Whole Azerbaijan () is an irredentism concept of uniting presumed historically Azerbaijanis-inhabited territories into the Azerbaijan.
History
The idea of "Whole Azerbaijan" was formulated by
Piruz Dilanchi in 1991
and defined in 1992 by
Azerbaijan president
Abulfaz Elchibey (s. 1992-93). In 1991, Dilanchi founded the SANLM nationalist organization and in 1997 Elchibey founded the "Whole Azerbaijan Union" (Bütöv Azərbaycan Birliyi) organization.
Elchibey published his book on the idea,
Bütöv Azərbaycan yolunda, in Turkey in 1998. It claimed that the borders of Azerbaijan should extend from
Derbent to the
Persian Gulf.
Elchibey claimed that this was a territory of Azerbaijani historical ethnic presence.
["Böyük Azərbaycan tarixən
şimalda Dərbənddən başlayıb, Həmədan mərkəz olmaqla Bəsrə körfəzinədək uzanırdı" Bütöv Azərbaycan yolunda, Əbülfəz Elchibey, Ecdad Yayınları, Ankara, 1998] He proposed that Azerbaijan had right to rule it, under a proposed system of governance called "United Azerbaijani Lands" (Birləşmiş Azərbaycan Yurdları).
After his death in 2002, it was published postmortem. He opposed the idea of a separate and independent South Azerbaijan.
[ Bütöv Azərbaycan Haqqında, Yeni Müsavat newspaper, Baku, 2002] Elchibey's ultimate goal was to unite the newly independent Republic of Azerbaijan with the Azerbaijan region under Iranian rule(in his words, South Azerbaijan) and then unite with
Turkey to establish a "Turk" federation.
Azerbaijani historiography portrays the early to mid 1800s as the "ideal" and "normative" situation with Azeri sovereignty over Karabakh and Southern Azerbaijan (Iran), despite that a "united Azerbaijan" was never, in fact, independent but always part of the Iranian empires.
Political initiatives
The term Whole Azerbaijan continued in political initiatives including the SANLM (CAMAH)
and Whole Azerbaijan Popular Front Party.
Boundaries
Although the boundaries of Whole Azerbaijan are not strictly defined, some proponents portray them as encompassing the following areas:
-
Western Azerbaijan ( Qərbi Azərbaycan) - all
-
Derbent ( Dərbənd) - Derbentsky district, Dagestan
See also
-
Armenia–Azerbaijan border
-
Azerbaijan (toponym)
-
Azerbaijan–Iran border
-
Azerbaijani nationalism
-
Southern Azerbaijan National Awakening Movement
-
Zangezur Corridor
-
Western Azerbaijan (irredentist concept)
-
Qara Qoyunlu
Sources
External links
