OPPOSED TO DENIKIN

On 29 April 1920, immediately after he became minister of justice in the Azerbaijan Soviet Soci-alist Republic, Aliheydar Qarayev instructed the chairman of the Supreme Revolutionary Tribunal (VRT) to start proceedings in the case of the murder of the Bolshevik Ali Bayramov, which had been committed under the old authority.

One of the suspects was thought to be the former aide (i.e. deputy) to the minister of internal affairs of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic [ADR], Safi bay Rustambayov. On 30 April it was reported to the VTR leadership that Rustambayov had been arrested. But it soon turned out that it was not Safi bay Rustambayov who had been arrested, but his brother Cafar bay Rustambayov. He was released the next day. But as can be seen from subsequent events, it was not for long. 

Who was Cafar bay Rustambayov?

On 23 July the chief of police of Nukhin uyezd [district], Guseynov, reported the following to the uyezd revolutionary committee: "On 21 July secret service information was received that a former comrade of the trade and industry minister, Djafar bey Rustambayov, was hiding at the house of a Nuxa [now Saki] resident, Maham-mad Ali Adburahim. The police conducted a search of the given house, where the given Rustambayov turned out to be with a resident of the village of Surakhani in Baku province, Masadi Ispat Mehsali oglu. The two men were detained and accompanied to the Nuxa Cheka [Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Speculation] headquarters. During the search gold watches and a total of 286,825 roubles in cash were found on Rustambayov and 185,000 roubles were found on his comrade Masadi Ispat. All the money was confiscated from the given individuals and is in my possession for special distribution."

From the protocols of the interrogation, as well as from his appeals to various government bodies, it is known that D. Rustambayov was born in the settlement of Qutqasen (now the town of Qabala- Author) in 1884. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of Kharkiv [Ukraine] University and became an ear, nose and throat specialist. When he was studying at the university, he took an active part in the student movements. In 1905-1910 he became a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party (the SRs) and joined the military formation of this organisation.

In 1911 he was conscripted into the army as a doctor. In Kharkiv he was charged with the administrative offence of campaigning against the elections to the Duma [parliament] and the confiscation of land from landowners. From the beginning of the First World War he was appointed doctor in the 58th Infantry Regiment, and then at the field hospital in Crimea. After the war ended, he opened a private medical practice in [the Crimean city of] Simferopol. The Germans withdrew from Crimea at the beginning of 1919. The peninsula was occupied by the Volunteer Army of White Guard General [Anton] Denikin who immediately announced universal mobilisation. The local Muslim intelligentsia, among them C. Rustambayov, who were standing up for the independence of Crimea, were opposed to the Denikin occupation. The persecutions began. Some were arrested, others had to flee Crimea. At the beginning of 1919, D. Rustambayov returned to Baku where he was offered the post of diplomatic representative of the Azerbaijan Republic to the Kuban [region of Southern Russia] government. In the middle of February, after being appointed to this post, he left for Yekaerino-grad (now Krasnodar - author). 

"In Kuban my role boiled down to issuing identification certificates in order to save Azerbaijani citizens from the Denikin mobilisation and providing written and oral statements to the Kuban government on sending the Kuban Cossacks to fight against the Dagestanis. My protests remained unheard like a howl in the desert since it was exclusively Denikin's staff who were in charge of the operations unit, and the latter were equally hostile towards both Dagestan and Azerbaijan. Denikin and his agents regarded us Turks, that is Azerbaijanis, as the instigators of the uprising in Dagestan and as providers to Dagestan of funds, armaments and agitators," he stated at one of his interrogations. 

Diplomatic representative

Here we need to digress slightly. One of the aims of the White Guard generals who were fighting against the Bolsheviks was to prevent the collapse of the Russian Empire. To a certain extent, they agreed with independence for the Trans-Caucasian 

Republics, but they were totally opposed to Dagestan being independent. The newly established Azerbaijan Republic demanded that the White Guard withdraw from there and that independence be granted to Dagestan. General Denikin and his entourage were greatly irritated by this.

C. Rustambayov repeatedly met Denikin in Yekaterinograd. During one of these meetings Denikin asked Rustambayov the following question: "I would like to learn what the view of your people and government is regarding Russia." Rustambayov's reply was this: "I am speaking on my own behalf, but I think that I am expressing the view of my people: "We are culturally and economically linked with Russia. The Russian revolution and the world war have given birth to the great idea of the right of peoples to self-determination, so my people considers it its right to declare its own independence." 

 Question: "What is the reason for your attacks in your press on the Volunteer Army and on me?" Reply: "I think that the Volunteer Army's invasion of the Gorskiy Republic [Mountainous Republic of Northern Caucasus] and the violation of the rights of the mountain peoples to self-determination, for which you were responsible, might mean that self-same step could be undertaken with regard to us."

