Muhammad Maharramov

Maharramov Muhammad (1886, Gamarli village of Iravan province – 1982, Paris) was one of the active participants of the national independence struggle in Azerbaijan. After graduating from the Iravan gymnasium (1914), he studied at the medical faculty of Moscow University.

After the February revolution (1917), he left his studies and returned to Tbilisi, where he joined the “Hummet” social-democratic organization. Maharramov was elected to the Transcaucasian Seim from the Muslim Socialist Bloc, and after the fall of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federal Republic (May 26, 1918), he became a member of the Azerbaijan National Council (May 27, 1918). He participated in the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. According to the “Law on the establishment of the Azerbaijan Majlis-Mabusana” of the National Council (November 19, 1918), he was included in the composition of the non-elected Azerbaijani Parliament. At the joint meeting of the Government of Azerbaijan with the Council of Elders of the Parliament (December 28, 1918), he was appointed the advisor of the Azerbaijani delegation to the Paris Peace Conference (together with Mir Yagub Mehdiyev and Jeyhun Bey Hajibeyli).

After the April occupation (1920), Maharramov could not return to his homeland, but stayed in France and received higher education in the field of economics at the Sorbonne. He worked in the Bank from 1927, and later opened a second-hand shop of French literature in the 18th and 19th centuries. Maharramov, who lost hope of returning to his homeland after the Second World War, accepted French citizenship in 1948. He visited Baku in 1972 and 1975, and donated valuable materials related to Azerbaijani culture to the museums and libraries of the city.