Azerbaijani Democratic Party

The Azerbaijan Democratic Party (Azerbaijani: آذربایجان دموکرات فرقه‌سی, romanized: Azərbaycan Demokrat Firqəsi; Persian: فرقه دموکرات آذربایجان, romanized: Ferqa-ye demokrāt-e Āzarbāyjān) was a pro-Soviet, separatist, and pan-Turkist party founded by Jafar Pishevari in Tabriz, Iran, in September 1945. It depended on the Soviet Union and was supported by it. The ADP was founded as an opposition party against the Pahlavi dynasty. The Azerbaijani branch of the Soviet-supported Tudeh Party immediately defected to the ADP. The ADP, like the Tudeh Party, was communist and pro-Soviet, but emphasized questions of ethnic identity over class identity. The ADP ruled the Soviet-backed Azerbaijan People's Government from 1945 until 1946 with Pishevari as premier.