Отношения между Азербайджанской Демократической Республикой и Францией: к вопросу признания независимости Азербайджана на Парижской мирной конференции 1919-1920 годов

The subject of the article is the relations between Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR) and France during the Paris Peace Conference of 1919-1920. The author reveals the key events of the ADR foreign policy (1918-1920), the first state in the Muslim world with a Republican form of government, and France, which plays a leading role in the world order after the First world war. The methodological basis of the study is a historical and genetic method, which allows to trace the causation and patterns of development of foreign policy of ADR and France in the context of recognition of ADR independence at the Paris Peace Conference. The scientific novelty of the research is to attract new sources not previously introduced into scientific circulation. A special place is occupied by the documents of the head of delegation of ADR at the Paris Peace Conference Ali Mardan Bey Topchibashev, published in 2016 in the collection of documents “Paris archive.” Issues of the French foreign policy Bulletin “Correspondence d’Orient” for 1918, 1919, 1920 are also involved. In Russian science, the topic is practically undisclosed. The study concluded that ADR was able to keep its independence only with the support of Western countries, including France. However, the categorical position of the French government in relation to the ADR contributed to the rapid fall of the newly formed Republic in the East.