Great people

Aleksandr KA RA VAYEV Political scientist, deputy director of the Center for Post-Soviet Space at the Research Analytical Center of State University Heydar : Relevance of heritage in the modern context For the 90th anniversary of the Soviet politician and statesman of international scope

MANY OLD PEOPLE 25 YEARS AGO AND TODAY SEE A CHANCE TO MODERNIZE THE FADING POWER OF THE USSR IN THE NAME OF HEYDAR ALIYEV. IT IS NECESSARY TO STATE THE FACT – MANY PERCEIVE ALIYEV IN AND IN THE FORMER THROUGH A PRISM OF PERSONAL DRAMA: AFTER ALL, THE COLLAPSE OF THE COUNTRY AFFECTED MANY FAMILIES, WHILE ALIYEV COULD GUARANTEE REFORMATION OF THE SOVIET UNION. ACCORDING TO THE RECOLLECTIONS OF SENIOR SOVIET OFFICIALS, HE WAS THE SUBJECT OF A NUMBER OF SCENARIOS FOR THE MODERNIZATION AND PRESERVA- TION OF THE UNION, WHICH COULD HAVE BEEN REALIZED, HAD THE REIGN OF YURIY ANDROPOV LASTED LONGER. THIS ARTICLE IS LARGELY DEDICATED TO THIS LOST OPPORTUNITY.

liyev left his mark at two lev- are diffi cult to falsify as it happened large enterprises in the CIS, the larg- els: at the information level, in the cases where the events of the est Soviet railway BAM - a lot was built Ai.e. he left his image in the past were relegated from us at too with his direct participation or through memory of people working with him, great a distance. This is the source of initiatives personally approved by him. and at the physical level, in particular, attention to the fi gure of our hero: he At the same time, we must the fruits of his work. The fi rst level is can be assessed not only by specialists recog nize that there was a circle of largely subjective and emotionally studying archival documents, but also dedicated opponents of Aliyev, who loaded, and it should be cleared from by masses of living people who see his ignored his achievements or inten- the current situation into which the fruits in the current educational system, tionally retouched his fi gure because narrator falls. However, both levels health system, masses of small and of a number of short-term consider-

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Heritage_2_(13)_2013_LAST.indd 10 4/22/13 2:07 PM ations. And they can be found at dif- groups ousted from power in the count that now, 10 years after the ferent levels of the social hierarchy 1990s, mostly successors of the era demise of Aliyev, we can distinguish and on diff erent orbits of power - his of the anarchy of the national demo- at least some stages of his activity: as former ideological and political op- cratic revolution in . Finally, head of a Soviet republic, as fi rst dep- ponents in the Politburo, fi rst of all, it is clear that Aliyev has very few well- uty prime minister (Deputy Chair- and Aleksandr Ya- wishers in modern , but it is man of the USSR Council of Minis- kovlev, and their ideological succes- the consequence of the well-known ters), a politician of Politburo caliber, sors in Russia from the camp of the confl ict. It is also worth noting here and then an eventful transit decade liberal-democratic opposition of the that Aliyev was always appreciated as president of independent post-So- fi rst wave, who tried to form a nega- by prominent representatives of the viet Azerbaijan. These periods do not tive stereotype about Aliyev and hide Armenian elite (remember the recol- match by the scale of the tasks and the scope of his bright erudition and lections of actor Armen Jigarkhanyan the level of power he had and by the communication style behind the or the recollections of contempo- geographical scope of his respon- overall faceless color of the Soviet raries about Aliyev’s respectful and sibilities. At the same time, they are bureaucracy. The fi rst opponents and business relationships with the fi rst united and integrated into the fate critics of Aliyev’s policies emerged as secretary of the Central Committee of one man. His work as the leader a result of the anti-corruption cam- of the Armenian SSR, Karen Demir- of Soviet Azerbaijan became a step- paigns of the 1960s-70s in Azerbaijan, chyan). In general, it must be recog- ping stone to fi ve years in the Krem- organized by Aliyev in the position of nized that enemies are the fl ip side of lin from November 1982 to October First Secretary of the Central Com- his achievements. A strong personal- 1987, but even in Moscow, he kept mittee of the republic’s Communist ity of this magnitude does not have his fi nger on the pulse of the repub- Party (1). The second broader group to be liked by everyone. lic’s development. These were two of off ended opponents formed from It is necessary to take into ac- more or less independent lines of

