was in charge of border issues, drafting of statistic figures, maps and diagrams and
also was the head of delegation's chancery.
M.Maharramov was responsible for agricultural issues and was also in
charge of recording of meetings and negotiation protocols in Azerbaijani.
Mirmehdiyev oversaw trade and industry issues as well as revision of financial
reports. Agaoglu and Hajibeyli were supervising information and propaganda issues
and assisting establishment of contacts with French society and French media.
Education in France and certain period of time spent in this country had contributed to
implementation of commissioned tasks.
A.Huseynsade was in charge of selection of historical-ethnographic and
literary materials about Azerbaijan and their further usage for propaganda purposes.
Unfortunately, as it had already been mentioned, certain members of the delegation
had not been able to travel to Paris and some corrections had to be made while
assigning duties. However, in general, every member of the delegation was capable of
addressing any assigned issue.
WHAT HAD THE DELEGATION ACHIEVED?
The Paris Peace Conference had commenced on January 18, 1919 - while the
delegation of Azerbaijan was still in Istanbul. However, it was only after the lengthy
and wearisome correspondence that the delegation of Azerbaijan had embarked upon
the journey to the French capital on April 22, and had reached Paris on May 7.
Nevertheless, the delegation in Istanbul had already commenced implementation of
tasks set before them. There they had held talks with representatives of Georgia,
Ukraine, Republic of Caucasian Mountaineers, etc. - newly independent states that
had emerged after the collapse of Russian empire, and also with envoys from USA,
United Kingdom, France, Germany and other states, putting forth first initiatives
aimed at gaining international recognition for the Republic of Azerbaijan as an
independent state.
Upon arrival to Paris the delegation had immediately commenced its activity
in several directions. Be it the head of the delegation A.Topchubashev or any other
empowered member of the mission, they were holding active political talks,
disseminating information about the history, culture, economic potential of their
country and securing certain guarantees for Azerbaijan's independence in a complex
system of international relations at the time.
On the first anniversary of Azerbaijan's independence - May 28, 1919 the
delegation had been received by the President of the United States Woodrow Wilson,
author of famous principles underlying the new world order after World War I.
Although during the meeting President Wilson had not taken any liability on behalf of
the US concerning the future of Azerbaijan and any other state that had freed itself of
Russian dependence, excluding Finland and Baltic states, and had stressed his
reluctance of splitting up the world into small countries, in general meeting with the
President of the United States, one of the superpowers at the time, was a successful
start.
Taking the responsibility for representing young Azerbaijan on the European
arena the delegation members and Topchubashev as a person with greater experience
in particular had proven to be diplomats, capable of evaluation of ongoing processes
and proper decision-making. It is not by chance that information Topchubashev at
that time was sending to Baku, to the Council of Ministers of Azerbaijan contained
not only description of delegation's activity, but also valuable advices and
recommendations to his country's leadership on state building, foreign and domestic
policy, governing, international relations, etc., proceeding from the contemporary
European experience. The environment of Paris Peace Conference was being used not
only for the official recognition of Azerbaijan's independence, but also for the
establishment of democratic and civilized state, meeting Western standards and
democratic requirements.
The delegation was conducting active and evolving policy in line with from
political and economic interests of Azerbaijan. Fundamentals of this policy were the
recognition of Azerbaijan's independence by large countries and gaining guarantees
for its security. A significant amount of work had been done during the preparation
phase to the Conference, in terms of establishment of mutual ties with the USA, Great
Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Persia, Ottoman Empire and others. Realizing that
guarantees for Azerbaijan's independence had laid not only in Europe, but also on the
other side of the ocean, in the US, Topchubashev had soon managed to establish ties
with the Americans. Relevant contracts had been signed and a lawyer named
Chandler and a representative of Jewish community named Robinov had been
empowered to represent Azerbaijan's interests in USA and Canada. Already in 1919 a
number of significant booklets about Azerbaijan, published in Paris both in English
and French had been shipped to the aforementioned countries.
As a visionary politician Topchubashev had viewed the establishment of
Azerbaijan's lobbies in Europe and USA as a guaranty of the country's introduction
and wide recognition on the international scale and of reliable protection of its
political and economic interests. The efforts of the delegation in 1919-1920 had
ensured dissemination of objective information regarding Azerbaijan's historical past,
rich natural resources, character and scale of a century-long Russian occupation of
Azerbaijan, neighborhood policy in the Caucasus, factors causing Armenian-
Azerbaijani confrontation, Armenian brutality in Azerbaijan and generally in South
Caucasus, appalling genocide committed by the Dashnaks and the Bolsheviks in Baku
in 1918, etc. All of the aforementioned had contributed to introduction of Azerbaijan
to Western public and at least slightly, to dispelling of false notions regarding our
country and its people, formed under the influence exerted by notably preconceived
Russian-Armenian sources.
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