Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev: life, epoch, comrades-in-arms (the 150th anniversary of his birth) Текст научной статьи по специальности «Философия, этика, религиоведение»

THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION

Jamil HASANLI

D.Sc. (Hist.), Professor, Khazar University (Baku, Azerbaijan).

ALI MARDAN BEK TOPCHIBASHEV: LIFE, EPOCH, COMRADES-IN-ARMS (THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS BIRTH)

Abstract

This is the life story and an overview of the 50-year-long history of the public and political activities of Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev. The author relies on a vast body of archival materials to recreate the problems of the national movement of Azerbaijan and analyze the evolution of the Mus-

lims of Russia"from a community to a nation" and the role of his hero in setting up the Azerbaijan Republic and its first steps on the international arena.

Prof. Hasanli introduces materials from the Topchibashev family archives kept in France into scientific circulation.

KEYWORDS: Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev, national movement of

Azerbaijan, movement of the Muslims of the Russian Empire, Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.

Introduction

Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev is one of the most prominent figures in the history of Azerbaijan and the national-liberation movement of the Muslims of Russia. He graduated from a grammar school

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in Tiflis in the 1880s and enrolled at St. Petersburg Imperial University, the best in the Russian Empire. (In the first half of the 19th century, his grandfather, Mirza Jafar Topchibashev, founder of the Russian school of Oriental studies, was a professor at this university.) His excellent university education promised him a brilliant future. He justified the promise by becoming one of the foremost political figures of the Russian Empire.

He served at different times as the leader of the Turkic peoples and the Muslims of Russia, as well as of the Caucasian emigration community, and even started historic processes. It would be no exaggeration to say that he was part of history and was among those select political figures who made history. Mamed Emin Rasulzade offered the following opinion about this extraordinary man: "For no less than fifty years, Topchibashev served his people and his nation."1

Childhood in Tiflis and St. Petersburg

On 6 April, 1870, Transcaucasian Sheikhulislam Akhund Molla Akhmed Huseynzade Salyani (the grandfather of great enlightener Ali bek Huseynzade) issued a document which testified that on 4 May, 1863, Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev was born into the family of Shi'a Muslim Alekper bek Topchibashev officially married to Sever Khanum, daughter of Muhammed Hasan bek Vekilov.2

The boy was named after his great grandfather Ali Mardan Topchioglu. The Topchiogullars came to Tiflis (where they settled close to the royal palace) from Ganja; the great grandfather served at the courts of two Georgian kings—Irakly II and Georgi XII.3

Mirza Jafar Topchibashev, his grandfather, born in 1790 in Ganja, received an excellent education at home and spent his youth in Tiflis, where his father served at the royal court. He wrote in his memoirs that they lived close to the royal palace.4

Alekper bek Topchibashev, father of Ali Mardan bek, preferred military service; he rose to the rank of a lieutenant in the czarist army.5 The documents from the historical archives of St. Petersburg show that Alekper was born in 1820 and joined the Transcaucasian Muslim Cavalry Regiment in 1843; two years later he became commander of one of the regiment's subunits. In 1853-1856, he fought in the Crimean War, received numerous awards, and was promoted to second lieutenant.6 In his memoirs, Ali Mardan bek wrote that his father had served in the Russian units stationed in Warsaw.

Ali Mardan bek started his schooling in a Muslim madrasah; later he was enrolled in the Tiflis First Classical Grammar School, where lessons were taught in Russian.7 In the summer of 1884, he arrived in St. Petersburg where he enrolled in the historical-philological department of St. Petersburg University. On 25 January, 1885, after the first semester, he requested to be transferred to the depart-

1 Kurtulug, No. 2, 1934, p. 35 (in Azeri).

2 See: Birth certificate of Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev. 06.04.1870, Central Historical Archive of St. Petersburg (TsGIASPb), rec. gr. 14, inv. 3, f. 24308, sheet 4 (in Russian). Akhund Molla Akhmed Huseynzade Salyani (1812-1887) headed the Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of the Caucasus in 1862-1885.

3 See: S.O. Kishmishev, Pokhody Nadir shakha vHerat, Kandahar, Indiyu i sobytia vPersiiposle ego smerti, Tiflis, 1889, p. 303.

4 See: Ibid., p. 304.

5 See: Certificate of the rector's office of St. Petersburg Imperial University issued to A.M. Topchibashev. 22.12.1887, TsGIASPb, rec. gr. 14, inv. 3, f. 24308, sheet 46.

6 For more details, see: TsGIASPb, rec. gr. 14, inv. 3, f. 24308, sheets 8-9.

7 See: Toptchibachi Ali Mardan bek. 16.12.1951, Archives d'Ali Mardan-bey Toptchibachi, carton n° 6/2, CERCEC, EHESS, Paris, p. 1.

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ment of law.8 After receiving the rector's permission, he passed additional tests and became a law student.

When Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev started his university course, his family was well known in academic and political circles. His grandfather Mirza Jafar, who died in 1869, left behind a large group of pupils who worked at the university and government offices in the 1880s. Most world-famous Russian Orientalists were graduates of St. Petersburg University, where, under Mirza Jafar, they learned Arabic, Farsi, and the Turkic languages and became acquainted with the best works of Oriental literature.

On 13 January, 1889, Ali Mardan graduated from the university with a diploma that said: "The Council of Imperial St. Petersburg University issued this document to confirm that Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev, a 25-year-old Muslim, enrolled as a student of this University in August 1884, took the full course in the Department of Law, demonstrated excellent knowledge at the exams, and, after presenting his dissertation, was deemed worthy of the academic rank of Ph.D. candidate. On the strength of Point 4 Para 42 of the General Rules of the Russian Universities of 1863, the Council of Imperial St. Petersburg University confirmed his academic rank on 28 November, 1888. On the strength of this, Topchibashev received all rights and advantages envisaged by the laws of the Russian Empire for Ph.D. candidates." The diploma was signed by Rector of the University, Ph.D., Professor in Ordinary, Councilor of State Mikhail Vladislavlev, and Dean of the Faculty of Law Professor Vladimir Ivanovich Sergeevich.9

Upon graduation Ali Mardan bek returned to Tiflis; on 9 February, 1889, he started working at the District Court. Several months later, on 2 September, the Tiflis District Court moved him to the second city sector as assistant to the justice of the peace for petty administrative offences and criminal cases. He remained in the post until 11 May, 1890; on 8 May, he was appointed, and on 16 May, started working as secretary of the Tiflis District Court. On 20 December, 1891, the Heraldry Department of the Senate conferred on him the civilian title of Collegiate Secretary.10 On 22 June, 1893, the same department promoted him to titular councilor (the ninth rank in the Table of Ranks of the Russian Empire).11 In 1893, when he turned 30, he married Peri Khanum, the elder daughter of Hasan bek Zardabi (Melikov), a prominent Azeri enlightener who founded Ekinci, the first secular newspaper in the Muslim world, in 1875.

On 19 April, 1895, by a decision of the Senate's Heraldry Department, his excellent record at the Tiflis District Court was rewarded with the rank of collegiate assessor. Two days later he left the District Court "for family reasons."12

After resigning from the district court, Topchibashev applied to the Tiflis Judicial Chamber for the license of a defense lawyer, issued to people with five years of impeccable service in the judiciary system. On 8 May, 1895, by a decision of its general meeting, he became a district attorney for the Tiflis Judicial Chamber.13 On 19 June of the same year, the Chamber entered his name on the list of its attorneys at the Tiflis District Court.14 By that time, Topchibashev had already gained prominence as a member of the Tiflis Muslim community.

8 See: A.M. Topchibashev's written request to the Rector of St. Petersburg Imperial University. 25.01.1885, TsGIASPb, rec. gr. 14, inv. 3, f. 24308, sheet 13.

9 See: Diploma issued to A.M. Topchibashev by St. Petersburg Imperial University. 13.01.1889, TsGIASPb, rec. gr. 14, inv. 3, f. 24308, sheet 57.

10 See: Certificate issued to Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev by Chairman of the Tiflis District Court Bykov. 21.05.1896, The State Historical Archives of Azerbaijan Republic (GIAAR), rec. gr. 50, inv. 1, f. 194, sheet 93 (in Russian).

11 See: Ibid., sheet 93rev.

12 Document of Attestation issued by Chairman of the Tiflis District Court Bykov to Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev, 21.05.1896, GIAAR, rec. gr. 50, inv. 1, f. 194, sheet 93rev.

13 See: Certificate issued by Chairman of the Tiflis District Court Bykov to Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev. 09.06.1895, GIAAR, rec. gr. 50, inv. 1, f. 194, sheet 95.

14 See: Document of Attestation issued by Chairman of the Tiflis District Court Bykov to Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev. 22.05.1896, GIAAR, rec. gr. 50, inv. 1, f. 194, sheet 95.

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In the Capital of the "Oil Kingdom"

In 1896, Ali Mardan moved with his family to Baku, where he became caught in the whirlpool of political, national, and cultural processes. By that time the capital of Azerbaijan had become a hub of the world oil industry; the city, however, lacked attorneys with a good command of the local language, good knowledge of the Muslim lifestyle, and the willingness to pour their souls into their mission. The rapidly developing and affluent class of industrialists and merchants acquired in Ali Mardan a diligent defender of the Muslim business circles. The fame of the young and experienced lawyer spread far and wide.

This coincided with the peak of oil production, trade in drilling equipment, buy-sell of oil-rich deposits, and all other forms of oil-related operations.15 This was when Azerbaijan reached its historical U-turn, when the cultural and enlightenment ideas of Mirza Fatali Akhundov and Hasan bek Zardabi acquired national tinges and political undertones. Having grasped the values of the epoch of nationalism, the Azeri enlighteners realized that the time had come to move away from the centuries-old idea of umma (community) to the concept of nation, which was much better suited to the spirit of the new century. They justified the need to move away from Eastern madrasahs to modern schools of the usuli-jali type. This pointed the nation in the direction of its salvation. It was in the light of the ideas of these great enlighteners that their followers Ali bek Huseynzade, Akhmed bek Agaev, and Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev steered the Azeris from a community to a nation.

His decision to move to Baku proved to be all-important: in October 1897, Topchibashev was elected to the Baku City Duma. On 14 October, he, a newcomer, gained an impressive majority of 271 votes "for" and 117 "against" in the first round—a convincing result; a majority of 154 votes put him at the top of the Muslim election list.16

In December 1896, well-known Azeri millionaire Gaji Zeynalabdin Tagiev bought the Russian language daily Kaspiy (The Caspian) published in Baku and its print shop. In 1898, Ali Mardan became its editor-in-chief; later the print shop was also moved under his command. At the same time, he was re-elected chairman of the Nijat enlightenment society, which broadened the scope of his public and political activities: late in the 19th century, he went beyond the limits of the Azeri capital to become involved in Muslim charities and cultural organizations in other Caucasian cities.17

In 1900, Ali Mardan travelled far and wide in Europe: he visited Sofia, Belgrade, Budapest, Vienna, Paris and the Exposition Universelle (world fair), London, and Liverpool and returned home via Belgium and Germany. He never failed to find out what people in these countries knew about the East and about the Russian Muslims in particular.18 The impressions of his travels and meetings with progressive-minded people of Europe left an indelible imprint on his mind. He cautiously shared his thoughts with his readers.

The revolution of 1905 in Baku started against the background of a "national slaughter," which was not surprising: in the first days of 1905, the city was brimming with rumors about an "Armenian-Muslim war." Very soon the rumors became reality. On 6 February, the Armenians launched their first attack, which lasted for four days and left 400 wounded and 300 dead (130 Muslims and 170 Armenians).19 On 1 March, 1905, the City Duma gathered to discuss the bloodshed. It was de-

15 See: Toptchibachi Ali Mardan bek. 16.12.1951, p. 4.

16 See: List of members of the Baku City Duma, elected by the election meetings on 14 and 25 October 1897, GIAAR, rec. gr. 50, inv. 1, f. 60, sheet 88 (in Russian).

17 See: Toptchibachi Ali Mardan bek Ali Akbar bek oglou, Archives d'Ali Mardan-bey Toptchibachi, carton n° 6/2, CERCEC, EHESS, Paris, p. 1.

18 See: Toptchibachi Ali Mardan bek. 16.12.1951, p. 6.

19 See: Sankt-Peterburgskie vedomosti, 22 April, 1905.

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cided that a Committee of six Muslim and six Armenian deputies, two neutral people, and two journalists should be set up together with the Union of Oil Industrialists and under the supervision of the mayor to prevent further escalation. Ali Mardan bek was elected to represent the press. The Armenians, however, exploited the Baku events to spread rumors that the "bloodthirsty Azeris" had murdered 10 to 15 thousand Armenians in Baku. In his newspaper Kaspiy, Ali Mardan consistently exposed these lies. During the crisis, his office became a sort of headquarters of the national movement; later some of the Armenians apologized for their lies. The newspaper could no longer limit itself to social and cultural subjects; Ali Mardan bek wrote that they had plunged into a whirlpool of political processes, a new phenomenon in Russia.