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health care stand out. On the initia- tive of Aliyev, the fi rst comprehen- sive diagnostic centers were created; Soviet surgeons were allowed to conduct open-heart surgery. Aliyev launched Svyatoslav Fyodorov’s Cen- ter for Eye Microsurgery and lobbied for the creation of his mobile labora- tory on a river boat sailing the Volga. In August 1987, he began medical reform that covered the period up to 2000, which had a positive impact on the state of medicine. The current state of medical technology and ma- terial resources of medical science in Russia still use Aliyev’s spurt. The “disposal” of Soviet inheritance has not yet fi nished: businesses, con- activity. You can call them the era of In January 1984, school reform trol and communications structures, “Aliyev for Azerbaijan” and “Aliyev for began in the Soviet Union. Its main transport communications operate Russia”. Today, for masses of ordinary developer and curator was Aliyev. and even the models of decision- people in Azerbaijan, he has become The general education, professional making in Russia are similar to the a symbol of the self-made success of schools, the training of teachers and 1980s. For example, the general plan an Azerbaijani in the Soviet Union, the system of preschool education for the development of Moscow un- and in relation to the post-Soviet were reformed. It was suggested that til 2000 was adopted partly under the period, he is often referred to as the primary schools should start a year infl uence of Aliyev’s initiatives made Azerbaijani Ataturk. earlier - from 6 years; the period of in a speech in the House of Architects What are the milestones of Aliyev’s study at the secondary school was in Moscow in October 1981. We can “Moscow period”? He controlled 12 extended from 10 to 11 years. A new recall his methods of targeted state ministries, oversaw engineering, light subject was introduced in schools support in the fi eld of culture. Thus, industry, transport and communica- - the basis of computer technology many elements of his management tions, and he was also in charge of and programming, and Soviet-made practices are still used today. Many cultural and educational spheres. In personal computers were purchased parts of Russia, Central Asia and the 1986, Aliyev was appointed chairman en masse. The reform raised the pub- Caucasus have a suffi cient level of of the Bureau for Social Development lic prestige of the school and the various types of infrastructure thanks in the USSR Council of Ministers. He authority of the teaching profession to the breakthrough of the 1970-80’s. participated in a number of non-core (the salary increased by 30 per cent Heydar Aliyev had a direct relation to projects in related fi elds. For exam- and guarantees of social conditions this work. ple, Aliyev headed the Commission were introduced), and the structure Based on the results of the 1980’s, on Operational Issues at the Council of education management changed. many remember that it was then that of Ministers, which included deputy By 1989, Aliyev’s project provided they acquired an apartment without prime ministers and several minis- for the construction of schools for bank loans, bought a country house ters. With the arrival of Aliyev, the 7,000,000 pupils and 800 vocational and their fi rst car. From July 1985 it commission convened every Mon- schools. The Russian law on “Educa- was allowed to sell durable goods on day and became virtually a govern- tion” signed by in De- credit with minimum (2-3 per cent) ing body of the Council of Ministers, cember 2012 is the evolutionary de- interest rates. Largely due to vari- deciding many pressing issues of velopment of the base that was laid ous programs of the USSR Council economic governance. Sometimes it in the 1980s. of Ministers with the participation was called “the second Politburo”. Reforms in the social sphere and of Aliyev, the low-paid categories of

