View source for Alimardan bey Topchubashov

{{Short description|Azerbaijani politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Alimardan bey Topchubashov
| image               = Alimerdan bey Topchubashov 4.jpg
| caption             = Topchubashov in 1918
| birth_date          = 4 May 1862
| birth_place         = [[Tiflis]], [[Tiflis Governorate]], [[Russian Empire]]
| residence           =
| death_date          = 8 November 1934 (aged 72)
| death_place         = [[Paris]], [[France]]
| office              = Deputy of the [[1906 Russian legislative election|First State Duma]]
| term_start          = 27 April 1906
| term_end            = 21 July 1906
| office2             = [[Minister of Foreign Affairs (Azerbaijan)|Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic]] (ADR)
| predecessor2        = [[Mammad Hasan Hajinski]]
| successor2          = [[Fatali Khan Khoyski]]
| term_start2         = 6 October 1918
| term_end2           = 7 December 1918
| office3             = Deputy [[Speaker of the National Assembly of Azerbaijan|Speaker of National Assembly of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic]] (ADR)
| predecessor3        = ''Office created''
| successor3          = ''Office eliminated''
| term_start3         = 7 December 1918
| term_end3           = 27 April 1920
| party               = [[Ittifaq al-Muslimin]]<br />[[Musavat]]<br />Independent
| occupation          = [[Lawyer]]
| majority            =
| spouse              = Pari Malikova
| children            = Ələkbər bəy Topçubaşov <br /> [[Rashid bey Topchubashov]]
| signature           = Signature of Alimerdan bey Topchubashov (in russian).png
| website             =
| native_name         = {{nobold|Əlimərdan bəy Topçubaşov}}
| native_name_lang    = az
}}
'''Alimardan bey Alakbar bey oghlu Topchubashov''' ({{langx|az-Arab|علی‌مردان بگ علی‌اکبر بگ اوغلی طوپچیباشیف}}, {{langx|az| Әлимәрдан бәј Әләкбәр бәј оғлу Топчубашов|label=none|italic=no|Əlimərdan bəy Ələkbər bəy oğlu Topçubaşov}}; 4 May 1862 – 8 November 1934) was a prominent [[Azerbaijanis|Azerbaijani]] politician, foreign minister and speaker of the [[Parliament of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic|Parliament]] of [[Azerbaijan Democratic Republic]].
==Biography==
There are varied assumptions about the birth date of Topchubashov, different authors and journals claim that he was born in 1865, 1862, 1859 and other similar dates. After all these resorts on archive data, it is finally known that he was born in 4 May in 1863 in Tiflis (now [[Tbilisi]]).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oguz-news.net/tur/?p=575 |title=Əlimərdan bəy Topçubaşovun doğum tarixi ilə bağlı dəqiqləşdirmə |author=Cəmil Həsənli |date=3 August 2013 |work=Oguz Haberleri |publisher=oguz-news.net |accessdate=27 September 2015 |language=az |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150413154016/http://www.oguz-news.net/tur/?p=575 |archivedate=13 April 2015 }}</ref> The Topcubashovs family was originally from Ganca city, but they were living at Tbilisi, near the Char Palace. In 1868, he lost his father and later his mother. Therefore, he was raised by his grandmother.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Həsənli |first1=Cəmil |title=Tarixi şəxsiyyətin tarixi |date=2013 |publisher=Azərbaycan Diplomatik Akademiyası |location=Bakı |isbn=978-9952-27-371-7 |pages=23}}</ref>
After studying at Tiflis Gymnasium, he entered Saint Petersburg University and graduated from the law faculty in 1888. While studying in Tiflis Gymnasium, Alimardan bey Topchubashov wrote some comic journals and spread them among students. During university years in Petersburg, he actively participated in Muslim students' organizations.<ref>d'Ali Mardan-bey Toptchibachi, carton n 3. CERCEC, EHESS, Paris, p.1</ref> He was offered to remain at University and teach law if he would convert to [[Christianity]], but he refused and returned to the [[Caucasus]], where he worked at several small positions. He married [[Pari Malikova]], daughter of [[Hasan bey Zardabi]], founder of the first Azerbaijani newspaper, ''[[Akinchi]]''.
In 1897 oil magnate [[Zeynalabdin Taghiyev]] bought ''[[Kaspi (newspaper)|Kaspi]]'' newspaper and invited Topchibashov to be its editor-in-chief. Starting from that time he was actively involved in politics and quickly became one of the prominent leaders of [[Azerbaijani people|Azerbaijani]] and [[Muslim]] people of [[Russian Empire]]. His main platform was the political equality of all subjects of Russian Crown and the end to discriminations of Turkic and Muslim people. At the brink of the [[First Russian Revolution]] Topchubashov was one of the initiators of famous meeting of Azerbaijani intelligentsia and bourgeoisie at Taghiyev's palace on 15 March 1905. As a result of this meeting a petition was addressed to Tsar asking for:
* Implementation of local self-governing and new type of courts (jury) in the entire Caucasus
* Granting of full political rights and freedoms to the Muslim subjects of the Crown
* Distribution of land to the peasants who lack it
* Improvement of factory legislation to include Muslim workers too.
