Abdurrahman Vazirov (1930-2022) *91

was the 13th First Secretary of the Azerbaijan Communist Party and the leader of the Azerbaijan SSR from 1988 till January 1990.

Vazirov was appointed by Kremlin to lead Soviet Azerbaijan in May 1988, amidst the heating of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Vazirov replaced Kamran Baghirov, whose dismissal came along with similar dismissal of Karen Demirchyan and appointment of Suren Harutyunyan as the leader of the Armenian SSR.

He was a Soviet diplomat, who served in India, Nepal and Pakistan. He had been out of the Azerbaijan SSR for over a decade and therefore was untainted by the corruption. He was neither a typical political boss nor a local nationalist; he could not even speak fluent Azerbaijani. But at the same time, Vazirov was born in Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan SSR.

Vazirov shared Mikhail Gorbachev's internationalist values and aspirations for political reform but he could not cope effectively with the complex political situation in Azerbaijan. He was also known as a fierce opponent of the former leader of Soviet Azerbaijan and later the 3rd president of independent Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev.