the population over to Stalinism. The group was recalled from Iran in the spring of 1942.
composition
Led by Aziz Aliyev, the third secretary of the Central Committee of the Azerbaijani Communist Party and grandfather of the current president İlham Əliyev , the group consisted of 52 brigades. These included 82 communist party officials, 100 employees from various Soviet organizations, 200 security officers, 400 militiamen, 70 supply and replenishment officers, 90 military judges, 150 journalists and printers, 245 railroad workers and 42 geologists. Subordinate to Aliyev were Suleyman Rahimov - propaganda, Meybulla Amiraslanov - economy and public administration, Agasalim Atakishiev - special operations, Mustafa Gulijew - health and medical care, Mirsa Ibrahimov - editor of the newspaper "Mutterland" in Azerbaijani .
activity
On September 5, 1941, Joseph Stalin and the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, Mir Jafar Abbasovich Bagirov, met in Moscow. At this meeting it was decided that the Azerbaijani SSR should send party functionaries, administrative experts, police officers and militias as well as experts from business and culture to the Iranian "South Azerbaijan" occupied by Soviet troops in order to strengthen the Soviet influence in the Iranian part of Azerbaijan in order to get a union to prepare for the Azerbaijani SSR. Bagirov said that the Red Army had occupied a large part of northern Iran as soon as possible. These areas are part of South Azerbaijan. The largest cities of Iran such as Qazvin , Urmia , Meyaneh , Maragha , Tabriz , Ardabil , Salamas , Choy , Bandar Anzali are the motherland of our ancestors. And Tehran is also in truth a city of Azerbaijan.
One of the first measures was to improve the supply situation for the population through the supply of sugar, flour, wheat and fabrics. By the end of 1941, the Azerbaijani SSR had delivered 1,371 tons of flour, 1,814 tons of wheat, 2,548 tons of sugar and 1.5 million meters of fabric, goods with a total value of 2 million rubles. At the end of September to mid-October, buildings, machines and goods from German companies such as Iran Express, Hess and Co and AEG were confiscated and transported to the Soviet Union. Bank accounts of German companies and citizens to the value of 92 million rials were confiscated.
On October 24, 1941, Aliyev sent his first report to Bagirov. Two issues of the newspaper "Mutterland" with a circulation of 4,000 copies each had appeared. The population was informed about the reasons for the invasion of the Red Army through leaflets and brochures. The population would welcome the Red Army. Azerbaijanis harassed by the Iranian authorities would be placed under the protection of the Red Army. Aliyev emphasized the need to publish local editions of the newspaper "Mutterland" for Armia and Bander Pahlavi. Plans were drawn up to perform musical comedies and operas such as Köroğlu , Leila and Majnun , Shah Ismail etc.
On September 22, 1941, Aliyev went to Tehran for two days to inform the Soviet ambassador Smirnov and the commercial attaché Alekseyev about the activities of the Aliyev group. Members of the Iranian parliament from Azerbaijan complained about the inadequate consideration of Azerbaijani interests by the central government in Tehran. Aliyev intensified Soviet propaganda. The newspaper "Mutterland" was distributed in Choy, Bandar Pahlavi and other cities. Baku artists came to Tabriz and performed operas and musicals. Azerbaijani tribal leaders and the Tabriz intelligentsia were invited to Baku. Azerbaijani SSR writers and poets such as Suleyman Rustam , Suleyman Rahimov and Mirza Ibrahimov were present at the talks .
The end
On January 26th, 1942, the Iranian Parliament ratified the tripartite agreement negotiated by Prime Minister Mohammad Ali Foroughi and the British and Soviet Ambassadors. The agreement ensured Iran's territorial integrity and the withdrawal of Allied troops after the end of World War II . In return, Iran undertook to cooperate with the Allied forces in the defense of the Soviet and British homelands, to grant access to the existing means of transport and communication, to provide manpower and materials and to introduce press censorship. In the next step, a supply route, the “ Persian Corridor ”, was set up across the Caspian Sea and further into the Soviet Union, via which American weapons could be supplied from the Persian Gulf by the Red Army. This supply route was of central importance for the military success of the Soviet Union.
On January 21, 1942, Aliyev was appointed Soviet ambassador to Tehran. Smirnov said Aliyev should return to Baku and continue his work for southern Azerbaijan from there. On January 29, 1942, the Tripartite Agreement was signed by the British Ambassador Bullard, the Soviet Ambassador Smirnov and the Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Soheili . Stalin sent a congratulatory telegram to Prime Minister Foroughi. The Aliyev group was ordered back to Baku and disbanded. What remained was a small group of 84 people consisting of journalists, doctors and officials. Aliyev was named First Secretary of the Communist Party of Dagestan by Stalin on September 16, 1942, making him the most powerful man of the Dagestani Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic .
Historical classification
The decision of Stalin to withdraw the quite successful "Aziz Aliyev Group" after the signing of the three-power agreement turned out to be a wrong decision. The US significantly expanded its influence in Iran by sending Arthur Millspaugh to reorganize the Iranian financial system and Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf senior to reorganize the Iranian police. A US military mission was stationed in Tehran and an agreement to purchase weapons and US military advisers was signed by the Iranian government. In the fall of 1942 there was a meeting between Ambassador Smirnov and General Antonov, the commanding general of the Soviet troops in Iran. Smirnov complained that the Russian troops were neglecting to work with the people. Antonov stated that this was not the job of the military. Smirnov pointed to the positive work of the Aliyev group and now regretted that the group had been recalled.
It would take until mid-1944 before another group was to be dispatched to northern Iran, which was occupied by Soviet troops. This time the production of Iranian oil in northern Iran and a comparable oil production concession (the British concession for the south-west of Iran) were at the center of interest in Soviet policy on Iran. On December 12, 1945, the Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan was founded with Soviet help . The Allies had fallen out over the withdrawal of British and Soviet troops from Iran after the end of the Second World War, so that the crisis came to a head in the context of the Iran crisis and thus at the beginning of the Cold War .
literature
- Jamil Hasanli: At the Dawn of the Cold War. The Soviet-American Crisis over Iranian Azerbaijan, 1941-1946. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Lanham MD et al. 2006, ISBN 0-7425-4055-3 .