Alirza Quluncu, Voice of America, December 12, 2014
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| Yadulla Kanani |
Yadulla Kanani states that there were certain disagreements among the leaders of the Azerbaijan National Government. According to him, while a group led by Seyid Jafar Pishevari wanted to resist in 1946, the majority chose to engage in negotiations and accept Tehran’s conditions.
A southern Azerbaijani political activist living in exile in the Republic of Azerbaijan spoke with Voice of America on the anniversary of the short-lived Azerbaijan National Government, established in southern Azerbaijan on December 12, 1945. He discussed the process of the government’s formation and its eventual downfall.
In this regard, he assessed the influence of both internal and external factors, including the policies of the Soviet Union and the United States. Kanani also pointed out differences in perspectives and disputes among the leaders of the National Government.
Explaining the activities leading to the formation of the Azerbaijan Democratic Party and later the National Government, as well as the congresses and elections held during this process, Yadulla Kanani emphasized that the Azerbaijan National Government was founded on democratic principles.
In his view, the primary achievement of the National Government was, on the one hand, demonstrating to the world that Iran was a multiethnic country and, on the other, revealing the existence of a distinct national identity in Iranian Azerbaijan.
Kanani categorized the factors that led to the downfall of the National Government into internal and external elements, analyzing the policies and actions of the Iranian government as well as those of the United States and the Soviet Union, which played a role in shaping the fate of the National Government.
According to the activist based in Baku, changes in international circumstances led the Soviet Union to withdraw its promised support for the National Government. Joseph Stalin wrote a letter to Seyid Jafar Pishevari informing him that the Soviets could no longer assist.
Kanani believes that the Soviets did not withdraw their support in exchange for privileges from Iran, but rather, they secured those privileges because they had already decided to withdraw their support due to changing international conditions.
The Southern Azerbaijani activist also spoke about the differing views among the leaders of the National Government.
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| National Assembly - Azerbaijan National Government |
According to him, while a group of party leaders, led by Seyid Jafar Pishevari, advocated for resisting the Iranian government, which pursued a duplicitous policy, the majority, including Interior Minister Salamollah Javid, preferred to accept the central government’s conditions and continue negotiations.
However, Tehran did not honor the agreements reached in its negotiations with the Azerbaijan Democratic Party. The Azerbaijan National Government, established under the leadership of Seyid Jafar Pishevari in December 1945, was overthrown in December 1946 following an invasion by the Iranian army into Azerbaijani cities.
“The Iranian army returned to Azerbaijan with a roar. The soldiers, in a disorderly manner, looted and plundered everything they wanted… The Iranian army—the so-called ‘army of liberation’—was in fact a brutal occupying force. It left behind a cruel mark on the people. Villagers' crops were burned, women and girls were raped. Homes were ransacked, livestock was stolen. The army had lost control. Its mission was supposed to be liberation, but instead, it hunted down civilians, leaving behind death and destruction,” wrote U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, who visited Azerbaijan during that time, in his book Strange Lands and Friendly People, describing the Iranian army’s invasion of Azerbaijani cities.
Link to the original interview in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Yədulla Kənani: Milli Hökumət İran Azərbaycanında milli varlığı meydana çıxardı