Vafa Guluzade
Encyclopedia
Vafa Guluzade is an Azerbaijani diplomat, political scientist and specialist in conflict resolution. He worked as Foreign Policy
State Advisor for Azerbaijan President
between 1990-1999.
, Azerbaijan SSR
, USSR. Mr. Guluzade graduated from high school in 1958 and from the Azerbaijan State University in 1963. Later he worked for Azerbaijani radio as an editor at the foreign desk. He was accepted to the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences in Moscow
and studied there for three years. He did his graduate work on modern Egypt
literature and received an M.A. degree in 1968.
Mr. Guluzade began his diplomatic career in 1969 as an attache at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR and later was promoted to the second secretary of the Soviet Embassy in Egypt
. After service in Cairo
, he was transferred to the Middle Eastern Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow. Speaking fluent Russian and Arabic, Mr. Guluzade interpreted for Anwar Sadat
, President of Egypt, Hafez Asad, President of Syria, also for Leonid Brezhnev
, Alexei Kosygin, Andrei Gromyko
, Andrei Grechko
and other senior officials.
After the Arab-Israeli war, Mr. Guluzade took part in negotiations within the framework of Geneva Conference in 1973-1974 and participated in many international conferences on Palestinian problem, including Geneva Conference in 1984, and Istanbul conference in 1986.
His personal acquaintance with Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev
goes back to 1973, when Mr. Aliyev headed a Soviet delegation to Egypt
. At the end of 1975, Heydar Aliyev, then First Secretary of the Azerbaijan Communist Party
, invited him to Baku
and appointed him as the head of the Department of Culture in the Central Committee of the Azerbaijan Communist Party
. During his tenure in Baku the eighties Mr. Guluzade graduated by correspondence from the Moscow Academy of Social Sciences. In 1987, he was again invited to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR and was summoned as a counselor to the Soviet Embassy in Algeria
.
Since November 1990 until October 1999 Mr. Guluzade served as an Advisor and Counselor on Foreign Policy Matters to three consecutive Presidential Administrations of Mutallibov
, Elchibey and Aliyev
. During that period Mr. Guluzade was a constant member of the State Security Council. He was the Chief Negotiator and representative of President Aliyev
on negotiations with Armenia
on Nagorno-Karabakh
issue. He also participated as a member of the Azerbaijani delegation in the Helsinki
Summit of the CSCE
in 1992, the 49th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations
in 1994, the Budapest
Summit of the CSCE in 1994, Casablanca
Summit of the Organisation of Islamic Conference in 1994, World Economic Forum
held in Davos
in 1995, World Summit for Social Development held in Copenhagen
in 1995, OSCE's Lisbon
Summit in 1996, the European Commission
Summit held in 1997 in Strasbourg
, NATO's summits held in 1997 in Madrid
and in 1999 in Washington, D.C.
, Monaco
World Summit. He headed numerous delegations from Azerbaijan participating at the OSCE Minsk Group
meetings held in Rome
, Paris
, Vienna
, Prague
, Geneva
, Brussels
, Ankara
and Moscow
.
He is a recognized expert on the issues of the Commonwealth of Independent States
, and in particular, Russia
and Caucasus
. He published numerous articles in newspapers analyzing the policy of Russia in the Caucasus. Mr. Guluzade is known as an advocate of pro-Western
orientation of Azerbaijan, and was characterized by the US Department of State as "the architect of pro-Western orientation of Azerbaijan." In 1999, he was the first to declare the idea to place NATO military bases in the Caucasus. This caused uproar in a number of well-known newspapers and publications, and triggered sharp reactions in Russia and Iran
.
In October 1999 due to disagreements on key foreign policy issues with the then leadership, he resigned from the position of the Foreign Policy Advisor for the President of Azerbaijan and established the Caspian Policy Studies Foundation.
In 2000, Mr. Guluzade was invited by the US Government to lecture at leading US universities and think tanks, such as Harvard University
, Columbia University
, Johns Hopkins University
, American University
, Carnegie Foundation
, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies
. He was received at the White House
, U.S. Department of State, and other governmental organizations. He is the author of two books dedicated to the issues of Russia
, Caucasus
and Turkey
, and conflicts on these territories.