It was not by chance that the bloodshed happened at the time when the Muslims could finally reap the fruits of the processes unfolding across the country.20 The slaughter in the Caucasus did not play down the revolution's national-liberation vigor: early in 1905 the czar retreated under its pressure. On 18 February, 1905, he signed a decree under which Minister of the Interior Alexander Bulygin was instructed to draft a project for a State Duma; the minister planned to convene his cabinet meeting on 15 March to discuss the rights and duties of the future representative body. In his newspaper, Ali Mardan bek highly assessed the plans of a representative structure and pointed out that the interests of the Muslims should be taken into account, while "the Caucasus should receive a new lease on life".

A Special Meeting under the minister started working on 12 March, that is, much earlier than expected; the very first session, however, made it clear that the discussions of the draft law on the State Duma would take a lot of time. This forced Ali Mardan bek to go to the capital with a special mission. On 15 March, progressive-minded intellectuals gathered at Tagiev's house to discuss a Statement on the Needs of the Muslims of 17 points drafted by Topchibashev. It was decided to submit it to the Cabinet for its consideration. The document described the national needs of the Caucasian Muslims as follows: a new lease on life for urban life and more rights for the Muslims in urban administrations; better living conditions for the people and better education, and several other issues. Put in a nutshell, the document demanded an end to discrimination against the Muslims: they should be admitted to civil service; receive full rights to be elected to self-administration; Azeris should acquire equal rights with other peoples in courts; the courts should start using the languages of the local peoples; and Muslims should acquire the freedom of assembly, conscience, speech, and the press, the right to be educated in the national tongue and other national and civil rights, including the right to perform religious and cultural rites. The meeting entrusted Topchibashev, Agaev, Huseynzade, and Vezirov with the task of informing the government about the demands of the Muslim intelligentsia and about the true conditions of life of the Muslims in the Caucasus. At their meetings, the self-administration structures of Baku decided to ask those who drafted the State Duma project to allocate three seats to the representatives of the peoples of the Baku Gubernia.21

In April 1905, Ali Mardan bek and the other members of the Baku delegation arrived in St. Petersburg. There he had a chance to meet Alexander Bulygin, Minister of Internal Affairs, who drafted the project and chaired the Special Meeting, to hand him a list of the main demands of the Caucasian Muslims Topchibashev had written himself and which had been approved by the intellectuals, national bourgeoisie, and big landowners of Baku and Ganja.22

This was when A. Agaev published his articles about the Baku events in St. Petersburg newspapers; Ali Mardan bek gained an audience with Count Vorontsov-Dashkov, the newly appointed Vicegerent of the Caucasus, an achievement of great importance at that time.23 Speaking in the name

20 See: Biographical information about Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev. Part I (in concise form), Archives d'Ali Mardan-bey Toptchibachi, carton n° 6/2, CERCEC, EHESS, Paris, p. 7 (in Russian).

21 See: Toptchibachi Ali Mardan bek Ali Akbar bek oglou, p. 2.

22 See: D.B. Seidzade, Azerbaidzhanskie deputaty v Gosudarstvennoy Dume Rossii, Baku, 1991, p. 12

23 See: Toptchibachi Ali Mardan bek. 16.12.1951, p. 8.

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of the entire delegation, Topchibashev convinced the Vicegerent that the region needed administrative, judicial, land, tax, and other reforms. On 22 April, that is, after the audience, he received permission to publish the daily newspaper Hayat (Life) in Azeri.24 After returning to Baku as the owner of the new newspaper, Ali Mardan entrusted it to A. Huseynzade and A. Agaev who had accompanied him to St. Petersburg. Asef bek Atamalybekov, who was secretary of the Baku governor at the beginning of the 20th century, was appointed to Hayat as state censor.25 The first issue appeared on 7 June, 1905 and, in full conformity with its title, gave the Azeris' public sentiments and national self-awareness a new lease on life.

In the Whirlpool of History

The St. Petersburg visit of the Azeri enlighteners headed by Ali Mardan bek laid the cornerstone of Turkic unity. On 8 April, 1905, Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev, Ali bek Huseynzade, Akhmed bek Agaev, Farrukh bek Vezirov, Bunyamin Akhmed, and Sadri Maksudov met in the St. Petersburg apartment of Abdurashid Ibragimov, where they agreed that the Russian Muslims needed a political party.26 Ismail bek Gasprinski, who arrived in the Russian capital, later specified the practical side. Those present at the discussion called the new structure Ittifaq al-Muslimin (The Union of Muslims); in some documents it is called the Union of Muslims of Russia or The Union for short.27 After discussing the project in detail, the gathering decided to send an address worded by Ali Mardan bek to all well-known intellectuals in the Muslim regions of Russia. The author stressed that Muslims should close ranks around a common program in order to fight together for equal rights with the other peoples of the Russian Empire.28

On 10 June, 1905, Ali Mardan bek left Baku for Tiflis to meet Count Vorontsov-Dashkov, who had started his service as the Caucasian Vicegerent. He described to him, in great detail, how Muslims lived in the Caucasus, clarified the meaning of the appeal presented to him and, in general, supplied him with background information about the Armenian-Muslim confrontation that had ignited the region. He wrote in his report that the authorities were treating the Caucasian Muslims as unwanted children, that they were kept away from civil service, and that they were discriminated against and had no say in what was going on in their own cities. In conclusion he touched upon the events in Irevan triggered by the national conflict and stressed that the press was piling the guilt on the Muslims, while keeping mum about the bodies of Muslims killed in Nakhchivan during the evening namaz and left in the streets and about the Muslims in Irevan who had spent five days under attacks. In short, Ali Mardan bek concluded, the Muslims were defending themselves. The Vicegerent had to admit that reforms were overripe; he promised to pay attention to schooling in the native languages; educational establishments for girls, Muslim spiritual educational centers, etc. He agreed that newspapers and books should be published in the Azeri language and that censorship should become more lib-

24 See: Biographical information about Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev. Part I (in concise form), p. 7.

25 V. Imanov, who has written a monograph about Topchibashev published in Turkey, wrongly believes that A. Atamalybekov, appointed state censor of Hayat, was Abbas bek Atamalybekov, who in 1919-1920 was secretary of the Azeri delegation at the Paris Peace Conference (see: V. Imanov, AliMerdan Topfubagi (1865-1934). Lider Bir Aydin ve Bagimsiz Azerbaycan Cumhuriyeti'nin Temsili. Bogazici Universitesi Yayinevi-lstanbul, 2003, p. 33). In fact, Abbas bek Atamalybekov was born in 1895 and was, therefore, 10 years old when Hayat was started, while Asef bek Atamalybekov had been secretary of the Baku governor since 1901; as a trusted official he was appointed censor of the Turkic-language newspaper.

26 National Archives of the Republic of Tatarstan (NART), rec. gr. 199, inv. 1, f. 722, sheet 13 (in Russian).

27 See: D. Usmanova, Musulmanskie predstaviteli vRossiyskom parlamente. 1906-1916, Moscow, 2005, p. 134.

28 See: A.M. Topchibashev, Congresses of the Muslims of Russia, Archives d'Ali Mardan-bey Toptchibachi, carton n° 7. CERCEC, EHESS, Paris, p. 7 (in Russian).

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eral, but specified that these and other changes petitioned by Muslim representatives could not be realized before law and order in the Caucasus had been restored.29

In June 1905, twelve prominent representatives of Baku (Ali Mardan bek was one of them) met Senator Alexander Kuzminskiy dispatched to investigate the conflict between Armenians and Azeris. The delegates supplied the details about what was going on in the city and the gubernia; Topchibashev handed the senator a copy of the petition intended for the Vicegerent that clarified many of the vague points. In the summer of 1905, he travelled to Ganja and Tiflis to let people know the truth about the events in Baku and to mobilize the most active of the local Muslims. During one of the trips, he visited Hajikent, where he attended a public meeting to speak about the political, social, and economic needs of the Caucasian Muslims and encourage the audience to set up local self-administrations. At the same time, he arranged for the statements and applications of the Muslims of Ganja and the Za-kataly, Sheki, and Javad districts about their situation and hopes to be sent to St. Petersburg.30

In August 1905, Topchibashev went from Tiflis to Nizhny Novgorod to take part in a Muslim congress. The First Congress of the Muslims of Russia, which brought together people from all corners of the vast empire, was opened on 15 August at 1 p.m. on the Oka River. Discussions went on until 11 p.m.31 Ismail bek Gasprinski, editor of the Tercuman newspaper, greeted the delegates of the "Esteemed Meeting" with a short introductory speech; he suggested that Topchibashev and Akchurin be elected to the presidium32 and invited Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev to be the first speaker. Topchi-bashev delivered a vast report on the political, economic, cultural, national, and religious problems of the Russian Muslims; he opened his speech with: "My faithful brothers, my joy and my satisfaction are beyond words; I am happy and grateful beyond expression; I will never forget this day. It will become an annual holiday for all the Muslims of Russia. We are all Turks united by our origin, our clan, and our religion. Our ancestors ruled the vast areas that stretched from the West to the East. Our ancestors were a heroic people, but today in the mountains of the Caucasus, the orchards of the Crimea, the fields of Kazan, in the domains of our ancestors, in our Motherland, on our native land, we cannot freely discuss our needs and requirements. Alhamdulillah... Today, on the water, we have the joy of opening our hearts to each other, seeing each other face-to-face, and embracing, despite the perfidy and betrayal of the past. I am convinced that if in the future we are denied the time to meet on the water, we will reach the skies and find a place in the stars to celebrate this day."33

The audience was touched. Musa Jarullakhi Bigiev later wrote: "Most were weeping. The speech was long; there were no secretaries, so I can remember only its main message." Ali Mardan bek was followed by Abu-s-Suud effendi Akhtyam, Ismail bek Gasprinski, and several other people.34 The Congress ruled that 15 August should become a holiday for all the Muslims of Russia.35 Topchibashev was entrusted with the task of convening the Second Congress.36

29 See: Petition de musulmans du Caucase au gouverneur general Vorontsov-Dashkov. Juin 1905, Archives d'Ali Mardan-bey Toptchibachi, carton n° 8, CERCEC, EHESS, Paris.

30 See: D.B. Seizade, op. cit., p. 14.

31 See: G. Ibragimov, Tatary v revolutsii 1905 goda, Transl. from the Tatar by G. Mukhamedova, ed. by G.F. Linstser, Kazan, 1926, pp. 149-150; A.M. Topchibashev, Congresses of the Muslims of Russia, p. 8. Ali Mardan bek was very active at the first and later congresses; Musa Bigiev, who had served secretary at many of the meetings chaired by Topchibashev, left a highly interesting account of this in his Osnovy reformy published in Petrograd in 1917.

32 See: Forumy rossiiskikh musulman na poroge novogo tysiachelitia, ed. by D.V. Mukhetdinov, Islamic Madrasa Mahinur Press, Nizhny Novgorod, 2006, p. 121.

33 The First Congress of the Union of the Muslims of Russia. 15.08.1905, NART, rec. gr. 199, inv. 1, f. 722, sheet 14 (in Russian); N. Devlet, Rusiya Türklerinin Milli Mücadile Tarihi: 1905-1917, 2.baski. Ankara. S. 103; Forumy rossiiskikh musulman na poroge novogo tysyachelitia, p. 122.

34 See: M.J. Bigiev, Osnovy reformy, Petrograd, 1917, p. 176.

35 See: Resolution ofthe First Congress ofthe Union ofthe Muslims of Russia. 15.08.1905, NART, rec. gr. 199, inv. 1, f. 722, sheet 15.

36 See: A.M. Topchibashi: dokumenty iz lichnykh arkhivov. 1903-1934, Compiled, introduced and annotated by S.M. Iskhakov, Moscow, 2012, p. 11.

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On 17 August, Ali Mardan bek, acting in the name of 30 Caucasian delegates from Baku, Ganja, Shemakha, Salyan, and other cities, organized a ceremonial dinner for the congress delegates so they could express their satisfaction with the congress in suitable circumstances to the sounds of music.37 A day later, the Russian Tatar deputies organized a banquet in honor of the Caucasian delegates. On 20 August, the encouraged and inspired guests left Nizhny Novgorod. The congress brought the Russian Turks together and made them an independent and closely knit political force.

