zerbaijan.

Returning from a trip visiting most of the countries in the Central Asia, and having the opportunity to discuss the background and the present situation of their respective country's with many of the Leaders in the region and their wish to explain why and how I start to give a history of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan: History and Current Situation

The onset of the bloody conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Karabakh, which has now developed into a full-scale war; the dangerous heightening of internal political tensions within the republic, which led to a change of power at all levels in late June-early July 1993; the growing interest shown by Western corporations in exploration for and production of oil and gas in Azerbaijan, particularly on the shelf of the Caspian Sea - all of these factors have resulted in events in Azerbaijan being reported on the front pages of newspapers all over the world, with radio and television news programmes leading with these stories in many countries.

At the beginning of this century Azerbaijan was the largest oil producer in the world; it had for centuries been the focus of struggles between many of the great powers in antiquity, the Middle Ages and in recent times. In order to understand the events taking place in the country today, a brief discussion of the most important stages in the history of the country and its people is needed.

The first, embryonic forms of state in the territory of what is now Azerbaijan were the tribal unions living in the south of the country of the Mannaeans, and subsequently of the Medes. The first stable state in the territory of Azerbaijan was Mana (the biblical Mannai). The first data we have on this state date from the middle of the 9th century BC. At the beginning of the 8th century BC the authority of the emperors of Mana stretched from lake Urmiya (Or-m-yeh) to the basin of the Araks river, including the south-eastern part of what is now Transcaucasia. Mana had developed agriculture and metalworking. Writing, derived from the Urartian or Assyrian cuneiform, was also known in the country.

In the 6th century BC Mana was conquered by the Medes; the Median state was incorporated soon afterwards into the first Iranian state - the empire of the Achaemenids. When this great power of the Ancient East was routed by Alexander the Great's forces at the end of the 4th century BC, a new state, known as Atropatene, arose on the territory which had formed the state of Mana. This is the oldest of the known names for Azerbaijan, and has come down to us from Greek sources. It was from this name that the present-day name of Azerbaijan (literally, ñland of fireî) originated. Agriculture, livestock husbandry and crafts were intensively developed in Atropatene. The woollen cloth produced by the country was widely known. It is interesting to note that in early 1992 Colonel Surat Guseynov, who effectively overthrew President Abulfaz Elchibey and became Prime Minister of Azerbaijan at the beginning of July, was still Director of the republic's major wool-processing combine. The capital of Atropatene was the town of Gazaka. It was here that the main temple of the fire-worshippers was located, as the most widespread religion was Zoroastrianism; oil from primitive wells on the Apsheron peninsula was already used, even at this early stage, to maintain the eternal fire in the temples. Azeri - distinct from Persian

It was in Atropatene that the process of formation of the Atropatenian people, which became one of the forbears of the Azerbaijani people, began. Recent research indicates that the language of this people was Azeri; this language was quite distinct from Persian and was much closer to the Talysh language. It is interesting to note that two thousand years later, in 1993, the creation of the Talysh Republic was unilaterally declared in Lenkoran' in south-eastern Azerbaijan, which borders on the Gilyan province of Iran and is populated by the Talysh people.

During the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC Atropatene waged a successful struggle against the state of the Seleucids - the successors to Alexander the Great - and then against the Romans. During this period Nakhichevan' - the homeland of Abulfaz Elchibey and Geydar Aliyev - was also included in Atropatene. At the end of the 2nd century BC Atropatene was incorporated into the Parthian empire.

During Atropatene's golden age one of the oldest states of Transcaucasia, Caucasian Albania, arose in the area of Azerbaijan north of the Araks river. This state occupied a large area on the west coast of the Caspian Sea, in the Araks-Kura interfluve, and held particular strategic significance, as it included the town of Chola (in the area of present-day Derbent), which had long been considered the gates of the Caucasus - a sort of bridge between Europe and Asia. The Albanians worshipped the moon. Early in the 4th century AD Christianity began to be propagated as the state religion. The main peoples of the country, including not only the ancestors of the Azerbaijanis, but also those of the Armenians, united in the struggle against the Iranian conquerors (the Sasanids).

