Azerbaijani Popular Front Party - History of The Azerbaijan Popular Front

History of The Azerbaijan Popular Front

The Popular Front of Azerbaijan (PFA) was an organisation in Azerbaijan that united a number of informal public organisations into one, working towards independence from the Soviet Union.

The Popular Front of Azerbaijan was established on July 16, 1988 with the initiative of patriotic Azerbaijani individuals as a result of movement of Azerbaijani people for freedom, sovereignty and democracy. PFA came to unite a number of informal public organizations which were established in the 1980s to struggle for the independence of Azerbaijan from the Soviet Union. In 1987 Əli Kərimli, a law school student, became the founder and leader of one of these informal organizations - "Yurd" ("Homeland"), that inspired and led thousands of students to the main square of Baku city to protest against the Communist regime. As a result of this courageous step, a large-scale campaign of public demonstrations and meetings swept across Azerbaijan. Later the movement was suppressed by the special forces of the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Internal Affairs of USSR. Despite this fact, Popular Front of Azerbaijan was established and Yurd became an integral part of this movement.

In September 1989 the Supreme Council of Azerbaijan (SC), under pressure from PFA and its members in the SC, adopted the law on "Economic Sovereignty of Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic". As the result of an ongoing and unabating struggle under the leadership of PFA, the courage and defiance of Azerbaijani people in the face of Soviet oppression were recognised and celebrated across the former Soviet Union and around the world. In order to stop the growing popularity of PFA,and to stop the bloody pogroms of Armenians that left more than 130 Armenians dead, in January 1990, Soviet authorities sent the army into Baku city. Some 130 civilians were killed and 600 wounded. The main purpose of the Baku operation, headed by Dmitriy Yazov - Minister of Defense of former USSR, was to destroy the political structures of PFA. Some believe that the Communists' plans failed because PFA was a truly national movement and the event only served to strengthen people's trust in the organisation and spelt the end of Soviet power in Azerbaijan.

In 1992, Abulfaz Elchibey, the leader of PFA, won the country's first ostensibly democratic presidential elections. A period of political, social and economic reforms followed. The laws on political parties, freedom of press, education and others were adopted. The country chose a pro-western liberal economic course and implemented successful monetary policy with the establishment of national currency. The most popular innovations were the administrative reforms and the reforms directed towards the creation of civil society. As the result of firm and consistent policies of PFA, Russian (formerly Soviet) army was withdrawn from Azerbaijan in April 1993. Azerbaijan became the first republic in the former USSR and one of the first in the former Socialist bloc which succeeded in achieving a full and unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops.

However, independent and pro-western policy of PFA government could not satisfy geopolitical interests of Russia and Iran and hence, with the support of these countries, former communists led by the former KGB General Heydar Aliyev captured the power. The president Abulfaz Elchibey was forced to leave the capital city. Thousands of people were arrested; members of PFA became victims of political terror. In fact, this was the second largest attack on PFA in order to destroy this organization completely, while the leader was out of the capital city. Although, at a later stage the new regime assumed a pretense of democracy it was clear that Azerbaijan once again was in grip of authoritarianism.