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Heritage_2_(13)_2013_LAST.indd 12 4/22/13 2:11 PM professions could aff ord an adequate tems was not lower than now, and on the effi ciency of transport. It is standard of living. perhaps there were more complex known that the Aliyev-Konarev work- Aliyev’s activity was a response twists and turns given the huge size ing partnership was the most eff ec- to the challenge about the technical of the command apparatus of power tive tandem on Soviet rail transport. backwardness of the Soviet Union. and various interest groups. Aliyev At the end of Aliyev’s period, in 1988 Attempts to develop the photocopy- grew as a leader and worked in the the industry reached the highest ing industry and introduce methods system of apparatus risks of high in- indicators not only in the country of cost accounting and independent tensity complicated by ideological but also in the world, surpassing, for economic planning at businesses - all clichés of the socialist system. example, American railways twice by that came from Aliyev or he helped What did the Soviet system of the volume traffi c. the enthusiasts who off ered relevant governance look like? The Politburo Brezhnev’s death in November initiatives. In the middle and at the of the Central Committee of the 1982 intensifi ed various scenarios of end of the 1980s, the chance to avoid Communist Party had 14 - 20 mem- distribution of group infl uence and the greatest geopolitical catastrophe bers; several of them represented power within the Politburo (2). It is of the 20th century was connected the interests of the ideology and the known that Aliyev was indebted for precisely with Heydar Aliyev. Howev- others - the main directions of the his transfer to Moscow to Andropov, er, these complex reforms drowned economy, military, foreign policy and who became the next secretary-gen- in the atmosphere of bureaucracy intelligence. Then there was the Cen- eral after Brezhnev. Indeed, Heydar and inter-departmental struggle af- tral Committee of the CPSU, which Aliyev was appointed fi rst deputy ter the death of Yuriy Andropov, and had about three hundred members, chairman of the Council of Ministers were soon buried under the rubble who formed various committees on in November 1982 at a plenum of of the collapsing political system. the economy, defense, culture and the Central Committee on the initia- The chain of citizens’ romantic education. Formally, the status of a tive of Andropov, who dealt with per- confi dence in the Soviet leaders was member of the Central Committee sonnel issues after Brezhnev’s death. interrupted at Heydar Aliyev. But his was higher than that of the deputy According to the head of the RSFSR work during the period of the Soviet premier of the Soviet government. Council of Ministers, Vitaliy Vorot- Union left the most positive impres- The Council of Ministers of the USSR nikov, “Aliyev treated Andropov with sion on many who lived or watched was, in fact, the executive body of the great respect, and Andropov respect- him at the time. In the spring of 2007, Politburo, which solved a lot of spe- ed him too. They were humanly sym- the Echo of Moscow radio station cifi c questions of economic activi- pathetic to each other.” (3) It is likely conducted a rating survey among lis- ties. Budget expenditure, large-scale that Andropov transferred Aliyev to teners about Russia’s most prominent projects of reform and many other promote him to the post of head of fi gures in the last hundred years. Lis- issues were resolved by joint resolu- the Soviet government. According teners could vote in alphabetical or- tions of the Politburo and the Coun- to the recollections of the chief of der with any number of candidates. cil of Ministers. Within the Council of Brezhnev’s guard, Vadim Medvedev, It was surprising to hear that the top Ministers, there were multiple verti- the former secretary-general just did three favorites starting with the let- cal lines, they intersected and were not have time to take Aliyev to the ter “A” included Anna Akhmatova, not always connected to a single Politburo (4). Andropov decided that Yuriy Afanasyev, a living historian and leader. For example, Heydar Aliyev this decision would strengthen the thinker, and our hero - Heydar Aliyev. was in charge of transport and com- Council of Ministers with an energet- Russian Heydar Aliyev is a surprising munications until September 1985. ic leader. In my opinion, on the ba- fact, but entirely appropriate with the Therefore, he was above the Ministry sis of the results of Andropov’s rule, mark he left in the history of the great of Transport (from 1982 to February Aliyev can safely be called his right- country. 1991, it was headed by Konarev). At hand man: this manifested itself in Aliyev’s way was a Soviet party the same time, other areas of the the strengthening of administrative and administrative career, which economy assigned to other deputy discipline, in the fi ght against bribery started in the state security system. chairmen of the Council of Ministers and the shadow economy, and to a The confl ict environment within the or subordinate directly to the head lesser extent in matters of staff ap- Soviet administrative-vertical sys- of the Soviet government depended pointments (Aliyev had almost no

