Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic

Coordinates: 40°18′N 47°42′E / 40.3°N 47.7°E / 40.3; 47.7
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Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic
)

Azerbaijan Socialist Soviet Republic
(1920–1922)
Azərbajcan Sosjalist Зyra Cumhyrijjəti (Azerbaijani)[1]
Азербайджанская Социалистическая Советская Республика (Russian)

Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic
(1936–1991)
Азәрбајҹан Совет Сосиалист Республикасы (Azerbaijani)
Азербайджанская Советская Социалистическая Республика (Russian)

Republic of Azerbaijan[a]
(1991)
Azərbaycan Respublikası (Azerbaijani)
Азербайджанская Республика (Russian)
1920–1922
1936–1991
Flag of Azerbaijan SSR
Flag
(1952–1991)
State emblem (1978–1991) of Azerbaijan SSR
State emblem
(1978–1991)
Motto: 
Lezgin · Talysh · Tat
Religion
State atheism
Demonym(s)Azerbaijani
Soviet
Government
First Secretary 
• 1920 (first)
Mirza Davud Huseynov[b]
• 1990–1991 (last)
Ayaz Mutallibov
Head of State 
• 1920 (first)
Mirza Davud Huseynov[c]
• 1989–1990 (last)
Elmira Gafarova
Head of Government 
• 1920–1922 (first)
Nariman Narimanov
• 1990–1991 (last)
Hasan Hasanov
LegislatureSupreme Soviet
History 
• Republic proclaimed
28 April 1920
• Becomes part of the Transcaucasian SFSR
30 December 1922
• Re-established
5 December 1936
20 February 1988
• Sovereignty declared
23 September 1989
19–20 January 1990
5 February 1991
• Independence declared
18 October 1991
• Independence recognized
26 December 1991
Population
• 
1989 census
7,037,867
Currency
Soviet rouble (Rbl) (SUR)
Calling code+7 892/895
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Azerbaijan Democratic Republic
Republic of Mountainous Armenia
Transcaucasian SFSR
Azerbaijan
Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh
Today part ofAzerbaijan

The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, also referred to as the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic, Azerbaijan SSR, Azerbaijani SSR, AzSSR, Soviet Azerbaijan or simply Azerbaijan, was one of the

Georgian SSR
.

In December 1922, the Transcaucasian SFSR became part of the newly established Soviet Union. The Constitution of Azerbaijan SSR was approved by the 9th Extraordinary All-Azerbaijani Congress of Soviets on 14 March 1937. On 5 February 1991, Azerbaijan SSR was renamed the

Republic of Azerbaijan according to the Decision No.16-XII of Supreme Soviet of Azerbaijan approving the Decree of the President of Azerbaijan SSR dated 29 November 1990,[3] remained in the USSR for the period before the declaration of independence in October 1991. The Constitution of the Azerbaijan SSR ceased to exist in 1995, upon the adoption of the new Constitution of Azerbaijan
.

Etymology

The name "Azerbaijan" originates as the "Land of

Persian Āzarbāydjān, from earlier Ādharbāyagān and Ādharbādhagān, from Middle Persian Āturpātākān, from Old Persian
Atropatkan.

From its founding it was officially known as the Azerbaijan Socialist Soviet Republic. When the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic was abolished, the name was changed to the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic according to the 1937 and 1978 Azerbaijan SSR constitutions. Upon independence, it was renamed to the Republic of Azerbaijan (or Azerbaijani Republic) in 1991. The current official name was retained after the new Constitution of Azerbaijan was adopted in 1995.

History

Establishment

The Azerbaijan SSR was established on 28 April 1920 after the surrender of the government of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic to local Bolsheviks led by Mirza Davud Huseynov and Nariman Narimanov and the invasion of the Bolshevik 11th Red Army.[6]

On 13 October 1921, the Soviet republics of Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia signed an agreement with Turkey known as the Treaty of Kars. The previously independent Nakhcivan SSR would also become an autonomous ASSR within Azerbaijan by the Treaty of Kars.[7][8]

Borders of Azerbaijan and Armenia, like elsewhere in the USSR, were redrawn several times, yet neither side was completely satisfied with the results.

Transcaucasian SFSR

On 12 March 1922 the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenian, and Georgian Soviet Socialist Republics established a union known as the

Aleksandr Fyodorovich Miasnikyan (Armenia). The First Secretary of the Transcaucasian Communist Party was Sergo Ordzhonikidze
.

In December 1922 TSFSR agreed to join the union with Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, thus creating the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics which would last until 1991. The TSFSR, however, did not last long. In December 1936, the Transcaucasian Union was dismantled when the leaders in the Union Council found themselves unable to come to agreement over several issues. Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia then became union Republics of the Soviet Union directly.

