The Republic of Azerbaijan, better known in historiography as the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, was the first secular democratic republic in the Turkic and Muslim worlds.Tadeusz Swietochowski. Russia and Azerbaijan: A Borderland in Transition. Columbia University Press, 1995. , . Reinhard Schulze. A Modern History of the Islamic World. I.B.Tauris, 2000. , . Citations are at Talk:Azerbaijan Democratic Republic#First or second The ADR was founded by the Azerbaijani National Council in Tiflis on 28 May 1918 after the collapse of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic, and ceased to exist on 28 April 1920. Its established borders were with Russia to the north, the Democratic Republic of Georgia to the north-west, the Republic of Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south. It had a population of around 3 million.Swietochowski, Tadeusz. Russian Azerbaijan, 1905–1920: The Shaping of a National Identity in a Muslim Community. Cambridge University Press, 2004, p. 129. Ganja was the temporary capital of the Republic as Baku was under Bolshevik control.

Under the ADR, a government system was developed in which a Parliament elected on the basis of universal, free, and proportionate representation was the supreme organ of state authority; the Council of Ministers was held responsible before it. Fatali Khan Khoyski became its first prime minister. Besides the Musavat majority, Ahrar, Ittihad, Muslim Social Democrats as well as representatives of Armenian (21 out of 120 seats), Russian, Polish, German, and Jewish minorities gained seats in the parliament. Many members supported Pan-Islamist and Pan-Turkist ideas."Musavat Party (Azerbaijan)". Landau, Jacob M. Pan-Turkism: From Irrendentism to Coopersation. p.55Mostashari, Firouzeh. On the Religious Frontier: Tsarist Russia and Islam in the Caucasus. p. 144.Roshwald, Aviel. Ethnic Nationalism and the Fall of Empires. p. 100.Middleton, Neil and O'Keefe, Phil. Disaster and Development: The Politics of Humanitarian Aid. p. 132.Croissant, Michael P. The Armenian-Azerbaijan Conflict: Causes and Implications. p. 14.

Among the important accomplishments of the Parliament was the extension of suffrage to women, making Azerbaijan one of the first countries in the world, and the first majority-Muslim nation, to grant women equal political rights with men. Another important accomplishment of the ADR was the establishment of Baku State University, which was the first modern-type university founded in Azerbaijan.

Name The name of "Azerbaijan" which the leading Musavat party adopted, for political reasons, was, prior to the establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1918, exclusively used to identify the adjacent region of contemporary northwestern Iran. The toponym "Azerbaijan" has been the object of a naming controversy: "Even the very name of the republic is a matter of controversy. Indeed, the appellation "Azerbaijan" was first affixed to the present republic only in 1918, when – following the chaotic situation which the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 created in the tsars’ empire – an independent republic was created under the auspices of the Ottoman forces, which were occupying part of the country." since 1918 between the region of Azerbaijan in Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan in the South Caucasus. The toponym historically belongs to the former, i.e. the region of Azerbaijan in northwestern Iran,: "Indeed, the only region known historically by the name "Azerbaijan" was what is today the Iranian province of Azerbaijan.": "Prior to 1918, the term “Azerbaijan” applied only to the Iranian province of Azarbayjan.": "'Azerbaijan' […] had historically referred to northwestern Iran, with Tabriz as its main city, whereas 'Arran' or Caucasian Albania referred to the area of this new republic." south of the Aras River, while historians and geographers usually referred to the region north of the Aras River as Arran,: "'Azerbaijan' […] had historically referred to northwestern Iran, with Tabriz as its main city, whereas 'Arran' or Caucasian Albania referred to the area of this new republic." even though the name "Azerbaijan" had also sometimes been extended to this area as well. On May 28, 1918, following the collapse of the Russian Empire, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was proclaimed to the north of the Aras, triggering the controversy.

Establishment

From 1813 to 1828, as a result of Qajar Iran's forced cession through the Treaty of Gulistan (1813) and the Treaty of Turkmenchay (1828), the territory of modern-day Azerbaijan, and in turn what was the short-lived ADR, had become part of the Russian Empire. By 1917, when both Russian revolutions took place the territory, Azerbaijan had been part of the empire's Caucasus Viceroyalty for more than 100 years, alongside the rest of the Transcaucasus, ever since Iran's cession. After the February Revolution, the Special Transcaucasian Committee was established to fill the administrative gap following the abdication of the Tsar. The members of the committee were the members of the State Council and representatives of the Armenian, Georgian and Azerbaijan political elite. The committee announced that in the following months the most important issues were to be solved by the Transcaucasian Constituent Assembly.

In the course of April and May 1917, several Muslim Assemblies took place. Like many ethnic minorities of Transcaucasia, Azeris aimed at secession from Russia after the February Revolution. Two general opinions were expressed by the representatives of the Muslim community (Mammad Hasan Hajinski, Mammad Amin Rasulzade, Alimardan Topchubashov, Fatali Khan Khoyski, and other founders of the future Azerbaijan Democratic Republic): pan-Turkish, meaning joining with Turkey, and federalization (expressed by M. Rasulzade). The Transcaucasian region decided on federalization. In accordance with the new structure, the Transcaucasian region was to have a fully independent internal policy, leaving only foreign policy, defense, and custom to the new Russian government.

