Lutfali bey Behbudov

Lutfali bey Behbudov (also erroneously Lyuftali or Niftali, , ; March 27, 1879 – September or October 1918) was an Azerbaijani engineer, later member of Transcaucasian Seim and Azerbaijani National Council.

Background He was born in Uchoghlan or , Shusha uezd, in 1879 to collegiate assessor Rahim bey Behbudov and Boyukhanim khanim. He was the second son of a large family. He had an elder brother Ali (1872–1937) and a younger brother Mirzali (1882–1937). The family was a part of Javanshir clan, descended from , a brother of Panah Ali Khan, and hence inherited a high status in Karabakh. His sister Surayya was married to a son of Khurshidbanu Natavan, Mir Jafar.

Biography

He attended St. Petersburg Technological Institute to be an engineer with a scholarship from Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev on the suggestion of Alimardan bey Topchubashov. Following a trial in 1912, Taghiyev was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison, which was later acquitted in 1913 verdict in Tiflis.

Taghiyev was defended by Vasily Maklakov at the time. The incident was criticized by influential people of the time, including Vladimir Lenin who criticised Maklakov of "gobbling up Taghiyev fees", oil baron Murtuza Mukhtarov, journalist Rahim bey Melikov (nephew of Hasan bey Zardabi). Behbudov's kinsmen and fellow engineer Behbud Khan Javanshir even claimed that it was a regional dispute between Bakuvians and Karabakh Azerbaijanis. He was elected as deputy of the Armenian-Turkish Committee of Shusha alongside Dashnaksutyun representative Hayrapet Musaelyan as well as President of the Karabakh Sovereign Committee as part of Transcaucasian Commissariat. According to Tumian:

Lutfali bey quickly gained the respect of both the Armenian and Azerbaijani populations of Shusha and tried to maintain peace between the two communities. In May 1918, he became a member of the Azerbaijani National Council. He tried to mediate between Karabakh Council and Khosrov bey Sultanov, his old acquaintance. He did the same later for Hasan Basri bey, Nuri Pasha's commander in Karabakh. He was the first person to report the result of the Battle of Baku to the Armenian population of Shusha. Musaelyan and Behbudov met Cemil Cahit Toydemir, Nuri Pasha's new commander in Karabakh, in Aghdam on 18 September.

According to Tumian, Lutfali bey was murdered on the orders of Toydemir after this meeting. However, according to Hamida Javanshir's memoirs, he was killed near Gülablı, while observing the frontline, while Armenian sources allege Kyatuk to be Behbudov's death place. The Azerbaijani Parliament remembered Behbudov's death with 1 minute's silence on 16 November 1918.

Family He was married to a Tatar noblewoman named Leyli and fathered three daughters with her - Dilara, Pari and Leyla.