Abulfaz Elchibey was an Azerbaijani political figure and a former Soviet dissident.
14 Facts About Abulfaz Elchibey
2.
Abulfaz Elchibey positioned himself as an overt pan-Turkist, and strongly anti-Iran.
3.
Abulfaz Elchibey studied Arabic at the Baku State University, graduated in 1957 from the department of Arab philology of the Faculty of Oriental Studies.
4.
Abulfaz Elchibey worked as a translator and later as a lecturer of history at the Baku State University.
5.
Abulfaz Elchibey soon joined a dissident movement, supporting the re-establishment of Azebaijani independence.
6.
However, as the Azerbaijani offensive pushed further into Karabakh, it became further bogged down in controversy, mismanagement, corruption and treachery by Abulfaz Elchibey-appointed Defense Minister Rahim Qaziyev, along with the guerilla tactics of the NKR Army in mountain warfare.
7.
On 18 August 1992, Abulfaz Elchibey signed a decree on Azerbaijan's entry into the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
8.
In 1992, during a visit to the Turkish capital of Ankara, Abulfaz Elchibey described himself as a soldier of Ataturk.
9.
Abulfaz Elchibey held some Pan-Turanian views, for which he enjoyed the support of the leader of Turkey's Nationalist Movement Party, Colonel Alparslan Turkes.
10.
Abulfaz Elchibey was described as being "vehemently anti-Iranian" in his policies, this being due in part to their perception of an Iranian-Armenian alliance.
11.
Abulfaz Elchibey paid a visit to Ukraine on 12 November 1992, during which he said that relations with Ukraine will be prioritized by Azerbaijan from the former republics of the former Soviet Union.
12.
Abulfaz Elchibey 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 29 August 1993, which formally stripped Elchibey of the presidency.
13.
In 2000, Abulfaz Elchibey was diagnosed with prostate cancer and died in August of the same year in a military hospital in Ankara, Turkey.
14.
Abulfaz Elchibey's body was flown to Baku and given the state funeral at the Alley of Honor with special attendance by then-President Heydar Aliyev.