After the October revolution of 1917, the Transcaucasian government had to change its policy as Russia was now involved in the Civil War. The Transcaucasians did not accept the Bolshevik revolution. In February 1918, the Transcaucasian Seim started its work in Tbilisi, and this was the first serious step towards complete independence of the Caucasian nations. The "Seim" consisted of 125 deputies and represented 3 leading parties: Georgian mensheviks (32 deputies), Azerbaijan Muslims ("Mussavat", 30 deputies), and Armenian "dashnaks" (27 deputies). Bolsheviks refused to join the Seim and established their own government of the local Soviet in Baku: the so-called Baku Commune (November 191731 July 1918). The Commune was formed by 85 Social Revolutionaries and Left Social Revolutionaries, 48 Bolsheviks, 36 Dashnaks, 18 Musavatists and 13 Mensheviks. Stepan Shaumyan, a Bolshevik, and Prokopius Dzhaparidze, a leftist SR, were elected Chairmen of the Council of People's Commissioners of the Commune of Baku.

The Russian Caucasus Army was degrading after the collapse of the Russian Empire. The Russian forces were substituted by new Armenian bodies, which were not prepared for the war. Given the circumstances, the Transcaucasian Seim signed the Armistice of Erzincan with the Ottoman Empire on 5 December 1917. On 3 March 1918, the Bolshevik government in Russia signed the Brest-Litovsk Treaty with Germany. One of the terms was the loss of the regions of Kars, Batumi, and Ardahan to the Ottoman Empire. The terms of the Treaty revealed a deep conflict between Georgians and Armenians on one side and the Muslims on another. The peace talks between the Seim and Turkey started in March 1918, in Trapezond did not have any results. The Ottoman Empire delivered an ultimatum to the Seim with requirements to accept the terms of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty and initiated an attack to occupy the territories of Kars, Batumi, and Ardahan.

In March 1918, ethnic and religious tension grew and the Armenian-Azeri conflict in Baku began. The Musavat and Ittihad parties were accused of Pan-Turkism by the Bolsheviks and their allies. The Armenian and Muslim militias engaged in an armed confrontation, with the formally neutral Bolsheviks tacitly supporting the Armenian side. All the non-Azeri political groups of the city joined the Bolsheviks against the Muslims: Bolsheviks, Dashnaks, Social Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, and even the anti-Bolshevik Kadets found themselves for the first time on the same side of the barricade because they were all fighting "for the Russian cause". Equating the Azeris with the Ottoman Turks, the Dashnaks launched a massacre on the city's Azeris in revenge for the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire.Michael P. Croissant. The Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict: Causes and Implications, p. 14. Tadeusz Swietochowski. Russia and Azerbaijan: A Borderland in Transition. As a result, between 3,000 and 12,000 Muslims were killed in what is known as the March Days.Michael G. Smith. "Anatomy of a Rumour: Murder Scandal, the Musavat Party and Narratives of the Russian Revolution in Baku, 1917–20". Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 36, No. 2 (April 2001), pp. 211–240 Muslims were expelled from Baku or went underground. At the same time, the Baku Commune was involved in heavy fighting with the advancing Ottoman Caucasian Army of Islam in and around Ganja. Major battles occurred in Yevlakh and Agdash, where the Turks routed and defeated Dashnak and Russian forces.

The Bolshevik account of the events of March 1918 in Baku is presented by Victor Serge in Year One Of the Russian Revolution: "The Soviet at Baku, led by Shaumyan, was meanwhile making itself the ruler of the area, discreetly but unmistakably. Following the Moslem rising of 18 March, it had to introduce a dictatorship. This rising, instigated by the Mussavat, set the Tartar and Turkish population, led by their reactionary bourgeoisie, against the Soviets, which consisted of Russians with support from the Armenians. The races began to slaughter each other in the street. Most of the Turkish port-workers (the ambal) either remained neutral or supported the Reds. The contest was won by the Soviets."

On 26 May 1918, the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic fell and its bodies were dissolved. The Azerbaijani faction constituted itself into the Azerbaijani National Council (NC). The Azerbaijani National Council immediately undertook parliamentary functions and proclaimed the foundation of the "Azerbaijani Democratic Republic" on 28 May 1918 and declared the National Charter, which read as follows: Azerbaijan is a fully sovereign nation; it consists of the southern and eastern parts of Transcaucasia under the authority of the Azerbaijani people. It is resolved that the form of government of the independent Azerbaijani state is a democratic republic. The Azerbaijani Democratic Republic is determined to establish friendly relations with all, especially with the neighboring nations and states. The Azerbaijani Democratic Republic guarantees to all its citizens within its borders full civil and political rights, regardless of ethnic origin, religion, class, profession, or sex. The Azerbaijani Democratic Republic encourages the free development of all nationalities inhabiting its territory. Until the Azerbaijani Constituent Assembly is convened, the supreme authority over Azerbaijan is vested in a universally elected National Council and the provisional government is responsible to this council.