Government
In the early 1990s, Azerbaijan was falling apart. It was conducting a war with Armenia, it was newly independent after decades of Moscow rule, the old communist system was cracking up, they had two official currencies, and they were trying to become a democracy. The country had devolved into a criminal enterprise. Chaos, murder, “military” roadblocks on every corner (roadblocks basically set up to extort money and bribes out of the passersby)…all hell breaking loose.
It very quickly became clear that the only people in the country who knew how to do anything (and by that I mean, anything having to do with creating or maintaining a government) were the old Communists. People so long subjected to overbearing rule like the Azeris can’t just bounce back into a multiparty democracy in a year’s time, although this was basically the expectation all across the former Soviet Union.
Actually, “bounce back” is completely the wrong term since Azerbaijan wasn’t exactly known for being a flourishing democracy before Communism. This is even more of a struggle, since the Azeri’s memory did not encompass any memory of democracy. They had no idea what to do.
The Azeris attempted to create a democratic government (and in light of the events of the early 21st century, I say “GOOD FOR THEM”), but the new state did not work at all. Criminals and gangsters had the run of the country. The democratically elected president was Ebulfez Elcibey. Poor man, he didn’t stand a chance. He eventually fled Baku when militia leaders marched on the capital, demanding change.
Elcibey disappearing left a power vacuum which needed to be filled immediately. And, amazingly, after seven decades of crushing communist rule, the Azeris welcomed back to power the former Soviet party chief Geidar Aliyev. Aliyev was also an ex-KGB man. This all occurred in 1993.
It’s an incredible story (and it didn’t just happen in Azerbaijan). In many of the countries freed so suddenly from the yoke of the Soviet Union, the first tentative attempts at democracy were disasters. People weren’t ready yet. Militias and gangsters and criminals easily ignored the rules, and ran these countries like their own personal fiefdoms. So eventually, people cried out for the return of the Communist leaders. To come and at least help them keep things orderly. They did not want a return of Communism, but they wanted a strong leader. They needed a strong leader. So these ex-Communist guys, ex-Communist Party chiefs, returned to the countries where they had ruled during Communism, and became “democratically” elected Presidents.
Aliyev returned to power in Azerbaijan. He very quickly started ACTING. He was able to get a ton of things done. He arranged a cease fire with Armenia. He dismantled all of the unofficial roadblocks which were terrorizing the populace, and also adding to the criminal atmosphere of the country. He established (of course) a nice personality cult around himself. You kind of cannot stop a diehard communist leader from creating a personality cult. They cannot help themselves.
So he basically snapped everybody into shape, but he didn’t create any institutions. He didn’t focus on the micro-management level of government. He didn’t try to figure out ways to get people back to work, to heat up the economy, to fix all the damn potholes. I suppose he had other more pressing concerns immediately: like all of the homeless wandering war refugees, and the warlords and militia leaders trying to run the country themselves.
Aliyev is still the President of Azerbaijan today.
