TEHRAN (Realist English). The name “Azerbaijan” has never before been applied to the current Turkic-speaking republic located in Transcaucasia. Iranian historian Enayatollah Reza wrote about this in his book “Azerbaijan and Arran: Aturpatakan and Caucasian Albania”.
“The use of the name “Azerbaijan” in relation to part of the territory of Transcaucasia at that time caused deep discontent in Iran, especially in its northern province — Azerbaijan. The violent protest on this occasion by a significant number of Iranian patriots, including such Azerbaijani democrats as Sheikh Mohammad Khiyabani, Esmail Amirkhizi, Ahmad Kasravi-Tabrizi, etc., led to a situation when a group of their supporters began to take steps to change the original name of the province in order to avoid coincidence with the name of the newly formed republic in the Caucasus.” said Reza.
Here is how the researcher explains the goals of this formation: “In 1918, the leadership of the Musavat party created a new state entity in Transcaucasia, and part of the territory of this region, which was in their power, was named the “Azerbaijan Republic”. The Musavat Party, whose full name is the Muslim Democratic Musavat Party, was founded in 1911 in Baku. The purpose of this organization was to create a separate large Islamic state under the leadership of the Turks of Asia Minor. This party, being a follower of the policy of pan-Turkism and the idea of uniting the entire Turkic-speaking world into a “single state”, joined the “Turkic Federalist Party” in June 1917 and together with it convened a joint congress, which was held in November 1917.
At this congress, the newly formed party was called the “Turkic Democratic Party of Federalist Musavatists”. And this party in June 1918 declared the independence of a part of the Transcaucasian regions, which began to act under the new name Azerbaijan (“Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan”), despite the fact that this region was never called Azerbaijan. Approximately two years later, or rather, on April 28, 1920, the Musavatists collapsed: the Bolsheviks conquered the Caucasus, and the so-called “Azerbaijan Republic” became part of Russia again. However, the name “Azerbaijan” as applied to the above-mentioned part of Transcaucasia was left unchanged by the new Soviet Russian state, which had not yet become the USSR. Some time later, the “Azerbaijan Republic” was renamed the “Azerbaijan SSR”.”
Reza recalls that the falsifiers first renamed part of Transcaucasia to “Azerbaijan”, and then, in accordance with this, the expressions “Northern Azerbaijan” (i.e., “the country of Turkic—speaking Caucasians”) and “Southern Azerbaijan” (i.e., the authentic, historical Azerbaijan – Aturpatakan) appeared.
