A well-known political and public figure of his time, Akbar Agha Ibrahim oglu Sheikhulislamov was born in 1891 in the city of Iravan. After completing his secondary education at the Iravan gymnasium, he entered the St. Petersburg Institute of Road Engineering in 1912. After the February revolution in Russia in 1917, he returned to his homeland as a highly educated specialist.

In February 1918, A. Sheikhulislamov was elected a member of the Transcaucasian Seim. On February 28 of the same year, he joined the “Hummat” party within the Muslim faction approved by the Seim. A. Sheykhulislamov was a member of the delegation created by the Transcaucasian Seim on March 1, 1918 to conduct peace negotiations with the Turkish government. He also served as Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs in the Transcaucasian government.

A. Sheikhulislamov was one of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence of Azerbaijan, adopted on May 28, 1918. He held the position of Minister of Agriculture in the first government cabinet formed by Fatali Khan Khoyski. On December 7, 1918, he was elected a member of the Azerbaijani parliament, which was opened in Baku, and was included in the socialist faction in the parliament.

As part of the delegation of the Republic of Azerbaijan under the leadership of Alimardan bey Topchubashov, A.Sheikhulislamov left for Paris to participate in the Versailles peace conference to be opened in 1919, and stayed there after Azerbaijan lost its independence in April 1920.

Akbar Agha Sheikhulislamov was a member of the II International from Azerbaijan in the 1920s. His article entitled “How Azerbaijan was founded” in the 2nd issue of “Azerbaijan” magazine, which was published in Russian in Paris, is still relevant today.

Akbar Agha Sheikhulislamov died on March 2, 1961 and was buried in the Muslim cemetery near Paris.

Nazim Mustafa
Doctor of philosophy in history, recipient of the State Prize