Ali Mardan bek returned to Baku to find it enveloped in fire; this time the fires ignited by the Baku events spread beyond the city; the fires at the oil wells across the Absheron Peninsula and close to Baku settlements assumed mass proportions. The clashes between the Armenians and Azeris destroyed at least half the oil derricks.38 Nearly all of them belonged to Armenians; pogroms were organized and carried out by labor migrants from Iran. General Semen Fadeed, Baku governor appointed to his post on 7 July, did not beat about the bush, as befits a military, when answering a question posed by a correspondent of The Times about the culprits of the August events in Baku: "Armenian intellectuals are the main culprits of these 'events'."39

Caucasian Vicegerent Vorontsov-Dashkov responded to the Baku disaster. On 7 September, 1905, he arrived in Baku, where a Muslim delegation led by Topchibashev met him at the railway station. Ali Mardan bek promised to submit a detailed report about those involved in the Baku events, those who incited people and who organized the bloodshed. He also assured the Vicegerent that the invariably composed and loyal Baku Muslims wanted peace.40

Despite the frantic efforts of the Muslim intelligentsia headed by Ali Mardan bek, on 20 October, 1905, the clashes between the Armenians and Azeris resumed. The third round was especially vehement and destructive; it went on and on with short intervals until 30 October. The Slavic population who witnessed the destructive zeal of the Armenians demanded that they be disarmed and driven out of the city. The Petersburg Telegraph Agency reported: "Baku. The city looks like a battlefield. The Russians demand that the Armenians be disarmed and removed. According to the police, in each burnt-down house there were 20, 30 or even 50 bomb blasts." The Armenians calculated that 800 bombs were enough to destroy the city altogether.41 An address of the members of the Baku City Duma to Prime Minister Sergey Witte drew an answer: "I am helpless. This is happening everywhere in Russia. I can do nothing."42

In August 1905, after the destructive fires at the oilfields, Armenian oil industrialists asked the authorities to move all the Azeris out of the villages close to their oil wells, allegedly to protect and stabilize oil production. They managed to bring the issue, which was rapidly acquiring national hues, to St. Petersburg and the Cabinet. The ministers decided to set up a Special Meeting headed by Finance Minister Count Vladimir Kokovtsev. In September 1905, Topchibashev and Akhmed Agaev arrived in the capital to avert the threat of resettlement for the Muslims employed in the oil industry and the peasants of the Baku villages. They explained the problem to Minister Kokovtsev and warned him that since the people to be resettled were all Muslims, this step would be regarded as an act of national strife. Topchibashev was ready with a written report about the Muslims employed at the oilfields and the settlements in the areas of oil production, which he submitted to the minister. This coincided with the Manifesto of 17 October, which promised a Constitution; in this situation, the Cabinet preferred to halt the fairly ambiguous plan of resettling the Azeri peasants.43

37 See: A.M. Topchibashev, Congresses of the Muslims of Russia, p. 10.

38 See: Y. Baberovskiy, Vrag est vezde. Stalinizm na Kavkaze, Moscow, 2010, p. 76.

39 Syn otechestva, 7 September, 1905.

40 See: Tiflisskiy listok, 10 September, 1905.

41 See: Ibid., 4 November, 1905.

42 Ibid., 2 November, 1905.

43 See: Biographical information about Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev. Part I (in concise form), pp. 8-9; Imanov has written that Ali Mardan bek went to St. Petersburg in October 1905 (see: V. Imanov, op. cit., p. 34). According to archival materials, however, the visit took place in September 1905.

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The Leader of the Muslims of Russia

On 11 December, 1905, Emperor Nicholas II announced convocation of the State Duma. Several days later, Ali Mardan bek and Akhmed bek went to St. Petersburg to start preparations for the Second Congress of the Union of Muslims of Russia. Its first sitting took place in the house of Hasan Habibulla, one the richest Muslims in the Russian capital. The delegates discussed the Union's Program and Charter written personally by Topchibashev and first discussed by Ibragimov and Agaev. The unofficial Congress of the Union of the Muslims of Russia was an important event for organizing the Turkic and Muslim peoples; it also brought Topchibashev to the all-Russia political arena. The results of the Second Congress testified to his greater political clout among the Muslims and his rapidly increasing role country-wide.

About a month later, on 20 February, 1906 to be more exact, the Caucasian Vicegerent initiated a congress of Armenian and Muslim representatives, which was held in the Palace of the Sardar in Tiflis and allegedly convened to remove contradictions. Ali Mardan bek wrote that, contrary to the officially stated purpose, this was a provocation of an obviously destructive nature. Objectively the congress in Tiflis added to the tension between the Armenians and the Azeris.44 In one of his public addresses, Topchibashev pointed out that enlightenment alone could put an end to what was going on; therefore, he argued it was necessary to set up educational establishments to train school teachers able to teach in the native languages. He was convinced that the transfer to education for all in an independent society was related to rejection of the police order that still dominated school education and made progress impossible.45 He also pointed out that a fair judicial system and the rule of law were as important as education and deemed it necessary to specify that lawyers who did not know the local languages, traditions, everyday life, and other specifics of the local people could hardly be fair and impartial. He believed that the City Duma should liquidate all encroachments on the rights of Muslims; they should receive the same rights as all the other Caucasian peoples.

Between the end of the Tiflis mission and the Third Congress of the Union of Muslims of Russia held in mid-August 1906, Topchibashev was actively preparing for the elections to the First State Duma and was very busy as head of the Muslim faction. On 31 May, 1906, at noon, Baku elected deputies to the First State Duma. Topchibashev defeated the Social-Democratic candidate Irakly Mamulashvili: out of 81 electors from the population of Baku, 74 turned up at the polling stations. Ali Mardan bek was supported by 51; 21 voted against him; two abstained; his rival received 20 votes "for" and 52 "against."46 By the latter half of May, Baku, Elisavetpol (Ganja), and the Irevan Gubernia had elected their deputies: Azerbaijan sent A.M. Topchibashev, I. Ziyadkhanov, A. Muradkhanov, A. Akhverdiev, M. Aliev, and A. Irevansky to the First State Duma. Early in June they headed for St. Petersburg.47

On 21 June, 1906, the deputies from the Muslim provinces met in the capital. Twenty-two deputies elected Topchibashev leader of the Muslim faction in the First State Duma. There had been several failed attempts to set up a Muslim faction before Topchibashev arrived in St. Petersburg. The faction consisted of 36 deputies; seven of them, S. Alkin, I. Ziyadkhanov, A. Akhtyamov, S. Janturin (Secretary), Sh. Sul-tanov, and M. Rameev (Treasurer), were elected to the Bureau chaired by Topchibashev. On 9 July, after functioning for 18 days, the Muslim faction was disbanded together with the First State Duma.48

44 See: Biographical information about Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev. Part I (in concise form), p. 9.

45 See: D.B. Seidzade, op. cit., pp. 23-26.

46 Kaspiy, 1 June, 1906.

47 For the list of deputies elected from Baku, Elisavetpol and Irevan Gubernia, see: A.M. Topchibashev, Musulmanskaya parlamentskaya fraktsia, Baku, 1907, pp. 25-26.

48 See: Ibid., p. 3. The cover of the copy of this book kept in the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg carries the following inscription by Ali Mardan bek dedicated to Pavel Milyukov: "The indefatigable fighter of the Russian liberation movement, leader of the Party of People's Freedom highly respected Pavel Nikolaevich Milyukov from chairman of the former Muslim parliamentary faction. A.M. Topchibashev. Baku, 1907 (see: Ibid., p. 1).

THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION

On 9 July, 1906, Nicholas II signed a decree that dissolved the State Duma; having learned about this, six members of the Bureau of the Muslim faction headed by Topchibashev signed the Vyborg Declaration.

Prime Minister Stolypin, meanwhile, was plotting against 196 former Duma deputies (one of whom was Topchibashev) who had signed the Vyborg Declaration to keep them away from the Second State Duma. In the absence of corpus delicti they could not be arrested, therefore, judicial structures opened cases on the basis of two articles (129 and 132) of the Criminal Code and started investigation carried out by the investigatory authorities of Finland, in the territory of which (Vyborg) the Declaration had been signed. Topchibashev, Ziyadkhanov, and other deputies were accused of calling the population to disobedience and inciting the people against the government in written form.49

While the investigation was going on, Ali Mardan bek plunged into a politically much more important cause: he was one of the organizers of the Third Congress of the Muslims of Russia. It was officially allowed and was opened on 16 August, 1906 in Nizhny Novgorod in the city's central club. Local Mullah Khalil read a Surah from the Koran and the Congress began. Five hundred of the 800 deputies had the right to vote.50 Topchibashev was elected Chairman of the Congress.

The Congress concentrated on the program of the Union of Muslims of Russia drafted by Ali Mardan bek—not the only, but surely the best—and approved it.51

Topchibashev addressed the Congress with a comment that the disagreements between the Sun-nis and Shi'a were the highest stumbling block on the road toward unity and progress: "Every Muslim who wishes his people well should say that there are no and should not be different sects; there is neither Sunni, nor Shi'a, nor Azami, nor Hanafi, etc., therefore, there are no religious obstacles preventing us from setting up common structures to supervise the spiritual affairs of the Muslims of Russia."52 The Congress unanimously voted for Ali Mardan bek's proposal. His convincing and touching speech raised a wave of enthusiasm: the Sunni delegates rose from their places with tears to kiss the Shi'a delegates from Azerbaijan.53

This was one of the brightest pages in the history of Islam and a memorable moment in the historic transfer from the Islamic community to Turkic nationalism. It was decided to convene the next, Fourth, Congress of the Muslims of Russia on 10 August, 1907 in Nizhny Novgorod. The Third Congress was closed; Topchibashev, who had been elected as Chairman of the Muslim faction in the First State Duma and Head of the Union of the Muslims of Russia, became officially recognized as leader of the Russian Turks. Musa Bigiev, who had taken part in the congress and later studied Top-chibashev's political activity, was quite right when he wrote that Ali Mardan bek was a knowledgeable lawyer with vast political experience who could control himself and was a true intellectual.54 At the Third Congress, Ali Mardan bek was not only elected chairman of the Union of Muslims of Russia, but was also appointed chairman of the political commission set up by the Congress.55

49 See: P.N. Milyukov, Vospominaniia, Moscow, 1991, pp. 272-273.

50 Ali Mardan bek wrote that there were up to 1,000 delegates from the Caucasus, the Crimea, the Volga Area, Siberia, Turkestan, and Kirghizia (see: A.M. Topchibashev, Congresses of the Muslims of Russia, p. 15).

51 See: III Congres des musulmans de Russie, Archives d'Ali Mardan-bey Toptchibachi, carton n° 7, CERCEC, EHESS,

Paris.

52 A.M. Topchibashev, Congresses ofthe Muslims of Russia, p. 17.

53 See: A. Ayda, SadriMaksudiArsal, Transl. from the Turkish by V.V. Feonova, Scientific editing, notes and afterword by S.M. Iskhakov, Moscow, 1996, p. 56.

54 See: M.J. Bigiev, op. cit., p. 172.

55 See: A.M. Topchibashev, Congresses of the Muslims of Russia, pp. 17-18; V. Imanov, author of the book about Topchibashev published in Turkey, writes that Ali Mardan bek did not take part in any commission of the Third Congress. The author asserted that the Congress set up two commissions: for madrasahs and for religious issues (see: V. Imanov, op. cit., pp. 47-48). This is hardly justified. The Congress set up a commission for political issues that functioned under Topchibashev. He mentioned this in his manuscript Congresses ofthe Muslims of Russia (see: A.M. Topchibashev, Congresses ofthe Muslims of Russia, pp. 17-18).

THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION

On 6 February, 1907, Baku and the Baku Gubernia elected deputies to the Second State Duma. The same day, Kaspiy carried an article by Ali Mardan bek, which said in part: "Today, our land and all the peoples of the Caucasus should answer an important question posed on the fateful day of 9 July, 1906. Today, the Caucasus should demonstrate what sort of Duma it wants and how the present public and state order, which the government itself has denounced, should be changed."56 In addition to I. Tagiev, who was elected from Baku, the following people were also elected to the Second State Duma: 29-year-old Cadet (Constitutional Democrat) Mustafa Makhmudov from Kyur-damir and 30-year-old Social-Democrat Zeynal Zeynalov from Amiijan from the Baku Gubernia; Fatali Khan Khoyski and Khalil bek Khasmammedov from the Elisavetpol Gubernia; and Mu-khammed agha Shakhtakhtinsky from the Irevan Gubernia. Topchibashev highly assessed the choice of the Elisavetpol Gubernia: two lawyers with higher education.57

The Second State Duma was opened on 20 February, 1907; a month later, on 17 March, the Muslims set up their faction, the foundations of which had been laid by Ali Mardan bek. It united 22 Muslim deputies, including deputies from Azerbaijan. Two of them (Fatali Khan Khoyski and Khalil bek Khasmammedov) were elected to the faction Bureau.58 The faction set up economic, juridical, and religious commissions. Ali Mardan bek was recalled from Baku to head the religious commission.59 His arrival stirred up the Muslim faction. On several occasions he chaired its meetings; together with the members of the CC of the Union of Muslims of Russia, he drafted the faction's political platform and compiled deputy interpellations.60 The Second State Duma, likewise, proved to be short-lived. On 3 June, 1907, Nicholas II disbanded it with a manifesto saying that most of the deputies were determined to shake the state's foundations. The First State Duma worked for 72 days; the Second Duma survived for 103 days. Its disbandment buried the hopes of changing Russia through liberal ideas. A time of hardship was in store for all, including Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev. The recognized and respected liberal politician was arrested.

