"Mir Yagub Mehdiyev"
Mir Yagub Mehdiyev, an active participant in the Azerbaijani national independence movement, was born in 1891 in the Khirdalan settlement of Baku. After graduating from the Alexandropol Commercial School in 1909, he continued his education at the Faculty of Economics at the Petersburg Polytechnic Institute.
Mehdiyev was deeply involved in the social and political life of the country, serving as the deputy chairman of the Peasants’ Union and the Baku Council of Muslim Public Organizations. He later became one of the organizers of the Union Party and was elected a member of its Central Committee at the party’s first and second congresses. In addition to representing the Union Party, Mehdiyev was elected as a member of the Transcaucasian Seym. At the Seym’s meeting on March 25, 1918, he spoke for the first time on behalf of the Muslim faction, requesting the declaration of independence for the South Caucasus.
Following the fall of the Transcaucasian Federation on May 26, 1918, Mehdiyev became a member of the National Council of Azerbaijan. According to the “Law on the Establishment of the Azerbaijan Parliament-Mabusan,” issued by the National Council on November 19, 1918, he was appointed as a member of the Azerbaijani Parliament without the need for elections and served as a member of the “Ittihad” faction. Mehdiyev was also part of the Azerbaijani delegation that participated in the Paris Peace Conference (1919-1920). He played a significant role in securing the de facto recognition of Azerbaijan’s independence on January 11, 1920. During his time as a member of the Seym, Mehdiyev was the first to voice the slogan, “We must separate from Russia and become independent,” following the events of March 1918.
Mehdiyev passed away on November 7, 1949, in Istanbul, Türkiye. He was buried in the Feriköy Cemetery.
