A politician in the East lives in a situation of constant tension and at any moment can be thrown from the heights of power to the very bottom. In the countries of the former USSR, this is compounded by the old traditions of representatives of the party nomenclature. People such as Abbas Abbasov, whose biography will be described below, deserve close attention, because the politician managed to occupy one of the most important posts in the government under the four presidents of Azerbaijan. Standing out brightly against the background of the gray mass of officials, he made a huge number of friends and enemies.
Soviet period
Biography Abbas Aydin oglu Abbasova begins its countdown in 1949 in the city of Kirovobad of the Azerbaijan SSR. He received education at the Azerbaijan Agricultural Institute. As his future occupation, the student chose the modest specialty of a veterinarian.
After graduating from the university in 1971, he began to conscientiously practice his diploma at the Ministry of Agriculture of Azerbaijan. Here Abbas Aydin oglu Abbasov rose to the post of senior veterinarian at the republican laboratory and worked until 1979. Then, a promising young specialist was appointed to the responsible post of director of the Baku Broiler Factory.
In 1982, an unexpected turn occurred in the biography of Abbas Abbasov. A native of Azerbaijan is transferred to faraway Uzbekistan, where he holds the post of deputy chairman of the republic’s poultry committee.
At the junction of eras
In Uzbekistan, a young statesman Abbas Aydin oglu Abbasov faced serious difficulties. In 1989, massive cases of corruption and theft of property in the poultry farm of the southern republic were discovered. Together with other responsible persons, the Azerbaijani veterinarian also got into jail.
At that time, the power of the center was noticeably shaken, and much already depended on the leaders of the republics. The head of Uzbekistan at that time was Islam Karimov. To rescue his fellow countryman from the terrible Central Asian zindan, Azerbaijani President Ayaz Mutalibov personally turned to Karimov, taking advantage of good relations with his long-time comrade. So Abbas Abbasov for the first and last time ended up in prison, escaping with a slight fright.
Returning to Azerbaijan, the former prisoner headed the Absheron Poultry Association, after which in 1990 he became the first secretary of the party district committee in the Absheron region.
Cynicism as a method of politics
Ayaz Mutalibov, the first president of Azerbaijan, did not forget about his favorite and after the republic gained independence, he appointed the former "Uzbek poultry breeder" as state adviser. At the same time, Abbas Abbasov successfully ran for parliament, firmly taking his place in the political life of the country.
However, a native of Kirovobad put his ambitions in the first place, skillfully tacking between various political forces and entering into complex political alliances. He easily abandoned his former allies and always correctly assessed the current situation in the country.
The same Ayas Mutalibov did insanely much for Abbasov, appointing him in 1992 to the post of deputy prime minister of the cabinet of ministers of the republic. This, however, did not prevent the burnt politician from practically surrendering his former patron in a difficult situation for him. Almost a few days later he crossed into the camp of political opponents of Mutalibov and became a faithful ally of Elchibey. However, this blow to the back of his savior was not the last in the biography of Abbas Abbasov.
A few years later, the Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister undertook to fulfill the assignment of the third president, Heydar Aliyev, and went to Moscow, where Mutalibov was hiding then to demand that the Russian authorities extradite the disgraced former head of state.
Permanent "gray cardinal"
Politician Abbas Abbasov has always stood out among his mediocre colleagues in the government. A wonderful speaker, a skilled administrator, he overshadowed the figures of the numerous cabinet ministers, in which he worked for almost fifteen years, having survived the rule of four presidents during this time. However, his political cynicism, the absence of a guarantee of loyalty and market conditions became the reasons that Heydar Aliyev did not dare to entrust too much power into his hands.
He was always the main candidate for the post of prime minister, for some time he even formally acted as head of the cabinet, but Aliyev always did not let a dangerous competitor get too close to himself.
Abasov remained the first vice-premier under the son of the deceased Heydar Aliyev. Ilham also did not dare to leave the government without its permanent shadow leader.
International relationships
The leaders of Azerbaijan especially appreciated Abbasov for his diplomatic qualities. He headed the committee on interethnic relations, the commission on economic relations with individual states. It was the politician Abbas Aydin oglu Abbasov who managed to agree with Yeltsin on maintaining close relations with Azerbaijan, despite the current conflict between the presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan.
Indeed, in those years there was a real conversation about the introduction of a visa regime, the complete closure of borders. Abbasov managed to convince the Russian leadership of the recklessness of such a step, and besides this he also managed to organize a mass supply of Russian weapons to the country.
Close friendship with the “gray cardinal” of the Yeltsin era, Berezovsky allowed him to establish ties with the Chechen business and the criminal world.
Trade in grain, metal, transport companies - all this represented the sphere of interest of the deputy prime minister, and he successfully developed his own business with the help of Chechen clans.
The departure of the patriarch of Azerbaijani politics
Ilham Aliyev did not take risks and keep a strong political figure too close to real power. In 2006, the permanent Deputy Prime Minister Abbas Abbasov resigned. Given the scale of the figure, it was decided to organize a beautiful care policy. Otherwise, the young president of the republic risked getting an embittered opposition in his side. Abbasov himself, in turn, did not protest and showed complete loyalty, declaring himself a loyal soldier of the republic and the president and expressed his willingness to return to work at any time.
It became dangerous to stay at home, too many enemies made a politician with flexible principles.
He moved to Moscow, where he went headlong into business. In 2012, he returned to social activities and headed the Union of Azerbaijani Communities of Russia and the national-cultural autonomy of Azerbaijanis. In 2016, Abbasov left the ranks of the last association.