The states of Mana, Media, Atropatene and Caucasian Albania played an important role in the development of the state order and in the formation of the ancient people in the territory of Azerbaijan.

During the 7th century AD the territory of Azerbaijan, where the weakened areas of Atropatene (in the south) and of Caucasian Albania (in the north) still remained, was conquered by the Arabs, and became part of the Arabian caliphate. The conquerors destroyed the temples and monuments of the Zoroastrians, Christians and other cults, and introduced Islam. Being part of the caliphate helped to consolidate the population of the north and south of Azerbaijan into a single people, and also brought the heterogeneous ethnic elements in the country together in one religion.

Caliphate weakens

However, the conquerors harsh tax policy and the extreme exploitation by the officials of the caliphate led to repeated popular uprisings in Iran, Azerbaijan and Armenia. In the late 9th and early 10th centuries the power of the caliphate was substantially weakened, and the towns of Azerbaijan - Shemakha, Gyandzha, Baku, Tabriz, Ardebil and Maraga - began to flourish. Azerbaijan's links with both the other states in the Caucasus and Kievan Russia also became stronger during this period.

Over the centuries the creative genius of the Azerbaijani people produced major material and spiritual treasures. In the 11th and 12th centuries the distinguished scientists Makki ibn Akhmed and Bakhmanyar, the famous poet Nizami Gandzhevi and others made a major contribution to the development of Azerbaijani and world culture. The architectural masterpieces of this period - Yusuf's mausoleum in Nakhichevan, the Devich'ya Tower in Baku and others - still remain to this day.

At the end of the 14th century Azerbaijan was invaded by the forces of Timur (Tamerlane); this army plundered the country, destroyed cultural and historical monuments and damaged the many irrigation structures. During the 15th century major states arose in the territory of North and South Azerbaijan - the states of the Shirvan shahs, Kara-Koyunlyu and Ak-Koyunlyu. Shirvan, one of the most ancient regions of Azerbaijan, became a major centre for the production of raw silk. Azerbaijan's economic and diplomatic links with the Moscow state were strengthened.

The formation of the very powerful Iranian-Azerbaijani state of the Safavids at the beginning of the 16th century played an important role in the history of Azerbaijan. This state's lands covered a huge area, from the Syrdar'ya to the Euphrates, including present-day Turkmenia, Azerbaijan, Iran and eastern Iraq. The Azerbaijani aristocracy was a dominant force in this state during the 16th century. The cities of Azerbaijan - Shemakha, Baku, Jolfa, Tabriz - became centres of craft and trade not only for Transcaucasia, but for the whole of the Middle East. The Azerbaijani cities expanded their trading links not only with the neighbouring states and Russia, but also with India, and subsequently with England, France and Italy. Thousands of tonnes of high-quality raw silk were exported from Shirvan every year.

Between Turkey and Iran

However, in the early 17th century, during the reign of Shah Abbas 1, the Safavid state underwent a transformation into a fully Iranian state. Abbas transferred the capital from Kazvin to Isfahan, deep inside Iran. The Iranian feudal lords increasingly became the shah's main support, and Azerbaijan turned into a mixture of province and colony. The sufferings of the masses of people intensified, not only through the merciless exploitation by the Iranian feudal lords, but also as a result of the bloody wars fought between the Sultans of Turkey and the Shahs of Iran for supremacy in Transcaucasia and the Middle East. These wars continued, with brief interruptions, from 1602 to 1639. Under the peace treaty concluded in 1639, Azerbaijan once again fell under Iranian rule. During the second half of the 17th and the early 18th centuries the struggle between Iran and Turkey over Azerbaijan and Transcaucasia was rekindled. During the early 1720s the newly strengthened Russian empire also became involved in this struggle.