Economy and development

In the spring of 1921, a general change-over from

capital investment
size.

World War II

During the period 17 September 1939 to 21 June 1941, Nazi Germany, due to its non-aggression pact and relatively normalized trade relations with the USSR, was a major importer of oil produced in the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic.

This changed when Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941. In the first year of the

Fall Blau offensive. This offensive was unsuccessful, however. The German army reached the mountains of the Caucasus, but was at the same time decisively defeated at the Battle of Stalingrad and so forced to retreat from the area, abandoning all hopes for a Reichskommissariat Kaukasien. In 1942 Azerbaijan also became the second-largest tea producer of the Soviet Army. By the decree of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR
in February 1942, the commitment of more than 500 workers and employees of the oil industry of Azerbaijan was awarded orders and medals. Of the estimated 600,000 Azerbaijanis who were recruited into the Soviet Army during the war, 290,000 died.

Post-war period

An event that greatly impacted Azerbaijanis on both sides of the border was the Soviet occupation of Iranian Azerbaijan in the summer of 1941. The Soviet military presence south of the Aras River led to a revival of Pan-Azerbaijani nationalism. During the Soviet occupation, a revival of the Azerbaijani literary language, which had largely been supplanted by Persian, was promoted with the help of writers, journalists, and teachers from Soviet Azerbaijan. In November 1945, with Soviet backing, an autonomous "Azerbaijan People's Government" was set up at Tabriz under Jafar Pishevari, the leader of the Azerbaijani Democratic Party. Secular cultural institutions and education in Azerbaijani blossomed throughout Iranian Azerbaijan, and speculation grew rife about a possible unification of the two Azerbaijani republics, under Soviet control. As it turned out, the issue of Iranian Azerbaijan became one of the first conflicts of the Cold War, and under the pressure from the Western powers, the Soviet army was withdrawn. The Iranian government regained control over Iranian Azerbaijan by the end of 1946 and the Democratic Party leaders took refuge in Soviet Azerbaijan. Jafar Pishevari, who was never fully trusted by Stalin, soon died under mysterious circumstances.

Baku in the early 1950s

Apart from the Oil Rocks, Azerbaijan's first offshore oil field was opened in the early 1950s. Policies of de-Stalinization and improvement after the 1950s led to better education and welfare conditions for most of Azerbaijan. This also coincided with the period of rapid urbanization and industrialization. During this period of change, a new anti-Islamic drive and return to a policy of Russification, under the policy of sblizheniye (rapprochement), was instituted in order to merge all the peoples of the USSR into a new monolithic Soviet nation.

Pre-secession

In the 1960s, signs of a

Tajikistan. Ethnic tensions, particularly between Armenians and Azerbaijanis began to grow, but the violence was suppressed. In an attempt to end the growing structural crisis, the government in Moscow appointed Heydar Aliyev as the first secretary of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan in 1969. Aliyev temporarily improved the economic conditions and promoted alternative industries to the declining oil industry, such as cotton. He also consolidated the republic's ruling elite, which now consisted almost entirely of ethnic Azerbaijanis, thus reverting the previous trends of sblizheniye. In 1982 Aliyev was made a member of the Communist Party's Politburo in Moscow. In 1987, when Perestroika was implemented, he was forced to retire by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, whose reform policies he opposed.[citation needed
]

Secession

The late 1980s, during the

Popular Front of Azerbaijan (PFA), which by the fall of 1989 had a lot of popular support. The movement supported independence from the USSR.[citation needed
]

Flag of Azerbaijan in 1991 before the collapse of the Soviet Union

The unrest culminated in a crackdown by the Red army which aimed at silencing the demands for independence. At least 132 demonstrators were killed and other civilians in Baku injured on 20 January 1990.[citation needed]

Azerbaijan participated in the

exclave of the Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic also decided not to participate in the referendum.[11] The Azerbaijani Popular Front Party argued that only 15% of the electorate had participated in the referendum.[12]

The "Treaty of the Union of Sovereign States" failed to be ratified because the

1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt accelerated declarations of independence by Soviet Socialist Republics between August and December.[13] Azerbaijan adopted its declaration of independence on 18 October 1991.[14][15] The final dissolution of the Soviet Union took place on 26 December 1991. Shortly before that date, the Azerbaijan SSR joined the Commonwealth of Independent States
.

By the end of 1991 fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh had escalated into a full-scale war, which culminated into a tense 1994 cease-fire that persisted into the 21st centuru. Azerbaijani success in the

war of 2020 and a further successful offensive in 2023
resulted in the restoration of Azerbaijan's territorial extent to that which it had held as a Soviet Republic.

