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On 25 June, a Court of Appeal reversed the lower court’s ruling and Kocharyan was returned to custody.50

Another oppositionist benefited from the court’s decisions. In June 2018, the Court of Cassation reversed Samvel Babayan’s conviction on weapons smuggling and ordered his release from prison.51 Within a year, Babayan announced he would be a candidate for the Armenian presidency in 2020. According to the head of national security for Karabakh Babayan advocated the return of the five provinces surrounding Karabakh to Azerbaijan. In return, Babayan wanted Karabakh to be an independent state under the tutelage of Russia.52

Pashinyan’s hold on the country was shaken in November 2020, when he agreed to a Russian-brokered ceasefire with Azerbaijan that ratified the loss of most occupied lands in and around Karabakh. To avoid crowds of demonstrators, Pashinyan retreated to a hidden bunker.

Azerbaijan

As in Armenia, the Karabakh issue helped create a nationalist movement in Azerbaijan. The political leaders emerged from the various political movements of the late Soviet period. Ayaz Mutalibov was appointed first secretary of the Communist Party after the events of Black January in 1990. Mutalibov was a bold choice. Although he was a Moscow protégé and the informal leader of the Baku political clan, he belonged to neither the more powerful Karabakh clan or Nakhichevan clan of politicians.53

In August 1989, the Azerbaijan Popular Front (APF) declared a boycott of Armenia and a railway blockade of Armenia and Karabakh. The economic blockades would continue sporadically until the summer

50“Armenian Ex-President Kocharyan Back in Custody,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 25 June 2019. Web. Retrieved 3 July 2019. https://www.rferl.org/a/order-for- former-armenian-president-Kocharyan-to-be-arrested/30019317.html.

51“Former Karabakh Commander Samvel Babayan Freed by High Court,” Asbarez, 15 June 2018. Web. Retrieved 22 July 2019. http://asbarez.com/172813/former-kar abakh-commander-samvel-babayan-freed-by-high-court/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_ medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Asbarez+%28Asbarez+News%29.

52“Tensions in Karabakh between Balasanyan and Babayan,” Turan, 17 May 2019. Web. Retrieved 22 July 2019. http://www.turan.az/ext/news/2019/5/free/politics%20news/ en/81067.htm.

53Remler, ibid., 34.

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of 1991, when they were imposed permanently.54 The APF was acquiring legitimacy as the Soviets cracked down on them in January of 1990, but they were not fast enough to defeat the entrenched elite in the Communist Party. Since Ayaz Mutalibov was the communist leader of the Azerbaijan SSR when the USSR collapsed, he was able to maintain his control on the reins of power as the new republic’s first president until he bungled the government response to the Khojaly massacre of February 1992.

News of the massacre stunned the Azerbaijan capital of Baku. At first, the Mutalibov regime joined the Russians and Armenians in denying that a massacre had occurred. It would have been political suicide for President Mutalibov to admit he was incapable of stopping such an event. The Azerbaijani government delayed announcing the tragedy for two days. Finally, after eyewitness accounts began to surface, including video footage shown to the parliament of the body-strewn killing fields, the president was forced to resign.

Months later, Mutallibov acknowledged that one of his decisions had indirectly contributed to Khojaly: his refusal to create an Azerbaijan national army. He had been counting on the Kremlin creating an army with units from throughout the former Soviet Union, and hoped this central military force would restore order in the Caucasus.55

Parliament chose “Dollar Yaqub” as Mutallibov’s successor. Yaqub Mammadov, rector of the state medical school, earned the sobriquet for his reputation of corruption. The speaker of the parliament called for new elections, scheduled for three months later.56

The fall of the Azerbaijani-inhabited Shusha on 8 May 1992, was a major event for Azerbaijan. Not only was it an important strategic town in Karabakh, it was the birthplace of much of Azerbaijani culture. Mutalibov took advantage of the situation and overthrew Mammadov. “If the times demand a dictator,” he announced, “I will be that dictator.” His second time in office lasted barely 24 hours. The following day, the ANFcontrolled militia launched a countercoup and ended Mutalibov’s attempt to regain power.

54Human Rights Watch, ibid., 2.

55Bolukbasi, ibid., 183.

56Laitin and Suny, ibid.

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Parliament chose Isa Gamber as interim president and dissolved itself in anticipation of a new vote. Its powers were transferred to a new national council dominated by the APF. The council demanded the politicians fall in line. “Perhaps there are some deputies here from the provinces who do not understand what has transpired in Baku over the past few days,” said Arif Hajiyev, a Popular Front deputy. “There has been a revolution here by the Popular Front. We are in control of the city and the country, so stop playing games and get down to work.” As a face-saving concession, some members of the former Government were named to the National Council. But they were expected to remain only until a new government was formed.57

When the elections were held, the winner was a reluctant Abulfaz Elchibey.58 At first, Elchibey had the support of the country’s leaders. He was distinctly pro-Turkish and anti-Russian, sentiments that aligned well with Azerbaijan’s position in the Karabakh war. He took Azerbaijan out of the Russian-dominated Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The rapid military losses in February 1993, however, caused a political crisis on the home front. Elchibey accused the area commander, Colonel Surat Huseynov, of ordering the withdrawal of heavy weapons and units from the Mardakert region, leaving the area inadequately defended. “The main reason for Kelbajar’s surrender to the enemy was the failure of the troops to comply with the command headquarters orders to defend the city,” declared the presidential press office.59 Elchibey stripped Huseynov of his title of “Plenipotentiary Presidential Representative” and dismissed him from military service.60

Huseynov did not surrender his military power. He had previously moved his 709th Brigade to his native Ganja, and the troops under his command remained loyal to him. He was supported by the Russian 104th Airborne Regiment. When that unit announced in May 1993 that it was withdrawing from Azerbaijan, they left their weapons and munitions to Huseynov rather than to the central government in Baku.