In the summer of 1722 Peter the Great, attempting to strengthen Russia's position in the Caspian Sea basin and to prevent Turkey from breaking through into this region, began his Caucasian- Iranian campaign, by agreement with the emperor of Kartli (East Georgia) and the Armenian Catholicos (head of the Armenian church), who were trying to escape the dominance of Iran and the Turkish threat. The Russian forces were transported along the Volga to Astrakhan, and began to move into the North Caucasus. In August 1722 they occupied Derbent. In December 1722 the newly formed Russian Caspian flotilla made a landing in Enzeli. Rasht - the capital of the Iranian province of Gilyan - was then occupied. In July 1723 the Russian flotilla reached Baku, and the landing parties seized the city. In September 1723 the Russian-Iranian treaty was signed in St. Petersburg; under this treaty Derbent, Baku and Shirvan in Azerbaijan, and the Iranian provinces of Gilyan and Mazandaran passed to Russia. In 1724 Turkey signed a treaty with Russia under which she renounced all claims to Iran and the Caspian provinces. During the period when the Iranian Safavid state finally collapsed, this pledge was of major significance to the peoples of Iran and Transcaucasia.

In 1735, in the light of the changes in the international situation and the position in the Middle East, the Russian government signed the Gyandzha treaty with Nader Shah, the new ruler of Iran; under this treaty the Russian forces were to leave Baku and Derbent. Azerbaijan fell once again under the authority of Iran.

Iran's hold weakens

During the second half of the 18th century a weakened Iran retained only partial sovereignty over Azerbaijan. About 15 khanates formed in the territory, the largest of which were the Sheki, Karabakh and Kuba khanates. Their rulers became vassals of the Iranian shahs. The feudal yoke, Iranian exploitation and the disintegration of the country resulted in desperate conditions for the people of Azerbaijan, who were also constantly threatened by Turkish expansion.

At the beginning of the 19th century the rulers of the Karabakh and Sheki khanates declared that they were voluntarily joining themselves to Russia. In 1803, after Russian forces had taken the town of Gyandzha, the Gyandzha khanate was also annexed by the Russian empire. The capital of this khanate, the ancient Azerbaijani town of Gyandzha, was renamed Yelizavetpol. In 1918 it regained its old name, but in 1935 it was renamed Kirovabad in honour of Kirov. In 1991 the town took its ancient name back once again. It was in Gyandzha that Colonel Guseynov demanded the resignation of President Elchibey and the dismissal of the entire government in May 1993. In July 1993, as we have already noted, Guseynov became Prime Minister of Azerbaijan.

First Russo-Iranian war

The loss of North Azerbaijan was a source of great dissatisfaction to the ruling circles in Iran; this dissatisfaction was fanned by the European powers, who were concerned about the strengthening of Russia's position in the Caspian region. As a result, in 1806, the first Russian- Iranian war began; this ended in 1813 with victory for Russia and the signing of the Golestan peace treaty. Iran renounced her claims to all the khanates of North Azerbaijan, and to East Georgia and Dagestan.

Transcaucasia lasted from 1826 to 1828, and also ended in victory for Russia. Under the Turkmanchay peace treaty of 1828 (signed in the village of Turkmanchay, situated in the same Karabakh region which is the source of the bitter war between Armenia and Azerbaijan today), the Iranian government agreed to cede the Nakhichevan khanate and the adjacent districts to Russia. Thus, North Azerbaijan (including Karabakh and Nakhichevan) were incorporated into Russia over 150 years ago. Today the boundary between Russia and Iran established by these treaties is an internationally recognized boundary between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The adherence of North Azerbaijan to Russia was an important turning point in the history of the Azerbaijani people. Despite the colonial policy of the Tsars, it released Azerbaijan from the ruinous invasions of external forces and from internecine feudal conflict and fragmentation. The laying of the railway from Tiflis to Baku, in 1883, was very important for Azerbaijan; since Tiflis was already linked to Batum by a main railway line, it created a direct rail link between Baku and Batum, the main Black Sea port. At the same time, as shipping in the Caspian Sea developed, Baku became a major transport centre, a junction for river, sea and rail communications (with the Volga river and Caspian Sea meeting with the railway), linking Transcaucasia with Central Russia.

