Abülfaz Elçibay

Infobox_President|name=Əbülfəz Elçibəy
nationality=azerbaijani


order=2nd President of the Republic of Azerbaijan
term_start=June 16, 1992
term_end=September 1, 1993
predecessor=Ayaz Mutallibov
successor=Heyder Əliyev
birth_date=birth date|1938|6|24|mf=y
birth_place=Nakhchivan ASSR, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union
death_date=death date|2000|8|22|mf=y
death_place=Ankara, Turkey
spouse=
party=Azerbaijan Popular Front
vicepresident=
religion=Shia Islam

Abülfaz Elçibay, ( _az. Əbülfəz Elçibəy; June 24, 1938, Nakhchivan – August 22, 2000, Ankara) was an Azerbaijani political figure and a former Soviet dissident. His real name was Əbülfəz Qədirqulu oğlu Əliyev, 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 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 tragic Khojaly Genocide (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, 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 reoccupying 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 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. [fr icon [http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/1997/03/LEE/8019.html "Les liaisons dangereuses de la police turque"] , "Le Monde diplomatique", March 1997] .

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 rebellious troops were advancing onto Baku, President Elçibay fled the capital to his native village of Keleki in Nakhchivan. Prior to his departure, Elçibay invited former Soviet Polibureau member and then head of Nakhchivan 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 Nakhchivan, Aliyev as a speaker of the parliament constitutionally assumed presidential powers. [ [http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/World-Leaders-2003/Azerbaijan-RISE-TO-POWER.html Encyclopedia of the Nations, World Leaders 2003, Azerbaijan] ] 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.

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.

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.

References

ee also

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