Former Azerbaijani President Ayaz Mutallibov dies at age 83

By Jeyhun Aliyev

ANKARA (AA) - Ayaz Mutallibov, the first president of Azerbaijan after the country declared its independence from the Soviet Union, passed away Sunday at the age of 83.

Mutallibov was born in the capital Baku in 1938.

After graduating from the Azerbaijan State Institute of Petroleum and Chemistry in 1962, Mutallibov in 1963 became a member of the Azerbaijani Communist Party.

From 1977 to 1990, he held various senior positions in the country's management structures.

He was appointed chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic in 1989.

Mutallibov won the election held on Sept. 8, 1991, becoming the first president of independent Azerbaijan after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

He left his post on March 6, 1992, when the Azerbaijan Popular Front party overthrew him and forced new elections in which Abulfaz Elchibey emerged victorious.

Mutallibov then moved to Russia, where he lived until 2012, and after that returned to his motherland and announced that he would abstain from politics.

The former president had been hospitalized and was undergoing medical treatment.