Hasan Urangi

Hasan Urangi or Hasan Orangi (born 1910, date of death unknown) was a politician who served as Minister of Health in the Azerbaijan People's Government.

Following the collapse of the Azerbaijan People's Government, Urangi was arrested. No reliable information is available regarding his subsequent life.

Hasan Urangi was born in 1910 in Tabriz.^[1] In May 1945, he was among the members of a delegation from Southern Azerbaijan invited to Baku to mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of Soviet power in Azerbaijan^[2][3][4]

On November 20, 1945, the Azerbaijan People's Congress began its work at the Ark Theatre in Tabriz.^[5][6][7] Urangi participated in the Congress as a delegate.^[8] Following the establishment of the National Government of Azerbaijan on 12 December 1945,^[9] he was appointed Minister of Health in the newly formed government.^{[10][11][12][13][14]}

During Urangi’s tenure as Minister of Health, 35 hospitals, polyclinics, and outpatient clinics were constructed, and 38 medical stations were established in villages. The number of hospital beds increased to 800, while the number of doctors rose to 200.^[15] A medical faculty and a three-year medical technical school were opened at Tabriz University to train nurses.^[16] In addition, 5–6 month training courses were launched to prepare mid-level medical staff, and by the time the National Government collapsed, 120 medical workers had completed these courses.^[15] While the Iranian government had allocated 32,000 tomans for healthcare in Azerbaijan in 1945, more than 5 million tomans were allocated during the period of the National Government of Azerbaijan.^[15]

On 5 December 1946, Shah’s troops advancing toward Miyaneh were halted by fedai forces under the command of Ghulam Yahya.^[17][18] In response, residents from various regions of Azerbaijan appealed to the National Government for arms to resist the Shah’s forces.^[19] Subsequently, under the leadership of Mir Jafar Pishevari, a Defense Committee was established.^[20][21] Its first actions were to declare martial law in Tabriz and to form volunteer units known as Babak.^[19][22][23] In the initial phase, these units numbered about 600 members.^[21][24] Pishevari again appealed to the Soviet Union for military assistance,^[19][25] but the request went unanswered.^[26]

On 11 December 1946, the Azerbaijan Provincial Assembly, in an effort to prevent bloodshed, resolved that the Qizilbash People’s Army and fedai forces should not resist the Shah’s troops and should withdraw from the battlefields.^[27][28][29]From that day forward, before the Iranian army entered major cities, armed bands led by landlords and plainclothes gendarmes began committing massacres in those areas.^[30][31] Tehran Radio referred to these groups as “Iranian patriots.”^[31] Their primary objective was to eliminate the Democrats and facilitate the entry of the Shah’s forces into the cities.^[30][31]

Tabriz and other Azerbaijani cities were subjected to widespread looting and massacres.^[30][32] The National Government of Azerbaijan collapsed.^{[33] [34]} OOn 14 December 1946, the Iranian army, supported by the United States and Great Britain, entered Tabriz.^[35][36] Looting and massacres continued thereafter.^[32][35] Thousands of people were arrested and exiled.^[37] Among those killed during the massacres were members of the Azerbaijan Democratic Party, fedais, and notable poets such as Ali Fitrat, Sadi Yuzbendi, Jafar Kashif, and Mohammadbaghir Niknam.^[38][39][40] Urangi was arrested by the Shah's forces on 16 January 1947.^[41] No information is available regarding his subsequent life.