Between 1907 and 1917

Topchibashev's biographers have written practically next to nothing about the decade between 1907 and 1917; they preferred to keep away from that period. After ending their narrative of the events of 1907, they skimmed over the next ten years to smoothly move on to 1917,61 although those years were the brightest pages in Topchibashev's biography. It was during that time that he communicated with those who created the history of the Muslim peoples; he was at the epicenter of historic events and, deprived of political rights, was, nevertheless, exposed to the cruelty of the social and political processes. On 12-18 December, 1907, the special administration of the St. Petersburg Judicial Chamber summed up the Vyborg case. After familiarizing itself with the cases of 167 former deputies of the First State Duma listed by Stolypin, it sentenced them under Art 129 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Empire to three months in prison; they were deprived of the right to be elected to the Duma

56 Kaspiy, б February, i9G7.

57 See: Kaspiy, S February, i9G7.

58 See: D.B. Seidzade, op. cit., p. 56.

59 See: D. Usmanova, Musulmanskie predstaviteli vRossiiskom parlamente. 1906-1916gg., Moscow, 2GG5, p. ili.

6G See: Toptchibachi Ali Mardan bek Ali Akbar bek oglou, p. 3; A.M. Topchibashi: dokumenty iz lichnykh arkhivov. 1903-1934, p. 14.

61 See: V. Imanov, op. cit., pp. 55-5l; Böyük diplomat va görkamli siyasi xadim. Э. b. Topçuba.ovun anadan olmasinin 135 illiyina hasr olunmu. elmi-nazari konfransin materiallari, Baki, 1998; V. Fourniau, "Deux langues, trois pays, pour quelle société plurielle?" Journal of Azerbaijan Studies, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1998; A. Safarova, Politiko-diplomaticheskaia deiatelnost Ali Mardan beka Topchibasheva, Ph.D. Candidate (Political Thesis) Thesis, Baku, 2GGl.

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and other representative structures. Six of them were members of the Muslim faction: A.M. Topchibashev, A. Akhtyamov, S.G. Alkin, S.G. Janturin, A. Bukeykhanov, and I. Ziyadkhanov.

By that time the country had elected the Third State Duma, in which the number of Muslim deputies had been reduced to the minimum. It was opened on 1 November, 1907; ten days later, the Muslim deputies formed a faction of 8 members (there were 36 Muslim deputies in the First Duma and 38 in the Second). The new Election Law drastically cut down the number of deputies elected from the empire's national fringes.

By that time Ali Mardan bek had gained prominence as a Muslim political figure whose opinion on all important issues in the political and spiritual life of the Muslims of Russia carried a lot of weight.

On 2 May, 1908, Muslims of the Crimea and other regions came to Bakhchisaray to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Tercuman newspaper. The local imam invited the gathering to pray for the health and success of prominent publicist writers Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev and Akhmed bek Agaev. He concluded with wishing them "long lives;" the thousand-strong audience responded with "Long Live!"62

Topchibashev was arrested on 8 May, 1908 and sent to the Kresty prison in the Russian capital for three months according to a decision of the St. Petersburg Judicial Chamber. He took his preliminary notes on four issues with him to prison; they included, education for all Muslims; spiritual administrations of Muslims; zemstvos in the Caucasus; and regulation of the land problems in the Transcaucasia. From the very first days of the First Russian Revolution (1905-1907), these four issues had remained important landmarks of his political and public activities; no wonder he was determined to use his prison term to complete his work.63

He was placed in solitary confinement; it was there, in July, that he learned the "joyous news" (as he later wrote in his memoirs) of the Young Turks' revolution in the Ottoman Empire. He highly appreciated the fact that Turkey had acquired a Constitution and was very positive about the Young Turks' movement.64

While in prison he spent a lot of time on his manuscripts; he drafted several laws and caught up with reading what had been recently published on history, literature, and philosophy.65

On 6 August, after his release from prison, he moved to the Metropolitan Hotel. Between 9 June and 2 August, 1909, Topchibashev and Chairman of the Muslim faction in the Third Duma Kutlug Magommed Mirza Tevkelov visited the Muslim centers of the Volga Area, the Orenburg Territory, Siberia, and other regions to promote, among the Muslims, the ideas of civil, religious, and political equality for all minorities and to rally their co-religionists around the Union of Muslims and the program adopted at its Third Congress.66 Throughout the trip, Ali Mardan bek kept a diary in which he registered its entire course and described all the meetings. Today, it is an extremely rare personal document that sheds light on the most important period in the movement of the Russian Muslims and on the activities of its prominent figures.67

62 I.A. Kerimov, "Zhivaia" istoria Gasprinskogo. Po materialam gazety 'Tercüman' 1883-1914, Simferopol, 1999,

p. 180.

63 See: Topchibashi Ali Mardan bek. Autobiography. 16.12.1951, p. 10.

64 See: Biographical information about Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev. Part I (in concise form), p. 13.

65 See: The list of book A.M. Topchibashev read between 8 May and 8 August 1908, May-August 1908, GAAR, rec. gr. 3172, inv. 1, f. 7, pp. 1-2 (in Russian).

66 See: Toptchibachi Ali Mardan bek Ali Akbar bek oglou, p. 3; Biographical information about Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev. Part I (in concise form), p. 14; Topchibashi Ali Mardan bek. Autobiography. 16.12.1951, p. 10.

67 See: A.M. Topchibashev's Diary of his trip in the Volga Area, Orenburg, and Siberia. 09.06.1909-01.08.1909, GAAR, rec. gr. 3172, inv. 1, f. 9, sheets 1-8rev. (in Russian); A.M. Topchibashi: dokumenty iz lichnykh arkhivov. 1903-1934, pp. 117132. It was prominent historian Dr. Salavat Iskhakov who introduced Topchibashev's Diary into scientific circulation. His notes and comments and additional information about the people mentioned in the Diary are very valuable from the scientific point of view. His information made it possible to identify many of the Muslim figures mentioned in the Diary.

THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION

In the fall of 1909, after two years of absence, Topchibashev returned to Baku. At first he had to live under close police supervision. In June 1911, one of the "strictly confidential" police reports said: "According to an agent, attorney Topchibashev, who lives in Kyazimov's house at the intersection of Persidskaya68 and Tserkovnaya69 streets, is one of the prominent pan-Islamists in Baku. He is much better educated than the local Muslims, was editor of the Kaspiy newspaper, maintains close relations with Gaji Zeynalabdin Tagiev and continues to extend considerable financial support to pan-Islamists. He is still close to Tagiev. His past as a deputy of the First State Duma, his trip to Vyborg, and his participation in drafting the well-known declaration for which he served three months in prison deserve special mention... Today, he is still engaged in the pan-Islamist movement and maintains contacts with member of the State Duma Maksudov (Sadri Maksudov.—J.H.). He is very cautious. His vast experience has taught him to carry on party work through personal contacts and eye-to-eye conversations. The Muslims have mastered this method: they leave no written evidence and do not keep documents or banned literature at home. All contacts are realized through members of small (from 3 to 5 people) groups, the representatives of which elect their representatives, etc. This is done secretly and leaves no written documents. By the way, the word of a person trusted by all representatives is treated as law for all members. Signed: Colonel Pastryulin." 70

Persecution did not stop Topchibashev; after returning to Baku, he resumed his law practice, was the main initiator of setting up zemstvos in the Caucasus, and was actively involved in enlightenment activities as Chairman of the Nidjat Society and Honorable Chairman of the Saadet Madrasah. The police closely followed his efforts to open madrasahs in Caucasian cities; in 1913, the Police Department of Baku informed that his name was on the list of those invited to attend the opening of a madrasah in Baku scheduled for 30 November, 1912.71

The Fourth Congress of the Union of Muslims of Russia convened on the initiative of the Muslim faction of the Fourth State Duma (which had been functioning since 1912) was held in St. Petersburg from 15 to 25 June, 1914. Ali Mardan bek was the key figure at the congress, which attracted about 40 prominent Muslims. The Congress drafted a liberal law on religious organizations to be submitted to a corresponding commission of the State Duma. After ten days, the delegates realized that a decade was not enough to discuss all the problems the Muslims of Russia had accumulated over the years of neglect by the authorities.72 They asked the Ministry of Internal Affairs for permission to extend the Congress for two more days and got a negative response.

Pressed for time, the congress leaders had to ask Topchibashev to bring the Congress to a close. On 25 June, he closed the Congress with a speech in which he explained why the authorities did not trust the Muslims73: "We have been, are, and will remain Muslims (these words invited stormy applause.—J.H.). At the same time, we believe and will always believe that our religion, Islam as a world religion, poses no threat to statehood."74

World War I, which started about a month later, changed the Transcaucasian context beyond recognition. The pressure on the Muslims of Russia, especially on the Turkic-speaking Caucasian

68 Now Murtuza Mukhtarov Street in Baku.

69 Now Vidadi Street in Baku.

70 Information of Colonel Pastryulin to Head of the Gendarme Administration of the Kutaisi Gubernia. Strictly Confidential. 22.06.1911, Archive of Political Documents at the Administration of the President of Azerbaijan Republic (APD UDP AR), rec. gr. 276, inv. 8, f. 394, sheets 24-25 (in Russian).

71 See: Information Supplied by the Police Department of Baku about A.M. Topchibashev. 1913, State Archives of the Russian Federation (GARF), rec. gr. 102, inv. 276, f. 609, sheet 48 (in Russian).

72 See: Topchibashi Ali Mardan bek. Autobiography. 16.12.1951, p. 11; Toptchibachi Ali Mardan bek Ali Akbar bek oglou, p. 3.

73 See: Biographical information about Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev. Part I (in concise form), pp. 17-18.

74 Concluding speech of A.M. Topchibashev at the Fourth Congress of the Muslims of Russia. 25.06.1914, Archives d'Ali Mardan-bey Toptchibachi, carton n° 8/23, pp. 1-5 (in Russian); for more details, see: O.N. Senyutkina, Tyurkizm kak istoricheskoe yavlenie (na materailakh istorii Rossiyskoy imperii 1905-1916 gg., Nizhny Novgorod, 2007, p. 457.

THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION

peoples, increased because the Ottoman Empire, one of the central powers, was at war with the Entente.

During the war, Ali Mardan bek wrote that the Azeris were growing more and more hostile toward the Russian Empire and more and more eager to gain independence. Outwardly they remained composed, but their indignation and determination to get rid of the shackles of the Russian Empire were steadily mounting. He even wrote that future historians would have to be subtle psychologists to detect the hopes and anxiety the war had brought to the lives of the Caucasian Muslims.75

In this exceptionally difficult situation, Ali Mardan bek, who always attached special importance to Georgian-Azeri friendship, became its main initiator. He represented the Caucasian Muslims at the funeral of Akaky Tseretely, a great Georgian poet and ideologist of the national-liberation movement of the Georgian people, who died on 26 January, 1915. His touching speech about the poet, whom he described as the "valor of the Georgian nation," and about his outstanding role in the fate of his nation and the peoples of the Caucasus moved all of those present. He pointed out that the "sympathies of the Caucasian Muslims have always been with the people, who remained loyal to the principle 'live and let live'."76

On the Political Arena of Russia

The revolution of February 1917 ended autocracy in Russia; the revolutionary wave put an end to the 300-year-long history of the Romanovs and opened a new page in Topchibashev's life.

Throughout March 1917 he was actively involved in all sorts of political street demonstrations in Baku; as if this were not enough for his energetic nature, he also worked hard to draw more Muslims into political activities. The revolutionary events were gradually pushing him into the limelight and, at the same time, testing him for strength: at the early stage of the Russian revolution, the Muslims found it hard to choose between one of the two alternatives: either cultural autonomy or a constituency within a federal state.

