Career
Abdurrahman Vazirov was appointed by Kremlin to lead Soviet Azerbaijan in May, 1988, amidst the heating of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Vazirov replaced Kamran Baghirov, whose dismissal came along with similar dismissal of Karen Demirchyan and appointment of Suren Harutyunyan as the leader of the Soviet Armenia. Vazirov was a Soviet diplomat, who served in India, Nepal and Pakistan.
He had been out of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic for over a decade and therefore was untainted by the corruption.
He was neither a typical political boss nor a local nationalist. He could not even speak fluent Azerbaijani.
But at the same time, Vazirov was born in Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. He was also known as a fierce opponent of the former leader of Soviet Azerbaijan and later the 3rd president of independent Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev. On January 24, 1990, he was replaced in his position by Ayaz Mutallibov.
