Ibrahim Agha Pasha Agha oglu Vekilov was born on 7 May 1853 in the village of Girag Salakhly in the Gazakh district of Yelizavetpol province. His father Pasha oghlu Pasha died in 1864. On September 6, 1866 Ibrahim Agha Vekilov entered the third military gymnasium in Tbilisi, which provided education in the scope of secondary school. The future general studied there for nine years, and then, following the advice of his countryman Mirza Huseyn Efendi Gaibzadeh entered the Military Topographical School in St Petersburg.

In 1879 Ibrahim Agha Vekilov successfully accomplished his studies and received the military rank of ensign. The young officer was sent to Tiflis, where he served for some time in the military topographical division of the Caucasus Military District.

In the early years of his service Ibrahim Agha Vekilov was engaged in topographical survey of Dagestan. In 1883 he was included in the Russian-Persian Commission, which was engaged in clarifying the borders from the Caspian Sea to Afghanistan. The most important task was completed successfully and ahead of schedule – in two years. On this occasion Ibrahim Agha Vekilov was awarded the highest award of Persia – the Imperial Order of the Lion and the Sun (1888). Within five years, he headed the military-topographical division of the Caucasus Military District. During these years Ibrahim Agha was engaged in topographical surveys of different regions of the Caucasus and Crimea.

In 1891 he was detached to Turkey for four years, where he lived in the Russian embassy, carrying out special assignments. Later, already ranked as a Major, he became the executor of the most important assignments in the Caucasian Military District.

From 1901 Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim Agha Vekilov being the head of the department of the topographical surveys on Russian-Turkish border in Kars region made military map of the Bosphorus. In accordance with Russian-Persian inter-governmental agreements I.Vekilov supervises the topographical surveys in the southern Azerbaijani cities of Tabriz, Urmiya and Khoy in 1912-1913.

During the First World War he worked at the headquarters of the field army. After the October revolution of 1917 I.Vekilov returned to Tiflis.

Ibrahim Agha Vekilov was the only topographer in the Caucasus to be awarded the rank of Major-General.

Ibrahim Agha Vekilov continued his career in Baku and Ganja after working for some time in the Transcaucasian Federation as chairman of the Charity Society.
In 1918 he took an active part in building of the National Army of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR). Prior to this, he had been sent by the Azerbaijani government to the Gazakh district to manage the village and town council elections. Vekilov’s authority played an important role in strengthening the position of the newly established Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in the region.

On June 23, 1918, Colonel Ibrahim Agha Vekilov was appointed Governor-General of Ganja by order of ADR Minister of Internal Affairs. He succeeded in disarming the remnants of the Dashnak forces hiding in the district of Goran and some other villages.

On March 30, 1919 Ibrahim Agha Pasha oglu Vekilov was promoted to the rank of major-general for the impeccable, efficient and long-lasting military service. Half a month later Ibrahim Pasha Vekilov was appointed as the Chief of the Military-Topographic Department of the General Staff of the National Army of the Azerbaijan Republic and served in that post till the April occupation of Azerbaijan by the Bolsheviks.

In December 1919, the General Staff decided to create the first military flag. The creator of the flag was Major-General Ibrahim Agha Vekilov, head of the military topographic department. The flag was made of silk. The word “Azerbaijan” was embroidered on one side and on the other side the battle cry of Grand Emir Teymur with which he led his cavalry into battle: “God willing, the victory is near” which was taken from the Holy Koran. Order number five of the General Staff states the creation of a uniform flag for cavalry regiments, infantry regiments, a separate battalion and military schools.

In 1920, Major-General Ibrahim Agha Vekilov became the author of the first geographic map of Azerbaijan and the founder of the national topographic school.
He served as a military topographer for about 40 years. His merits were highly appreciated: he was awarded the orders of St. Anna of 2nd and 3rd classes (1886, 1897), St. Svyatoslav of 2nd class (1894) and St. Vladimir of 4th class (1903).

After the establishment of Soviet power he was engaged in teaching, held position of the head of the department of topography-geodesy of the People’s Commissariat of Agriculture, worked in the Committee of Protection of Ancient Monuments of Art and Nature of Azerbaijan.

Ibrahim Agha Vekilov died on June 2, 1934.

Recommended literature:

1. Nəzirli, Şəmistan Əmiraslan oğlu. Topoqraf-general İbrahim ağa Vəkilov. Bakı, “Zaman” nəşriyyatı,- 2002. 296 səh. 
2. Nəzirli, Şəmistan Əmiraslan oğlu. Güllələnmiş Azərbaycan generalları : portretlər, oçerklər, məqalələr, hekayələr / Ş. Ə. Nəzirli ; red. M. S. Süleymanov. - Bakı : Qələm, 2016. - 704 s.
3. Назирли, Шамистан Амраслан оглы. Трагические судьбы Азербайджанских генералов / Ш. А. Назирли ; пер. Мираббаса ; ред.: И. Гусейнов, Ш. Рустамов. - Баку : ОКА Офсет, 2012. - 216 с. 
4. Назирли, Шамистан Амраслан оглы. Расстрелянные генералы Азербайджана / Ш. А. Назирли ; пер.: Р. Бабаева, М. Мамедова, Э. Шарифова-Сейшельского ; авт. предисл. Ч. Мамедов ; ред. Ш. Рустамов. - Баку : Bizim kitab, 2015. - 576 с.