All of this contributed to the vigorous development of the oil industry in Baku. This process began in 1872, before construction of the main railways was completed. During the first five- year period (1874-1878) the number of bore holes increased from two to 301, and oil production increased 123-fold. During this time Lianozov, Mantashev and Gukasov, the major representatives of local (Azerbaijani-Armenian) capital, were developing their activities. During the second period of development of the oil industry (1879-1888) oil production rose to equal that of the USA, which then held a world monopoly. This was because the average productivity of the Baku wells was 123 times that of the American wells.

World's first oil tanker

All of this activity also attracted the attention of foreign capital. In 1879 the Swedish Nobel Brothers Oil Production Partnership was set up in Baku by three brothers - Robert, Ludwig and Alfred, the inventor of dynamite who used the income from his invention to found the famous Nobel prizes. Nobel's engineers invented fuel injectors, which subsequently became widely used: they were installed under the boilers of steam engines and ran on Baku fuel oil, production of which had been developed by the oil distilleries in Baku. It was at this time, too, that the foundation was laid for a radical change in the transport of oil. Using Nobel's resources, Russian craftsmen constructed the first bulk oil tanker in the world. This tanker was named ''Zoroaster'', a reminder of the fire worshippers of Azerbaijan, the Zoroastrians of Atropatene.

Almost at the same time one of the most powerful groupings of European capital, the Parisian bank of the Rothschild brothers, began to show great interest in the oil industry in Azerbaijan and the North Caucasus. Immediately after the opening of the Baku-Tiflis-Batum railway line, they obtained a controlling share in the Batum Oil Industry and Trading Society; oil was transported along this line in tank cars, to the Black Sea coast.

By the beginning of the 1880s three groups were actively involved in the Baku oil industry: Nobel Brothers, Rothschild Brothers and the Russkiy Standart concern, set up by the local oil entrepreneurs mentioned above with support from the Ministry of Finance. The Nobel and Rothschild groups reached a secret agreement on the extent of their spheres of influence. The Nobels supplied oil and petroleum products to the large Russian market, while the Rothschilds supplied products for export. However, the Rothschilds met with powerful opposition on the export markets from the huge American oil monopoly Standard Oil, which had extensive transport and marketing-distribution capacity. In 1891 Rothschild Brothers therefore concluded a secret agreement with the UK oil transport company Shell, set up by Marcus Samuel, under which Shell took on the transport and sale of the Baku oil. Having taken the Zoroaster, the world's first tanker, as a model, by 1893 Marcus Samuel already owned a fleet of 11 large tankers. Overcoming the resistance of the shareholders in the Universal Suez Canal Company and the agents of Standard Oil, Shell and Rothschild Brothers won permission for their tankers to pass through the Suez Canal. Thus, kerosine from Baku began to conquer the markets of the Near, Middle and Far East.

Baku- world's leading oil producer

Over the period from 1867 to 1901, oil production in Russia (primarily in Baku and to some extent in Groznyy) increased 673-fold! In 1901 Baku and Groznyy overtook the USA, producing 11 million tonnes of oil to become the world's leading oil producer.

In 1907 Shell merged with the Dutch oil production firm Royal Dutch to form the largest oil- producing, oil-refining and transport company in the world, Royal Dutch/Shell. This company was headed by Henri Deterding, whose drive, success and energy earned him the nickname of the ñNapoleon of oilî.

In November 1911 Deterding and Rothschild Brothers concluded an agreement under which the Rothschilds sold all of their enterprises in Azerbaijan and the North Caucasus to the Royal Dutch/Shell consortium. As compensation the Parisian bankers received 20 per cent of the shares in the consortium. By 1913 Deterding had concluded an agreement with the Russkiy Standart Concern, which controlled 25 per cent of oil production in Azerbaijan, under which he received monopoly rights to sell the oil and kerosine they produced on the international markets. During the years of the First World War the oilfields and oil distilleries of Azerbaijan, which were controlled by Shell and Nobel Brothers, played an important role in the supply of fuel to the Russian armed forces. In 1918 a decree of the Council of People's Commissars of Soviet Russia, signed by Lenin, privatized the whole of the oil-producing industry in the country, including, naturally, that of Azerbaijan. The representative of Royal Dutch/Shell, who, like his counterpart at Nobel Brothers, was known as the uncrowned king of Baku, was forced to leave Azerbaijan in a hurry. Interestingly, in Spring 1993 Royal Dutch/Shell once again opened an office in Baku.

