Abulfaz Elchibey

Abulfaz Elchibey, (Azerbaijani: Əbülfəz Elçibəy; June 24, 1938, Nakhchivan – August 22, 2000, Ankara^[1]) was an Azerbaijani political figure and a former Soviet dissident. His real name was Abulfaz Qadirqulu oglu Aliyev (Azerbaijani: Əbülfəz Qədirqulu oğlu Əliyev; Russian: Абульфа́з Гадиркули́ оглы́ Али́ев), but he assumed the nickname of "Elçibəy" (Azerbaijani for the "noble messenger") upon his leadership of the Azerbaijani Popular Front in 1990. Elchibey was the first democratic elected non-communist President of Azerbaijan, serving from June 16, 1992 until his overthrow in a coup d'état in June 1993.

Presidency

Elchibey's rise to presidency came after the first round of heavy losses of Azerbaijan in the war against Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. After the Khojaly Massacre (February 26–27, 1992), the fall of Shusha (May 8, 1992) and Lachin (May 15–17, 1992), the temporary Azerbaijani communist establishment led by Yaqub Mammadov could no longer hold power. Amidst the disorder on the frontline, former Azerbaijani president Ayaz Mutalibov's attempted comeback, two months after his resignation, in a parliamentary coup on May 14, 1992, resulted in public outrage and military overthrow of Mutalibov by the Azerbaijani Popular Front in Baku on the next day, May 15, 1992.

The national presidential elections with 7 candidates were held on June 7, 1992, in which Elchibey was elected the President of Azerbaijan, gaining 54% of votes and becoming Azerbaijan's first democratically-elected, non-communist president. During the summer of 1992, Elchibey secured the full withdrawal of the Russian army from Azerbaijan, which became the first and only former Soviet republic (after the Baltic states) free of Russian military presence. At the same time, Elchibey's government established the national Caspian Navy and managed to reach an agreement with Russia on receiving one-quarter of the Soviet Caspian Navy based in Baku. In June 1992, the Azerbaijani army started a counter-offensive codenamed Operation Goranboy in Nagorno-Karabakh, establishing control of over 40% of the region by the fall of 1992 and approaching within 7 kilometers of Shusha. However, as the Azerbaijani offensive pushed further into Karabakh, it became further bogged down in controversy, mismanagement, corruption and treachery by Elchibey-appointed Defense Minister Rahim Qaziyev, along with the guerilla tactics of the NKR Army in mountain warfare. This led to unexpectedly heavy Azeri casualties, loss of heavy military equipment, and the campaign ending in failure.

Elchibey himself was a pro-Western nationalist democrat. He also held some Pan-Turanian views, for which he enjoyed the support of the leader of Turkey's Nationalist Movement Party, Colonel Alparslan Türkeş. Upon his election, Elchibey appointed İsgandar Hamidov, a police colonel and the leader of the newly established Grey Wolves movement in Azerbaijan, as the Minister of Interior. Hamidov, despite his personal devotion and contributions in capturing Agdere district of Azerbaijan, proved to be generally incompetent and resigned in April 1993 after the fall of Kelbajar and having threatened Armenia with a nuclear strike.^[2]

Turmoil and overthrow

The PFP-dominated government proved generally incapable of either credibly prosecuting the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict or managing the economy, and many PFP officials came to be perceived as corrupt and incompetent. Failures at the frontline and growing discontent culminated on June 4, 1993, when the Azerbaijani Presidential Guard attempted to suppress the armed insurrection led by Colonel Surat Huseynov in Ganja, resulting in killing of over 60 people. Allegedly courted by Russia, Huseynov not only defeated the Presidential Guard but also started a counter-offensive on Azerbaijan's capital Baku. Amidst this disorder, the second round of Azerbaijan's military losses was initiated. As Azerbaijani troops deliberately withdrew from the frontline in support of Huseynov's rebellion, Armenian troops advanced, often taking over the regions without a shot. During the summer of 1993, Armenian troops with massive military support from Moscow took control of the 7 districts of Azerbaijan outside of Nagorno-Karabakh.

As rebellious troops were advancing onto Baku, President Elchibey invited Heydar Aliyev, former Soviet Politburo member and then head of Nakhchivan (and no relation to Elchibey, whose real surname was Aliyev), to Baku on June 9, 1993 for negotiations with Huseynov. Trying to avoid bloodshed, President Elchibey fled the capital to his native village of Keleki in Nakhchivan. Aliyev quickly took control of the situation, becoming the Chairman of the Azerbaijani parliament on June 15, 1993 and giving a chair of the Prime-Minister of the country to Huseynov. Nine days later, in the vacuum of power left by Elchibey's departure to Nakhchivan, Aliyev, as a speaker of the parliament, constitutionally assumed presidential powers.^[3] He signed the Bishkek Protocol to cease hostilities on the frontline, and further solidified his power by organizing impeachment hearings and holding a national referendum on August 29, 1993, which formally stripped Elchibey of the presidency. In another national election, on October 3, 1993, Heydar Aliyev, 70, was elected as president of Azerbaijan with 99% of the votes.

Opposition and death

During Aliyev's presidency, Elchibey returned to Baku in 1997 and joined the opposition as the leader of Azerbaijani Popular Front Party.

In 2000, Elchibey was diagnosed with prostate cancer and died in August of the same year in a military hospital in Ankara, Turkey. His body was flown to Baku and given the state funeral at the Alley of Honor with special attendance by then-President Heydar Aliyev.

References

See also

• President of Azerbaijan
• Politics of Azerbaijan
• National Assembly of Azerbaijan
• Foreign relations of Azerbaijan
• List of political parties in Azerbaijan
• Whole Azerbaijan