Ali Haydar SOYSÜREN

When following the Bolshevik movement in 1920 Azerbaijan lost its independence, which was achieved after the October Revolution of 1917, she restarted its struggle for independence. Leaders of Azerbaijani nationalism in pursuit of independence continued to work towards their targets in different countries through different ways and methods. In this struggle, Azerbaijani nationalists occasionally came together with representatives of other nations that share similar fate, and the struggle against Soviet government created a natural ground for moving different elements of various nations together. The Shura of the Caucasus Confederation is an experience of this context in the 1930s. The experience of the Shura of the Caucasus Confederation, against the common enemy on the axis of the Caucasian common identity, of the "National Liberation Movement of Azerbaijan" under the leadership of Mehmet Emin Rasulzade together with Northern Caucasus Turkish nationalists and the Georgian Mensheviks is a remarkable example in terms of understanding the process of Azerbaijan's independence struggle in the 1930s. The Shura of the Caucasus Confederation is a product of a critical period in world history, founded in the 1930s, when the world was seeking a new equilibrium with the revisionist outputs to the status quo established by the First World War and the process of the Second World War was shaped. This study focuses on the Caucasus centred stance of Azerbaijani nationalism under the leadership of Rasulzade through the accumulation and the needs based on which the Shura of the Caucasus Confederation was formed as well as the political course it foresaw. In the study, the “İstiklal”, the "Kurtuluş" magazines of Azerbaijani nationalists and the "Şimali Kafkasya" magazine of the North Caucasus nationalist, both the components of the Shura of the Confederation of Caucasus, are used extensively.

Keywords: Caucasus, Azarbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Soviet Union, Nationalism.