Mr. Guluzade is fluent in Azerbaijani
, Russian
, Arabic, and English
.
Foreign Policy
Foreign Policy is a bimonthly American magazine founded in 1970 by Samuel P. Huntington and Warren Demian Manshel.Originally, the magazine was a quarterly...
State Advisor for Azerbaijan President
President of Azerbaijan
The country of Azerbaijan is a presidential republic, with the President of Azerbaijan as the head of state, and the Prime Minister of Azerbaijan as head of government...
between 1990-1999.
Education and political career
Vafa Guluzade was born on December 22, 1940 in BakuBaku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
, Azerbaijan SSR
Azerbaijan SSR
The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Azerbaijan SSR for short, was one of the republics that made up the former Soviet Union....
, USSR. Mr. Guluzade graduated from high school in 1958 and from the Azerbaijan State University in 1963. Later he worked for Azerbaijani radio as an editor at the foreign desk. He was accepted to the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
and studied there for three years. He did his graduate work on modern Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
literature and received an M.A. degree in 1968.
Mr. Guluzade began his diplomatic career in 1969 as an attache at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR and later was promoted to the second secretary of the Soviet Embassy in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. After service in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, he was transferred to the Middle Eastern Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow. Speaking fluent Russian and Arabic, Mr. Guluzade interpreted for Anwar Sadat
Anwar Sadat
Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat was the third President of Egypt, serving from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 October 1981...
, President of Egypt, Hafez Asad, President of Syria, also for Leonid Brezhnev
Leonid Brezhnev
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev – 10 November 1982) was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , presiding over the country from 1964 until his death in 1982. His eighteen-year term as General Secretary was second only to that of Joseph Stalin in...
, Alexei Kosygin, Andrei Gromyko
Andrei Gromyko
Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko was a Soviet statesman during the Cold War. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet . Gromyko was responsible for many top decisions on Soviet foreign policy until he retired in 1987. In the West he was given the...
, Andrei Grechko
Andrei Grechko
Andrei Antonovich Grechko was a Soviet general, Marshal of the Soviet Union and Minister of Defense.-Biography:Born in a small town near Rostov-on-Don, the son of Ukrainian peasants, he joined the Red Army in 1919, where he was a part of the legendary “Budyonny Cavalry”...
and other senior officials.
After the Arab-Israeli war, Mr. Guluzade took part in negotiations within the framework of Geneva Conference in 1973-1974 and participated in many international conferences on Palestinian problem, including Geneva Conference in 1984, and Istanbul conference in 1986.
His personal acquaintance with Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev
Heydar Aliyev
Heydar Alirza oglu Aliyev , also spelled as Heidar Aliev, Geidar Aliev, Haydar Aliyev, Geydar Aliyev was the third President of Azerbaijan for the New Azerbaijan Party from June 1993 to October 2003, when his son Ilham Aliyev succeeded him.From 1969 till 1982, Aliyev was also the leader of Soviet...
goes back to 1973, when Mr. Aliyev headed a Soviet delegation to Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. At the end of 1975, Heydar Aliyev, then First Secretary of the Azerbaijan Communist Party
Azerbaijan Communist Party
The Azerbaijan Communist Party was the ruling political party in the Azerbaijan SSR, making it effectively a branch of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union...
, invited him to Baku
Baku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
and appointed him as the head of the Department of Culture in the Central Committee of the Azerbaijan Communist Party
Azerbaijan Communist Party
The Azerbaijan Communist Party was the ruling political party in the Azerbaijan SSR, making it effectively a branch of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union...
. During his tenure in Baku the eighties Mr. Guluzade graduated by correspondence from the Moscow Academy of Social Sciences. In 1987, he was again invited to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR and was summoned as a counselor to the Soviet Embassy in Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
.
Since November 1990 until October 1999 Mr. Guluzade served as an Advisor and Counselor on Foreign Policy Matters to three consecutive Presidential Administrations of Mutallibov
Ayaz Mütallibov
Ayaz Niyazi oğlu Mütallibov was the last leader of Soviet Azerbaijan, and the first President of independent Azerbaijan from October 1991 till May 1992.-Biography:...