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“henchmen” unlike Gorbachev and the beginning. Gorbachev was the ideologue of Ligachev, which accordingly weak- Heydar Aliyev was valued in and a member of the Po- ened his positions during the acute the Politburo as the “engine” of the litburo of the Central Committee of struggle for the Politburo “throne”). It Council of Ministers, but he was not the CPSU by 1988, Aleksandr Yakov- is not by chance that when Androp- considered as a candidate for the lev. A former Soviet ambassador to ov called Aliyev to Moscow, he gave post of secretary-general - the post- Canada and then head of the infl u- him the opportunity for the fi rst time Stalin syndrome was still there. After ential Soviet Institute for Internation- in Soviet practice to approve his own 1953, there was a consensus that al Economics and International Rela- successor as head of the republic. a native of the Caucasus and Asia tions (IMEMO), he had an extremely Western analysts also predicted would not lead the Soviet Union. destruc tive eff ect on the character of a high rise for Aliyev, which is illus- They stumbled over this stereotype. the Gorbachev era. Gorbachev sent trated by the article “Andropov’s fi rst The indecisive fl uctuations of the his proxy on business trips to nego- 100 days – changes he’s making” by Politburo conclave after Andropov’s tiate with active national separatists. Washington Post journalist Dusko death led to a shaky interim deci- Such diplomacy had an ambiguous Doder. The author points to the pro- sion: it was decided to give way to nature: Yakovlev stopped informing cess of de-bureaucratization of pow- the young, but at the same time, to the leaders of national-democratic er. For example, Andropov abolished extend the status quo of the existing movements in the troubled repub- the secretariat of the Secretary-Gen- balance of forces. In view of this, old- lics about the will of the Politburo eral of the Politburo, which had been age , a friend and they perceived his visit as an growing since the time of Khrush- of Brezhnev and ideological rival of endorsement. Yakovlev’s most disas- chev and blocked or impeded impor- Andropov, became secretary-ge- trous mission was in May 1988 in Ye- tant decisions on the link of the Polit- neral on 13 February 1984, but from revan. There, his visit was perceived buro - Central Committee - Council August to 10 March 1985, he was at as a clear gesture of approval of the of Ministers. The same process of op- the Central Clinical Hospital, where actions of the Armenian separatists timization aff ected the government. meetings of the Politburo were held. by Gorbachev. But the most interesting thing is the On behalf of Chernenko, many of the Thus, the fi nal of Aliyev’s being characteristics of the fi rst round of Politburo meetings were chaired by at the helm of the economic power power around Andropov. The main Gorbachev in his absence. of the Soviet Union coincided with new fi gures are Heydar Aliyev, Vitaliy Historians have an opinion about the fi nal of collective rule in the So- Fedorchuk (new interior minister in- a number of key parameters that viet Union organized by “democrat” stead Schelokov, a career KGB offi cer) supported the operation of the So- Mikhail Gorbachev (5). As a result, and the First Secretary of the Central viet system of power on a daily basis. after a few years, this led the whole Committee of the Communist Party One such indicator was the avail- country to collapse. of , Vladimir Scherbitskiy. ability of the boss to the staff and Having declared independence What made Andropov’s rule in lower-ranking offi cials. As far as Gor- in 1991, the Azerbaijan Republic the post of Secretary-General of the bachev’s entourage is concerned, faced serious challenges and real Communist Party diff erent? His ap- many converge in stating such things threats. Issues of forming new state paratus, relying on the Council of as “favoritism”. There was a hard split institutions, coupled with the in- Ministers group led by Aliyev, was into two camps: “our people” and tensifying confl ict in Nagorno-Kara- preparing great strides in the socio- “aliens” in relation to Gorbachev. He bakh, were an unbearable burden economic development of the USSR almost immediately began to get rid for the then leadership of the repub- through the acceleration of scien- of representatives of the “old guard” lic. Lacking the qualities allowing tifi c and technical progress. Attempts and relatively young potential com- them to solve problems in a com- were made to limit the functions of petitors such as Heydar Aliyev. These plex way, the fi rst leaders of inde- the ideological administration of the were people who “kept their back pendent Azerbaijan often changed. Communist Party and the economic straight” and did not look into the Opportunities missed in 1991-1992 functions of the state. It is on this ba- mouth of Gorbachev asking “what led to the loss of territorial integrity sis, using the slogan of “acceleration”, do you want...” and internal displacement. By 1993, that Mikhail Gorbachev surfaced at The most infl uential favorite of the ethnic confl ict with Armenia es-

