Today is the birthday of Mamed Emin Rasulzade

It has been 142 years since the birth of Mamed Emin Rasulzade, a statesman and public figure, politician and publicist, one of the founders of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (1918-1920) and a leader of Azerbaijani political emigration.

Mamed Emin Rasulzade was born on January 31, 1884, in the family of a mullah in the village of Novkhany near Baku. He received his primary education from his father, who was the akhund (religious leader) of the village. Despite his religiosity, Mamed Emin's father sent him to a secular "Russian-Muslim" school, whose director was Sultan Mejid Ganizade.

After finishing school, M.E. Rasulzade continued his education at the Baku Technical School. In 1902, he created the Muslim youth organization "Musavat" ("Equality") among students.

In 1903, his first article about the purity of his native language was published in the newspaper "Shargi-Rus" ("Russian East") - the second newspaper in the Russian Empire after the Crimean Tatar "Terjiman" that was published in the Turkic language. In 1903, he created the "Circle of Young Azerbaijani Revolutionaries".

In 1904, he participated in the creation of the "Hummet" organization. Fearing persecution by the tsarist regime, in 1909 M.E. Rasulzade left Baku and emigrated to Iran, where in 1910 he created the Democratic Party of that country. For some time, he worked in Iran as the editor-in-chief of the newspapers "Iran-e Now" and "Iran-e Ahat". In 1917, M.E. Rasulzade was elected as a deputy to the Russian State Duma from Azerbaijan and Turkestan, and in the same year, he headed the "Musavat" party.

On May 27, 1918, he was elected by majority vote as the chairman of the Azerbaijani National Council. Thus, the government of the ADR, the first republic in the East, was created, headed by Fatali Khan Khoyski.

After the Bolsheviks came to power in 1920, M.E. Rasulzade left Azerbaijan, and from 1932, the period of his activities in Europe began. During these years, he published the newspaper Istiqlal and the magazine Qurtuluş in Germany, and in Poland, he created the Azerbaijani National Publishing House, where he published the book "Azerbaijan and its Independence".

M.E. Rasulzade died on March 6, 1955, in Turkey and was buried at the "Asri" cemetery in Ankara.

On December 29, 1993, the President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev signed an order "On celebrating the 110th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding socio-political figure Mamed Emin Rasulzade".

On November 22, 2013, President Ilham Aliyev signed an order "On celebrating the 130th anniversary of Mamed Emin Rasulzade". Based on the head of state's order, a number of events were held in the country and abroad.

In addition, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, 2018 was declared the Year of the Republic by President Ilham Aliyev.

By the order of the head of state, the 140th anniversary of Mamed Emin Rasulzade was celebrated in Azerbaijan in 2024.