New Monograph by Jamil Hasanli Published in Moscow

The authoritative Russian publishing house ROSSPEN - Russian Political Encyclopedia has published a new monograph by Professor Jamil Hasanli "Soviet policy to expand the southern borders. Stalin and the Azerbaijani card in the struggle for oil (1939-1945)."

The book introduces the Russian and Russian-speaking audience to the foreign policy of the USSR in the Middle East during the Second World War and the place and role of Azerbaijan in this policy. The scientific work has some interesting information about the Baku oil, its role in world politics in the period under review and the attempts of the Soviet Union's approach to the Middle East energy resources. In this work, you can also get acquainted with the plans of the British and French allies to bombard Baku oilfields after the signing of the Soviet-German pact of August 23, 1939, as well as the secret plans of the decommissioning of the pipeline Baku-Batumi. A great place in the monograph is devoted to the "Azerbaijani question" in Soviet policy of expansion along its southern borders.

The book is available with a new interpretation of the question of how Stalin's desire to push the Soviet border, using South Azerbaijan for the oil interests of the USSR, led to a tough international response. The book touches a lot of new problems concerning the relations of the USSR with Iran and Turkey during the Second World War, the participation of the Soviet republics of the South Caucasus in this policy, the emergence of territorial claims in the relationship between them, and land claims to Turkey from Moscow and Yerevan.

The book reflects the ideas and opinions of the author about the confrontation between the West and the East and the beginning of the "cold war" in the region of the Middle East. Professor Hasanli managed to reveal the national idea in the political processes taking place in South Azerbaijan in World War II and recreated an interesting picture of the participation of Soviet Azerbaijan in these processes. One of the most interesting pages of the book is the repatriation of Armenians after the war. On the basis of documentary materials from the Russian, American and other archives the author was able to show the goals and objectives of repatriation of the Armenians, and its ulterior motives. Thus, the implementation of Stalin's plan for the repatriation of the Armenians was the result of deliberate policies aimed directly against Turkey and Azerbaijan. After the Soviet victory over Germany, Azerbaijan became the focus of international interest - Baku was visited by the US senators and congressmen, members of the British Parliament, prominent politicians and journalists. The author explains it all with two factors - interests in the Baku oil and the problem of South Azerbaijan. The author rightly points out that the Baku oil played a crucial role in the victory over fascism. The Baku oil and its military, strategic and economic importance was one of the two factors, including Soviet Azerbaijan in the mid 1940s in the sphere of interests of the great powers.

The work is basic research that extends the boundaries of the history of Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijan studies. There is no doubt that this work published in a respected publishing house in Russia will play an important role in clarifying some of the hitherto dark pages of history of the USSR policy pursued along its southern borders, as well as in the dissemination of the truth about Azerbaijan.

The monograph was published in the series History of Stalinism, the editorial board, which consists of: Professor Jörg Baberowski from Humboldt University, Professor Lynne Viola from the University of Toronto, Professor Andrea Graziosi from the University of Naples, a well-known scholar of Russian history, a member of the French Academy, Professor Helene Carrere d'Encausse, the author of interesting books on Russian history, professor Robert Service from the UK, Professor Lennart Samuelson from Scotland, Professor of the Universities of Sydney and Chicago Sheila Fitzpatrick.

From the Russian scientists the editorial board consists of Academician Yuri Pivovarov, Director of the Boris Yeltsin Foundation Alexander Drozdov, Director of the Memorial Society Arseny Roginsky, the Vice President of the Russian Association of Political Science Andrei Sorokin, Professor of Moscow State University, a well-known historian of Stalinism Oleg Khlevnyuk and others.

* Jamil Hasanli is a prominent Azerbaijani historian and public figure, Chairman of the National Council of Democratic Forces.   -06B--