On 20 March, 1917, the Provisional Government removed all religious and national limitations, something which Ali Mardan bek had wanted to achieve and for which he had been fighting for a long time. From that time on, the national and religious minorities were not limited in their electoral rights; they could serve in the army and be employed by the state as civil servants, judges, and teachers. On 27 March, the Provisional Executive Committee of the National Council of the Muslims of Baku was set up with Magommedhasan Gajinsky as its elected head. The most prominent Muslim figures, such as Topchibashev, Khoyski, Tagiev, Asadullaev, Javanshir, Narimanov, and Amiijanov, were elected to the Committee's governing structures.

They were absolutely open about their final aim—the wellbeing of the Muslims rather than the fate of Russian democracy. The National Committee of the Muslims saw dissemination of national-political ideas as its main duty.77

In April of the same year, Ali Mardan bek went to Ganja and then to Tiflis to consolidate the national forces; he organized large congresses of Muslims there, which supported the new order and the newly established bodies of power.78 While in Tiflis, he was invited to the meeting of a Special Conference on the Problems of the Caucasian Area held at the Palace of the Sardar79 to

75 See: Biographical information about Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev. Part I (in concise form), p. 18; Topçubaçi Qlimsrdan bay. Tarcümeyi-hal. 16.12.1951, Archives d'Ali Mardan-bey Toptchibachi, carton n° 3, p. 11.

76 Biographical information about Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev. Part I (in concise form), pp. 18-19.

77 See: Y. Baberovskiy, op. cit., p. 100.

78 See: Biographical information about Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev. Part I (in concise form), p. 19.

79 See: An invitation of A.M. Topchibashev to a meeting of the Special Conference in Tiflis. 11.04.1917, GAAR, rec. gr. 3172, inv. 1, f. 10, page 7rev. (in Russian).

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discuss, in particular, how to set up local administrations. The Transcaucasian Committee decided that N. Jordania and G. Gvazava would represent Georgia; S. Arutyunov and A. Jamalyan Armenia, and A.M. Topchibashev and Kh. Sultanov Azerbaijan.80

In mid-April 1917, when he returned from Ganja and Tiflis, Ali Mardan bek chaired the Baku Congress of the Muslims. Convened between 15 and 20 April in the Ismailiyya Palace, the Congress demonstrated that the Musavat Party, which operated in Baku, and the Turk Adam-i Markaziyyat Firqasi (The Turkic Party of Decentralization) set up by Nasib bek Usubbekov (Yusifbeyli) in Ganja after the February Revolution played the leading role in the national-democratic processes. At the very first sitting of the Congress, Ali Mardan bek was elected chairman and steered it throughout its work.

He opened the Congress with a brief outline of the agenda and warned the delegates that the peoples of the Caucasus should maintain peace in the region despite the traditional Russian "divide and rule" policy: "This congress of the Caucasian Muslims is the first in the last one hundred years at which the Muslims of the Caucasus will speak freely. It should restore the Caucasus to its historical grandeur. The former Russian authorities pursued the policy of discrimination against the non-Russian peoples of Russia and incited them against each other. The recent confrontation of the Azeris and Armenians could be only explained by this inhuman and hostile policy. If the Muslims and all the other peoples of the Caucasus who follow them want to take the road of freedom and renovation they should do this with common desires and common ideas."81

Mamed Emin Rasulzade delivered the main report; Ibrahim bek Heydarov82 was another speaker. On 17 April, at the Congress sitting chaired by Ali Mardan bek, Mirmagommed Kerim Mirjafarov, and Akhund Molla Farajullazade, the mufti and sheikhulislam embraced to demonstrate that there were no religious disagreements and enmity among the Azeris. This evidence of friendship between the Sunni and Shi'a impressed all those present.83 On 20 April, Ali Mardan bek closed the Baku Congress of the Muslims of the Caucasus with a speech on behalf of its leaders. He said that the Congress of the Muslims of Russia would open in Moscow on 1 May, 1917 and asked for permission to read a greeting of the Muslims of the Caucasus to the Moscow Congress and to inform the delegates about the decisions of the Baku Congress.

The Moscow Congress of the Muslims of Russia opened on 1 May, 1917; its first sitting elected the Congress' leaders, secretariat, and commissions. The elected leaders belonged to all the political trends present at the Congress, including those who represented women: Salima Yagubova, Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev, Akhmed bek Salikov, Ayaz Iskhakov, Fatikh Kerimov, Ubeydulla Kho-jaev, Ilyas Alkin, Ibnyamin Akhtyamov, Musa effendi Bigiev, Seid Akhmed Jafarov, Khalil Dost-mukhamedov, Gabdulla Khazrat Apanaev, and Hasan Gabyashov. Deputies of State Dumas of different convocations—Tevkelov, Topchibashev, Alkin, Janturin, Tukaev, Akhtyamov, Enikeev, and others—took part in the Congress.84

Professor Sergey Kotlyarevskiy, who filled the post of Commissar of the Administration of Non-Slavic Citizens and Citizens of Other Religions, greeted the Congress on behalf of the Provisional Government. Ali Mardan bek, speaking on behalf of the leaders of the Congress of the Muslims, answered the questions the professor had outlined in his speech. He expressed gratitude for the greeting and pointed out that the Muslims expected that the Provisional Government would free their

80 See: On Organizing Local Administrations. 1917, GAAR, rec. gr. 3172, inv. 1, f. 21, p. 5 (in Russian).

81 Kaspiy, 18 April, 1917.

82 For more details about Ibrahim bek Heydarov, see: A. Tahirzade, "Oguztogrul Tahirli. Azerbaycanli Siyaset Adami Ibrahim Bey Heyderov (Haydaroglu) (1879, Derbent-1949, Ankara)," Türk Yurdu, Ekim 2011, Cilt 31, Sayi 290, pp. 326-338.

83 See: Kaspiy, 21 April, 1917.

84 See: Bulletin No. 1 of the editorial collegiums of the Congress of the Muslims of Russia in Moscow. May 1917, Archives d'Ali Mardan-bey Toptchibachi, carton n° 6/2, p. 2; A.M. Topchibashev, Congresses of the Muslims of Russia, p. 28; Açiq söz, 23 May 1917.

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countries.85 On 3 May, Rasulzade delivered the main report, in which he pointed out that the Muslims should demand territorial autonomy. On 6 and 7 May, Ali Mardan bek chaired the fifth and sixth sittings. Akhmed Zaki Validov informed the deputies about the numerical strength and places of settlement of the Muslim peoples of Russia; Seid Girey Alkin outlined the religious and spiritual questions of the Russian Muslims, while Keshshav khazrat Tarjumanov spoke about religious and spiritual organizations.

The sitting chaired by Topchibashev enthusiastically supported Rasulzade's idea about a people's republic based on "district autonomy." At 04:00 a.m., Ali Mardan bek announced that his project had won with 446 votes "for" (271 delegates were against and 21 abstained); the rival project of Salikov's gathered 291 votes "for" (422 delegates voted against). This meant that a federative democratic republic was chosen.86 The Congress adjourned on 10 May.

On 7 May, Ali Mardan bek went to Petrograd to discuss with the Cabinet the disturbing news coming from the Caucasus. After completing consultations in the capital, he went to Baku and several days later moved to Tiflis to resume his work at the conference on national issues.

Late in June 1917, he returned to Baku to head the National Committee of Muslims of the Transcaucasia and the Baku Committee of Public Organizations of Muslims. In June 1917, a National Committee of Muslims headed by Topchibashev (elected by secret vote) was set up in Baku to draw Muslims into politics. This post made him the central figure of all the national processes unfolding in the region. Until the end of 1917 he remained head of the committee that steered the political movement of the Caucasian Muslims.87

By the summer of 1917, the crisis in Russia had become even more evident; on 12 August, the Provisional Government headed by Kerensky convened a conference in Moscow to stabilize the situation; the Baku Committee of Public Organizations of Muslims (which functioned as the National Committee of the Transcaucasia) dispatched Ali Mardan bek as its representative.88 The conference was opened on 12 August, 1917 at 03:00 p.m. in the Bolshoi; the Muslims were represented by 34 delegates from the Caucasus, the Crimea, the Volga Area, and Turkestan. On 13 August, they discussed Topchi-bashev's report, which was delivered the next day on behalf of all the Muslim organizations represented at the Conference (the All-Russia Council of Muslims, the All-Russia Military Council of Muslims; the Baku Committee of Public Organizations of Muslims; the Central Committee of the Union of Mountaineers of Daghestan and the Northern Caucasus, the Council of the Turkestan Area, the Committee of the Crimean Gubernia, and the Council of the Kirghiz and Bashkir Gubernias).89

On 14 August, Ali Mardan bek, speaking as the leader of the Muslims of Russia, pointed out that amid the revolutionary turmoil, the 30-million strong Muslim population of Russia deemed it necessary to address their concerns to the Provisional Government and to all the peoples of free and democratic Russia. When talking about the national question, Russia's sore spot, he said that he hoped that very soon free and democratic Russia, like European countries, would realize the ideas of equality and fraternity of all peoples. He concluded his speech with an address to the foreign representatives, French and British in particular, sitting in a box together; he called on them to recognize the right of their Muslims to free political activities and self-identification. "Only then," said he, "will we be able to triumph: Ex oriente lux! (Light comes from the East)."90

85 See: Açiq söz, 23 May, 1917.

86 See: A.M. Topchibashev, Congresses of the Muslims of Russia, p. 35 (for more details, see: S.M. Iskhakov, Rossiyskie musulmane i revolyutsia (vesna 1917g.-leto 1918g.), Moscow, 2004, p. 176).

87 See: Biographical information about Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev. Part I (in concise form), p. 20.

88 See: Toptchibachi Ali Mardan bek Ali Akbar bek oglou, p. 4.

89 See: Kaspiy, 24 August, 1917; Biographical information about Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev. Part I (in concise form), p. 20.

90 Gosudarstvennoe soveshchanie (Stenografichekiy otchet) spredisloviem Ya.A. Yakovleva, Moscow-Leningrad, 1930, pp. 185-188; Biographical information about Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev. Part I (in concise form), pp. 20-21.

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On 21 August, Ali Mardan bek arrived in Baku; a day later he attended a sitting of the Committee of the Muslims to inform its members of the Moscow Conference.91

Shocks on the Eve of Independence

The October 1917 Bolshevik coup ended the period of liberal transformations in Russia. On 15 November, several days after the coup, which deposed the Provisional Government, all the political organizations of the Transcaucasia met in Tiflis to set up a Transcaucasian Commissariat. On 19 November, the Georgian National Council convened a congress attended by the Central Committee of the Muslims of Transcaucasia headed by Topchibashev.

On 23 November, he addressed the congress to outline his ideas about the new power's political course in Transcaucasia and explained what the Muslims expected from it. He called on the Georgians to act together with the other Caucasian peoples for the sake of their common prosperity.92

In the fall of 1917, preparations for the elections to the Constituent Assembly were in full swing under the guidance of Ali Mardan bek. From Tiflis, the Azeri representatives moved to Ganja, where they convened a congress (chaired by Topchibashev) to draw up the list of delegates for the Committee of Muslims and Musavat, which had formed an election bloc, and compiled list No. 10 that included the names of Magommedyusif Jafarov, Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev, Mamed Emin Rasul-zade, Nasib bek Usubbekov, Fatali Khan Khoyski, Hasan bek Agaev, Khosrov bek Sultanov, Gazi-akhmed bek Magommedbekov, Mustafa Makhmudov, Mirgidayat Seidov, Aslan bek Gardashov, Safi bek Rustambekov, and others.93 Topchibashev was also nominated by the Syr Darya Region, Rasul-zade by the Ferghana Region, and Usubbekov by the Amu Darya Region.94 The Azeri political figures had obviously moved to the fore and gained authority among the Muslims of Russia.

On 26-28 November, that is two weeks after the Commissariat had been set up, Transcaucasia elected delegates to the Constituent Assembly; the candidates of the National Committee and the Musavat party won.

In December 1917, Ali Mardan bek, elected to the Constituent Assembly, resigned from the post of head of the Committee of the Muslims of Transcaucasia; after 1917, its Baku branch became an interparty structure.

The Constituent Assembly proved absolutely impotent and was disbanded by a Bolshevik decree on 6 January, 1918; this buried the hopes that the national question would be settled in Russia any time soon; the national fringes (including Transcaucasia) became even more disillusioned with Russia's policies.

