Azerbaijan Democratic Republic
The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic,[b][c] also known as the Azerbaijan People's Republic,[d] was the first secular democratic republic in the Turkic and Muslim worlds.[10] The ADR was founded by the Azerbaijani National Council in Tiflis on 28 May 1918 after the collapse of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic, and ceased to exist on April 28, 1920.[11] Its established borders were with Russia to the north, the Democratic Republic of Georgia to the north-west, the Republic of Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south. It had a population of around 3 million.[12] Ganja was the temporary capital of the Republic as Baku was under Bolshevik control. The name of "Azerbaijan" which the leading Musavat party adopted, for political reasons,[13][14] was, prior to the establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1918, exclusively used to identify the adjacent region of contemporary northwestern Iran.[15][16][17]
Azerbaijan People's Republicآذربایجان خلق جمهوریتی
Azərbaycan Xalq Cümhuriyyəti
Azərbaycan Xalq Cümhuriyyəti
28 May 1918
28 April 1920
18 October 1991
99,908.87 km2 (38,575.03 sq mi)
4,617,671
1919 estimate
665 million
Under the ADR, a government system was developed in which a Parliament elected on the basis of universal, free, and proportionate representation was the supreme organ of state authority; the Council of Ministers was held responsible before it. Fatali Khan Khoyski became its first prime minister.[18] Besides the Musavat majority, Ahrar, Ittihad, Muslim Social Democrats as well as representatives of Armenian (21 out of 120 seats[11]), Russian, Polish, German, and Jewish minorities[19] gained seats in the parliament. Many members supported Pan-Islamist and Pan-Turkist ideas.[20][21][22][23][24][25]
Among the important accomplishments of the Parliament was the extension of suffrage to women, making Azerbaijan one of the first countries in the world, and the very first majority-Muslim nation, to grant women equal political rights with men.[11] Another important accomplishment of the ADR was the establishment of Baku State University, which was the first modern-type university founded in Azerbaijan.
The ADR military was formed through the work of then acting Minister of Defense Khosrov bey Sultanov. By the fall of the ADR by the invasion of the Red Army, the military had grown to consist of the following units.
Succession[edit]
Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was succeeded by the Republic of Azerbaijan when the country regained independence in 1991 with collapse of the USSR. The Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan acknowledges the principles of the Constitutional Act on the State Independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan[60] which has declared that Azerbaijan is the heir of the Republic of Azerbaijan that existed from May 28, 1918, until April 28 of 1920 in its Article 2.[61] The Republic of Azerbaijan has adopted the national flag of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and some national holidays, including the Republic Day (Azerbaijan), Day of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan, Day of the National Security Service Officers etc. are linked with it as the current governmental bodies are considered heirs of the 1918-1920 Republic.
A map showing comparative administrative divisions of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (1918–20) compared to modern Azerbaijan Republic[e]
![A map showing comparative administrative divisions of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (1918–20) compared to modern Azerbaijan Republic[e]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/97/Administrative_divisions_of_Azerbaijan_Democratic_Republic_2.jpg/121px-Administrative_divisions_of_Azerbaijan_Democratic_Republic_2.jpg)