At the beginning of 1920, the Government of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR) sent Students of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic abroad or Republic students () to study in higher educational institutions of Western Europe, Russia and Turkey. About 100 students from various strata of society were sent, for which seven million rubles were allocated to the Ministry of Public Education.
After the fall of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the Sovietization of the country following the Red Army invasion of Azerbaijan, students continued their education. Upon completion of their courses, many returned to Azerbaijan and achieved success. Some received government awards, including the Order of Lenin. Notable Republic students include Ahmed Rajabli, Aslan Vezirzade, Ashraf Aliyev, Samandar Akhundov and Teymur Aslanov. Many, however, were repressed in the Great Purge by the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) in the 1930s on charges of spying for Germany and supporting the restoration of Azerbaijan's independence.
Decision to send students abroad By the end of 1919, the government of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic had implemented a number of educational reforms; textbooks for primary and secondary schools were published, seminaries were opened, Baku State University was founded, and a law was passed to prescribe the creation of an agricultural university. The government was looking for ways to train the necessary specialists, in particular by sending Azerbaijani youth abroad for higher education. Despite the difficult military-political situation, it was decided to send Azerbaijanis to study at European universities. Mammad Emin Rasulzade, listing the achievements of Azerbaijan, noted: "To obtain higher education in various fields of knowledge – from architecture and ethnology to aircraft and shipbuilding, about 100 Azerbaijani students at the expense of the state were sent to the best European educational institutions".
Parliamentary decree In mid 1919, the Ministry of Education proposed a bill to allocate four million rubles for the 1919–20 academic year to support 100 students studying abroad, with each student receiving an allotment of 36,500 rubles. Upon completion of their studies, these students were obliged to serve in Azerbaijan's civil service for a minimum of two years. Students who were recipients of a government scholarship were also required to work for four years in a government-assigned role post-graduation.
On 1 September 1919, the Parliament of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic decided to allocate seven million rubles from the state treasury to the Minister of Public Education for the project. The parliament said: "In order to ensure the well-being and success of the students, a system of supervision must be established over them".
Organizational matters When discussing this bill in mid 1919, there were controversies in parliamentary factions over sending students from wealthy families abroad. According to many MPs, the body of students should have mostly included the poor, and the sons of wealthy families should have had to study at their own expense. The selection was made among various segments of the population, its main criterion being to send only gifted students. One of the selected students was repressed by the NKVD after returning Azerbaijan said: "There was a proposal to send young men from wealthy families to study, but the student committee created at that time, headed by Mammad Gulu Ganja, supported the candidacies of poor families in need of state support". As a result, "people of both wealthy and poor" were sent to study.
On 15 September 1919, a meeting of parliament was held on the issue of state scholarships for students traveling abroad. The meeting was attended by Mammad Amin Rasulzade, Mehdi bey Hajinski, Ahmad bey Pepinov, Gara bey Garabeyov, Abdulla bey Efendiyev, Aynul Usubbekova, Behbud Khan Javanshir, Neymatulla bey Shakhtakhtinsky, Samandar Akhundov and representative of the Baku committee of Muslim students Mammadgulu Hajinsky.
A commission was created to organize the sending and distribution of students. Before the parliament passed a resolution on sending students, in mid 1919, the Ittihad and Ahrar factions proposed half of the students would go to faculties of history, philology, natural sciences, physics and mathematics to train as teachers in secondary educational institutions. According to their specialties, students were distributed as follows:
natural science – 8 medicine – 8 mining – 7 mechanics – 11 chemistry – 3 electrical engineering – 8 construction – 4 aviation – 2 agronomy – 3 economics – 5 history and philology – 5 philosophy – 7 legal sciences – 6 political science – 3
By that time, the commission had received 280 applications. Applicants who knew the Azerbaijani language ("Turkic" in the terminology of that time) and the language of the country where the student was sent, had certificates with a high score, and were also poor, were favored in the selection process.
Departure of students Final preparations
The students who were sent abroad elected a bureau of five members to assist the commission in organizing their departure. Teymur Aslanov was chosen as the commission's chairman and, along with Shakhtakhtinsky, traveled to Tiflis and Batumi to secure the necessary passes. To provide for the students' needs, the bureau petitioned the Ministry of Trade and Industry to supply each student with 40 arşın () of linen, two pairs of sheets, two pairs of towels and half a dozen scarves, amounting to 2,000 rubles, as well as tea and sugar. The Ministry approved this request.
On December 12, 1919, the commission decided to enroll 100 people as state scholarship recipients. Due to inflation, the stipend was increased from 400 to 500 francs, with an additional 200 francs allocated for the purchase of uniforms. The Ministry of Finance issued each student a total of 2,600 francs.