57“Azerbaijan Communists Yield to Nationalists,” The New York Times, 20 May 1992. Web. Retrieved 23 May 2019. Academic OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/ A174868221/AONE?u=chap_main&sid=AONE&xid=0335bf1d.

58Remler, ibid., 43.

59Human Rights Watch, ibid., 27.

60Human Rights Watch, ibid., 10.

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1993 new presidential elections were held and Aliyev was elected the third president of Azerbaijan.

Aliyev used his extraordinary powers to disband 33 battalions loyal to the APF and turned to conscription to replace the lost manpower.62 As for Huseynov himself, after running the power ministries of defense, internal affairs, and national security from his post as prime minister, he staged a failed coup in October 1994 and was consequently removed from power. He fled to Moscow accompanied by another imprisoned official, former Defense Minister Rahim Gaziev. They arrived in Moscow, where they declared their support for former president Mutalibov. Eventually, both men were extradited to Azerbaijan and given long prison sentences.63

There was another coup attempt on 13 March 1995, this time by Deputy Minister of the Interior Rovshan Javadov and a paramilitary group under his control, the OMAN. His brother Mahir, a prosecutor of one of Baku’s districts, joined the coup attempt. Rovshan was killed and Mahir fled to Austria.

Aliyev enjoyed the support of the people, who respected him as an experienced politician. He signed a cease-fire with Armenia on 14 May 1994. This allowed Azerbaijan to focus on bringing stability to the country after years of chaos. His emphasis on economic development led to the September 1994 signing of the “Contract of the Century” with western energy companies. Azerbaijan also renewed its ties with Russia and rejoined the CIS.

Aliyev was reelected in October 1998. In July 2003, Aliyev was taken to a hospital in Turkey. He was transferred to Cleveland in August. On 4 August, the Azerbaijani parliament approved the appointment of Heydar Aliyev’s son, Ilham, as prime minister. Ilham was then elected president in October with almost 80% of the vote. His father passed away two months later on 12 December 2003.

The Ilham Aliyev years have been mostly peaceful on the domestic front. The town of Nardaran was the exception to the rule. This bastion of radical Shi’a Muslims was rocked in 2015 by a series of riots. It began in January 2015 when young Shi’a clerics such as Taleh Bagirzade and Elcin Gassymly founded the Muslim Unity Movement (MUM). The clerics had lived in Iran and were supporters of Khomeinism—the idea that a radical

62de Waal, ibid., 238.

63de Waal, ibid., 262–263.

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revolutionary ideology based on Islam should be directed toward social and governmental change rather than individual spiritual fulfillment. By November 2015, the MUM had armed itself with illegal weapons and led violent demonstrations in the town. Officials at the scene claimed someone inside a house opened fire on police. At some point, a grenade was thrown. In the end, six people were dead, two of them police officers, and 15 men were in custody.64 Security forces sealed off the town until order could be restored.65

Bagirzade was arrested at the time of the demonstrations, but the story did not end there. Authorities in Baku claimed that the town’s residents planned an armed coup and were working with a foreign power (probably Iran but unnamed for diplomatic reasons) against Azerbaijan’s national security interests. In early January 2016, the head of the town’s council of elders, Natig Karimov, was arrested on charges of treason and espionage. The following week, authorities arrested over 60 individuals.66

Voters approved a package of 29 constitutional amendments by 86.6% in September 2016. They included an extension of the president’s term in office from 5 to 7 years, granted the president the power to dissolve parliament, and eliminated the requirement that a citizen must be at least 35 years old to run for president. They also created vice presidential posts, to be appointed and dismissed by the president, with the first vice-president authorized to assume presidential powers in the event the president is absent or incapable of discharging his duties. President Aliyev then appointed the person he trusted the most to the position of first vice president, his wife Mehriban Aliyeva.67 The UNESCO and ISESCO Goodwill Ambassador Aliyeva was already deputy chairwoman of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party, and head of the country’s largest NGO—the Heydar Aliyev Foundation. “Aliyeva has been playing an

64Runey, Mike. “Azerbaijan’s Nardaran Affair,” Open Democracy, 24 August 2016. Web. Retrieved 30 July 2019. https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/nardaran-affair/.

65Mamedov, Eldar. “Azerbaijan: Examining the Source of Discontent in Nardaran,” Eurasianet, 8 December 2015. Web. Retrieved 30 July 2019. https://eurasianet.org/aze rbaijan-examining-the-source-of-discontent-in-nardaran.

66Lomsadze, Giorgi. “Azerbaijan: More Trouble in Nardaran,” Eurasianet, 11 January 2016. Web. Retrieved 30 July 2019. https://eurasianet.org/azerbaijan-more-trouble-in- nardaran.

67“Azeri President Appoints Wife as First-Vice President,” Hurriyet Daily News, 21 February 2017. Web. Retrieved 31 July 2019. http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/azeri- president-appoints-wife-as-first-vice-president-109997.