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In Memoriam: The
Two Autonomous Republics
Alireza Asgharzadeh
The pervasiveness of Orientalist
misrepresentation has for many decades prevented an objective image of Iran
from reaching the western imagery. The gross misrepresentation has included
Iran’s history, its diverse communities, its rich
multilingual, multicultural and multinational character. Perhaps only a few
sincere scholars of the Middle East would openly acknowledge that up until the
mid-1920s what is now known as Iran had the official name of “the Protected
Countries” (Memalek-e Mahrous-e)
of whatever dynasty that happened to run them—e.g., the Protected Countries of Qajar, etc. These protected autonomous and semi-autonomous
“countries” included such distinct regions as Azerbaijan, Kurdistan,
Baluchistan, Arabistan (al-Ahvaz/Khuzistan),
Turkmen-Sahra, Luristan,
Farsistan and others. In order to manage these diverse communities of
difference, successive Iranian governments had run the country based on a kind
of traditional confederative and/or federative system, a loose political
administrative order that had continued until the rule of the Pahlavis in 1925. In this piece I like to pay homage to the
two short-lived (1945-6) autonomous republics of Azerbaijan and Kurdistan, on
the occasion of their 66th anniversary. In so doing, I also aim to
highlight the importance of Federalism and/or a confederative administrative
system for a multinational country like Iran- a system that was interrupted by
the coming of the Pahlavis to power in 1925.
It is an
undisputable fact of Iranian politics that, whenever there has been a weakening
in the authority of the central government, various regional and ethnic
movements have erupted throughout the country. This was the case immediately
before the takeover of Reza Pahlavi, when the Qajar
dynasty was at its weakest. It was the case during the First World War, and
most certainly, during the Second World War. Similar to previous cases, the
breakout of World War II brought about the conditions for various national,
ethnic and anti-racist sentiments to explode. On August 25, 1941, the Red Army
invaded northern parts of Iran, pushing the Pahlavi regime's military out of
Azerbaijani territory. Following these changes, an ethnic organization called
The Azerbaijan Society was formed and started publishing a journal titled Azerbaijan. The journal was written in Azeri-Turkic and Farsi
and aimed to expose the racist and ethnocentric nature of the Pahlavi
dictatorship.
In October 1943, Mir Ja’far Pishevari, a seasoned journalist and political activist,
was nominated from Azerbaijan to the 14th Majlis
of Iran. He was a 50-year-old native of Azerbaijan who had spent most of his
life in Baku and had returned to Iran after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. Due
to his anti-government activities, he had been imprisoned by Reza Shah's regime
for 12 years. After Reza Shah's fall, Pishevari,
along with other political prisoners, had been set free. Upon his freedom, he
had come to Tehran and started publishing a newspaper called Azhir (the Siren). In
the course of parliamentary elections to the 14th Majlis, the people of Tabriz (Capital city of South
Azerbaijan) had voted for him unanimously. Despite his victory in Azerbaijan,
the Iranian Majlis had rejected his candidacy on the
grounds that he was a communist, a traitor and disloyal to Iran's territorial
integrity. Khoyi, another Azerbaijani deputy from the
city of Tabriz, had met the same fate as Pishevari.
The people of
Azerbaijan viewed the parliament’s rejection of their elected candidates as a
direct insult to their integrity and their national pride (JAMI, 1978).
Following his rejection by the parliament, Pishevari
entrusted the editorship of Azhir to friends and returned to Azerbaijan in August 1945
to form the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan (ADP). On November 23, the Central Committee of the Azerbaijan Democratic
Party issued a proclamation defining its aim as the obtainment of complete
autonomy for Azerbaijan. The party made it clear that autonomy for Azerbaijan
did not mean secession from Iran. The people of Tabriz warmly welcomed the
formation of the Azerbaijan Democratic Party. Following the ADP’s proclamation,
a regional Congress of Azerbaijan that was composed of party supporters,
designated a 39-membered commission to organize elections to a national
assembly.
On December 12
the provincial National Assembly was formally inaugurated in Tabriz. The
assembly was composed of 101 deputies, all democrats, socialists and Azeri
nationalists from various backgrounds such as workers, peasants, merchants,
clergymen and so forth. As its first important task on the day of inauguration,
the National Assembly proclaimed the autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan and
designated a government under the premiership of Mir Ja’far
Pishevari, the founder of the Azerbaijan Democratic
Party. The newly formed government of Azerbaijan announced that the autonomous
state would be run on 'democratic principles'. It issued a program that granted
women the right to vote; it announced that private property would be respected
but that the government would distribute to landless farmers state-owned lands
as well as the lands of reactionary landlords who had run away from Azerbaijan,
as a result of the ongoing movement. Further, the government assured the
Azerbaijani people that 'traitors and reactionaries' would be purged from the
gendarmerie; that a 'people's army' would be formed from local militia groups;
and that Azeri-Turkic would be the official language of the Republic.