On 22 January, 1918, the Transcaucasian delegates met in Tiflis; after two days of discussions, they decided to set up a regional legislature, the Transcaucasian Sejm, with twice as many seats as the number the parties had gained at the elections to the Constituent Assembly. On 23 February, 1918, the first meeting of the Sejm was held and Transcaucasia acquired its own parliament, but Ali Mardan bek was kept away from the Committee and the Sejm by acute heart troubles.95

The slaughter of Muslims in Baku in March 1918 organized by the Baku Soviet and the Dash-nak Party determined to seize power took Ali Mardan bek by surprise. It became abundantly clear

91 See: Kaspiy, 24 August, 1917.

92 See: Kaspiy, 28 November, 1917; Biographical information about Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev. Part I (in concise form), p. 21; Topchibashi Ali Mardan bek. Autobiography. 16.12.1951, p. 13.

93 See: Kaspiy, 28 November, 1917; Kurtulug, 2 sayi 1934, p. 49.

94 See: Açiq soz, 1 November, 1917.

95 See: Biographical information about Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev. Part I (in concise form), pp. 21-22.

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what the Bolsheviks, who had declared the right of nations to self-determination, had in store for Azerbaijan. On 29 March, on the eve of the bloodshed, the Armenian National Party of the Dashnaks invited prominent Muslims to discuss the joint struggle against the Bolsheviks, only to perform a U-turn and become "Bolshevik" itself during the small hours of the next day. Ali Mardan bek was shattered.96

The perfidy of the Dashnaks triggered bloodshed: it started on 30 March under the slogan of "struggle against counterrevolution" in Baku and went on unabated for three days, causing massive loss of life among the Muslims (12 thousand killed).97 The editorial offices of Kaspiy (associated with many years of Topchibashev's life); the Ismailiyya Palace; the print shop of Agiq soz, the newspaper which carried the banner of national struggle; Muslim charity centers; the Taza Pir Mosque; and other monuments of culture, enlightenment, and religion were burned down. Everything associated with Turkism and Islam was destroyed. Ali Mardan bek, who saw everything with his own eyes, wrote that the armed Armenians "attacked the homes of Muslims and spared neither old people, nor women, nor children... They killed Muslims, even those who belonged to leftist parties: this happened to several doctors and teachers."98

On 1 April, the Bolshevik Revolutionary Defense Committee set up on the eve of the March events issued an ultimatum to the Muslim population of Baku: by 03:00 p.m. they should recognize Bolshevist power and disarm their armed units under the threat of continued bloodshed. Fully aware of the implications, still ailing Ali Mardan bek together with Aga Ashurov, Molla Haji Mirmovsum, Hajihuseyn Tagiev, and Abbasgulu Kazimzade (who had stayed at Topchibashev's house during the March events) went to the Hotel Astoria, the headquarters of the Revolutionary Defense Committee. An hour later, the talks between them in the presence of Consul of Iran Habibulla Khan and the Bolsheviks who sided with the Armenian National Soviet began. After four hours they signed a document under which they recognized Bolshevist power and agreed to disarm the Muslim armed units.99 The Armenians also demanded that Ali Mardan bek and Haji Zeynalabdin Tagiev go to the Khyrdalan railway station on 3 April to persuade the Lezghian regiment from Daghestan moving to Baku to help the co-religionists to turn back.

On 2 April, when the hostilities ceased, Topchibashev's house was searched; the next day he was arrested by the Armenian military. Much later, on 13 November, 1918, Yakov Smirnov, an attorney at law, testified in front of the Extraordinary Investigatory Commission set up by the Azeri authorities to establish the truth about the March events: "After the March pogroms, I learned that Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev had been arrested. He was kept in a small room in one of the schools along with Colonel Baron Osten-Saken; their Armenian guard occupied an adjacent larger room. The guards, who drank day and night, incessantly clicked their rifle locks, and in general were very noisy, were absolutely disgusting. I saw this when I visited Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev; I went to a lot of trouble to release him on bail; I finally managed this through Japaridze (A. Japaridze, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Soviet of Workers', Soldiers' and Sailors' Deputies.— J.H.) and Kozhemyak (D. Kozhemyak, Chairman of the Executive Commission set up by Bolsheviks.—J.H.)."100

96 See: Biographical information about Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev. Part I (in concise form), p. 22; Topchibashi Ali Mardan bek. Autobiography. 16.12.1951, p. 14.

97 See: Report of member of Extraordinary Investigatory Commission A.E. Klyuge to Commission Chairman A.B. Khasmagommedov about the violence against the Turkic-Muslim population of the city, July 1919, APD UDP AR, rec. gr. 277, inv. 2, f. 27, sheet 18 (in Russian); for more details about the slaughter of the Turkic-Muslim population of Baku in March 1918, see: S. Rustamova-Tokhidi, Mart 1918. Baku. Azerbaidzhanskie pogromy v dokumentakh, Baku, 2009.

98 Biographical information about Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev. Part I (in concise form), p. 22.

99 See: Byulleten KRO g. Baku i ego rayonov, 4 April, 1918.

100 Record of interrogation of witness Yakov Nikolaevich Smirnov by the Extraordinary Investigatory Commission. 13.11.1918, APD UDP AR, rec. gr. 277, inv. 2, f. 13, sheets 154-155; S. Rustamova-Takhidi, op. cit., p. 435.

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After a month under arrest, the Extraordinary Military Investigatory Commission of the Bolsheviks released Ali Mardan bek on bail under the surety of the Gummet Muslim Social-Democratic Party of the Muslims. Several days later, the Armenians insisted on his arrest; this time he was placed in Bayilovo prison.101 Attorney at law Smirnov testified: "In prison he was discouraged and ailing; he complained that he had received no food in the first 24 hours, that he and other prisoners (there were 30 of them) were hungry, that the conditions in Bayilovo were appalling: he shared a tiny cell with Ibrahim bek Heydarov, locked from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. they had to use a leaking and stinking bucket. It took me and attorney Leontovich (A. Leontovich, one of the leaders of the Russian national Council in Baku.—J.H.) a lot of time to insist, through the same Japaridze, on a medical examination of Topchibashev and Heydarov; both were found to be ill. At my request, they were moved to the clinic of Doctor Larionov (the clinic, which belonged to my wife, occupied one of the corners of Bazarnaya and Gubernskaya streets). Their Armenian guards in the clinic misbehaved to such an extent that I had to ask for a replacement. They sent Georgians for one day, then after that only Armenians were sent again."102

Later Topchibashev was released from the clinic on bail. During the March bloodshed he, a prominent political figure, had been in mortal danger; after two and a half months under arrest he, still regarded as a political adversary, was released on bail.

On 28 May, 1918, while Topchibashev was still in Armenian-Bolshevist imprisonment, the Azerbaijan Republic was set up; the announcement was made in Tiflis, after which the national government moved to Ganja. Depressed by everything that had happened to him, Ali Mardan bek wrote: "I could please neither the government of Nicholas II, nor the government of Bolsheviks that put me in prison. Let us see what the new government will do."103 Despondent and persecuted, he tried to escape from Baku, which was temporarily occupied by alien forces.

The Istanbul Mission of the Minister with Emergency Powers

The second Cabinet of the Azerbaijan Republic was formed in Ganja on 17 June, 1918; Ali Mardan bek, who was still under Bolshevist arrest in Baku and so could not be contacted on a regular basis, was temporarily appointed minister without portfolio, with no specific responsibilities in the government of the Azerbaijan Republic.104

The summer victory of the Islamic Army on the Baku front complicated the situation in the city still further; afraid of continued persecution, Ali Mardan bek finally escaped from the city to hide in one of the Absheron country houses. He knew very well that, enraged by the defeats, the Armenian-Bolshevist coalition would give him no chance; even released on bail he had been constantly threatened; he had no choice but to wait for the Islamic Army in hiding.105

On 31 July, 1918, the Soviet of the Baku People' s Commissars, no longer able to stand opposed to the Islamic Army, was overthrown. The next day, the Central Caspian government was set up in Baku. The Islamic Army captured the environs, making it possible for Ali Mardan bek to finally leave his hiding place and go to the army headquarters at the Hyrdalan railway station.

101 See: Topchibashi Ali Mardan bek. Autobiography. 16.12.1951, p. 14.

102 Record of interrogation of witness Yakov Nikolaevich Smirnov by the Extraordinary Investigatory Commission. 13.11.1918, sheets 155-156; S. Rustamova-Takhidi, op. cit., pp. 434-435.

103 Biographical information about Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev. Part I (in concise form), p. 22.

104 See: Ibid., p. 22.

105 See: Ibidem.

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The Islamic Army and the Cabinet were moving toward Baku; Ali Mardan bek, on the other hand, finally reached Ganja early in August where, at the request of Prime Minister Fatali Khan Hoyski, he acted as prime minister and foreign minister. Prime Minister Fatali Khan Hoyski and Foreign Minister Magommedhasan Gajinsky, meanwhile, were going to Baku by rail in the footsteps of the advancing Islamic Army.106 On 13 August, the prime minister instructed Topchibashev, who remained in Ganja, to act instead of him as prime minister and temporarily perform the functions of foreign minister.107 Later his family joined him in Ganja; however, after their long and painful separation, this reunion proved short.108

On 18 August, 1918, while fierce fighting for Baku was still going on, the government of the Azerbaijan Republic dispatched Topchibashev, one of its most prominent members, as minister with extraordinary powers to Istanbul to negotiate diplomatic relations with the Ottoman Empire. After leaving Ganja on 23 August, he arrived in Istanbul late in September; on 2 October, he was received by Prime Minister Talaat Pasha, who had just returned from Berlin.

Talaat Pasha informed Ali Mardan bek about the Berlin talks and assured him that he had done everything possible to promote the interests of Azerbaijan. The same day, he was received by Foreign Minister of the Ottoman Empire Akhmed Nasimi bek and the next day by Defense Minister Enver Pasha. Further contacts were limited by the changing fortunes of World War I and the deepening government crisis in the Ottoman Empire.

Early in October, the government reshuffling in Germany triggered similar changes in the Ottoman Empire. On 8 October, the Talaat Pasha Cabinet resigned; it was replaced with the Izzet Pasha Cabinet. On 21 October, the new Grand Vizier Izzet Pasha received the Azeri minister with extraordinary powers; on 27 October, Ali Mardan bek met with new Foreign Minister Nabi bek; on 28 October, he was received at the Ministry of Education; later the same day, he met the newly elected sheikhulislam. Two days later, on 30 October, Turkey signed the crippling Armistice of Mudros.

The defeat of Turkey crippled the Azerbaijan Republic; on 3 November, the conditions of the Armistice of Mudros were made public; on 14 November, Ali Mardan bek wrote: "I spent the evening of the same day (3 November.—Ed.) at Rauf bek's house."109 On 4 November, he handed a note to Deputy Foreign Minister of Turkey Rishad Ikmed bek, in which Azerbaijan objected to the clauses of the Armistice of Mudros related to it. On 17 November, in conformity with the armistice, British troops entered Baku.

During this very troubled time for the Azerbaijan Republic, the National Crisis Council showed good results; to maintain consistent contacts with European democracies Azerbaijan should become a parliamentary republic. Ali Mardan bek initiated discussions on this issue. On 16 November, the day before the British troops entered the city, the National Council discussed the possibility and several days later, on 19 November, passed an election law.

The parliament of the Azerbaijan Republic started functioning on 7 December; 96 deputies of the elected 120 attended the opening ceremony. Chairman Rasulzade addressed the first sitting with a short congratulatory speech; at the end of the meeting, he declared that electing a speaker was one of the key issues. After discussing all the possible alternatives, the parliament voted for Topchibashev; Hasan bek Agaev was elected his first deputy and Rakhim bek Vekilov the parliament secretary.

Ali Mardan bek never belonged to a political party; his broad world outlook and profound understanding of democratic values made him an outstanding political figure and diplomat of his time.

106 See: Ibidem.

107 See: Letter of Fatali Khan Hoyski to Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev. 13.08.1918. Archives d'Ali Mardan-bey Toptchibachi, carton n° 9. p. 1.

108 See: Topchibashi Ali Mardan bek. Autobiography. 16.12.1951, p. 15.

109 See: Letter of Minister Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary ofthe Azerbaijan Republic A.b. Topchibashev to Chairman of the Council of Ministers F.Kh. Khoyski. 14.11.1918. GAAP. rec. gr. 894, inv. 10. f. 34, p. 18 (in Russian).