Following the February revolution in 1917 the Provisional Government of Russia formed the Special Transcaucasia Committee, comprising five members of the State Duma, to govern Transcaucasia. Following the October revolution this committee was reorganized as the Transcaucasia Commissariat, which included representatives of the three most influential political parties - the Mensheviks from Georgia, the Dashnaks from Armenia and the Musavatists of Azerbaijan. The Transcaucasia Commissariat declared itself independent of Russia. The leaders of the Musavatists - Khan Khoyskiy and M. Dzhafarov - were very active within the Commissariat. The Musavat (Equality) party was founded in Baku in 1911. Its original programme called for the creation of a unified Muslim state, to include Azerbaijan, under the aegis of Turkey. During the First World War the Musavatists concealed their pan- Islamic and particularly their pan-Turkic plans.

Following the declaration of the Baku Commune on 25 April 1918, which immediately established links with Moscow and recognized the ruling role of the Russian Federation, the Musavatists fled to Tiflis, where on 27 May 1918 they declared Azerbaijan independent. In June 1918 the government set up by them moved to Gyandzha; from here they continued to struggle against Soviet authority, and contrived to obtain assistance from two states which were at war with one another - Great Britain and Turkey.

Immediately after the February revolution British interests began to focus increasingly on Transcaucasia, primarily, of course, on oil-rich Azerbaijan. Plans for armed intervention, aimed at undermining the position of the Bolsheviks in Transcaucasia and throughout the East and gaining control of Baku's oil, were discussed in London. Henri Deterding, the president of Royal Dutch/Shell, was very active in this area, as he had by this time managed to buy up the shares of the largest oil producers who had fled Baku after the October revolution (Lianozov, Mantashev and others).

Controlling the Caspian

It was decided, for the purpose of implementing these plans, to set up a military-political mission in Iran, to be headed by General Dunsterville. In his memoirs Dunsterville described the tasks of the mission thus: ñOur plan was to win control of the Caspian Sea, and since we could do this only by occupying Baku, we had to prevent the city being taken by the enemy. The significance of Baku was enormous, and any risk incurred in attempting to seize it was undoubtedly justified.î But who was Dunsterville referring to when he spoke of ñthe enemyî? There were two: the left- democratic circles of Azerbaijan, who, under the leadership of the Bolsheviks, were seeking to establish Soviet power in Baku, and the Turkish ñarmy of Islamî. The latter, under the command of Nuri Pasha, the brother of Turkey's Minister of War Envera Pasha, was moving swiftly towards Baku, with the aim of offering support to the Musavatist government which was then located in Gyandzha.

The Bolsheviks forestalled Dunsterville and, as we have already noted, announced the formation of the Baku commune in April 1918. However, Dunsterville continued to move slowly from Iran towards Baku, making use of the units of the former Russian army which were located in Iran and doing all he could to broaden his links with the Musavatist government in Gyandzha and the Musavatist underground in Baku, where various plots were being hatched. At the beginning of August 1918 the Baku commune fell, and on 4 August Dunsterville's units entered Baku. Feverish preparations for expansion of oil production and starting up the oil distilleries were set in motion. However, on 15 September 1918 the detachments of the ñarmy of Islamî, led by Nuri Pasha, swept into Baku with the active support of the Musavatists. The Musavatist government moved to Baku from Gyandzha almost immediately, and declared itself the sole power in Azerbaijan.

Effectively, of course, the power was in the hands of Nuri Pasha. However, on 30 October1918 Turkey was forced to capitulate to the Entente powers and to sign the Mudros armistice under which she undertook, in particular, to evacuate Trans-Caucasia, and in the first place Baku. On 17 November Dunsterville's forces re-entered Baku. However, the Musavatist government remained in power as before. Documents in the British Public Record Office provide conclusive evidence that one of the leaders of the government, Khan Khoyskiy, had maintained a secret contact with Deterding during the period of the Turkish occupation.