Departure The first group of students embarked on their journey via express train on January 14, 1920. Several members of parliament, including Mammad Amin Rasulzade, Ibrahim Abilov, Samad aga Agamalioglu, Aslan bey Safikurdski, Abbasqulu Kazimzade and Ahmed bey Pepinov, were present to bid them farewell. Rasulzade delivered a parting speech on behalf of the Musavat party, Abilov represented the Social Democratic Party, and Safikurdski spoke for the Khalgchi social revolutionaries. Other speakers included Samad aga Agamalioglu, Piri Mursalzade and Abbasqulu Kazimzade. The speakers wished the students success in their studies and encouraged them to apply their acquired knowledge to the prosperity of their homeland upon their return. Speaking on behalf of the government, Minister of Agriculture Ahmed bey Pepinov assured the students the government would spare no necessary expense for their studies abroad.
The students then settled into a carriage that had been prepared for them; its doors were adorned with the flags of Azerbaijan. From within the carriage, the playing of the tar, the singing of "Segah" and patriotic cries could be heard.().
During their journey, the students were warmly welcomed at stops en route, including Kurdamir, Hajiqabul, Yevlakh and Ganja. Upon reaching Tiflis, they were provided with a special carriage for their onward journey to Batumi. Their next stop was Istanbul, where a reception was held for them at the Azerbaijani embassy. From Istanbul, the delegates traveled to Rome, where they were greeted by staff from the Georgian Embassy. On February 11, 1920, 78 of the students arrived in Paris at the Gare de Lyon. The remaining students were sent to Russia and Turkey.
Years of study First month The specialists traveled from Baku to Batumi, then Istanbul, Trento, Rome, Paris, Basel and finally to Berlin. There are contradictions in archival materials regarding the list of countries where the students were planned to be sent. According to pre-departure sources from 1919, the parliament passed a law to send 100 students abroad for study. The countries listed included England with 10 students, Italy with 23, France with 45, Turkey with 9, and Russia with 13. Interrogation records of former German university graduates arrested in the 1930s indicate neither Russia nor England were among the countries where students studied. Many were asked the question: "In which countries and how many students sent by the Musavat government were studied". All respondents named the aforementioned countries, excluding Russia and England. From the interrogation protocols, it was inferred the distribution of students by country was 10 in Turkey, 20 in Italy, 20 in France, and 50 in Germany.
Alimardan bey Topchubashov, who welcomed the students in France, facilitated the processing of the necessary documents. Some of the students were assigned to higher educational institutions in France while the remainder proceeded to Germany. As a result, more than half of those sent by the ADR government for overseas study ended up in Berlin. During an interrogation by the NKVD, one of the ADR's envoys Ashraf Aliyev, stated: "In Germany, we were allocated as follows: 10-12 of us were in Berlin, 13-15 were in the Duchy of Baden, and 7, including myself, arrived in Freiburg."
On February 29, 1920, the Ministry of National Education sent an additional 25,200 francs to the diplomatic representative of Azerbaijan in Istanbul, and 172,732 francs were sent to Alimardan bey Topchubashov, the chairman of the Azerbaijani delegation at the Paris Peace Conference. These funds were intended to cover the needs of the students until September 1, 1920. Shortly after, a radio-telegram from Topchubashov confirming the arrival of Azerbaijani students in Paris was received in Baku.
During their initial months of study in Germany, the students established their own public organization, the Union of Azerbaijani Students in Germany. The organization was headquartered in Berlin and had branches in educational institutions in cities including Darmstadt, Freiburg and Leipzig.
After the fall of ADR
A few months after the start of their studies, news of the Red Army invasion of Azerbaijan was received. The invasion led to moral upheavals, a change in political power and the suspension of scholarships from a special fund created by the ADR parliament. In May 1921, the Committee of Azerbaijani Students in Germany sent to Baku one of its activists, student of the Mining Institute in Freiburg Ashraf Aliyev, to negotiate with the Soviet government of Azerbaijan in support of students studying in Western Europe.
Talks in Baku led to an agreement to resume the granting of scholarships. The Soviet authorities set some conditions, among which was the acceptance of Soviet citizenship by students. The amount of the scholarship the Soviet embassy in Berlin began to issue from the budget of the Azerbaijan SSR was approximately $30. At first, money was received irregularly, and with the relocation of the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of Azerbaijan SSR Nariman Narimanov to work in Moscow, the situation worsened. Leaders who came to power began to classify students as "reliable" and "unreliable". All this forced the students to work in their free time. In his autobiography, Ashraf Aliyev wrote about this period of his life: "In my free time (during holidays) I worked (almost 18 months) in mines, industries and factories in Saxony, Hanover, Ruhr,[Rhine and Alsace".
Ajdar bey Akhundov, who studied in Paris, wrote to the Azerbaijani publicist Jeyhun Hajibeyli, who lived in exile in France, who was a member of the Azerbaijani delegation in Paris: