Mammad Hasan Jafargulu oglu Hajinski ( az, Məmməd Həsən Cəfərqulu oğlu Hacınski; March 3, 1875 – February 9, 1931) was an

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

i architect and statesman. He also served as a

Minister for Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

Azerbaijan Democratic Republic The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic), or simply as Azerbaijan in Paris Peace Conference, 1919–1920,''Bulletin d'Information de l'Azerbaidjan'', No. I, September 1, 1919, pp. 6–7''125 H.C.Debs.'', 58., February 24, 1920, p. 1467. Caucasian A ...

(ADR) and the last Prime Minister of ADR.

Early life

Hajinski was born on March 3, 1875, in

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world an ...

. He graduated from ''Baku Realny School'' and then '' Peterburg Technical School'' in 1902 with an engineering degree. He worked at the construction of a Russian oil refinery being built by Azerbaijani businessman Shamsi Asadullayev before he moved back to Azerbaijan and was appointed the director of the construction department of Baku municipality. During the time he held this position, he made significant contributions to architectural improvements of

. Under his management, construction of Baku Seaside Boulevard gained a new impetus in 1910, when at his insistence, the Municipal Parliament passed a bill allocating 60,000 rubles for improvements. One of the notable designers employed by Hajinski was Adolph Eykler, the German architect who designed Baku's German Lutheran Church. The project was successfully completed in 1911. In 1913, he headed the municipality for a brief period of time.

Political career

Having secretly joined

Musavat The Müsavat Party ( az, Müsavat Partiyası, from ar, مساواة ''musāwāt'', ) is the oldest existing political party in Azerbaijan. Its history can be divided into three periods: Early Musavat, Musavat-in-exile and New Musavat. Early Musa ...

party in 1911, Hajinski started his open political activities after Russia's

February Revolution The February Revolution ( rus, Февра́льская револю́ция, r=Fevral'skaya revolyutsiya, p=fʲɪvˈralʲskəjə rʲɪvɐˈlʲutsɨjə), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and some ...

of 1917. He also actively participated in establishment and operations of the ''Hummet'' newspaper. On March 22, 1917 Interim Executive Committee of Muslim Council was established and Hajinski was appointed its chairman. He participated in the Baku summit of

Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Anthropology *Anything from the Caucasus region ** ** ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region * * * Languages * Northwest Caucasian l ...

Muslims and later in Moscow summit of Russian Muslims in May of the same year. He was subsequently elected a deputy to the Russian parliament from Azerbaijan. On November 15, 1917, he was appointed deputy

Commissar Commissar (or sometimes ''Kommissar'') is an English transliteration of the Russian (''komissar''), which means ' commissary'. In English, the transliteration ''commissar'' often refers specifically to the political commissars of Soviet and E ...

of Industry and Trade (

Mammad Yusif Jafarov Mammad Yusif Jafarov Hajibaba oghlu ( az, Məmməd Yusif Cəfərov Hacıbaba oğlu ; March 14, 1885 - May 15, 1938) was an Azerbaijani statesman. Early life Jafarov was born on March 14, in Baku, in the Baku Governorate of the Russian Empire (p ...

) of

Transcaucasian Commissariat The Transcaucasian Commissariat was established at Tbilisi on 11 November 1917, as the first government of the independent Transcaucasia following the October Revolution in Petrograd. The Commissariat decided to strengthen the Georgian–Armenian� ...

and from April 22, 1918, he served as the Minister of Industry and Trade of

Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic The Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic (TDFR; (), (). 22 April – 28 May 1918) was a short-lived state in the Caucasus that included most of the territory of the present-day Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, as well as ...

Azerbaijan Democratic Republic

On May 28, 1918, when

(ADR) was proclaimed, Hajinski was appointed the

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

within the new Cabinet of Azerbaijan established by Prime Minister Fatali Khan Khoyski and held the office until October 6, 1918. When the second government of ADR was formed, he was appointed the Minister of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan and worked in the position until February 15, 1920. As the Foreign Minister, on June 4, 1918, Hajinski along with

Mammed Amin Rasulzade Mahammad Amin Akhund Haji Mulla Alekber oghlu Rasulzade ( az, Мәһәммәд Әмин Ахунд Һаҹы Молла Әләкбәр оғлу Рәсулзадә, italic=no, Məhəmməd Əmin Axund Hacı Molla Ələkbər oğlu Rəsulzadə, ; tr ...

signed a contract with the Turkish government on the provision of military assistance to Azerbaijan. On April 1, 1920, Hajinski was put in charge of forming the new cabinet of ADR. Intending to establish a coalition government he held negotiations with all fractions in the

Azerbaijani Parliament The National Assembly ( az, Milli Məclis), also transliterated as Milli Mejlis, is the legislative branch of government in Azerbaijan. The unicameral National Assembly has 125 deputies: previously 100 members were elected for five-year term ...

including the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

. By inviting the Bolsheviks to the new government, Hajinski hoped to slow down the advance of 11th Red Army which was already near the Samur bridge, on the Azerbaijani-Russian border and have the detachments of

Azerbaijani Army The Azerbaijani Armed Forces ( az, Azərbaycan Silahlı Qüvvələri) were re-established according to the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the Armed Forces from 9 October 1991. The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR) had originally formed ...

relocate to Baku. Most of the Azerbaijani army units were on the frontline in Mountainous Karabakh fighting the

Dashnak The Armenian Revolutionary Federation ( hy, Հայ Յեղափոխական Դաշնակցութիւն, ՀՅԴ ( classical spelling), abbr. ARF or ARF-D) also known as Dashnaktsutyun (collectively referred to as Dashnaks for short), is an Armenian ...

uprising. On April 22, Bolsheviks rejected Hajinski's offer and he notified the acting speaker of the National Assembly, Mammad Yusif Jafarov that the government was in no position to be formed. At the same time, Hajinski left the ranks of Musavat party and officially joined the

Bolshevik Party " Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first)Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspaper ...

. With the invasion of the Red Army on April 28, 1920 Azerbaijan Democratic Republic ceased to exist.

Soviet Azerbaijan

During Soviet rule, Hajinski worked in the Agricultural Council of Azerbaijan. From 1923 on, he served as deputy chairman of the Transcaucasian State Planning Committee. He was later arrested on the order of

Lavrentiy Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (; rus, Лавре́нтий Па́влович Бе́рия, Lavréntiy Pávlovich Bériya, p=ˈbʲerʲiə; ka, ლავრენტი ბერია, tr, ; – 23 December 1953) was a Georgian Bolshevik ...

, then the first secretary of the Transcaucasian region. After being tortured, Hajinski died on February 9, 1931, in a

Tiflis Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...

prison.

Works

In 1912, Hajinski authored a book on architectural improvements of Baku published by the Baku local municipality.

References