'The Paris archive’ (1919-1940) by Alimardan Topchibashi will be presented at ADA University in Baku on December 4.
Four books contain documents and materials concerning last years of Topchibashi's life and activities of his successors in 1935-1940, when radical changes occurred in the life of Caucasian migrants in Europe due to non-aggression pact between France and the USSR and accession of the USSR to the League of Nations.
Documents on the Azerbaijani delegation's work in Paris in 1935-1940 were preserved thanks to Alimardan Topchibashi's son, Alekper Topchibashi, who became secretary of the delegation in 1936. He preserved his father's archive, including copies of all his letters, notes, memorandums, which wrote using both his own name and aliases. These documents are an important source on history of the national liberation movement of Azerbaijan and Caucasus in general during this period.
Alimardan Topchibashi was the Speaker of the Parliament of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the first deputy of the Russian State Duma, an Azerbaijani politician and diplomat. After the February Revolution of 1917 he led the Azerbaijan National Committee.
After the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was proclaimed, he became the ambassador to Armenia, Georgia and the Ottoman Empire, and later became the minister of foreign affairs. He headed the delegation of the Republic at the Paris Peace Conference. But after the Bolshevik takeover of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic he decide to stay in Paris, where he died on November 8, 1934.
The book was published by the Moscow publishing house ‘Khudozhestvennaya Literatura’ with the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation.
