Abülfaz Elçibay
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| Əbülfəz Elçibəy | |
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| In office June 16, 1992 – September 1, 1993 |
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| Preceded by | İsa Qambar |
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| Succeeded by | Heyder Əliyev |
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| Born | June 24, 1938 Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union |
| Died | August 22, 2000 Ankara, Turkey |
| Political party | Azerbaijan Popular Front |
Abulfaz Elchibey, (Azerbaijani: Əbülfəz Elçibəy; b. June 24, 1938, Nakhichevan – d. August 22, 2000, Ankara) was an Azerbaijani political figure and a former Soviet dissident. His real name was Abulfaz Qadirqulu oghlu Aliyev (Azerbaijani: Əbülfəz Qədirqulu oğlu Əliyev), but he assumed the nickname of "Elchibey" (Azerbaijani for the "noble messenger") upon his leadership of the Azerbaijani Popular Front in 1990. Elchibey was the first elected non-communist President of Azerbaijan, serving from June 16, 1992 until his overthrow in a coup d'etat in June 1993.
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[edit] 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 tragic 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 the 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 17, 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, Abulfaz Elchibey secured the full withdrawal of the Russian army from Azerbaijan, yielding it the first and the only former Soviet republic, after the Baltic states, free of Russian military presence. At the same time, Elçibay's government established the national Caspian navy and managed to reach an agreement with Russia on receiving quarter of the Soviet Caspian navy based in Baku. In June 1992, Azerbaijani army started a counter offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh liberating about 50% of the disputed region from the Armenian troops by fall of 1992 and getting to within 7 kilometers of Shusha. However, the Azerbaijani offensive further bogged down in controversy, mismanagement, corruption and treachery by Elçibay-appointed Defense Minister Rahim Qaziyev.
Elçibay himself was a pro-Western nationalist democrat. But he also held some utopic 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 the liberation of 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.[1].
[edit] 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 pursued. As Azerbaijani troops deliberately withdrew from the frontline in support of Surat Huseynov's rebellion, Armenian troops advanced taking over the regions often without a shot. Over the period of summer 1993, Armenian troops took control of the 7 districts of Azerbaijan outside of Nagorno-Karabakh.
As rebelious troops were advancing onto Baku, President Elçibay fled the capital to his native village of Keleki in Nakhichevan. Prior to his departure, Elçibay invited former Soviet Polibureau member and then head of Nakhichevan Heydar Aliyev to Baku on June 9, 1992. Heydar Aliyev quickly took control of the situation, becoming the Chairman of the Azerbaijani parliament on June 15, 1993. Nine days later, in the vacuum of power left by Elchibey's departure to Nakhichevan, Aliyev as a speaker of the parliament constitutionally assumed presidential powers [2]. He signed the Bishkek protocol to cease the 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 off presidency. In another national election, in October 3, 1993, Heydar Aliyev, 70, was elected as a president of Azerbaijan with 99% of the votes.
[edit] Opposition and Death
During Aliyev's presidency, Elçibay returned to Baku in 1997 and joined the opposition as the leader of Azerbaijani Popular Front Party. He was also charged and went to trial in 1999 for accusing Aliyev of supporting the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) but the charges were later dropped[citation needed].
In 2000, Elçibay was diagnosed with a 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 with special attendance by then-President Heydar Aliyev.
[edit] References
[edit] See also
- President of Azerbaijan
- Politics of Azerbaijan
- National Assembly of Azerbaijan
- Foreign relations of Azerbaijan
- List of political parties in Azerbaijan
| Preceded by İsa Qambar |
President of Azerbaijan 1992–1993 |
Succeeded by Heydar Aliyev |
| Leaders of Azerbaijan |  |
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| Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (1918—1920): Mammed Amin Rasulzade • Alimardan Topchubashev
Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (1920—1991), First Secretaries: Mirza Davud Huseynov • Grigory Kaminsky • Sergey Kirov • Levon Mirzoyan • Nikolay Gikalo • Vladimir Polonsky • Mir-Jafar Bagirov • Mir-Teymur Yagubov • Imam Mustafayev • Vali Akhundov • Heydar Aliyev • Kamran Bagirov • Abdulrahman Vazirov • Ayaz Mutallibov Republic of Azerbaijan (1991—): Ayaz Mutallibov • Yagub Mammadov* • Ayaz Mutallibov • Isa Gambar* • Abülfaz Elçibay • Heydar Aliyev • Ilham Aliyev |