Government

The administrative divisions of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic

On 28 April 1920, Temporary Revolutionary Committee took control over the country, and formed a government named

Council of People's Commissars of Azerbaijan SSR.[9]

After the approval of the Constitution of Azerbaijan SSR by the All-Azerbaijan Congress of Soviets in 1921, Azerbaijan Revolutionary Committee was revoked and Central Executive Committee was selected as a supreme legislative body.[9]

According to the Constitution Azerbaijan SSR in 1937, the legislative body switched to a new phase. Central Executive Committee was replaced with Supreme Soviet.[16]

Heads of state

Chairmen of the Central Executive Committee

Chairmen of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet

President of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic

Military

A parade on Lenin Square in Baku in honor of the 50th anniversary of the founding of Soviet Azerbaijan, October 1970

Under the military structure of the former Soviet Union, Azerbaijan shortly before gaining independence, was host to over 60,000 Soviet military personnel deployed throughout the country in units of the Ground Forces, Air Forces, Air Defense Forces, and Navy. The primary combat formation of Ground Forces in Azerbaijan was the

SCUD brigades, the principal combat elements of the Fourth Army were the 23rd (Ganja), 295th (Lenkaran), 60th (Baku) and 75th (Nakhchivan) motorized rifle divisions (MRD), and the Ganja Helicopter Assault Regiment (Mi-24 Hinds and Mi-8 Hips). The only ground forces training establishment in Azerbaijan was the Baku Higher Combined Arms Command School. Military conscription in the Azerbaijan SSR was introduced only after the establishment of Soviet control, with the number of people being called up for service being minimal at first.[17]

Notes

  1. ^ Name from 5 February 1991 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union on 26 December 1991
  2. ^ As "Chairman of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Azerbaijan"
  3. ^ As "Chairman of the Provisional Revolutionary Committee"

References

  1. ^ Azərbajcan Sosjalist Зyra Cumhyrijjətinin Kanyni-Əsasisi (1927-ci il 26 martda umym Azərbajcan V Зyralar Kyryltaji tərəfindən təsdik edilmiзdur). Baqı: Azərnəзr. 1929.
  2. ^ a b c "Высшие органы государственной власти Азербайджанской ССР". Archived from the original on 3 March 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  3. ^ "Decision of Supreme Soviet of Azerbaijan Republic (5 February 1991)" (PDF). Administrative Department of the President of Republic of Azerbaijan, Presidential Library (in Azerbaijani). p. 46. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 March 2017. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  4. ^ Benson, Douglas S. (1995), Ancient Egypt's warfare: a survey of armed conflict in the chronology of ancient Egypt, 1600 BC-30 BC, D. S. Benson, archived from the original on 18 October 2022, retrieved 27 September 2020
  5. R. Amardos may have been the southern border." from Kroll, S.E. "Media Atropatene". 1994. in Talbert, J.A. Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World: Map-by-map Directory
    . Princeton University Press, 2000.
  6. (PDF) from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  7. ^ "Treaty of Friendship between Turkey, the Azerbaijan Socialist Soviet Republic, the Socialist Soviet Republic of Armenia and the Socialist Soviet Republic of Georgia on one hand and Turkey on the other, concluded with the participation of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, in Kars on October 13th 1921" (PDF). Azerbaijan.az. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 July 2017. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  8. ^ "Nakhchivan: From ancient times until today". Presidential Library of Azerbaijan. Archived from the original on 11 February 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  9. ^ (PDF) from the original on 27 January 2018. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  10. .
  11. (PDF) from the original on 26 June 2022. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  12. .
  13. .
  14. ^ "Декларация Верховного Совета Азербайджанской Республики О восстановлении государственной независимости Азербайджанской Республики". Archived from the original on 23 May 2019. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  15. ^ "Азербайджан. Восстановлена государственная независимость". Ельцин Центр (in Russian). Archived from the original on 7 October 2021. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  16. ^ "Milli Məclis". meclis.gov.az (in Azerbaijani). Archived from the original on 30 October 2015. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  17. ^ "Гейдар Алиев и подготовка национальных военных кадров в советское время". Archived from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2020.

Further reading

  • История государства и права Азербайджанской ССР. Б., Академия наук ССР, 1964.
  • Гражданский кодекс Азербайджанской ССР. Б., Верховный совет, 1964.
  • Madatov, G. Azerbaijan During the Great Patriotic War. Baku, 1975.
  • Независимая газета, 12 August 1992, pp. 1–2.

External links

40°18′N 47°42′E / 40.3°N 47.7°E / 40.3; 47.7