Under the occupation of the Russian Empire, all Russian Muslims united in an attempt to defend their interests and freedom. In this process, the first All-Russian Muslim Congress was held although official permission couldn't be obtained on 28 August 1905.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Həsənli |first1=Cəmil |title=Tarixi Şəxsiyyətin Tarixi |date=2013 |publisher=Azərbaycan Diplomatik Akademiyası |location=Bakı |isbn=978-9952-27-371-7}}</ref> The focus was on establishing a Union (Ittifaq) to safeguard political and social rights of the Muslims. An excerpt from the speech of Alimardan bey Topchubashov clearly reflects the atmosphere of the congress:<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kırımlı |first1=Hakan |title=National movements and national identity among the Crimean Tatars: (1905–1916) |date=1996 |publisher=E.J.Brill}}</ref>
'We the Turkish sons have the same origin, same ancestry, and same language. From the West to the East, it used to be our ancestors' lands. In spite of the fact that our ancestors were such a heroic nation, today, in the mountains of Caucasia, in the gardens of the Crimea, in the steppes of Kazan, in the lands of our ancestors, in our homeland we did not have the freedom to speak our own needs. Thank God.. we succeeded (in that) today'.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kırımlı |first1=Hakan |title=National movements and national identity among the Crimean Tatars: (1905–1916)}}</ref>
At the same time, Topchubashov was one of the founders of [[Ittifaq al-Muslimin]] (first political party of Russian Muslims) and organized its three conferences. He headed the party's third conference and became its bureau member and chief of its Law Commission. Later he became the leader of the party's Muslim faction at the Russian [[State Duma]], the new Russian parliament (1906). But after the First Duma was dissolved by Tsar Topchubashov was arrested for three months, lost his right to be ever a parliament member, deprived of his place at Baku Municipality and "Kaspi" newspaper.
During this time Iran invited him to head one of the departments of the Iranian Ministry of Justice and reform its judiciary system, but Topchubashov rejected this offer and remained in Russian Empire to continue his struggle for the emancipation of the Muslim population.
After the [[Azerbaijan Democratic Republic]] was proclaimed on 28 May 1918, Topchubashov became its ambassador to Armenia, Georgia and the Ottoman Empire, and was sent to Istanbul. Then he was made minister of foreign affairs at the second cabinet and was elected the head of the Parliament in absentia on 7 December 1918, thus becoming second head of state of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, after [[Mammed Amin Rasulzade]]. Agreeing to head the Azerbaijani Delegation at [[Versailles Conference]], he left Istanbul for Paris.
[[File:Alimerdan bey Topchubashov.jpg|thumb|Topchubashov in 1906]]
At the conference, he managed to meet US President [[Woodrow Wilson]] and achieved the ''de facto'' recognition of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in January 1920. But after the Bolshevik takeover of ADR he could not return and stayed in Paris, where he died on 8 November 1934. He is buried in the communal cemetery of [[Saint-Cloud]] (near [[Paris]]), with his wife, [[Peri Topchubashova]], who died in 1947, and two other people who bear his name.<ref>[http://www.gravestonephotos.com/public/gravedetails.php?grave=568876&scrwidth=1200 Alimardan Bey Topchubashov grave monument in Communial, St Cloud, Hauts-de-Seine, France], Gravestone Photographic Resource.</ref>
Topchubashov never gave up his job even when he was in France. He published books, brochures, and journals in an attempt to introduce and represent Azerbaijan to foreigners.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hasanli |first1=Jamil |title=Tarixi şəxsiyyətin tarixi |date=2013 |publisher=Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy |location=Baku |isbn=9789952310474}}</ref>
==Memoralisation==
The Baku-based [[Topchubashov Center]] think tank is named after him
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
{{commons category|Alimardan bey Topchubashov}}
* [http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/61_folder/61_articles/61_topchubashev.html Alimardan Topchubashov in Azerbaijan International]
{{Azerbaijan Democratic Republic}}
{{AzerbaijanPresidents}}
{{Chairpersons of the National Assembly of Azerbaijan}}
{{Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Topchubashov, Alimardan}}
[[Category:1863 births]]
[[Category:1934 deaths]]
[[Category:Politicians from Tbilisi]]
[[Category:Diplomats from Tbilisi]]
[[Category:People from Tiflis Governorate]]
[[Category:Muslims from Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:Azerbaijani Muslims]]
[[Category:Converts to Sunni Islam from Shia Islam]]
[[Category:Georgian Azerbaijanis]]
[[Category:Azerbaijani nobility]]
[[Category:Members of the 1st State Duma of the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Russian Constituent Assembly members]]
[[Category:Azerbaijan Democratic Republic politicians]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of Azerbaijan to Armenia]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of Azerbaijan to Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of Azerbaijan to the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:Azerbaijani independence activists]]
[[Category:Lawyers from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Saint Petersburg State University alumni]]
[[Category:Muslims from the Russian Empire]]