The Azerbaijan People's Government (; ) was a short-lived unrecognized secessionist state in northern Iran from November 1945 to December 1946. Like the unrecognized Republic of Mahabad, it was a

puppet state A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government is a State (polity), state that is ''de jure'' independent but ''de facto'' completely dependent upon an outside Power (international relations), power and subject to its ord ...

of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Established in Iranian Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijan People's Government capital was the city of Tabriz. It was headed by an ethno-separatist and communist government led by the Azerbaijani Democratic Party, which also followed a pan-Turkist discourse. Its establishment and demise were a part of the Iran crisis, an early event in the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

History

To supply the Soviet forces with war material through Iran, British and Soviet troops jointly occupied the country in August 1941. Soviet forces entering Iranian territory from the

Armenian SSR The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (ArSSR), also known as Soviet Armenia, or simply Armenia, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union, located in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Soviet Armenia bordered the Soviet republics ...

and the Azerbaijan SSR and British and Indian forces entering from Iraq soon took the control of the country. On 16 September, the British forced Reza Shah to abdicate in favor of his son Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, who ruled until 1979. With the dethronement of Reza Shah in September 1941, Soviet troops captured Tabriz and northwestern Iran for military and strategic reasons. The Azerbaijan People's Government, set up by the Soviets, under leadership of Ja'far Pishevari was proclaimed in Tabriz in 1945. Lavrenti Beria was nominally in charge of the operation, but delegated it to Mir Jafar Baghirov, the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan in Baku. The Democratic Party of Azerbaijan was also created by the direct order of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

and capitalized on some local people's dissatisfaction with the centralization policies of Reza Shah. It was supplied with money and weapons by the USSR. Stalin wanted to make pressure on Iran to get an oil concession in Iranian Azerbaijan. During this time, 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 the Azerbaijan SSR. In the quest of imposing national homogeneity on the country where half of the population consisted of ethnic minorities, Reza Shah had previously issued in quick succession bans on the use of

Azerbaijani language Azerbaijani ( ; , , ) or Azeri ( ), also referred to as Azerbaijani Turkic or Azerbaijani Turkish (, , ), is a Turkic languages, Turkic language from the Oghuz languages, Oghuz sub-branch. It is spoken primarily by the Azerbaijanis, Azerbaij ...

on the premises of schools, in theatrical performances, religious ceremonies, and, finally, in the publication of books. The U.S. supported the Iranian complaint against Soviet actions lodged with the Security Council in Resolution 3 and Resolution 5; in mid December 1946, the U.S. supported the shah's government in sending the Iranian army to re-occupy Mahabad and Azerbaijan. The leaders of the Azerbaijan enclave in Iran fled to the Azerbaijan SSR, and the leaders of the Kurdish Republic were tried and sentenced to death. They were hanged in Chwarchira Square in the center of Mahabad in 1947. 1947's efforts centered on the issue of Soviet designs on Iran's northern oil resources. Following the election that year of a new Majlis, the newly elected deputies were reluctant to ratify the Soviet-Iranian oil agreement, which had been concluded under duress in March 1946 and had granted the Soviets 51% ownership and ''de facto'' control. On September 11, 1947, U.S. ambassador George V. Allen publicly decried intimidation and coercion used by foreign governments to secure commercial concessions in Iran, and promised full U.S. support for Iran to freely decide about its own natural resources. With this unequivocal encouragement, the Majlis refused to ratify the Soviet oil agreement on October 22, 1947; the vote was 102 to 2.

Establishment

The ''Firqah-i Dimukrat'', or Azerbaijani Democratic Party (ADP), publicly announced its formation in Tabriz on 3 September 1945 by a group of veteran communists headed by Ja'far Pishevari. After the announcement, the communist, Soviet-supported Tudeh party dissolved its Azerbaijan chapter and ordered its members to join ADP. ADP expanded throughout Iranian Azerbaijan, and initiated a local coup d'état with help from Soviet army, who prevented the Iranian army from intervening. During the first week of September 1945, the Azerbaijani Democratic Party, led by Ja'far Pishevari, a long-time leader of the revolutionary movement in Gilan, declared itself to be in control of Iranian Azerbaijan, promised liberal democratic reforms, and disbanded the local branch of Tudeh.Ervand Abrahamian. ''Iran between Two Revolutions'', Princeton, 1982, pp. 217-218 Later in September 1945, at its first congress, the Azerbaijani Democratic Party authorized the formation of a peasant's militia. This militia started a bloodless coup on 18 November 1945 and by 21 November they had captured all remaining government posts in the province, and Iranian Azerbaijan "became an autonomous republic under the direction of a 39-member national executive committee".Fred H. Lawson. "The Iranian Crisis of 1945-1946 and the Spiral Model of International Conflict", ''International Journal of Middle East Studies'', Vol. 21, No. 3. (Aug., 1989), p. 316 The power seems to have been exercised by Mohammed Biriya, the Minister of Propaganda and head of the local secret police. Old stamp of Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan

Old stamp of Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan

At the same time, the US was steadily increasing its military assistance to the Iranian government. Under pressure by the Western powers, the Soviet Union revoked its support of the newly created state and the Iranian military succeeded in re-establishing Iranian rule in November 1946. According to Tadeusz Swietochowski:

Soviet support

Declassified documents from the Cold War implicates the USSR in forming the government of Pishevari by the direct orders of Stalin. The Soviet military supported the new autonomous entity and prevented the Iranian army from restoring governmental control over the area. After the Soviet withdrawal, Iranian troops entered the region in December 1946 and Pishevari and his cabinet fled to the Soviet Union. According to Prof. Gary R. Hess:

Dissolution

On 13 June 1946, an agreement was reached between the Central Government in Tehran and the delegates from Azerbaijan, headed by Pishevari.A. C. Edwards. "Persia Revisited", ''International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944)'', Vol. 23, No. 1. (Jan., 1947), p. 58 Under the agreement, Pishevari agreed to abandon the APG's autonomy, to relinquish its ministries and premiership, and to become once more part of Iran. Its parliament was to be transformed into a provincial council – a system recognized and provided for in the Iranian Constitution. By mid-December 1946, the Iranian army, backed by the United States and the British, reentered Tabriz, thus putting an end to Azerbaijan People's Government after a full year of its existence. George Lenczowski. "United States' Support for Iran's Independence and Integrity, 1945-1959", ''Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science'', Vol. 401, America and the Middle East. (May, 1972), p. 49 During the lawless interregnum, approximately 500 supporters of the Ferqeh were killed. According to the U.S. Supreme Court Justice, William O. Douglas, while the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

had been on its best behavior when stationed in Azerbaijan, the Iranian Army behaved as an occupying force and brutalized the local inhabitants. The beards of peasants were burned, their wives and daughters raped. Houses were plundered and livestock were stolen. The Army left a trail of death and destruction behind it. Many of the leaders took refuge in the Azerbaijan SSR. Ja'far Pishevari died in a car accident in

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

in 1947. Prime Minister Kordary was jailed for many years by the Shah and later released due to the efforts of his brother Kazem Kordary.

References

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