Abulfaz Elchibey

From Freepedia

Abulfaz Elcibay (Əbülfəz Elçibəy in Azerbaijani; June 7, 1938-August 22, 2000) was an Azerbaijan political figure. His real name was Abulfaz Qadirqulu oglu Aliyev (Əbülfəz Qədirqulu oğlu Əliyev in Azerbaijani), but he changed his name when he started anticommunist political activity. He was the first non-Communist President of Azerbaijan from 1992 until he was overthrown in 1993. His election came at a time when Azerbaijan was fighting a war with Armenian rebels in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

During his presidency, Azerbaijan suffered many losses in the war, losing all of Nagorno-Karabakh and much other territory. Military forces with the support of parliamentary speaker Heydar Aliyev (no relation) overthrew Elcibay. Aliyev declared a ceasefire in the war, and Elcibay was forced to leave politics and return to his native village in the Nakhichevan region of the country. In 1997 he returned to the country's capital, Baku and started to speak out against Aliyev. He was charged and went to trial in 1999 for accusing Aliyev of supporting the Kurdistan Workers Party but charges were dropped. Elcibay later went to Ankara, Turkey where he died.

Elections in June 1992 resulted in him as the country’s second president. 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 Baku, President Elcibay fled to his native province of Nakhichevan.