Fatali Khan Khoysky's Grand Nephew: Azerbaijan Does Not Appreciate Glorious History of Azerbaijan People�s Republic

Baku / 12.09.18 / Turan: On the eve of the 100th anniversary of the liberation of Baku from the Dashnak-Bolshevik detachments and moving of the government of the Azerbaijani People's Republic (APR) to the capital, Turan IA interviewed Kerim Mehmetzadeh, who lives in Turkey. He is the grandson of Huseyngulu Khan Khoysky, brother of the first Prime Minister of APR, Fatali Khan Khoysky.

The commander of the Turkish Caucasian army, Nuru Pasha, left Tabriz on May 10, 1918, and after passing Zangezur, on May 25 he arrived in Ganja. Among those who met him there was Huseyngulu Khan Khoyski.

"Nuru Pasha was staying in the mansion of my mother's uncle Adyl Khan Ziyadkhanov, and my grandfather's younger brother Fatali Khan was in Tiflis at that time. A few days after the arrival of Nuru Pasha in Ganja, the creation of the Azerbaijani state was proclaimed in Tiflis.

My grandfather invited General Shikhlinsky to form the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan. He arrived with his "wild division", and my grandfather gathered young people from the surrounding regions to form a national army," Mehmetzadeh said.

On September 15, 1918, after the liberation of Baku, Nuru Pasha sent a telegram to Ganja to Prime Minister Khan Khoysky and asked for an immediate move of the government to the capital.

According to Mehmetzadeh, having received a telegram from Nuru Pasha, his grandfather immediately urged members of parliament to assemble in the Majlis. The MPs made an urgent decision, and the government left for Baku. Then the millionaire Zeynalabdin Taghiyev came to the Prime Minister Fatali Khan Khoysky and said he was giving all his fortune to the builders of the new Azerbaijan state.

Huseyngulu Khan was considered the leader of Azerbaijani emigrants and was a close friend of Nuru Pasha who organized banquets and some Azerbaijani emigrants took part in these events.

"Recently, the Consulate of Azerbaijan has improved the graves of some emigrants at the Ferikoy cemetery and installed a large sign on the entrance. My grandfather"s grave is also there. We ourselves look after the graves of our relatives and we do everything necessary," Mehmetzadeh said.

Asked whether he received an invitation to visit Baku, Mehmetzadeh gave a negative answer. "Azerbaijan has never invited us anywhere. We do not expect anything from anyone. Is there anyone waiting for us, do they want to see us? I'm more worried about something else: Azerbaijan does not know enough about its glorious history, and there is indifference to these issues. This is very sad," he said.

At the same time, he noted that he lives with the dream of liberating the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and building a free, democratic Azerbaijan.

Pointing to the pictures hanging on the wall, he explained that these are the works by Alibek Huseynzadeh. One of his paintings depicts his grandfather. Mehmetzadeh also keeps a unique edition of Mirza Alakbar Sabir's Hophopname of 1912 and the first issues of the magazine Mullah Nasreddin.

"I do not want to give it all away, let it all get to my descendants," he concluded. -0-