Kamran Baghirov

Kamran Baghirov
First Secretary of the Azerbaijan Communist Party
In office December 3, 1982 – May 21, 1988
Personal details
Born	January 24, 1933 Shusha, Azerbaijani SSR, USSR
Died	October 25, 2000 (aged 67) Baku, Azerbaijan
Political party	Communist Party of the Soviet Union (from 1939)

Kamran Baghirov Mammad oglu (Azerbaijani: Kamran Bağirov Məmməd oğlu; January 24, 1933 – October 25, 2000), was the 12th First Secretary of Azerbaijan Communist Party.

Biography

From December 3, 1982 through May 21, 1988, Baghirov served as the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan SSR. After start and escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, he was replaced by Abdurrahman Vazirov. Baghirov is often blamed for deterioration of the economy of Azerbaijan which was boosted when his predecessor Heydar Aliyev was in office. He was also blamed for widespread corruption.^[1] From February 1988 when the conflict around Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) started, until his removal from office, Baghirov has been considered as an inactive leader who allowed exodus of ethnic Azerbaijanis from Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, and inability to prevent the escalation of the conflict.^[2] Baghirov was bashed for his passiveness in allowing the NKAO's party leader, Boris Kevorkov to be replaced by Armenian nationalist, Genrikh Pogosian subsequently causing the direct rule of NKAO by Moscow^[3][4]

References

1. Swietochowski, Tadeusz; Collins, Brian C. (1999). Historical dictionary of Azerbaijan. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, Inc. p. 30. ISBN 0-8108-3550-9. Retrieved May 4, 2010.
2. "ДУМАЯ О ВРЕМЕНИ И ТРАНСФОРМИРУЯ ЭЛИТУ: ПРЕЕМСТВЕННОСТЬ И ИННОВАЦИОННОСТЬ" [Thinking about the time and transforming the elite: Succession and Innovation]. Bakinskiy Rabochiy. Retrieved 2010-05-04.
3. Cornell, Svante E. (2001). Small nations and great powers: a study of ethnopolitical conflict in the Caucasus. United Kingdom: Curzon Press. p. 80. ISBN 0-7007-1162-7. Retrieved May 4, 2010.
4. De Waal, Thomas (2003). Black garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through peace and war. New York and London: New York University Press. p. 29. ISBN 0-8147-1944-9. Retrieved May 4, 2010.