Azərbaycan Paris Sülh Konfransında (1918-1920)

party's first conference. Along with being a member of Azerbaijani Parliament, he 
had also held positions of foreign minister in the first cabinet and finance minister in 
the second cabinet formed by F.Xoyski. 
Member of the delegation - Akbaraga Sheykhulislamov (1881-1961) was a 
graduate of Irevan gymnasium and Saint Petersburg Road Engineering Institute. He 
was a member of the Transcaucasian Seim and deputy minister of interior in the 
Transcaucasian government. He had continued his political activity in the Menshevik 
oriented “Hummat” party. Sheykhulislamov had been among the signatories to the 
Declaration of Independence proclaiming the establishment of the Republic of 
Azerbaijan. He had held position of land and labor minister in the first government of 
F.Xoyski and represented socialist fraction in the Parliament. 
Member of the delegation - Ahmadbey Agayev (Ahmad Agaoglu 1869-
1939) was a publicist and a social figure. He had seen perfect education in Sorbonne 
University and the School of Law in Paris. He was an editor of “Hayat”, “Irshad” and 
“Tereqqi” newspapers (1905-1908) and founder of the “Difai” (1905) which is 
considered to be the first political party in Azerbaijan. In 1909, being persecuted by 
the Russia's secret police he was forced to immigrate to Ottoman Empire, to Turkey, 
where he had established close ties with the founders of
 
“Ittihad and Tereqqi” (Union 
and Progress) party and had been among the founders of the “Turk yurdu” (Homeland 
of Turks) and “Turk ocagi” (Fireplace of Turks) organizations. In the meantime, he 
was a professor of Russian literature of the Istanbul University and member of 
Ottoman Parliament. In 1918 Agaoglu had arrived in Azerbaijan in the capacity of a 
political counselor to Nuru Pasha, commander of the Caucasus Islamic Army and 
later had been elected a member to Parliament of Azerbaijan. However, due to his 
close ties with leaders of “Ittihad and Tereqqi” British occupational forces in Istanbul 
had hindered his voyage to the Paris Peace Conference. In 1919 he was arrested by 
the British occupational forces and Later exiled to Malta. 
Adviser to the delegation - Ceyhunbey Hajibeyli (1889-1962) was a graduate 
of Sorbonne and Paris School of Political Sciences. He was a talented publicist and 
great musician. Together with his elder brother Uzeyir Hajibeyli (1885-1948) he had 
composed the first Azerbaijani opera - “Leyli and Mejnun”. After the establishment 
of the Republic of Azerbaijan he served as chief editor of “Azerbaijan”, the semi-
official government newspaper in Russian. He had published a number of significant 
articles concerning social problems, culture, education, women's freedom, etc. in 
various Russian language newspapers and magazines of Baku and Caucasus. 

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Adviser to the delegation - graduate of Irevan gymnasium, Mahammad 
Maharramov (1890-1992) had been recognized representative of Azerbaijanis of 
Irevan (center of Irevan khanate and predominantly Azerbaijani populated, this city 
was declared a capital of the Republic of Armenia in 1918). He had been elected a 
delegate to the Constituent Assembly of Russia from Irevan province. Besides being a 
member of the Transcaucasian Seim and member of the socialist fraction in 
Parliament of Azerbaijan, he had been one of the signatories to the National Charter - 
Declaration of Independence of May 28, 1918. 
Adviser to the delegation - Miryagub Mirmehdiyev (1887-?) had been a 
graduate of a law faculty of Petersburg University and had worked as a legal advisor 
in Baku. He was represented within “Ittihad” (Union) party in Parliament of 
Azerbaijan. 
In August 1919 the Socialist fraction of Parliament of Azerbaijan had 
adopted a Decree regarding rotation of the members of the delegation to the Paris 
Peace Conference and had sent Abbasbey Atamalibeyov (1892-1962) to Paris to 
replace Mahammad Maharramov. However, since another member of the delegation - 
M.H.Hajinski had already returned to Azerbaijan, it had been deemed expedient for 
both Atamalibeyov and Maharramov to remain in Paris. The graduate of Petersburg 
Cadet Corps and one of the youngest members of the delegation, Atamalibeyov had 
assumed a post of delegation's secretary. 
Apart from the main delegation, technical staff members included - Alibey 
Huseynzade (1864-1940), V.Marchevski, secretaries - Sefvet Melikov and 
Alakbarbay Topchubashov, interpreters - A.Gafarov (French), G.Gafarova (English) 
and H.Mammadov (French and Turkish). Rashidbey Topchubashev acted as a 
personal assistant to the head of the delegation. However, Alibey Huseynzade had 
been accused by member states of Antanta of cooperating with “Ittihad and Taraqqi” 
party, thus obstructing his participation in the conference. Sevfet Melikov had to stay 
in Turkey in the capacity of Azerbaijan's representative in Istanbul. 
Already in Istanbul the delegation had been well organized and the duties 
had been accurately assigned among the members. Three sections had been 
established within the delegation – policy and national issues, economy and 
commerce, propaganda and information, with members being engaged in these 
sections based on their area of interest. 
In the meantime, each member had also been assigned a concrete duty and 
specific area of responsibility. Together with general supervision, head of the 
delegation - Topchubashov was in charge of political issues and memorandum 
elaboration. He had also been responsible for organizational and financial issues. 
Deputy head of the delegation - Hajinski was a treasurer for the delegation and head 
of the economy and commerce section. He was engaged in relations with French and 
other European businessmen on behalf of Azerbaijani government. Sheykhulislamov 

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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.