Azadistan

Azadistan, or Azadestan (Persian: آزادیستان‎, romanized: Āzādestān, lit. 'The Land of Freedom'), was a short-lived state in the Iranian provinces of Azerbaijan that lasted from the early 1920 until September 1920. It was established by Mohammad Khiabani, an Iranian patriot,[2] who was a representative to the parliament, and a prominent dissident against foreign colonialism.[3]

This article is about the short-lived state in Iran. For other uses, see Azadistan (disambiguation).

Azadistan
1920–1920
Flag
Capital	Tabriz
Common languages	Azerbaijani, Persian
Head of State
• 1920	Mohammad Khiabani
History
• Established	Early April[1] 1920
• Disestablished	13 September[1] 1920
Today part of	Iran

Shortly after the Russian Revolution of 1917, Khiabani re-established the Democrat Party of Tabriz after being banned for five years, and published the Tajaddod newspaper, the official organ of the party.

After the end of World War I, in a protest to the 1919 Treaty between Persia and the United Kingdom, which exclusively transferred the rights of deciding about all military, financial, and customs affairs of Persia to the British, Khiabani disputed control of Tabriz with the central government of Vosough od-Dowleh in Tehran[3] and, in 1920, Khiabani proclaimed Azerbaijan to be Azadistan,[3] to provide a model of freedom and democratic governance for the rest of Iran. He considered himself not a separatist.[4]

Khiabani's movement was suppressed militarily in September 1920. After the fall of Vosough od-Dowleh, the then prime minister, the new prime minister sent Mehdi Qoli Hedayat to Tabriz, giving him full authority, and he crushed and killed Khiabani in the late summer of 1920 and Azadistan was dissolved.

In fiction

• In the anime Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Azadistan is a sovereign country located in the Middle East.

See also

• Constitutional Revolution of Iran

References

1. Cyrus Ghani; Sīrūs Ghanī (6 January 2001). Iran and the Rise of the Reza Shah: From Qajar Collapse to Pahlavi Power. I.B.Tauris. p. 103. ISBN 978-1-86064-629-4.
2. Richard W. Cottam (15 June 1979). Nationalism in Iran: Updated Through 1978. University of Pittsburgh Pre. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-8229-7420-8.
3. , AZERBAIJAN iv. Islamic History to 1941.
4. Cosroe Chaqueri, The Soviet Socialist Republic of Iran, 1920-1921: Birth of the Trauma (Pittsburgh and London: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1995), p. 465.