The Azerbaijan People's Government was a short-lived unrecognizedsecessionist state in northern Iran from November 1945 to December 1946. Established in Iranian Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijan People's Government capital was the city ofTabriz. Its establishment and demise were a part of the Iran crisis, which was a precursor to the Cold War.
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 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 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 on the premises of schools, in theatrical performances, religious ceremonies, and, finally, in the publication of books. These directives were issued despite the fact that Reza Shah's mother Noosh Afarin and his wife Taj-Al-Molook Ayrimlu were both of Azerbaijani descent.
Establishment
The Firqah-i Dimukrat, or Azerbaijani Democratic Party, 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. 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". The power seems to have been exercised by Mohammed Biriya, the Minister of Propaganda and head of the local secret police. 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
New declassified evidence of formerly top secret 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. 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. 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 Russian Army 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 in 1947. Prime Minister Kordary was jailed for many years by the Shah and later released due to the tireless efforts of his brother Kazem.
