Azerbaijan Communist Party

This article is about the ruling party of the Azerbaijan SSR. For post-Soviet Azerbaijan party, see Azerbaijan Communist Party (1993).

The Azerbaijan Communist Party (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan Kommunist Partiyası) was the ruling political party in the Azerbaijan SSR, making it effectively a branch of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. It was formed on February 20, 1920, when the Hummat Party, the Adalat Party, the Ahrar Party of Iran and Baku Bolsheviks joined together to establish the Azerbaijan Communist Party. On April 1 of the same year, the Fifth Cabinet of Ministers of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic gave its resignations and all the power to AKP. The party ruled the Azerbaijan SSR until 16 September 1991 when it was formally disbanded. Nevertheless, former leaders and members of the communists continued to play a role in the family- and patronage-based political system. The Azerbaijan Communist Party won the first multi-party elections in Azerbaijan that took place on 30 September and 14 October 1990 for the Supreme Soviet obtaining 280 out of 360 seats.

First secretaries of the Azerbaijan Communist Party (AKP) of the Azerbaijan SSR

No.	Name	Took Office	Left Office
1	Mirza Davud Husseynov	February 12, 1920	October 23, 1920
2	Grigory Kaminsky	October 23, 1920	July, 1921
3	Sergey Kirov	July, 1921	January, 1926
4	Levon Mirzoyan	January, 1926	August, 1929
5	Nikolay Gikalo	August, 1929	June, 1930
6	Vladimir Polonsky	June, 1930	November, 1933
7	Ruben Rubenov (Mkrtchyan)	January 1, 1933	December 12, 1933
8	Mir Jafar Baghirov	November, 1933	July, 1953
9	Mir Teymur Yaqubov	July, 1953	February, 1954
10	Imam Mustafayev	February 7, 1954	June 12, 1959
11	Veli Akhundov	July 11, 1959	July 14, 1969
12	Heidar Aliyev	July 14, 1969	December 3, 1982
13	Kamran Baghirov	December 3, 1982	May 21, 1988
14	Abdulrahman Vezirov	May 21, 1988	January 20, 1990
15	Ayaz Mütallibov	January 24, 1990	September 16, 1991

Trivia

Azerbaijani nationalist leader, anti-communist politician and former president Abulfaz Elchibey was also a member of the Azerbaijan Communist Party. He joined the Party in 1972.