Simultaneously
with the Azerbaijani movement, a Kurdish movement took place in the province of
Kurdistan, west of Azerbaijan. On December 15, 1945, the Democratic Party of
Kurdistan proclaimed a Kurdish People's Republic. On January 21, 1946, Qazi Mohammad was elected to the presidency of the
Republic. The Kurdish Republic set out to follow the democratic reforms and
events taking place in the neighboring Azerbaijan. While sending observers to
the Azerbaijani parliament, the Kurds maintained their distinct identity and
insisted on the independence of the Kurdish Republic. Following the
negotiations between the two republics, a treaty was signed on April 23, 1946,
between the Kurdistan and Azerbaijan governments. While emphasizing the mutual
respect, cooperation and brotherhood between the two oppressed nations, the
treaty provided for military alliance, exchange of diplomatic missions, fair
treatment of minorities and common diplomatic action towards the Pahlavi regime
in Tehran (see also Roosevelt, 1947).
The Azerbaijan
Democratic Government quickly proceeded to carry out its plans. As a major step
in eliminating feudal oppression, it started a land distribution program all
over the Republic. On 16 February 1946, the National Assembly of Azerbaijan
passed two important bills regarding the land reform. Based on these bills,
lands belonging to reactionary landlords who had opposed the national
government, or who had left Azerbaijan due to the democratic movement, were to
be distributed among landless farmers. Considering the fact that the majority
of Azerbaijani feudal lords had already run away from Azerbaijan in the process
of the democratic movement, this distribution amounted to a significant portion
of agrarian land (see also Mehrban, 1982; Atabaki, 1993). Moreover, the bills asked for the
redistribution of all state-owned lands, along with the water rights, rivers,
springs and ganats, among the peasants who lived on
those lands and who cultivated them. The reform resulted in the distribution of
over 380,000 hectares of land amongst more than one million landless peasants (Atabaki, 1993).
Following the two above-mentioned bills, another bill
was passed that dealt with the system of 'sharecropping.’ Traditionally there
was no viable agreement between the peasant and the landlord regarding the
peasant's share of the crop. Normally it was left to the benevolence of the
landlord to decide what to give to each peasant in exchange for his cultivation
of the land. The new bill guaranteed to each farmer a minimum share of the crop
which he produced on a landlord's land. Now the farmer's share rose from about
20 per cent in the old system to more than 43 per cent (see also Atabaki, 1993, p. 150). Considering the fact that about 75
per cent of the people in Azerbaijan were farmers at the time (Kazemi, 1980, p. 14), the land reform testified to the
profoundly popular nature of the Azerbaijani Democratic Movement.
In the course of
less than one year, the Democratic Government was able to lay the foundation of
a modern educational system in Azerbaijan. In terms of education and pedagogy,
the National Government completely revolutionized the Azerbaijani society. The
first provincial university in Iran was built in Tabriz. Thousands of schools
were built in small towns and villages all over Azerbaijan, accompanied by the
introduction of compulsory primary education for all kids beginning at the age
of six. For the first time, Azeri-Turkic became the official language in
Azerbaijan and was taught in Tabriz University (the only university in
Azerbaijan), schools, and adult education centers, replacing the dominant
Persian language.
For the first
time in the history of the Middle East, universal suffrage was introduced.
Women gained the right to elect as well as be elected. The ADP encouraged women
to take active parts in the socio-political life of the republic. As a result,
women participated in various positions from administration to teaching to
working in hospitals and even serving in the national army of Azerbaijan (JAMI,
1978, pp. 289-95). Important measures were taken to secure the rights of the
workers and emphasize the obligations of the employers, landlords, and
owners/operators of small workshops. A labor code was introduced that limited
the work to eight hours a day; introduced minimum wages; forbade child labor;
acknowledged trade unions; recognized 1st of May as a national
holiday; and established the right of the workers to social benefits (ADP,
1946).
