Azadistan

This article is about the short-lived state in Iran. For other uses, see Azadistan (disambiguation).

Azadistan
1920
Flag
Capital	Tabriz
Common languages	Azerbaijani, Persian
Head of State
• 1920	Mohammad Khiabani
History
• Established	early April[1] 1920
• Disestablished	13 September[1]
Today part of	Iran

Azadistan (Persian: آزادستان, romanized: Āzādestān, lit. 'The Land of Freedom'), was a short-lived state in Iranian Azerbaijan that lasted from early 1920 until September of that year. It was established by Mohammad Khiabani, an Iranian patriot,^[2] who was a representative to the parliament, and a prominent dissident against Soviet Union and the British colonialism.^[3] Khiabani and his followers chose the name "Azadistan" as a gesture of protest against the giving of the name "Azerbaijan" to the government centered on Baku in Transcaucasia which was called Azerbaijan Democratic Republic,^[4] and also to serve as a model of freedom and independence for the rest of Iran.^[5]

Shortly after the Russian Revolution of 1917, Khiabani re-established the Democrat Party of Tabriz after being banned for five years, and published the Tajaddod newspaper, the official organ of the party.

After the end of World War I, in a protest to the 1919 Treaty between Persia and the United Kingdom, which exclusively transferred the rights of deciding about all military, financial, and customs affairs of Persia to the British, Khiabani disputed control of Tabriz with the central government of Vosough od-Dowleh in Tehran^[3] and, in 1920, Khiabani proclaimed Azerbaijan to be Azadistan,^[3] to provide a model of freedom and democratic governance for the rest of Iran. He considered himself not a separatist but an Iranian nationalist. Following the capture of the police station, Khiabani issued a statement on behalf of the Democratic Party's board of directors in both Persian and French stating that the Sheikh's plan was to establish public order and to execute the constitution of Iran.^[6]

Khiabani's movement was suppressed militarily on 4 September 1920.^[5] After the fall of prime minister Vosough od-Dowleh the new prime minister sent Mehdi Qoli Hedayat to Tabriz, giving him full authority, and he crushed and killed Khiabani in the late summer of 1920 and Azadistan was dissolved.

In fiction

• In the anime Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Azadistan is a sovereign country located in the Middle East.

See also

• Constitutional Revolution of Iran

References

1. Ghani, Cyrus; Ghanī, Sīrūs (6 January 2001). Iran and the Rise of the Reza Shah: From Qajar Collapse to Pahlavi Power. I. B. Tauris. p. 103. ISBN 978-1-86064-629-4.
2. Cottam, Richard W. (15 June 1979). Nationalism in Iran: Updated Through 1978. University of Pittsburgh Press. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-8229-7420-8.
3. [1], AZERBAIJAN iv. Islamic History to 1941.
4. Parvīn, N. (2011). "ĀZĀDĪSTĀN". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. III, Fasc. 2. p. 177. The first issue of the magazine was brought out on 15 Jawzā 1299/5 June 1920, one month after the historic province had been renamed "Āzādīstān" (Land of freedom) by Ḵīābānī and his followers as a gesture of protest against the giving of the name "Azerbaijan" to the part of Caucasia centered on Bākū.
5. Swietochowski, Tadeusz; Collins, Brian C. (1999). Historical Dictionary of Azerbaijan. Scarecrow Press. pp. 22–23. ISBN 978-0-8108-3550-4.
6. Chaqueri, Cosroe (1995). The Soviet Socialist Republic of Iran, 1920-1921: Birth of the Trauma. Pittsburgh and London: University of Pittsburgh Press. p. 465.