Today is the birthday of Mammad Amin Rasulzadeh

141 years have passed 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 leaders of Azerbaijani political emigration.

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

After finishing school, M.E. Rasulzade continued his studies at the Baku Technical School. In 1902, he created a 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" published in the Turkic language. In 1903, he created the "Circle of Young Azerbaijani Revolutionaries".

In 1904, he participated in creating the "Hummet" organization. Fearing persecution from 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 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 chairman of the Azerbaijani National Council by majority vote. Thus, the ADR government, the first republic in the East, was created under the leadership of Fatali Khan Khoyski.

After the Bolsheviks came to power in 1920, M.E. Rasulzade left Azerbaijan, and from 1932 began his period of activity in Europe. During these years, he published the newspaper Istiqlal and magazine Qurtulush in Germany, and in Poland 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 in the "Asri" cemetery in Ankara.

On December 29, 1993, President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev signed an order "On celebrating the 110th anniversary of the birth of prominent 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 series of events were held in the country and abroad.

Furthermore, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic's establishment, 2018 was declared the Year of the Republic by President Ilham Aliyev.

By presidential decree, the 140th anniversary of Mamed Emin Rasulzade was celebrated in Azerbaijan in 2024.