Rashid Khan Gaplanov


Rashid Khan Zavid oglu Gaplanov, also known as Rashid Khan Kaplanov, was an Azerbaijani statesman of Kumyk ethnicity who served as the Minister of Finance and Minister of Education and Religious Affairs in the fifth and fourth cabinets of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.

Early years

Gaplanov was born to a royal Kumyk knyaz family in the village of Aksay, currently in Khasavyurtovsky District, Dagestan. He completed his secondary education in a Vladikavkaz Realny School. In 1910, he graduated from the Law Department of Sorbonne University in 1910. He then taught at Istanbul University in Turkey.
In 1913, he returned to Vladikavkaz and worked as an attorney in a regional court. In 1918, upon establishment of Cherkes-Dagestan Republic and Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus, he held several ministerial positions within their governments. After Denikin forces invaded those republics bringing them under Russian rule, Gaplanov moved to Baku, Azerbaijan in early 1919.

Political career

In Baku, Gaplanov joined Ahrar Party and was elected to the Azerbaijani Parliament. When the fourth cabinet of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was formed on 14 April 1919 under Prime Minister Nasib Yusifbeyli, he was appointed the Minister of Education and Religious Affairs. As the Minister of Education, he played an important role in establishing institutions of higher education in Azerbaijan, among them the largest Baku State University, where he also taught a course on Ottoman literature himself. He reportedly increased funding for the university to AZM 5 million to open a Phylology and Medicine departments. In 1919, Gaplanov arranged funding for 100 Azerbaijani students to study at universities abroad. He also spearheaded establishment of State Commission on General Education Reforms which eventually introduced the Azerbaijani alphabet based on Latin script. Gaplanov remained in the office until December 22 of the same year, when the new fifth government was formed, where he took the position of Minister of Finance. He served as Minister of Finance until 1 April 1920.
After the Red Army invasion of Azerbaijan on 28 April 1920, Azerbaijan Democratic Republic ceased to exist. Gaplanov was subsequently arrested in June 1920 along with many Azerbaijani statesmen and sent to Moscow prison. He was later released and taught a course on Turkish History at the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies. Gaplanov was arrested as a part of the Great Purge on 8 October 1937 and imprisoned at Butyrskaya and then Lefortovo prisons. He was executed on 10 December 1937.