Today is the memorial day of the chairman of the National Council of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the great figure of the history of Azerbaijan in the 20th century, Mahammad Amin Rasulzade.

 

Mahammad Amin Rasulzadeh, son of Akhund Haji Molla Alakbar, was born on January 31, 1884 in the village of Novkhani of Baku. He studied at Baku Technical School. However, he left his education unfinished and started political activity. In 1902, seventeen-year-old M.A. Rasulzade founded the "Muslim Youth Organization". It was the first political organization that secretly fought against the Russian colonial rule in Azerbaijan in the 20th century. Since 1917, Mahammad Amin Rasulzadeh was the leader of the "Musavat" party, which was the largest political force in Azerbaijan at that time. The first years of the revolutionary activity of Mahammad Amin Rasulzadeh, who laid the foundation of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, which was the first republican system of administration in the Muslim East, also coincide with this period.

 

In the fall of 1917, M.A. Rasulzadeh was elected a Member of Parliament from Azerbaijan and Turkestan to the Russian parliament. On May 26, 1918, the Transcaucasian Seim was dissolved as a result of internal factional disputes. On the 27th of the same month, the National Council of Azerbaijan was formed, consisting of members of various parties included in the Muslim faction of the Seim. M.A. Rasulzadeh was elected the chairman of the National Council by the majority of votes.

 

On May 28, 1918, radio stations and newspapers of all countries announced the declaration of Azerbaijan's independence to the world. This meant that the people of Azerbaijan communicated their existence, their existence as a nation to all mankind and declared that their national state was established. The government of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was formed under the leadership of Fatali Khan Khoyski. Thus, the Azerbaijani people established a republic not only among the Turkic peoples, but also for the first time in the whole East. However, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic lasted only 23 months. After the occupation of Azerbaijan by Soviet Russia on April 28, 1920, M.A. Rasulzade was forced to leave the homeland. M.A. Rasulzadeh, who fought for Azerbaijan's freedom abroad for many years, died of diabetes on March 6, 1955 in Ankara.

 

A large number of exhibits reflecting the life and activities of M.A. Rasulzade are preserved in the funds of the National Museum of Azerbaijan History. Those valuable materials are important in terms of research and promotion of the history of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the emigration period. Among these examples, we present M.A. Rasulzade's letters to the Azerbaijani immigrant Suleyman Tekinar, preserved in the Documentary sources fund of the museum, and his photograph preserved in the Auxiliary materials fund.

 

In addition, many significant events and conferences were held in the museum in order to convey the life and activities of M.A. Rasulzade to the public and to pass them on to future generations.