Under the
democratic government, a big texture company named Zefer
was established in Tabriz. An orphanage was created to take care of needy
children. The National Theatre Center was opened in Tabriz. A radio station was
established. Numerous publishing houses were opened and countless newspapers,
journals, magazines and books were published in Azeri-Turkic (Berengian, 1988, pp. 186-210). Promotion of Azerbaijan's
culture, history, language and music was greatly emphasized. All the banks in
Tabriz were nationalized, holding more than 3,000,000 tomans
at the time (Lenczowski, 1949, p. 289). Furthermore,
a commission formed from representatives of Ministries of Trade, Economics, and
Finance was called upon to establish trade connections with foreign
governments. William Douglas, an American Jurist who was traveling in
Azerbaijan shortly after the democratic movement, notes: “I learned from my
travels in Azerbaijan in 1950 that Pishevari was an
astute politician who forged a program for Azerbaijan that is still enormously
popular” (1951, p. 43).
"Pishevari's program
was so popular—especially land reform, severe punishment of public officials
who took bribes, and price control--that if there had been a free election in
Azerbaijan during the summer of 1950, Pishevari would
have been restored to power by the vote of 90 per cent of the people. And yet,
not a thousand people in Azerbaijan out of three million are communists."
(Douglas, 1951, p. 50)
And finally, in
the words of Swietochowski (1995), under the
democratic government, "Azerbaijan had achieved more in one year than it
had during the twenty years of the Pahlavi regime" (p. 149). Although the
rate and pace of changes were faster in Azerbaijan than they were in the
neighboring Kurdish Republic, Kurdistan was embracing many cultural, political,
and socioeconomic transformations hitherto unknown in the region. Similar to
the Azerbaijani situation, the Democratic Party of Kurdistan, led by Qazi Mohammed, was at the forefront of these
transformations. On November 8th, 1945, the party publicly announced
its program and long-term policies:
1. The Kurds to be free and independent in the
management of their local affairs and to receive Kurdish independence within
the borders of Iran.
2. Be allowed to study Kurdish and to administer their
affairs in the Kurdish language.
3. Government officials definitely be
appointed from among the local population.
4. Members of the Kurdish Provincial Council to be
elected immediately in accordance with the Constitutional laws, to supervise
all public and Government works.
5. By the passing of a general law, the grievances
existing between the farmer and the landowner to be amended and their future
positions defined.
6. The Democratic Party of Kurdistan will make special
efforts to create complete unity and brotherhood between the Azerbaijan nation
and the people who live in Azerbaijan (Assyrian, Armenians, and so on).
7. The Democratic Party of Kurdistan will fight to
take advantage of the boundless natural wealth of Kurdistan and to improve the
agriculture, commerce, education and health of Kurdistan, in order to secure
economic and moral welfare for the Kurds.
8. We wish the nations who live in Iran to be able to
work for their freedom and for the welfare and progress of their country. (DPK, 1945; see also Koohi-Kamali, 2003,
p. 106).
In addition to
various economic, political, and cultural developments, the Kurdish Republic
signed an important agreement of Friendship and Cooperation with its
Azerbaijani counterpart. This agreement further highlighted the common goal of
the struggle of two oppressed peoples and their common desire for autonomy and
self-determination. Based on this mutually signed treaty:
1. Representatives will be exchanged between the two
National Governments in such places as may be considered necessary.
2. In specified parts of Azerbaijan which are
inhabited by Kurds, Kurds will take part in the administrative work of
government and in specified parts of Kurdistan which are inhabited by Azerbaijanis, Azerbaijanis will take part in the
administrative work of government.
3. In order to solve the common economic problems of
the two nations a mixed Economic Commission will be formed and the heads of the
two National Governments will endeavor to put into practice the decisions of
this Commission.
4. Cooperation between the military forces of the
Azerbaijan National Government will be organized and in time of need the
military forces of each government will mutually render each other all
necessary assistance.
5. If any negotiating with the Tehran Government
becomes necessary it shall be undertaken after agreement between the views of
both the Azerbaijan and Kurdistan National Governments.
6. The Azerbaijan National Government will as far as
possible create the necessary condition for the development of the national
language and culture of the Kurds living in Azerbaijan and the National
Government of Kurdistan will likewise as far as possible create the necessary
conditions for the development of the national language and culture of
Azerbaijanis living in Kurdistan.
7. The two contracting parties will take joint steps
to punish any person who attempts to destroy or smirch the historic friendship
and national, democratic brotherhood of the Azerbaijan and Kurdish peoples.
( cited in Koohi-Kamali, 2003, pp. 114-115)
This joint
treaty of friendship and cooperation was a major blow to the dominant Aryanist/racist ideology which considered the Kurds an
Aryan people and looked upon the Azeris as a
non-Aryan, non-Indo-European, Turkic people. This
experience once again showed that, being subjected to a common oppression is
capable of creating a common zone of resistance against racism and colonialism.
