Vagif Huseynov has died: a man who could have been president

A prominent retired politician and major political analyst has died

Vagif Huseynov, a former secretary of the Komsomol Central Committee, a major political figure in Soviet Azerbaijan and a star of Russian geopolitical analytics of the late nineties, died at the age of 82 and two thousand years. And Vagif Huseynov was a man who had a chance to change the course of history. At the very beginning of January 1990 — even before the entry of Soviet troops into Baku, which forever changed relations between Azerbaijan and the union center — the then chairman of the republican KGB, Vagif Huseynov, received an offer from Moscow to lead the republic. If he had not refused the offer then, the modern history of Azerbaijan could well have followed a completely different scenario.

Photo: ru.wikipedia.org

“More than one life” is the title of a very frank and poignant book of memoirs by Vagif Huseynov, published in 2013 in Moscow. And this is not a rhetorical flourish, but the pure truth. Vagif Aliovsatovich really lived several lives at once. First there was a career in journalism, which smoothly turned into work in the Komsomol — first in Baku, then in Moscow. Then — an unexpected sharp turn. “I just stepped off the plane, having completed a long (almost twenty days), tiring trip through the countries of Indochina. It would be nice to take a shower, drink tea with jam and forget for an hour or two. Because what I happened to see in Kampuchea (present-day Cambodia) affects a person even with strong nerves like Vereshchagin’s “Apotheosis of War”… And here is the alarming everyday thing: “Pastukhov (First Secretary of the Komsomol Central Committee -) wants to see you.” I don’t even want to ask: “Right now? From the plane to the Central Committee? If Boris Nikolaevich sent a messenger, it means something exceptional happened. – Aliyev called. He wants to take you to Baku.”

His first entry into big Azerbaijani politics was as head of the capital city party committee in 1980. A few years later, an unexpected fall from grace followed by “exile” to Moscow. The second entry into big Baku politics was during the period when the above-mentioned picture of Vereshchagin began to resemble the entire disintegrating USSR, and especially its hot spots, which by that time had already included Azerbaijan. 1988 — head of the department of organizational and party work of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, 1989 — chairman of the KGB of the republic. Vagif Huseynov is being thrown into the hottest positions. And then, finally, the fateful (or, rather, had every chance of becoming fateful) day: “V. A. Kryuchkov (chairman of the KGB of the USSR -) informs me without mincing words: “You will have to lead the party organization of Azerbaijan. This is how things turn out.” I am ready for such a turn.”

This “readiness” eventually disappeared after a conversation in the main office in Moscow. After talking with Mikhail Gorbachev, Vagif Huseynov comes to the conclusion that you can’t cook porridge with such a boss: “The Secretary General did not leave any chance for discussion and with several final phrases, summing up the conversation, he made it clear that the topic had been exhausted… “Without fear and doubt” ,” he admonished, either jokingly or seriously. The last remark allows me to notice that if you are afraid of wolves, do not go into the forest. Another thing is that without a change of course no one can stand.” Vagif Huseynov refuses Gorbachev. The weak First Secretary of the Central Committee Abdurakhman Vezirov is replaced by the no less weak Ayaz Mutalibov. Very soon, Azerbaijan de facto ceases to be part of the USSR and plunges into a state of chaos for several years. 

No one will now ever know what would have happened if Vagif Huseynov had made a different decision at that critical moment. But this is what my instincts tell me, based on my experience of communicating with Vagif Guseinov in his later Moscow period: Guseinov is a fighter. He wouldn't give up and he wouldn't give up. The entire history of the South Caucasus in the first half of the 90s would have been completely different. But what happened happened.

And I’m just glad that fate gave me the chance to meet and communicate closely with Vagif Aliovsatovich. Despite all his rich life experience (even too rich: after the nationalists temporarily came to power in Baku, he happened to be in prison), he remained a very bright, kind and whole person, in a sense, even a romantic. I remember, for example, his statement: “The sixties were the most optimistic, happiest time in the life of our country.”

Farewell, Vagif Aliovsatovich! We will miss you very much!