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Heritage_2_(13)_2013_LAST.indd 14 4/22/13 2:11 PM calated into an inter-state war (6). In 1993, with the coming of Hey- dar Aliyev to power in the republic, the process of state formation actu- ally began. Aliyev faced new forms of external and internal diktat. Heydar Aliyev was able to stop attempts at destabilization, dem- onstrating the determination of the government in an eff ort to strength- en the state organism. From Novem- ber 1993, instead of the so-called defense battalion united only nomi- nally, the formation of a centralized army begins. To unite society on the basis of citizenship, Aliyev put for- ward the slogan of “Azerbaijanism”, which was the beginning of the poli- The signing of the “Contract of bachev’s rule is an example of an cy of strengthening national identity. the Century” and the implementation unsolvable problem: everything To overcome the stereotype of the of the -Tbilisi-Ceyhan export oil good in those years was off set alleged violation of the principle of pipeline project shaped the strategy by evil. The destruction of the peoples’ right to self-determination of the country’s foreign policy aimed CPSU, the weakening of the KGB, in Azerbaijan, Aliyev pursued a con- at strengthening the economic and the release of political prisoners, sistent policy persuading the world other foundations of independence. freedom of believers, freedom to community that Azerbaijan’s right to The adoption of the fundamental travel, rehabilitation of trade, fair territorial integrity is an inalienable laws and concepts of the country’s elections, the abolition of cen- right of the Azerbaijani people. development in the second half of sorship, the fl ourishing of book The adoption of the 1995 Consti- the 1990’s and early 2000’s, the defi ni- publishing, and so on were paid tution endorsed the basic principles tion of foreign policy and the imple- by pogroms and killings, periph- of the emerging state. Aliyev was mentation of the oil strategy created eral civil wars, free surrender of able to build a republican system a favorable framework for the political territories, with proceeds from based on the national experience and socioeconomic development of which it was possible to provide of the Azerbaijan Republic in 1918- independent Azerbaijan. for the country, a betrayal of our 1920, modernizing the well-estab- own military, economic, foreign lished vertical-horizontal communi- References policy and national political inter- cations of the administrative system ests, idiocy and chaotic plunder of Soviet Azerbaijan and applying a 1. F. Razzakov. Corruption in the of state property built on Gulag system of Western European law. The Politburo. Moscow, 2009, p. 266- and peasant bones. Maybe, if God specifi c features of the Turkic-Islamic 273. judges Gorbachev and his time, synthesis, opposition moods, the 2. V. Kryuchkov. Andropov. M., 2012, he will decide what is more im- interests of the leaders of the post- p. 29. portant - this or that, but I do not Soviet national-democratic wave 3. E. Akhundova. Heydar Aliyev. Per- know and do not want to choose.” and other positive achievements sonality and Era. Volume 2, p. 754. Source: http://www.newlookme- of the Azerbaijani intellectual elite 4. Ibid, p. 755. dia.ru/?p=26279. also found their place in the political 5. Dmitriy Olshanskiy, a prominent 6. The fall of Shusha intensifi ed system of Azerbaijan. Thus, we got a Russian blogger and editor-in- political divisions in Azerbaijan. practically unique single secular re- chief of Russkaya Zhizn magazine, Thomas de Waal, “Black Garden”: public in the Middle East surrounded gives the following defi nition Armenia and Azerbaijan through by Islamic traditionalism. to Gorbachev’s reforms: “Gor- Peace and War”, p. 247

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