issue of in human ideology of Communism and national oppression. His son
T.Hajibeyli, an air force pilot had heroically perished during World War II defending
the French skies from Nazi forces.
Miryagub Mirmehdiyev (well-known as Mir Yagub in emigrant circles)
could be considered Topchubashev's sole friend sharing the same convictions and the
only member of the delegation who had retained his esteem and loyalty to
Topchubashev till the end. Along with his primary activity within the delegation he
had also been engaged in “France-Caucasus Committee” established in Paris.
Chairman of the committee that had been created for the development of economic
ties with the countries of Trans-Caucasus, especially Azerbaijan and Georgia, was a
French diplomat and orientalist E.Uplo, with Mirmehdiyev and Sumbatov
representing Azerbaijan and Georgia respectively in the capacity of deputy chairmen.
Mirmehdiyev had not distanced himself from politics during his years in
emigration and had been an active employee of “Qafqaz” (Caucasus) magazine
published in Russian in Paris. Both of his books “Soviet regime: sources and nature”
of 1926 and “Problems of the Caucasus” of 1933 had been published in French in
Paris. In the first book the author had tried to unveil the oppressive and inhuman
essence of Soviet regime. The second book is the chronology of events and processes
evolving in the region beginning with the occupation of the Caucasus by the Russian
empire until the year 1920, the author's analysis and research of the nature and the
essence of the new fact of aggression - Sovietization.
Although the book refers to the problems of the Caucasus in general, the
main attention had been attached to homeland of the author - Azerbaijan, a state that
had been forcefully Sovietizied. Mir Yagub could also be regarded as the first
political scientist who had objectively enlightened the activity of the delegation to the
Paris Peace Conference. It had been impossible to gather any information about
Mirmehdiyev's life after he had moved from Paris to Iran.
It was in early 1920 that the member of the delegation Mahammad
Maharramov had given up the politics and had tried to establish his small business.
He had later been known as a specialist of bibliophilic and antique items. In 1960's
Maharramov had donated to the former Lenin library in Moscow such publications by
renowned Russian writer A.Gertsen as a set of “Kolokol” magazines published in
London and a rare collection of his works published in Switzerland. In exchange he
had been honoured with a special prize of the Soviet Union's Society of Cultural
Relations with Foreign Countries.
Having established ties with homeland by means of the correspondent
member of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences A.Zamanov, Maharramov had
donated some rare publications to the libraries and funds of Azerbaijan. Until the
1980's Maharramov had been the only remaining member of the delegation of
Azerbaijan. He had died in 1982 in Paris at the age of 97.
We also know very little about the fate of Abbasbey Atamalibeyov. However
his activity during the years of World War II testifies to the fact that he had remained
involved in politics during emigration. Atamalibeyov had closely participated in the
process of formation of national legions comprised of Soviet prisoners of war in 1942.
Together with A. Fatalibeyli-Dudenginski and Fuad Amirjan Atamalibeyov had been
included into “Liaison staff” (coordinating body of national legions) of the Oriental
Ministry and there he had been dealing with the problems of the legionaries of the SD
troops. During the political rivalry between the emigrants of 1920-1930-s
Atamalibeyov had opposed Rasulzade and strongly adhered to the idea of Paris being
the national center for directing Azerbaijani political emigrants. Sensing fears for his
life in Europe due to his collaboration with German troops he had later fled to South
America. It has been known that his son Galib Agamali had resided in the US and that
Atamalibeyov had tried to establish contacts with his relatives in Azerbaijan.
As a conclusion, one can say that the delegation of Azerbaijan that had
embarked upon the journey to Paris in 1919 had fought the “battle for Azerbaijan” to
the last member.
HISTORY OF THE DELEGATION IN THE DOCUMENTS
Head of the delegation Topchubashev had been consistently informing the
government and the Parliament of Azerbaijan regarding his multifaceted activity
initially from Istanbul then later from Rome and Paris. Regardless of the
communication difficulties and non-consistent diplomatic mail service throughout
March-November 1919 he had managed to send 11 comprehensive reports to the
Council of Ministers of his country. First three reports had been sent out from
Istanbul on March 4-5, March 17-19 and on April 18 respectively. The fourth report
had been sent out from Rome on May 4. The fifth report had been sent out from Paris
on May 15. The sixth report had been undated and subsequent five reports had been
sent out from Paris as well, on June 8-10, July 8-9, September 22-25, November 6-10
and on November 29, December 2, respectively.
Unfortunately, only seven of these reports had been preserved in the
archives. The second, the fourth, the fifth and the sixth reports had been lost. The
reports that had been sent out after December 1919 had shared the same fate. Judging
from other documents the delegation had worked intensively and productively from
late 1919 to early 1920. Naturally information regarding the fulfilled tasks had been
included in the dispatched reports. Nevertheless, those reports had either been
destroyed or had been taken to Moscow. In any case it had proven to be futile to
search the traces of missing reports in the archives of Azerbaijan.
The first and the last time those documents reflecting foreign policy of the
Republic of Azerbaijan of that period had ever been published was in 1927 in the
book of Bolshevik historian A.Rayevski entitled “Musavatskoe pravitelstvo
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