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Abulfaz Elchibey

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Əbülfəz Elçibəy
2nd President of the Republic of Azerbaijan
In office
June 16, 1992 – September 1, 1993
Preceded byİsa Qambar
Succeeded byHeyder Əliyev
Personal details
BornJune 24, 1938
Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union
DiedAugust 22, 2000
Ankara, Turkey
Nationalityazerbaijani
Political partyAzerbaijan Popular Front

Abülfaz Elçibay, (Əbülfəz Elçibəy in Azeri) often spelled as Abulfaz Elchibey[1], (b. June 24, 1938, Nakhichevan – d. August 22, 2000, Ankara) was an Azerbaijani political figure. His real name was Əbülfəz Qədirqulu oğlu Əliyev in Azeri (Abülfaz Qadirqulu oğlu Aliyev in "ə"-replaced-by-"a"-spelling), but he changed his name when he started to agitate for political reform. He was the first non-communist President of Azerbaijan, serving from June 16, 1992 until he was overthrown on September 1, 1993.

Elections in June 1992 resulted in him becoming the country's second president as a member of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party. His election came at a time when Azerbaijan was fighting a war with Armenians over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Colonel Alparslan Türkeş, the leader of the Grey Wolves, went to Baku in 1992 to support Elçibay, who openly described himself as sympathiser of the ultranationalist group. Once elected, Abülfaz Elçibay chose as ministry of Interior İsgandar Hamidov (in "ə"-replaced-by-"a"-spelling; the correct spelling is İsgəndər Həmidov), a member of the Grey Wolves who plead for the creation of a Greater Turkey which would include northern Iran and extend itself to Siberia, India and China. İsgandar Hamidov resigned in April 1993 after having threatened Armenia with a nuclear strike.[2]

The PFP-dominated government, however, proved 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.

Growing discontent culminated in June 1993 in an armed insurrection in Ganja, Azerbaijan’s second-largest city. As the rebels advanced virtually unopposed on the country's capital, Baku, President Elçibay fled to his native village of Keleki in Nakhichevan. The military installed parliamentary speaker Heydar Aliyev (no relation) as the Chairman of the Supreme Council of Azerbaijan on June 15, 1993, and the National Assembly elected him as President nine days later. Aliyev declared a ceasefire in the war, and Elçibay was forced to leave politics, formally stepping down as president on September 1, 1993.

In 1997 he returned to Baku and spoke out against Aliyev. He was 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]. Elçibay later went to Ankara, Turkey where he died.

References

  1. ^ The "Abülfaz Elçibay"-spelling is an orthography specially invented for Wikipedia after a long dispute about the spelling of Azeri proper names.
  2. ^ Template:Fr icon "Les liaisons dangereuses de la police turque", Le Monde diplomatique, March 1997

See also

Preceded by President of Azerbaijan
1992–1993 		Succeeded by
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