CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

Musavat

political party in Azerbaijan

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 7, 2026
Entity authorityQ740271
Source-derived summary

The Müsavat Party (Azerbaijani: Müsavat Firqəsi, from Arabic: مساواة musāwāt, lit. 'equality' or 'parity') is the oldest existing political party in Azerbaijan. Its history can be divided into three periods: Early Musavat, Musavat-in-exile and New Musavat.

The party was prohibited from contesting the 1995 and 2000 parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan by the Heydar Aliyev regime. At the time, it was one of the major opposition parties in the country.

Early Musavat (1911–1923)

Musavat was founded in 1911 in Baku as a secret organization by Mahammad Amin Rasulzade, his cousin Mahammad Ali Rasulzade, Abbasgulu Kazimzade, and Taghi Nagioglu. Its initial name was the Muslim Democratic Musavat Party. The first members were Veli Mikayiloghlu, Seyid Huseyn Sadig, Abdurrahim bey, Yusif Ziya bey and Seyid Musavi bey. Early Musavat members also included future Communist leader of Azerbaijan SSR Nariman Narimanov. This initiative from Mahammad Amin Rasulzade came when he was living in exile in Istanbul.

In its early years before, the First World War, Musavat was a relatively small, secret underground organization, much like its counterparts throughout the Middle East, working for the prosperity and political unity of the Muslim and Turkic-speaking world.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Musavat” as political party in Azerbaijan. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Musavat, political and party.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1995, 2000, 1911, 1923—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1992-11-06. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Musavat, political and party providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Musavat”, the useful work is to connect “political party in Azerbaijan” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q740271. VIAF identifies the subject as 248295146. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1995, 2000, 1911 and 1923.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Musavat”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Musavat primary sources, Musavat archive and Musavat research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Musavat”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Musavat” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.