It also showed that divisions such as Aryan and non-Aryan were artificial
constructs created to secure the privileged position of the dominant group
particularly by dividing the oppressed communities and turning them against
each other. When it came to destroying the marginalized communities’ autonomous
nationhood, civic rights and democratic freedom, the Indo-European speaking
Kurdish community was as much a target as the Turkic speaking Azerbaijani
community. It was-and is- only through cooperation, sharing, and the common
struggle of these oppressed communities that the racist and colonialist system
in Iran can be defeated.
The elections
for the 15th Majlis of Iran were to begin
on December 7, 1946. At this time, Soviet forces had already left Azerbaijan
and the Soviet consulate in Tabriz was pushing the ADP for negotiation and
peaceful settlement of the issues with the Iranian government. Qavam-us-Saltaneh, the Iranian
prime minister, after promising a major oil concession to the USSR, had
returned to Tehran from his Moscow trip. The oil concession had been granted to
the Soviets on the condition that it be ratified by
the future Majlis.
The oil
concession did not only mean establishing of a strong economic relationship
between the two countries, more importantly, it meant the security of Soviet
borders in Iranian northern zone, particularly in the rivalry with the British
and the newly arrived Americans. The Soviets were very concerned about the
security of their borders with Iran and a beneficial oil concession meant that
their active presence in northern and north- western parts of Iran would be
guaranteed. After extorting the oil concession, now the Russians needed its
ratification. And this called for a speedy election processes to the new Majlis. Qavam had made it clear
that the elections would not be held unless the government was in a position to
supervise them all over the country, including Azerbaijan and Kurdistan. The
existence of autonomous Azeri and Kurdish republics had thus become an obstacle
for the ratification of the Russian oil concession. Without considering any
ethical, ideological, or political consequences of their actions, the Russians
decided to side with the Pahlavi regime, pressing the republics to surrender.
In a famous
letter written to Pishevari on May 8, 1946, the
Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin threatened the Azerbaijani leader over the
latter’s diversion from what Stalin called “the Lenin’s path.” He advised the
Azeri leader that the advantage of Azerbaijan’s working class, as well as the
working peoples of Iran and the whole world, would only be maintained through
ADP’s cooperation with Prime Minister Qavam-us-Saltaneh (Stalin, 1946). In the meantime, the British, now
working hand in hand with Qavam, had engineered
another scenario in the south. In September 1946, a puppet Qashqayi
chief in the south led his Qashqayi tribes to capture
a number of towns and villages. They then issued a list of demands asking for
autonomy similar to that of Azerbaijan and Kurdistan. They made it clear that
if the government did not destroy the autonomous republics, the Qashqayis would capture more towns and would constitute
their own autonomous republic. The ADP considered the Qashqayi
rebellion a scenario orchestrated by the central government in order to crush
the autonomous republics (JAMI, 1978, pp. 374-97).
Through the Qashqayi rebellion, the British manifested their strength to
the Iranian ruling elite and, thereby, further emboldened Qavam-us-Saltaneh in his determination to destroy the autonomous
republics (see also Lenczowski, 1949, p. 307). Around
mid-October, Qavam formed a new cabinet and reached
an agreement with Qashqayi chiefs in the south,
promising them that he would use all his power to protect Iran's territorial
integrity, and to return Azerbaijan and Kurdistan back to the mother-land.
Meanwhile, George V. Allen, the newly appointed American Ambassador to Iran,
made it clear that his government was supportive of Prime Minister Qavam's 'democratic decisions' and would do whatever it
could to implement them (Lenczowski, 1949, p. 308).
On the pretext
of supervising parliamentary elections, on November 24, 1946, Qavam ordered the troops to march into Azerbaijan. On
December 3, Pishevari assured the Azerbaijnis
that the national army of Azerbaijan was ready to defend the republic. He made
it clear that there would be "death but no return" to colonial
conditions (Pishevari, Dec. 3, 1946). On December 10,
Qavam's army reached Azerbaijani territory. The first
confrontation took place in the outskirts of the town of Mianeh.
The Azerbaijani army pushed the invading forces back and advanced towards Zanjan (JAMI, 1978, p. 415). Nevertheless, two days later,
the ADP, under heavy pressures from the Soviets, decided to give up resistance
and let the Iranian army enter into Azerbaijan.