As diplomatic representative, C. Rustambayov had conversations with General Briggs, the head of the English mission in Kuban, who was interested in the foreign policy aspects of ADR government activity. At the same time, he thought that "Azerbaijan should establish more friendly ties with the Volunteer Army which is fighting against the Bolsheviks" and which "in defending its home front from the Bolsheviks, was also protecting Azerbaijan from invasion by the Bolsheviks". "We have no quarrel with anyone, but, after declaring independence, our people are protecting it from encroachment both at home and from abroad," Rustambayov remarked to him.

Owing to this standpoint, in spite of having the status of diplomatic representative, C. Rustambayov could not remain in Kuban for long. There were increasing calls for him to be deported and for him to be lynched. In November 1919 the White Guard officers made an attempt to arrest him, but Rustambayov managed to escape since he had been warned about it and to return to Baku via [the Black Sea port of] Novo-rossiysk. 

Doctor and deputy trade minister

In February 1920, the ADR's minister of trade, industry and food, Mammad Hasan Hacinskiy, offered Rustambayov the job of his deputy. He held this post until 27 April, i.e, until the Bolsheviks came to power. Rustam-bayov's responsibilities consisted in providing Azerbaijan's population with essential foodstuffs: "By taxing the Baku bourgeoisie he raised 125m roubles to provide the workers' districts and the poorest population in the towns and cities with discounted bread, meat and fish…

I submitted to the government council a bill on taxation of the bourgeoisie to raise half a billion 300 million roubles for the treasury to purchase and provide necessities to the workers and poorest strata of the population." After the ADR government was overthrown, right up until he was arrested, D. Rustambayov ran a private medical practice in Baku and the districts of Azerbaijan. On 30 July 1920, criminal charges against D. Rustambayov were submitted to the Azerbaijan Extraor-dinary Commission for Com-batting Counter-Revolution, Espionage, Ban-ditry and Crimes Committed in Office (AzCheka). The investigator Ayrapetov was charged with conducting the investigation.

Ayrapetov submitted his decision on 15 August: "After examining the list of accusations made against Cafar Rustambayov, as a fervent opponent of Soviet power and former minister of trade and industry in the Musavat government, and taking into account the fact that the crime has been established, he ordered Rustambayov to be sent to prison, and the case dispatched to go to the Revolutionary Tribunal."

But, on 20 October 1920, owing to lack of evidence, the Revolutionary Tribunal returned the case to AzCheka for in-depth investigation. This time the investigator Chemulov was put in charge of the case. As a result of the investigation, the investigator Chemu-lov drew the following conclusion: "Rustambayov was not an opponent of Soviet power." The case was returned to the VTR once more. The investigator Musabekov set about processing the case. He interrogated witnesses, among them Mammad Hasan Hacinskiy (a member of the Presidium of the Soviet [Council] of the National Economy of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic [ASSR]) and Ahmad Pepinov (the head of the Refugee Department of the ASSR Ministry of Labour) who knew Rustambayov well because they had worked together in the ADR government.

 In describing Rustambayov, M. H. Hacinskiy told the investigator: "I was not mistaken in my choice of aide." On 18 November 1920, AzCheka sent a denunciation to the Azerbaijan Revolutionary Committee: "Rustam-bayov's guilt has not been established, he should be released, submit your conclusion." The chairman of the Azerbaijan Revolutionary Committee, N. Narimanov, issued a resolution regarding the dispatch "To the Amnesty Commission". In actual fact, this meant that the person under arrest should be released. On 20 November 1920, the investigator ordered that the judgment relating to Rustambayov should be altered, releasing him from prison and obliging him not to leave the city.

In spite of the decision on his release, the prison management did not let Rustambayov out. On 26 November 1920, Rustambayov's wife, Safiya Kypchakskaya, submitted an application to the people's commissar for justice. "My husband has been kept in prison for more than four months. He has been accused of not sympathising with the Soviet authorities. The investigation did not discover any evidence of this and the case has been closed. In spite of that, my husband continues to be kept in prison. I am requesting that you release him."

On 29 November the minister of justice made an application to the VTR to commit "the arrested doctor Cafar Rustambayov to forced labour. Owing to the dire shortage of doctors, I request you to instruct the doctor Rustambayov to be commandeered to the People's Health Service Committee where he can work in his profession. Permission was granted on 2 January 1921. On 4 January the People's Commissariat for Justice reported to the People's Health Service Commis-sariat that "the Supreme Revolutionary Tribunal had instructed that Rustam-bayov be put at your disposal and is the liability of the court".

The final decision of the VRT investigator was adopted on 8 March 1921. It states the following in it: "Dr Cafar Rustambayov has been accused of opposing Soviet power. The preliminary investigation has established that the accusation has not been proven. The case is closed. This decision is to be submitted for examination by the Collegium of the Azerbaijan Revolut-ionary Tribunal". On 23 March 1921 the Military Revolutionary Field Tribunal decreed: "In view of the absence of a corpus delicti, the case is closed. The money taken from Rustambayov when he was arrested was returned, but the gold watches were confiscated.

Ps. The author would like to thank the investigator A.Tahirzada for the photograph provided.