Fatali Khan Khoyski

Fatali Khan Iskandar Khan oghlu Khoyski (, ; – 19 June 1920) was an Azerbaijani attorney, a member of the Second State Duma of the Russian Empire, Minister of Internal Affairs, Minister of Defense and, later the first Prime Minister of the independent Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.

Early life Fatali Khan Iskandar Khan oghlu Khoyski was born on in Nukha (present-day Shaki) to the noble family of Iskandar Khan Khoyski, a colonel in the Russian Army. His great grandfather Jafar Qoli, the Khan of Khoy was defeated by the Iranian Fath-Ali Shah and with his 20,000 army retreated to Echmiadzin. In the 1804-1813 Russo-Persian war, Jafar Qoli Khan sided with Russian Empire and was therefore rewarded by tsar Alexander I by being appointed the Khan of Shaki Khanate and his rank was raised to lieutenant colonel. It is stated that the original surname of the Khoyski family was Dunbuli Batmankylinch. The surname “Khoyski” began to be used after General Tsitsianov presented Jafar Qoli Khan to Emperor Alexander I of Russia with the title “Khan Khoyski.”

He began his early education at the Ganja Classical Gymnasium and, after ten years of study, graduated in 1893. At the gymnasium, he learned Russian, Greek, Latin, French, and German. When the government moved to its temporary residence in the city of Ganja the government encountered serious challenges. Azerbaijani statehood came under fire. On 17 June, Fatali Khan announced the resignation of the government at the closed session of the National Council but he was assigned to form the government again. In addition to the post of prime minister, he was the post of justice minister in the second government. Georgy Chicherin, the Soviet Commissar for Foreign Affairs repeatedly mailed Khoyski asking him to open a new front to confront Anton Denikin and his White movement to which Fatali Khan gave negative responses saying ADR would not meddle into internal affairs of Russia. In his fourth last correspondence, Chicherin notified Khoyski about the upcoming invasion of the 11th Red Army of Azerbaijan. Khoyski moved his family to Tbilisi before the Bolshevik Red Army invaded Baku on 28 April 1920.

Death Fatali Khan Khoyski was assassinated in Tiflis (present-day Tbilisi), near the central Erivansky Square on 19 June 1920 by Aram Yerganian as part of Operation Nemesis organised by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF). The ARF said Khoyski had played a major role in the September 1918 massacre of Armenians in Baku. His burial ceremony was arranged by the Persian consulate in Tiflis. Khoyski was buried in Tiflis by Azerbaijani Turks living there, next to Mirza Fatali Akhundzade, who had contributed to the development of Azerbaijani theatre, and his grave remains in Tiflis to this day.

Family He was married in 1901 to an ethnic Russian woman, Eugenia Vasilevna, who upon converting to Islam, took the name Jeyran Khanum. They had three children, all of whom were born in Ganja:

Tamara Khoyskaya (1902-1990) — married to Mirza Davud Huseynov Murad Khoyski (1910-1973) Anvar Khoyski (1914-1935)

His elder brother Huseyngulu khan was deputy governor of Ganja Governorate between 1918 and 1920. Younger brother Rustam Khan Khoyski served as Minister of Social Security of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.