The premier of
Azerbaijan, Ja’far Pishevari,
rejected the Soviet demand to surrender and argued in favor of resistance
(JAMI, 1978, pp. 416-17). The other Central Committee members of ADP followed
the Soviet line. Pishevari resigned from the
government and left for Baku. On December 12, 1946, the remaining ADP leaders
called on all Azerbaijanis to abandon resistance and allow the Iranian army a
peaceful entry into Tabriz. The army, on the other hand, was anything but
peaceful. Conscious and assured of non-resistance on the part of Azerbaijanis,
the army, accompanied by gangs and thugs hired and armed by local landlords,
entered Azerbaijan and savagely massacred its unarmed people.
"When the Persian Army returned to Azerbaijan, it
came with a roar. Soldiers ran riot, looting and plundering, taking what they
wanted. The Russian Army had been on its best behavior. The Persian Army--the
army of emancipation--was a savage army of occupation. It left a brutal mark on
the people. The beards of peasants were burned, their wives and daughters
raped. Houses were plundered; livestock was stolen. The Army was out of control.
Its mission had been liberation, but it preyed on the civilians, leaving death
and destruction behind." (Douglas, 1951, p. 45)
After the
invasion of Azerbaijan, the Shah's army marched into the neighboring Republic
of Kurdistan. The leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Qazi
Mohammad, was hanged in Mahabad, along with his
supporters. Mass executions of participants, sympathizers, and those suspected
of supporting the national movements were performed in public, followed by the
burning of books, magazines and pamphlets published in ethnic languages.
Shortly after the fall of national governments, the “Book-Burning” ceremonies
became a source of celebration and entertainment for the members of the
dominant group and their invading army. The racist ruling elite made it clear
that the “Book-Burning” rituals were conducted for the purpose of sealing the
destiny of Azeri-Turkic as an official language in Iran once for all (see also Heyat 1983, 1990; Berengian,
1988; Haqqi, 1993; Farzaneh,
1999).
The world
renowned north Azerbaijani poet, Semed Vurghun, recited a poem at the 1952 World Peace Congress
held in Paris, by way of protesting the massacre of Azerbaijani people. The
poem was titled “Books that Burnt” (Yandirilan Kitablar), and was addressed to the Shah of Iran who was
referred to as “the butcher.” Below I have rendered parts of Vurghun’s poem into English:
Hey Butcher!
Don’t you know
The pile upon pile of books you’re burning
Are symbols of a thousand creativities?
Desires of a thousand hearts?
Hey Butcher!
They’re in my language
Those proverbs, those poems
In each of them
Hearts of a thousand mothers are beating
In each of them
Laughters of a thousand children
Tell me butcher
Do you understand this?
Hey Butcher!
What are those gallows?
Who are those upon them?
It’s no game, Butcher!
The blood that you’re drinking like a wolf
Is my people’s blood
Those hanging from your gallows
Are my flesh and
blood, my people
Do you understand this, Butcher?
(Vurgun 1952)
The invading
army remained in Azeri and Kurdish areas and continued the persecution of
supporters of the national movements. After a few years, the Shah (Mohammad
Reza Pahlavi) declared a national amnesty and the military rule was lifted. The Persian chauvinistic propaganda, along with
a relentless campaign against the democratic movements, continued. The 12th
of December, the day of occupation, was commemorated as a national holiday and
was celebrated in all government offices, schools and streets. The young
Mohammad Reza Shah was praised as the mighty hero of "Azerbaijan
Crisis" and "the Bringer of Azerbaijan and Kurdistan to the Bosom of
the Mother Land." Eyewitnesses and unofficial Azerbaijani sources have
estimated the number of people killed in Azerbaijan and Kurdistan during the
occupation to be over 50,000 (see also Hassanpour,
1994). Although the movements were brutally suppressed, they made a lasting
impact in the history of the struggle of Azerbaijani and Kurdish people for
self-determination. The Democratic Parties that led the two movements are
active today and pursue the aims and goals of the fallen republics. The
experience gained from the two republics has been an exceptional knowledge in
self-governance and nation-building. In the words of Professor Amir Hassanpour,
"The two nationalist movements were powerful
engines of social change in the multinational country of Iran. They were an
inseparable link in the successive struggles for democracy, freedom, and
independence—the Babi movement (1848-53); the tobacco
movement (1890-92); the Constitutional Revolution (1905-11); the revolutionary
struggles of Azerbaijan, Gilan, and Khurasan (1918-21); the oil nationalization movement of
1951-53; the 1967-68 uprising of Kurdistan; the 1978-79 revolution; and the
autonomy movement of Kurdistan (since 1979). The two movements were
distinguished from their predecessors by their distinctively nationalist
character." (Hassanpour, 1994, p. 98)
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