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American historian Firuz Kazemzadeh wrote about him: "Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev, who was elected President of the Parliament, was a well-educated lawyer, tolerant in his views, not a narrow nationalist."110

Elected chairman of the parliament of Azerbaijan, Topchibashev could not return to Baku by the time of the election. In November and December 1918, he met several important Turkish officials and representatives of the Entente who had arrived in Istanbul. On 3 November, he talked to Rauf bek, who had signed the Armistice on behalf of Turkey; on 4 November, he spoke to Deputy Foreign Minister Reshad Ikmet bek, on 5 November to Foreign Minister Nabi bek, on 8 November to Finance Minister Huseyn Jahid bek, on 15 November to representative of Ukraine Sukovchin, on 16 and 18 November to newly appointed Turkish Minister of Internal Affairs Mustafa Reshad Pasha, the new Grand Vizier Tevfik Pasha and diplomatic representative of the U.K. in Istanbul Temple, on 25 November to Defense Minister of Turkey Abdullah Pasha, on 7 December to Russian representative Pavel Milyukov, on 23 December to American representative Brown, and on 31 December to High Commissioner of Italy in Istanbul Count Sforza.111 He discussed the postwar situation in Azerbaijan and the world.

Representative of Azerbaijan at the Paris Peace Conference

On 28 December, the new Cabinet with Fatali Khan Hoyski as its chairman approved the list of Azeri deputies at the Paris Peace Conference. Parliament Chairman Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev was appointed the delegation head; Magommedhasan Gajinsky was his deputy; members of the parliament Akhmed bek Agaev and Akbar agha Sheikhulislamov were members; and two other parliamentarians (Miryagub Mekhtiev and Magommed Magerramov) and editor of the Azerbaijan newspaper Jeykhun bek Hajibeyli were sent as advisors. These people represented different parties and different factions in the parliament of Azerbaijan.112

On 20 January, 1919, the delegation arrived in Istanbul where it remained until late April; it reached Paris on 9 May. On 28 May, it was received by U.S. President Wilson. Ali Mardan bek left the following comment: "Woodrow Wilson received our delegation, which was a great event because, like all other heads of the Entente countries, he did not receive delegations."113 Topchibashev, who headed the delegation of Azerbaijan, deemed it necessary to say to the American president: "It is a great honor to be received by the president of great America, the author of the supreme principles of peaceful coexistence of nations and the right of nations, including numerically small peoples, to decide their fate themselves, and to greet him on behalf of the delegation of Azerbaijan. We, who have come from the far-away Caucasus, from Azerbaijan, separated by several thousands of miles from Paris, want to express our gratitude for the free and independent life of our people. We address you, representative of a great country, with a request to hear what we have to say about our country, our people, and us."114 President Wilson received a memorandum outlining what was

110 F. Kazemzadeh, The Struggle for Transcaucasia (1917-1921), New York, 1951, p. 167.

111 See: Diplomaticheskie besedy A.M. Topchibasheva vStambule (zapisi chrezvychaynogoposlannika ipolnomochnogo ministra Azerbaidzhanskoy respubliki). 1918-1919gg., Baku, 1994, pp. 33-38.

112 See: Report of Minister Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Azerbaijan Republic A.b. Topchibashev. 1919, Archives d'Ali Mardan-bey Toptchibachi, carton n° 6/1, sheet 3 (in Russian).

113 Information for the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Azerbaijan N.b. Yusifbeyli about the reception of A.b. Topchibashev by U.S. President W. Wilson. 28.05.191, GAAP , rec. gr. 970, inv. 1, f. 143, sheet 7 (in Russian).

114 Conversation of A.M. Topchibashov, Head of Delegation of the Azerbaijan Republic at Paris Peace Conference with W. Wilson, President of the USA. 28.05.1919, Archives d'Ali Mardan-bey Toptchibachi, carton n° 4/ I. CERCEC, EHESS, Paris, pp. 29-30.

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going on in the Caucasus and Azerbaijan and the claims of the Azeri delegation addressed to President Wilson as one of the heads of the Paris Peace Conference. The president expressed his pleasure with the meeting and detailed information, but said nothing about recognizing the independence of Azerbaijan.115

President Wilson suggested that Ali Mardan bek submit the claims to the Secretariat of the Peace Conference; the documents were in English and French, in June they appeared as a 50-page-long brochure.116

The delegation of Azerbaijan and Ali Mardan bek as its head had been working hard to finally achieve an excellent result. On 11 January, 1920, the Supreme Allied Council de facto recognized the governments of Azerbaijan and Georgia.117 On 16 January, Prime Minister Nasib bek Usubbekov congratulated Ali Mardan bek. In his letter he said: "Esteemed Ali Mardan bek! Let me congratulate you and all the members of our delegation on the Entente' s recognition of Azerbaijan's independence. Please accept my sincere gratitude for your work, which has played an important role in achieving this long-awaited success." The prime minister further wrote that he had spoken to Topchibashev's wife and realized that his family was not yet ready to join Ali Mardan bek in Paris and assured him that the issue would be settled as soon as he received a clear answer from them.118

General Ibrahim agha Usubov, engaged in the talks about military deliveries to Azerbaijan, wrote in his telegram from Rome: "Your presence at the Conference opened a new era in the political life of our beloved Azerbaijan. This was a historic event—from that time on Azerbaijan acquired the rights of an independent state. The country owes this gigantic achievement to you. Your crystal-clear name has entered eternity: it has been written in golden letters and will always be the first in the annals of Azerbaijan."119

Fighting for Independence

On 27 April, 1920, the Azerbaijan Republic, the independence of which had been de facto recognized by the Supreme Allied Council, was occupied by Soviet Russia. During the two years that predated this occupation, Ali Mardan bek, separated by long distances from his motherland, had been consistently working for its independence. The occupation had made him an émigré and condemned him to a life of hardship and loss.

He sent notes to all the European hierarchies of power (the Supreme Allied Council, the Great Powers representatives in Paris, the newborn League of Nations, and many other international structures) to complain about the Soviet occupation. On 6 July, 1920, he submitted a document to the Chairman of the Conference in Spa that said in part: "The delegation of Azerbaijan at the Peace Conference would like to draw the Peace Conference's attention to the occupation of Azerbaijan by Soviet Russia. The de facto recognition of independence of Azerbaijan by the Supreme Allied Coun-

115 See: A.M. Topchibashev, Pisma izParizha, Baku, 1998, p. 38.

116 See: La Republique de l 'Azerbaidjan du Caucase, Imprimeur P. Harambat. Paris, 1919, 52 pp.; Claims of the Peace Delegation of the Republic of Caucasian Azerbaijan Presented to the Peace Conference in Paris, Imp. Robinet-Houtain, Paris, 1919, 52 pp.; Archives d'Ali Mardan-bey Toptchibachi, carton n° 2/ I. CERCEC, EHESS, Paris, pp. 1-54.

117 See: Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States. The Paris Peace Conference. 1919, Vol. IX, 1946, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, 1946. p. 959; Bulletin d'Information de l'Azerbaidjan, Paris, No. 7, 17 janvier 1920, p. 1.

118 See: Letter of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers N. Usubbekov to Head of the Delegation of the Azerbaijan Republic at the Paris Peace Conference A.M. Topchibashov. 16.01.1920, Archives d'Ali Mardan-bey Toptchibachi, carton n° 6/I. CERCEC, EHESS, Paris, pp. 852-853.

119 Telegram of General I. Usubov from Italy to A.M. Topchibasheff. 03.02.1920, Archives d'Ali Mardan-bey Toptchibachi, carton n° 6/ I. CERCEC, EHESS, Paris, pp. 854-855.

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cil in Versailles inspired our people and kindled the hope that the young state they created would receive a new lease on life... Shortly after this recognition, the Bolsheviks occupied our country... Today, the Allies, the Peace Conference, and the League of Nations hold the key to the problem."120 However, his frantic and consistent efforts did not change the West's position on the occupation.

In the wake of the Bolshevist occupation of Azerbaijan in November 1920 and of Georgia in February 1921, Ali Mardan bek invited the representatives of the Caucasus at the Peace Conference to set up a Caucasian Union. On 10 June, 1921, in Paris, the plenipotentiary representatives of the four Caucasian republics (Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, and the Mountaineers Republic) adopted a declaration: they pushed aside all contradictions to announce that they would work closely together to ensure independence for the peoples of the Caucasus, restore the democratic forms of government in these countries, and work for the region's prosperity.121

To promote the idea of Azerbaijan's independence, Ali Mardan bek initiated a conference organized on 9 May, 1923 in Paris by the Sociological Society. Between 9 May and 13 June, the conference discussed the history, culture, ethnography, natural riches, and economic situation of Azerbaijan; it looked into the origins of the Azeris, their history as a nation, their willingness to live as an independent state, their independence recognized de facto by the world community, and the country's occupation by Soviet Russia.122

From the very first days of 1922, the Azeri émigrés in Europe and émigrés from other Caucasian states actively demonstrated their position at the Cannes Conference of the Allies and even more actively at the conferences in Genoa and The Hague, which discussed, among other things, access to Baku oil. The firm position of the Caucasian governments in exile (particularly of Azerbaijan) restrained the West inclined toward economic cooperation with Soviet Russia. In Genoa, for example, Ali Mardan bek announced on behalf of the representatives of the Azerbaijan Republic who had arrived at the conference that Soviet Russia had no rights to grant concessions on Baku oil. On the second day of the conference, M. Magerramov, another member of the Azeri delegation, stated in the Italian press that the Bolsheviks had no rights to sell oil fields because they belonged to the people of Azerbaijan. He was convinced that the role of the capital of Russian industrialists in developing the oil industry of his country had not been great and that the oil-rich Absheron Peninsula should belong to the Azeri people and foreign companies that had poured their money into it.123

The Caucasian governments in exile (including that of Azerbaijan) tried to procure an invitation with the help of France to the Lausanne Conference scheduled for 20 November, 1922. The U.K., however, was determined to keep them away. The Georgian representatives spoke of their country as one of the Black Sea states, while representatives of Armenia and Azerbaijan pointed out that they were connected to Western Europe across the Black Sea and the Straits. Prime Minister of Great Britain Lloyd George and Foreign Secretary Lord Curzon insisted that governments with no control over their territories had nothing to do at the conference. Despite the firm, or even stubborn, resistance of the British, Ali Mardan bek obtained a Swiss visa on 27 November and on 24 December arrived in Lausanne to find out about everything that was being discussed and to inform the conference about Azerbaijan. After 13 months in Lausanne, where he monitored the developments at the conference, he returned to Paris on 24 February, 1924.124 The consistent efforts of the representatives of the gov-

120 Monsieur le Président de la Conférence de la Paix à Spa. Le 6 juillet 1920, Ministère des Affaires Étrangères de France, Archives Diplomatique, Vol. 639, folio 124-132.

121 See: Déclaration Représentants des Républiques d'Arménie, d'Azerbaïdjan, du Caucase du Nord et de Géorgie. Classé le 15 juin 1921, Ministère des Affaires Étrangères de France, Archives Diplomatique, Vol. 639, folio 205-206.

122 See: Conference on Azerbaijan conducted by the Sociological Society. 09.05.1923, Archives d'Ali Mardan-bey Toptchibachi, carton n° 9/13. CERCEC, EHESS, Paris, pp. 1-2 (in Russian).

123 See: Corriere d' italia, 12 aprile, 1922.

124 See: Visa document attached to the diplomatic passport of A.M. Topchibashev. 27.11.1922, Archives d'Ali Mardan-bey Toptchibachi, carton n° 3. CERCEC, EHESS, Paris, p. 3.

THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION

ernments of the Caucasian republics in exile and their significant arguments convinced the Allies that, contrary to the efforts of Soviet Russia, the Soviet republics it controlled should not be allowed to sign the Treaty of Lausanne.

In 1924, when the Socialists came to power in France and the Labor Party led by Ramsey MacDonald won the general elections in the U.K. in January 1924, these two countries softened their position on recognition of the Soviet Union. On 31 January, 1924, two days before the scheduled recognition of the Soviet Union, Topchibashev, as head of the delegation of Azerbaijan, sent a detailed memorandum to British Ambassador to France Marquise de Crewe, in which he outlined the history of the Azerbaijan Republic, informed the ambassador that his country's independence had been recognized de facto by His Majesty Government and other Allied Powers on 12 January, 1920, and pointed out that Azerbaijan, the state recognized by the Supreme Allied Council at the Peace Conference, was occupied by Soviet Russia.125 In view of the fact that the international community had been displaying a lot of interest in recognizing the Soviet state, Ali Mardan bek sent copies of the document to the official representative of the French government, as well as to 29 diplomatic missions in Paris, including the United States, Italy, Japan, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Spain.

