CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS IN AZERBAIJAN
Eurasianet Organization
Oct 5 2005
1828 Russia and Persia conclude Turkmanchay Treaty, dividing
Azerbaijan.
Present-day Azerbaijan becomes part of the Russian empire.
1840s First oil wells drilled near Baku.
1918-20 Azerbaijan enjoys short-lived independence, gained as a result
of collapse of Russian empire, before re-conquest by the Red Army.
1922 Azerbaijan is part of Trans-Caucasian Soviet Federative Republic
within Soviet Union.
1936 Azerbaijan established as separate union republic of the Soviet
Union.
1967 Heidar Aliyev becomes head of Azerbaijani KGB.
1969 Aliyev named head of Azerbaijani Communist Party.
1982 Aliyev becomes full member of Soviet Politburo.
1987 Heidar Aliyev leaves Politburo.
1988 Inter-ethnic strife hits Nagorno-Karabakh region. Ethnic
Azerbaijanis begin to leave Karabakh and Armenia and ethnic Armenians
leave Azerbaijan. Violence in Azerbaijani city of Sumgait leaves at
least two dozen ethnic Armenians and six Azerbaijanis dead.
1990 Inter-ethnic tension in Karabakh escalates. Trouble also occurs in
Nakhichevan exclave, as local residents agitate for more open border.
Soviet and Iranian authorities ultimately agree to ease border-crossing
restrictions. Inter-ethnic violence in Baku leaves at least 100 dead
and prompts intervention by Soviet troops.
Ayes Mutallibov named Azeri Communist Party leader. Communist Party
retains power in parliamentary elections, but opposition Popular
Front also gains representation.
1991 Azerbaijan regains independence after failed coup attempt
against Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev sparks the collapse of the
Soviet Union. Mutallibov becomes Azerbaijani president. Heidar Aliyev
assumes leadership of Nakhichevan exclave.
Armenian leadership of Nagorno-Karabakh declares the region an
independent republic. Warfare between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces
breaks out.
1992 More than 600 Azerbaijanis are killed as they flee an Armenian
attack on Karabakh town of Khojaly. Ethnic Armenian forces establish
land corridor linking Karabakh with Armenia proper.
Mutallibov forced to resign. Abulfaz Elchibey, leader of Popular Front,
becomes president.
1993 Armenian forces occupy Azerbaijani territory surrounding Karabakh.
Political instability rocks Baku. An uprising led by an army commander,
Col. Surat Huseinov, prompts Elchibey to invite Aliyev to return to
Baku. Elchibey subsequently steps down, and Aliyev assumes leadership
of the country. His rule is later ratified in a referendum.
1994 Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh sign a ceasefire accord.
Ethnic Armenians remain in control of Karabakh and a swathe of
Azerbaijani territory around it. Aliyev acts to consolidate his
authority, cracking down on Popular Front. Later he declares a state
of emergency following what he characterizes as a coup attempt.
Azerbaijan signs what it calls the “deal of the century” with a
consortium of international oil companies, led by British Petroleum,
for the exploration and exploitation of three offshore oil fields.
1995 Karabakh functions as de facto independent republic, holding
legislative elections. Robert Kocharian becomes Karabakh leader. The
Aliyev-led New Azerbaijan Party wins controlling share of seats
in parliamentary elections. Voters approve a new constitution in
a referendum.
1997 Kocharian becomes prime minister of Armenia proper. Aliyev and
his Armenian president Levon Ter-Petrossian agree to OSCE proposal
for step-by-step Karabakh solution. Fierce domestic opposition to
peace plan in Armenia forces Ter-Petrossian to resign. Kocharian
becomes president of Armenia.
1998 Opposition activists complain that president election, won
easily by Aliyev, is marked by fraud. International monitors note
irregularities.
2001 Azerbaijan becomes full member of Council of Europe, despite
criticism about the country’s human rights record. US-brokered talks
on Nagorno-Karabakh, held between Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents
in Key West, Florida, reportedly produce tentative deal to settle
the conflict. However, the deal, if it existed, ends up falling apart.
Following the September 11 terrorist tragedy, the United States lifts
sanctions against Azerbaijan imposed over Karabakh conflict.
Azerbaijan becomes ally in anti-terrorism campaign.
Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey reach agreement on oil and gas pipelines
linking Caspian fields with Turkey.
2002 Construction work starts on multi-billion-dollar pipeline to
carry Caspian oil from Azerbaijan to Turkey via Georgia. The Pipeline
is known as Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC).
2003 Aliyev appoints his son, Ilham, as prime minister. In April,
Heidar Aliyev collapses while making speech. He is rarely seen in
public after that. Ilham wins a landslide election as president
in October.
Opposition leaders, complaining about vote-rigging, mount a protest.
Authorities crack down hard against opposition. Authorities announce
in December that 80-year-old Heidar Aliyev has died.
2005 Journalist Elmar Huseinov, an outspoken government critic, is
killed in Baku in March. Opposition supporters believe killing was
politically motivated. Police use force to break up an opposition rally
in Baku in May. The same month, authorities and diplomats celebrate the
formal opening of the BTC pipeline. Azerbaijan and Armenia renew search
for Karabakh peace settlement under the so-called Prague Process.