19 Facts About Abulfaz Elchibey

Abulfaz Gadirgulu oghlu Aliyev, commonly known as Abulfaz Elchibey, was an Azerbaijani politician, Azerbaijani nationalist and Soviet dissident who was the first and only democratically elected President in post-Soviet Azerbaijan.

Abulfaz Elchibey was the leader of the Azerbaijani Popular Front and played an important role in achieving Azerbaijan's independence from the Soviet Union.

Abulfaz Elchibey served from 17 June 1992 until his overthrow in a 24 June 1993 military coup backed by Russia that led to the installation of Heydar Aliyev as president.

However, Abulfaz Elchibey's attempted reforms were put to a halt by the 1993 coup.

Abulfaz Elchibey positioned himself as a pan-Turkist while holding hostile views towards Iran and Russia.

Abulfaz Elchibey Aliyev studied Arabic at the Baku State University and graduated in 1957 from the Department of Arab Philology of the Faculty of Oriental Studies.

Abulfaz Elchibey worked as a translator and later as a lecturer of history at the Baku State University.

Abulfaz Elchibey soon joined the Soviet dissident movement, supporting the re-establishment of Azerbaijani independence.

Abulfaz Elchibey was arrested in 1975 on charges of defaming the Soviet Union and spent 18 months in prison.

Abulfaz Elchibey assumed the nickname of Elchibey upon his leadership of the Azerbaijani Popular Front in 1990.

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 Gaziyev, along with the guerilla tactics of the NKR Army in mountain warfare.

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.

In 1992, during a visit to the Turkish capital of Ankara, Abulfaz Elchibey described himself as a soldier of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Abulfaz Elchibey held some pan-Turanian views, for which he enjoyed the support of the leader of the Turkish Nationalist Movement Party, Colonel Alparslan Turkes.

Abulfaz Elchibey paid a visit to Ukraine on 12 November 1992, during which he said that, from the former republics of the Soviet Union, relations with Ukraine would be prioritized by Azerbaijan.

On 9 June 1993, as rebellious troops were advancing onto Baku, President Abulfaz Elchibey invited Heydar Aliyev, former Soviet Politburo member and then head of Nakhchivan, to Baku for negotiations with Surat Huseynov.

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.

In 2000, Abulfaz Elchibey was diagnosed with prostate cancer and died in August of the same year in a military hospital in Ankara, Turkey.

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.