Parliament of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was the legislative branch of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. It was the parliament of the first parliamentary republic in the Caucasus Region of Central Asia.
The parliament was established on December 7, 1918 when Azerbaijan declared independence away from the short-lived Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic. The parliament disbanded in April 1920 after the Red Army took control of Baku.
History
Azerbaijani National Council
On May 28, 1918, the Azerbaijani Muslim faction of the Transcaucasian Seym declared itself to be the Azerbaijani National Council., the governing body of the new Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. This was the first parliament in the history of Azerbaijan. As stated in the Declaration of Independence, "Until the convening of the Constituent Assembly, Azerbaijan is headed by the National Council elected by the people and the Provisional Government, which is responsible to the National Council." On September 17, 1918, three months after the formation of Fatali Khan Khoyski's cabinet, the government of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic moved to Baku. Fatali khan Khoyski began preparations for the convening of the Constituent Assembly. . At his suggestion, the National Council undertook to convene the Constituent Assembly.
On November 19, 1918, the National Council decreed all nationalities in Azerbaijan should be represented in parliament. At that time, the country had a population of 2,750,000. Of these, 1,900,000 were Azerbaijani Muslims, 500,000 were Armenians, and 230,000 were Russians.
The 120 seats in the new parliament were to be apportioned among all the ethnic and political groups.
Azerbaijan Muslims - 80
Armenians - 21, Russians - 10
Out of 21 Armenian representatives, eight were to be elected from Ganja, eight from Shusha and five from Baku. The 10 Russian representatives were given to the Russian National Council, -1 to the German National Organization, -1 to the Jewish National Council, 1 to the Georgian Committee and -1 to the Polish Committee. The Council also provided for the sending of three representatives by the Baku Trade Union Council and two representatives by the Baku Industry and Trade. Members of parliament had parliamentary immunity.
The Council also decided to include 44 Turkish Muslim representatives elected to the All-Russian Constituent Assembly in late 1917 in the new parliament. The remaining 36 Muslim deputies and representatives of other nationalities had to be re-elected. The formation of the new Parliament was to be completed on December 3, 1918. On November 29, 1918, signed by Rasulzade the application was published. The appeal stated:
Opening of parliament
On December 7, 1918, at one o'clock in the afternoon, the Azerbaijani Parliament opened in the building of Haji Zeynalabdin Tagiyev's former girls' school on Nikolayev Street . Chairman of the National Council of Azerbaijan Mohammad Amin Rasulzadeh delivered a congratulatory speech.At the suggestion of the Musavat faction, Alimardan bey Topchubashov was elected chairman of the parliament, and Dr. Hasan bey Agayev was elected his first deputy. As Topchubashov was at the Paris Peace Conference, Agayev headed the activities of the parliament.
At the first session of parliament, the resignation of the Khoyski government was accepted and F. Khoisky was called to form a new government. On December 26, 1918, F. Khoisky addressed the parliament with his program and submitted his new government for approval. The parliament adopted the government's program and expressed confidence in the new government.
Russian and Armenian boycotts
None of Russian delegates to Parliament attended the opening session of parliament. The Baku Russian National Council, controlling the Russian delegates, declared that the Parliament had no moral right to speak on behalf of the Russian population in Azerbaijan. They tried to prove that Azerbaijan had violated the idea of a "united and indivisible Russia" in declaring its independence. Allegedly, the participation of the Russian National Council in the Parliament and the Government would mean "recognition of the fact of separation of Azerbaijan from Russia", which facilitated the recognition of Azerbaijan in the international arena. However, not all Russians in Azerbaijan supported the Russian boycott of Parliament. The Russian-Slavic Society in Baku appealed to Rasulzade to allow the representatives of this society to "enter the Parliament" in order to participate in "general state-building" in Azerbaijan.