NOT AN INCH OF HOME SOIL…

The distinguished state figure and diplomat Behbud Aga Sahtaxtinski made a vital contribution to the protection of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity, the development of the country's socio-political life and the strengthening of the statehood of the Azerbaijani people. It is his signature, the people's commissioner for state control and representative of the government of Azerbaijan, that can be found under the Treaty of Kars, signed on 13 October 1921 with Russia's participation between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia on the one hand, and Turkey on the other. It was this document that defined Naxcivan's status as a territorial unit. According to Article 5 of the treaty, the Naxcivan Region was declared an autonomous territory under the aegis of Azerbaijan. Thus, with the consent of the three Transcaucasian republics, the creation of an autonomous region on the territory of the former Naxcivan uyezd as part of Azerbaijan was confirmed. It will be noted that Article 3 of the Russian-Turkish (Moscow) Treaty, which was signed on 16 March 1921, said that "both theparties to the treaty agree that Naxcivan Region forms an autonomous territory under the aegis of Azerbaijan, with the proviso that Azerbaijan will not secede this protectorate to a third state". Armenia was perceived to be this "third state". 

As we know, for several centuries the Armenians had dreamed of forming their own state in the South Caucasus. These dreams took real form after Russia's victories in the wars with Persia at the beginning of the 19th century and the strengthening of its positions in this region. According to an ukase of Nicholas I the Irevan and Naxcivan khanates which had merged with Russia began to be called the Armenian Region. In 1840 the Armenian Region was abolished and the Erivan uyezd was created. Having no lands of their own, the Armenians, with the aim of creating their own state, tried to take possession of the territories of the neighbouring states (Turkey and Iran) and peoples (the Azerbaijanis and the Georgians). Naxcivan was not least among these plans…

For women's literacy

Behbud Aga Sahtaxtinski was born in 1881 in the village of Sahtaxti in Erivan province. This village is now a part of Kangarli district in the Naxcivan Autonomous Republic. He came to Baku in 1895 and worked in various companies and enterprises. In 1905 he joined the Muslim socio-democratic organization Hummat and became a close friend and associate of Nariman Narimanov. In 1907, when Hummat practically closed down, Sahtaxtinski began to write articles for various local newspapers. The satirical and humorous magazine Baraban, edited by Sahtaxtinski, was published in Russian in Baku in 1912-13. The magazine successfully spread the satirical traditions of J. Mammadquluzada's Molla Nasraddin magazine in the Russian language. Incidentally, 38 issues of Baraban magazine - six for 1912 and 32 for 1913 - are today kept in the library of the archive of political documents of the Directorate for the Affairs of the Azerbaijani president's administration.

Among the articles written by Sahtaxtinski, attention is drawn to his letter to the editors of the first Muslim women's newspaper Isyq (Light), which is dated 1911. Here one needs to take a brief step back. After the 1905-07 revolution in Russia there was an increasing demand that women be given the same political and social rights as men. Women began to push more actively for equal rights in access to higher education, acquiring certain jobs and taking part in management. It should be acknowledged that in the first instance it was representatives of the non-indigenous population - i.e. non-Azerbaijanis - who became the champions of the ideas of equal rights in Baku. However, as the movement spread more and more Azerbaijani women began to join in social activities. This was also supported by the vanguard of the national intelligentsia, including, of course, Sahtaxtinski. The vanguard intelligentsia realized that the state, society and the nation could not develop so long as half of it - the women - were backward and illiterate, and it believed that if children of the future were to be properly brought up women, on whose shoulders lie the main burden, must be able to read and write. However, in those days many families would not even entertain the idea of educating girls. The progressive members of the intelligentsia tirelessly fought the dark forces led by the poorly educated clergy.

At the same time, in the question of the education of women and explaining to them their rights, there was felt an acute need to rally the female intelligentsia around a literary publication. And so, Azerbaijan's first women's newspaper Isiq was published on 22 January 1911. Its editor was the doctor Xadica Alibayova, who was highly respected in society, and it was published by her husband, the celebrated public figure, Mustafa bay Alibayov. The newspaper was funded by the philanthropist Haci Zeynalabdin Tagiyev.

The publishing of a women's newspaper, and what's more with a Muslim female editor, caused quite a stir among the educated section of the public, not only in Baku but also in Muslim centres of Russia. The editors received letters of greeting and rapturous telegrams with wishes for success almost every day. The paper printed the most interesting of them, like Sahtaxtinski's letter. Sharing his thoughts about the role and place of women in society, he noted: "Only an educated (cultural) and enlightened mother with a sound knowledge of the world around us is capable of bringing up her child properly and providing it with a good life. We have been enduring all these horrors because for many years our fate has been in the destructive hands of idiots who decide our future and whose decisions are like inviolable laws. They strive to prevent not only our women but us, too, from acquiring an education and knowledge. These irrepressible hypocrites have finally had to reckon with the harsh and rigid laws of life. This law of life as they see it has become a bridge between Muslims and enlightenment. Through its pages the newspaper provided valuable information for backward women and thereby found a way to the hearts of Muslim women. Now, instead of a secret - one might even say, invisible - struggle they are waging an open and very persistent struggle. It is believed that in less than 10 years' time the old life of the Muslim woman will be the stuff of legends and fairy tales. The motto of the decent intelligent person should be the well-being and benefit of the people. He must devote to his people his home, his wisdom, his knowledge and his strength, and at the same time he should be attentive and strong. Because the intellectual class is responsible to the people for all errors and misconceptions. That is the kind of intelligence we expect from our Muslim women."

In mysterious circumstances

In April 1920 the Bolsheviks seized power in Azerbaijan. In Narimanov's government Sahtaxtinski, without the prefix "aga" to his name, became Minister of Justice and at the same time Azerbaijani ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Russia. However, the spirit of Bolshevism was unable to overcome his patriotism and his love for his homeland and people.

Having gained Zangezur, the Armenian government set its sights on Naxcivan and Karabakh. In December 1920 the question of handing over Naxcivan to Armenia was virtually decided in Moscow. In this situation Sahtaxtinski decided to make an inconceivable and desperate move: with his prompting, and without the knowledge of Moscow or Baku, a nationwide referendum was held in Naxcivan, during which the people of the region expressed their wish to be a part of Azerbaijan.

Although Sahtaxtinski was drawn to the work preparing the Treaties of Moscow and Kars, his "arbitrary behaviour", which cost Armenia the "loss" of Naxcivan, was not forgotten by Moscow. In 1923 Sahtaxtinski was relieved of his post of first deputy prime minister of Azerbaijan and appointed to the not very important post of member of the Transcaucasian Higher Arbitration Commission in Tbilisi. Like Narimanov in Moscow, Sahtaxtinski was not destined to work abroad for long. On 31 May 1924 the Zarya Vostoka newspaper, which was published in Tiflis, reported that Sahtaxtinski had shot himself in the head four times with a revolver but survived. He died later in hospital, the paper said. The same newspaper published a modest obituary of Sahtaxtinski the next day. There was no funeral or farewell ceremony for Sahtaxtinski. The circumstances of his death (the deceased shot himself four times in the head!), the rejection of an honourable burial and the commitment of his ashes to the earth in Tbilisi and not his motherland lead one to believe that he was murdered and did not take his own life. Ten months later, in no less mysterious circumstances, Narimanov also "passed away"…