, Elchibey and Aliyev
Heydar Aliyev
Heydar Alirza oglu Aliyev , also spelled as Heidar Aliev, Geidar Aliev, Haydar Aliyev, Geydar Aliyev was the third President of Azerbaijan for the New Azerbaijan Party from June 1993 to October 2003, when his son Ilham Aliyev succeeded him.From 1969 till 1982, Aliyev was also the leader of Soviet...
. During that period Mr. Guluzade was a constant member of the State Security Council. He was the Chief Negotiator and representative of President Aliyev
Heydar Aliyev
Heydar Alirza oglu Aliyev , also spelled as Heidar Aliev, Geidar Aliev, Haydar Aliyev, Geydar Aliyev was the third President of Azerbaijan for the New Azerbaijan Party from June 1993 to October 2003, when his son Ilham Aliyev succeeded him.From 1969 till 1982, Aliyev was also the leader of Soviet...
on negotiations with Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
on Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, lying between Lower Karabakh and Zangezur and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains...
issue. He also participated as a member of the Azerbaijani delegation in the Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
Summit of the CSCE
CSCE
CSCE may refer to* Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange which merged to form the New York Board of Trade* Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe...
in 1992, the 49th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations
United Nations General Assembly
For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...
in 1994, the Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
Summit of the CSCE in 1994, Casablanca
Casablanca
Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture...
Summit of the Organisation of Islamic Conference in 1994, World Economic Forum
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum is a Swiss non-profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland....
held in Davos
Davos
Davos is a municipality in the district of Prättigau/Davos in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of 11,248 . Davos is located on the Landwasser River, in the Swiss Alps, between the Plessur and Albula Range...
in 1995, World Summit for Social Development held in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
in 1995, OSCE's Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
Summit in 1996, the European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
Summit held in 1997 in Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
, NATO's summits held in 1997 in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
and in 1999 in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, Monaco
Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...
World Summit. He headed numerous delegations from Azerbaijan participating at the OSCE Minsk Group
OSCE Minsk Group
The OSCE Minsk Group was created in 1992 by the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe to encourage a peaceful, negotiated resolution to the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.-Founding and members:The Helsinki Additional Meeting of the CSCE Council on 24 March...
meetings held in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, Ankara
Ankara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
and Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
.
He is a recognized expert on the issues of the Commonwealth of Independent States
Commonwealth of Independent States
The Commonwealth of Independent States is a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics, formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union....
, and in particular, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
. He published numerous articles in newspapers analyzing the policy of Russia in the Caucasus. Mr. Guluzade is known as an advocate of pro-Western
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
orientation of Azerbaijan, and was characterized by the US Department of State as "the architect of pro-Western orientation of Azerbaijan." In 1999, he was the first to declare the idea to place NATO military bases in the Caucasus. This caused uproar in a number of well-known newspapers and publications, and triggered sharp reactions in Russia and Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
.
In October 1999 due to disagreements on key foreign policy issues with the then leadership, he resigned from the position of the Foreign Policy Advisor for the President of Azerbaijan and established the Caspian Policy Studies Foundation.
In 2000, Mr. Guluzade was invited by the US Government to lecture at leading US universities and think tanks, such as Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
, American University
American University
American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...
, Carnegie Foundation
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Carnegie Corporation of New York, which was established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 "to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding," is one of the oldest, largest and most influential of American foundations...
, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies
Center for Strategic and International Studies
The Center for Strategic and International Studies is a bipartisan Washington, D.C., foreign policy think tank. The center was founded in 1962 by Admiral Arleigh Burke and Ambassador David Manker Abshire, originally as part of Georgetown University...
. He was received at the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
, U.S. Department of State, and other governmental organizations. He is the author of two books dedicated to the issues of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
and Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, and conflicts on these territories.
Mr. Guluzade is fluent in Azerbaijani
Azerbaijani language
Azerbaijani or Azeri or Torki is a language belonging to the Turkic language family, spoken in southwestern Asia by the Azerbaijani people, primarily in Azerbaijan and northwestern Iran...
, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, Arabic, and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
.