During 1919 the Musavatists did all they could to broaden their contact with the British occupying powers, and made efforts to supply oil and petroleum products to the British armed forces in the Near and Middle East. Meanwhile the Civil War continued in Russia, the North Caucasus and the Crimea. On 2 January 1920 Chicherin, Soviet Russiaîs Peopleîs Commissar for Foreign Affairs, sent Khan Khoyskiy, the Azeri Foreign Minister, a radio telegram proposing an agreement on joint activity against Denikinîs forces in the North Caucasus. Denikin, of course, was cherishing grandiose plans of restoring a ñunified and indivisible Russiaî. On 20 January the Khan Khoyskiy replied rejecting down the proposal. File No. 4931 in the British Foreign Ministryîs archives at the Public Record Office contains a letter from Wordrup, the British High Commissioner in Tiflis, to Lord Curzon, which reveals the underlying motives in this story. Khan Khoyskiy had initially drafted a positive reply to Chicherinîs proposal, but under strong pressure from Colonel Stokes, the British political representative in Baku, and the oil-producing circles associated with him, the text of the reply was radically altered.

British forces recalled

Owing to changes in the international situation, the growing anti-war feeling in Britain and the country's financial difficulties, the British government was forced to recall its forces from Azerbaijan in August 1919. This further weakened the position of the Musavatist government, which was already encountering increasing popular opposition to its domestic and economic policies.

On the night of 27-28 April 1920 an uprising in Baku, led by the Bolsheviks, overthrew the Musavatist government. On 28 April units of the 11th Red Army entered Baku, and the ships of the Soviet Volga-Caspian fleet entered Baku harbour. On 29 April 1920 the formation of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan was declared; the Republic immediately concluded an alliance with Soviet Russia.

The Bolsheviks' policy met with opposition from the rural population; commercial and industrial circles were also highly dissatisfied. As a result of the Civil War and the blockade the economic situation in the country was extremely tense. Despite the internationalist slogans pronounced by the Bolsheviks who had come to power in all three of the Transcaucasian republics, the conflicts continued. The struggle between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Karabakh was particularly fierce. The position did not alter substantially after the treaty on the formation of the Transcaucasian Federation was concluded between Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia in March 1922, or even following the entry of the Federation into the USSR in December 1922.

During the first half of the 1920s conflicts which escalated into rebellions arose repeatedly in various areas of Transcaucasia, particularly in Georgia. The Soviet press laid the blame for these events on the intrigues of the oil companies, primarily Deterding. The President of Royal Dutch/Shell replied to these accusations in an open letter to the Russian powers published on 5 January 1926 in the London Morning Post. In this letter he wrote: ''Be men, and admit that Bolshevism does not work, that you have made a mistake. You will save millions of lives and restore happiness to millions.'' The contents of this letter remained, of course, unknown to the people of the Soviet Union, including the peoples of Transcaucasia.

After the WWII major efforts were made to develop the oil-producing and refining industries in Azerbaijan. The republic achieved substantial success in the petrochemical industry and in mechanical engineering for the oil industry, but oil production fell catastrophically. Whereas during the 1930s Azerbaijan provided 60 per cent of the USSR's oil production, by 1989 this figure had fallen to 7 per cent (the huge rise in oil production in West Siberia should, of course, be borne in mind here). Azerbaijan's political importance within the Soviet Union increased markedly under Brezhnev.

Geydar Aliyev, who was First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan from 1969 to 1982 (and before this had been a leading member of the Azeri KGB for decades) was a close friend of Brezhnev. In September 1982 he organized a grandiose reception for him, in which millions participated. The foreign press compared it to the receptions for Egyptian pharaohs and Arabian caliphs.

However, Azerbaijan's position remained essentially unchanged until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the declaration of the republic's independence: these events will be discussed in the next update.

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