Edouard Herriot, appointed prime minister of France on 14 June, 1924, immediately initiated a public discussion of the problem of diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. Ali Mardan bek was one of the first to address the newly appointed prime minister: on 17 June, he sent a letter to him as head of government, as well as to the foreign minister, to draw their attention to several important issues related to Azerbaijan.126

In 1924, the general mood in Europe shifted in favor of recognition of the Soviet Union; this negatively affected the situation of the political émigrés from Azerbaijan and other national parts of the former empire. For want of money, Ali Mardan bek had to move to the suburb of Saint-Cloud. In mid-April 1924, he shared his impressions with M.E. Rasulzade, who established the second center of Azeri emigration in Turkey: "During the Peace Conference (the Paris Peace Conference.— J.H.), everyone was favorably disposed toward us; later we were tolerated, while after Lausanne toleration became a charged silence." He pointed out that "first Italy and then the U.K. removed us from the list of diplomatic visas. The French Foreign Ministry tried to do the same, but we managed to preserve the old rules. If France recognizes the Soviets tomorrow, everything might change for the worst."127

Diplomatic relations with the U.S.S.R. decreased the interest of the French official circles in the Azeri delegation. The French recognized that trade and economic relations with the Soviet republics depended on Moscow. The correspondence between the Cabinet of Ministers of France and the Foreign Ministry of France shows that French officialdom regarded the delegation of Azerbaijan in France as a charity and responded to its enquiries out of diplomatic etiquette. It was recommended that Topchibashev be shown respect as an influential figure.128

Ali Mardan bek did his best to maintain contacts with Baku and Azerbaijan; he had his own source of information about what was going on there. On 16 August, 1927, he wrote to Jeykhun bek

125 See: A Son Excellence Monsieur Marquis de Crewe Ambassadeur de Grande-Bretagne et d'Irlande Paris—A.M. Top-tchibachef Président de la Délégation de Paix de la République d'Azerbaïdjan, le 31.01.1924, Archives d'Ali Mardan-bey Toptchibachi, carton n° 9/19. CERCEC, EHESS, Paris, pp. 1-5.

126 See: Son Excellence Monsieur Edouard Herriot Président du Conseil de la République Française Quai d'Orsay Paris—A.M. Toptchibacheff Président de la Délégation de Paix de la République d'Azerbaïdjan, le 17 juin 1924, Ministère des Affaires Étrangères de France, Archives Diplomatique, Vol. 639, folio 291-295.

127 Letter of Topchibashev to M.E. Rasulzade. 14-15.04.1924, Archives d'Ali Mardan-bey Toptchibachi, carton n° 4/3. CERCEC, EHESS, Paris (in Russian).

128 See: Ministère des Affaires Étrangères République Française. Direction des Affaires Politiques et Commerciales. Note pour le Cabinet du Ministre. Paris, le 3 mai 1927, Ministère des Affaires Étrangères de France, Archives Diplomatique, Vol. 639, folio 304.

THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION

Hajibeyli about the massive repressions against the national forces in Azerbaijan and particularly in its capital: "I just received a long letter from Baku written in Aesopian language; it, however, supplies a good picture of what is going on there. Even though it was mailed, it reached me in a roundabout way on 27 July. The situation there is distressing... Everyone is tired and everyone is frightened. Kalinin arrived in Baku in person to conduct some sort of a meeting there; very soon he left, while the repressions intensified and acquired the hitherto unknown form of arrests, searches, and exiles. According to widespread information, many of the Azeris suffered because of their contacts with the Caucasian, including Azeri, organizations, operating abroad."129

Hardships of Emigration

In the fall of 1920, Topchibashev's family finally moved to Paris. His elder daughter Sara was married to Aliashraf bek Sultanov, deputy Minister of Trade and Industry in the last Cabinet of the Azerbaijan Republic; he emigrated to France when the Cabinet had fallen. On 24 November, 1921 and 27 March, 1923, his daughter gave birth to Zarifa and Gulnar ;130 judging by what he wrote to his friends these two granddaughters filled his life in exile with new meaning.

In the 1920s, his health declined; in a letter to Ali bek Huseynzade he complained of headaches and heart troubles, while his ailing liver caused the first signs of rheumatism of his extremities; because of the painful joints of his right hand he had to use a chemical pen.

The problems tumbling down on him forced him to move to Istanbul. On 26 June, 1922, he underwent surgery and had to retire from political activities for a while; however, he promptly recovered from his health problems to return to the ranks of the active politicians of his time. He wrote that "no matter how extraordinary and hard, circumstances will never remove me from the road of faithfully serving my people. On this road I can expect moral support from those who know me and my friends."131 This was when he dropped the Russified ending "ev" in his family name and started using Topchibashi in letters, in the press, and in official statements.

He belonged to the most influential societies and public organizations of France, where he was invariably respected for his outstanding intellectual potential, broad world outlook, vast experience of over four decades of political struggle, and firm political convictions. He was a member of the academic societies France-the Caucasus, France-Asia, and France-the Orient, which in the 1920s operated within the Paris International Academy of Diplomacy, the alma mater of many outstanding French diplomats; he was also involved in many other influential organizations.132

Starting in the late 1920s, Ali Mardan bek became engrossed in the past to a much greater extent than before; his letter to Anushiravan bek Zulkadarov, son of his old friend and comrade-in-arms Allakhyar bek, written on 24 July, 1929 in answer to Anushirvan bek's letter of 18 July is the best evidence of this. He highly praised his correspondent for the respect he demonstrated toward the older generation in his letter of 18 July and wrote that this was rooted in the culture of the Azeris and should be preserved as a value of special importance for the Azeri youth. He wrote further: "I am very glad to find these qualities in you, son of my friend Allakhyar bek, the memory of whom will always remain with me. I was joined by bonds of friendship with the late Allakhyar bek and also by our loyalty and

129 Letter of A.M. Topchibashev to J. Hajibeyli. 16.08.1927, The Mumtaz State Archives of Literature and Art of Azerbaijan (AGALI), rec. gr. 649, inv. 3, f. 52, sheet 1.

130 See: Notes by A. Topchibashev on the birth dates of the members of his family, Archives d'Ali Mardan-bey Toptchibachi, carton n° 9/17. CERCEC, EHESS, Paris, p. 2 (in Russian).

131 A.M. Topchibashi: dokumenty iz lichnykh arkhivov. 1903-1934, p. 188.

132 See: Topchibashi Ali Mardan bek. Autobiography. 16.12.1951, p. 17; Toptchibachi Ali Mardan bek Ali Akbar bek oglou, p. 5.

THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION

service to our people. He knew my father and called me 'my cousin.' The late Hamid bek always called me 'our leader.' As a relative I derive great joy from your friendship with Alekper bek. This strengthens the sincerity and friendship between our families."133

Late in the 1920s, the Topchibachevs lived in Saint-Cloud, at that time a distant Paris banlieue, where they had moved from the center because of financial problems. Not infrequently, they had no money to pay the rent. On 6 August, 1929, Ali Mardan bek wrote to J. Hajibeyli: "I did not want to write you about the appalling conditions in which we have found ourselves. This will probably lead us to our end and will give you some breathing space. When you left I went to a doctor who insistently recommended that I go to the Royat Spa not far from Vichy and La Bouboule famous for its mineral waters to treat my atherosclerosis and other health problems. Alas, I can't go anywhere right now in order to avoid the trap I fell into three years ago. Since May I have been living in expectation of a bailiff: we are far behind with our rent. I have written to you about other spending. Aliashraf was wrong with his calculations—today, we are penniless. We have become accustomed to misfortunes and poverty. In any case, I gather my strength to survive, mobilize myself and keep my head."134

Despite his advanced age he followed everything that was going on in the national émigré movement and did his best to keep in contact with the press of émigré groups. His contacts with Yeni Turan (New Turan), a newspaper published in Finland, reminded him of the distant past when he was leader of the Muslims of Russia. His letter of 23 June, 1933 mailed to Magommedsadyg Akhundzade, one of the newspaper contributors, was filled with sadness about the past: "Dear Magommedsadyg bek! As a member of the editorial board I have been receiving Yeni Turan for some time now at my old address. I distribute the copies among the necessary citizens. Unfortunately, I lack several of the latest copies and I ask you to send me all the issues. If possible, in future send them to me personally to the address at which I have been living for over a year now (28 rue Ernest Tissot, Saint-Cloud). In any case, I read Yeni Turan with pleasure and am grateful to you and its owner Ibrahim Arifulla bek effendi. This is an unforgettable effort to fight for the liberation of the Turkic countries in the far north of Europe. Long live those who are working hard on friendly Finnish soil for the benefit of their Motherland. I know a bit about the culture of this country; in the past I had friends among Finnish enlighteners whom I met in Petersburg, in the First Duma. Are any of them still living? With whom are you fighting together in that blessed country? With the eternally dear brothers from the Itil-Ural countries? This gladdens me infinitely because I spent the hardest stages of my political struggle both with the Azeris, and in the Itil-Ural countries (1903-1917): Kazan-Samara-Orenburg-Kargali-Ufa-Ekaterinburg-Tyumen-Semirechie-Petropavlosvk and others. In the same way, I met our brothers in Baku, Lenkoran, Salyan, Quba, Shemakha, Ganja, Sheki, Arash, Gazakh and elsewhere I travelled across Turkic countries and organized political consultations. Are there people from Kazan, Orenburg, Ufa, and other places in Helsinki? Probably they are children or grandchildren of my friends. Do they remember me? No matter what, give them my regards. You know, my friend, it is very hard to be an old man in my situation. I have been ailing for over a year now; the state of affairs of our organization is far from perfect. I still live in the hope that I can serve my people, be it in Azerbaijan, Itil-Ural, Turkestan, or other Turkic countries."135 This sincere letter brimming with reminiscences is probably the best evidence of the spiritual makeup and political values of a prominent Muslim and Turkic figure who dedicated his life to struggle.

On 14 July, 1934, representatives of the Caucasian republics in emigration signed the Pact of Caucasian Confederation; Ali Mardan Topchibashev and Mamed Emin Rasulzade signed it on behalf

133 Letter of A.M. Topchibashev to Anushiravan bek Zulkadarov. 24.07.1929, Archives d'Ali Mardan-bey Toptchibachi, carton n° 6/1. CERCEC, EHESS, Paris, pp. 1-2.

134 Letter of A.M. Topchibasev to J. Hajibeyli. 06.08.1919, AGALI, rec. gr. 649, inv. 3, f. 71, sheet 1.

135 Letter of A.M. Topchibashev to Magommedsadyg bek Akhundzade. 23.06.1933, Archives d'Ali Mardan-bey Toptchibachi, carton n° 9/19. CERCEC, EHESS, Paris, pp. 1-2.

THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION

of the Azerbaijan National Center. Ali Mardan bek looked at the Pact as a triumph of Caucasian solidarity.

At that time he felt much better than before; he looked to the future with the hope of uniting the Azeris and neighboring peoples under the flag of the Caucasian Confederation. He believed that he had enough strength to achieve this; his doctor encouraged him, yet fate decided differently. He was paralyzed on 5 November, 1934 and died.136

On 8 November, after the religious ritual performed by the imam of the Paris Muslim majilis, his coffin was carried under the Arc de Triomphe to demonstrate respect for the outstanding political and state figure of the Azerbaijan Republic. His funeral became a meeting of solidarity of the Caucasian, Central Asian, and Russian emigration.

Conclusion

Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev is one of the outstanding figures in the history of Azerbaijan; his lofty personal qualities and rich experience, his role in the history of the national-liberation movement, and his fifty-year-long political activities largely contributed to the struggle of the Azeris, Russian Muslims, and Turkic-speaking peoples of the Russian Empire for national and state development.

Ali Mardan bek regarded the freedom of the Muslims of Russia and their civil rights as a triumph of democratic values. It was for this purpose that he brought the Muslim faction in the State Duma, which he headed, closer to the Cadets (Constitutional Democrats of the Party of People's Freedom). The reactionary policies of 1907 buried the political careers of many outstanding people. Most of the political figures who came to the fore during the first Russian revolution succumbed under tyranny: some of them emigrated; others preferred cooperation with the authorities; some committed suicide, while many moved away to lead private lives. In 1907-1917, a relatively peaceful period in Russia, Ali Mardan bek enriched history with an example of bright political struggle and selfless dedication to the people.

Throughout his life he remained devoted to the idea of unity and solidarity of the Caucasian peoples; he was convinced that the Muslims of different Islamic trends should unite; he was one of the first Muslim leaders of Russia to declare that Muslims should turn to the basic principles of their religion. As the first speaker of the parliament of the independent Azerbaijan Republic and as head of its delegation at the Paris Peace Conference, he finally achieved recognition by the Allied Powers of his country's independence. In April 1920, it was occupied by Soviet Russia; until his last day, Ali Mardan bek was in the vanguard of those who fought for Azerbaijan's independence.

Ali Mardan bek Topchibashev will be always remembered as a prominent political leader and a figure of historic dimensions; he did much to promote the development of the statehood of Azerbaijan.

See: Topchibashi Ali Mardan bek. Autobiography. 16.12.1951, p. 19.