Elchibay Abulfaz (1938-2000)


Azerbaijani politician and statesman, non-conformist in the Soviet period, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 1992-1993, managed to make the Russian troops leave Azerbaijan and pass a part of the Caspian fleet to Azerbaijan. During his rule first there were successes in the Nagorno-Karabakh war, then there were defeats and his rule weakened as a result of military-political crisis. Before leaving Baku in connecion with the muting in Ganja in 1993, on June 9, he invited Heydar Aliyev to the political administration. The former once headed Azerbaijan, member of the Political Bureau of the CC CPSU, head of Nakhichevan region in 1993. He stabilized the situation in the country. In 1997 Elchibay returned to Baku and was engaged in political activity opposing President Heydar Aliyev, died in the Gulhane hospital of Turkey in Ankara, buried in the Cemetery for the Honorees in Baku. His funeral was organized officially and President Heydar Aliyev participated in it.