Azerbaijan People's Government

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This article is about the short-lived USSR created regional government; for similar uses, see Azerbaijan (disambiguation).

A surcharged stamp published under the name of Azarbaijan People's Government

The Azerbaijan People's Government (APG) was a short-lived, Soviet-backed client state (November 1945 - November 1946) in northern Iran. Established in Iranian Azerbaijan, the APG's capital was the city of Tabriz. Its establishment and demise were a part of the Iran crisis, which was a precursor to the Cold War.

Reza Shah's pro-German sympathies led to an invasion of Iran by Soviet forces from the Armenian SSR and the Azerbaijan SSR and by British and Indian forces from Iraq. In September, the British forced Reza Shah to abdicate in favour of his son Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, who ruled until 1979.

New de-archived evidence of former top secret documents from the Cold War implicates the USSR in forming the government of Pishevari by the direct orders of Stalin.^[1] Soviet military supported the new autonomous entity and prevented Iranian army to restore government control over the area. After soviet withdrawal, Iranian troops entered the region in December 1946 and Pishevari and his cabinet fled to Soviet Union.^[2]^[3] According to Professor. Gary R. Hess:

On December 11, an Iranian force entered Tabriz and the Peeshavari government quickly collapsed. Indeed the Iranians were enthusiastically welcomed by the people of Azerbaijan, who strongly preferred dominination by Tehran rather than Moscow. The Soviet willingness to forego its influence in (Iranian) Azerbaijan probably resulted from several factors, including the realization that the sentiment for autonomy had been exaggerated and that oil concessions remained the more desirable long-term Soviet Objective.^[4]

With the dethronment of Reza Shah in September 1941, Russian troops captured Tabriz and northwestern Persia for military and strategic reasons. Azerbaijan People's Government, a puppet government set up by the Soviets, under leadership of Jafar Pishevari was proclaimed in Tabriz. The party, which was created by the direct order of Stalin, capitalized on some local people's dissatisfaction with centralization policies of Reza Shah. With northern Iran under Soviet occupation, Stalin made plans to "spread Socialism" by creating separatist puppet states. The Kurdish Republic of Mahabad was one such state and the Soviets also decided to create a separatist state for northern Iran's Azeri population as well. During this time, a revival of the Azerbaijani literary language, which had largely been supplanted by Persian, was promoted with the help of writers, journalists, and teachers from Soviet Azerbaijan. In the quest of imposing national homogeneity on the country where half of the population consisted of ethnic minorities, Reza Shah had previously issued in quick succession bans on the use of Azerbaijani language on the premises of schools, in theatrical performances, religious ceremonies, and, finally, in the publication of books. ^[5]. One should keep in mind that these directives were issued despite the Reza Shah's mother Noosh Afarin and his wife Taj-Al-Molook Ayrimlu were both of Azerbaijani descent.

In November 1945, with Soviet backing, an autonomous "Azerbaijan People's Government" was set up in Tabriz under Jafar Pishevari, the leader of the Azerbaijani Democratic Party. The first and only Prime Minister of this new and short lived Republic was Prime Minister Ahmad Kordary (variously spelled Kordari or Kodari).

Under pressure by Western powers, the Soviet Union reneged on its support of the newly-created state and the Iranian military succeeded in re-establishing Iranian rule in November 1946. Many of the leaders took refuge in Soviet Azerbaijan. Jafar Pishevari, who was never fully trusted by Stalin, soon died under mysterious circumstances. Prime Minister Kordary was jailed for many years by the Shah and later released due to the tireless efforts of his brother Kazem.