One Can Conquer Alone

Abdul Gahramanzadeh, our telecommunication expert, turns 73 on April 5. Abdul bey has made a great contribution to the development of the communication sector of not only Azerbaijan but other countries as well. Retracing information technology (IT) and communication development, he has been generating his ideas and proposals with a view of optimizing and improving the situation in this sector. The ASTNA team heartily congratulates Abdul bay on his birthday and wishes him every success.

Abdul Hamidullah oglu Gahramanzadeh was born on April 5, 1946 in Geychay, Azerbaijan in the family of a public servant. In 1965, he finished Geychay"s secondary Russian school #3 with silver medal and entered the Polytechnic Institute (currently, the Azerbaijani Technical University (ATU).http://anl.az/el_ru/kniqi/2016/2-841166.pdf

Abdul bay embarked upon his career as a technician in the system of the Ministry of Communication on January 10, 1966. In October of 1969, he transferred to the October (now-Yasamal) district call center, according to ATS-2/ATS-7 specialty to November 1971. http://www.anl.az/el_ru/k/ka_ert.pdf

In November 1972, after a one-year military service, he re-entered the system of the Ministry of Communication of Azerbaijan as a scientific and technical information engineer, then senior engineer of the technical department of the Ministry of Communication. In August 1973, he was appointed a head of the Department of city telephone network and deputy head of the Department of urban and rural telephone networks of the Ministry of Communication apparatus.

In September 1973, A. G. Gahramanzadeh entered an employer-sponsored postgraduate program of the Leningrad Electrotechnical Communication Institute (LECI), chair of "Automated telecommunication"; upon completion, in July 1977 he headed a department of "Automated telecommunication" of the Baku Communication College.

Since November 1978, he was assistant professor of the "Electrical Communication" chair of the Azerbaijani Technical University (ATU). In June 1980, in Leningrad, he defended a master of technical science thesis titled "Research and development of methods of definition of parameters of telephone traffic for designing urban telephone networks", thesis director- Prof. Boris Samoylovich Lifshitz. https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Каграманзаде,_Abdul Gamidullah_ogly.

From September 1981 to June 1982, Abdul bay passed a one-year scientific internship (in line of the Ministry of Communication) on designing modern communication networks at Aston University of Birmingham, the UK. In the years since the internship, stood at the origins of the technology of digital communication systems (DCS) and was the first in the Soviet Union to have published articles and guidelines on DCS "System-X" (the UK) and "DMS" (the US).

Since April 1983, he has been an associate professor of the "Electrical communication" chair of the Azerbaijani Polytechnic University.

In June 1983, having passed a series of procedures of the Soviet Government, he proved to be the first Azerbaijani expert to the UNO from the Geneva-based International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

In October 1984, he was appointed full-time Chairman of the Trade Union Committee of the Azerbaijani Polytechnic Institute (currently-ATU), and in November 1984, the Higher Attestation Commission (HAC) of the USSR assigned him with a degree of associate professor of the "Electrical communication" chair.

In 1985-1986, A. G. Gahramanzadeh was the first in the history of Azerbaijan to undergo a field test within the framework of the Telecommunication Development Project of Afghanistan (Project-AFG-83/001) as the first UN MCT expert.

Upon his return from Afghanistan, in 1986-1991, he worked over a new educational course-"Digital commutation systems and electro-communication network". In particular, he issued 10 methodological works and teaching guides on digital ATS in Baku and Moscow.

In June 1992, following his interview with newspaper Azadlyg (May 30, 1992), he came to the attention of the team of the second President of independent Azerbaijan-Elchibay. In the interview, he pointed out to the strategic importance of the country"s Ministry of Communication, emphasized the necessity of structure and cadre reorganization in the communication sector.

Soon after, under decree #844 dated June 15, 1992 of the President of Azerbaijan, Gahramanzadeh Abdul Hamidullah oglu was appointed the Minister of Communication of the Azerbaijani Republic.

It has to be kept in mind that Gahramanzadeh was one of the first in the republic to realize that the development of telecommunication of independent Azerbaijan required up-to-date communication means based on the latest digital technologies. In his opinion, for this to happen it was essential to immediately develop, launch and produce digital transfer and commutation systems as insisted upon by a meeting of young specialists at the Ministry of Communication on June 20, 1992.

As a specialist who devoted his whole life to the development of communication sector, he stayed far from the politics (until now), he was not enthusiastic on becoming the Minister of Communication of Azerbaijan. However, he did accept this proposal because he, as the first UN MCT expert, scientific communication worker and former Ministry of Communication employee, clearly realized urgent issues of the communication sector in this transition period.

However, a month later, "during a dinner break", he was hastily dismissed from his position due to the Presidential decree #52 dated July 17, 1992 "due to a transfer to another appointment."

As the story goes, "no man is a prophet in his own land", i.e. in a short while, he received an invitation from the Geneva-based UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to take part in Libya"s Telecommunication Development Project (Project-LIB-88/007) from August 1992 to March 1993.

Upon the completion of the Libya Project, he received a third invitation to work as a MCT expert in Pakistan (Project-PAK-88/002) from April to September 1993.

Upon his return from Geneva (Switzerland), in 1993-1995 he was actively involved in compiling a special textbook Azeri. The text was published by publishing house "Maarif" under the title of "Rəqəmli kommutasiya sistem­ləri (Digital Communication Systems).

From March to December 1998, Abdul bey worked as an academic director of the Project-TNAZ-9601 over establishment of the Baku-based Azerbaijani Telecommunication Training Center (ATTC) under the TACIS and served as the first ATTC director till September 20, 2000.

A new ATU rector (in 2000) decided to decline the services of Gahramanzadeh (Center"s creator and first director). In all probability, it came as a result of the fact that in the reviewed years Abdul bey resumed to appear in mass media as an independent telecommunication expert.

This notwithstanding, in summer 2002, Abdul bey was drawn into the National Information-Communication Technology Strategy (NICTS) of Azerbaijan"s Project-AZE/01/003. At the time, he took a research leave in order to prepare for a Doctor"s dissertation (he had already had two monographs). In September 2002, having been refused by the Rectorate, he left the ATU on his own free will.

From September 2002 to June 2007, Abdul bey worked as the senior research officer of the Cybernetics Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan (NASA); he issued 4 monographs, 45 research articles, and 64 articles in the media.

In 2003-2005, Abdul bey was the initiator and manager of Azerbaijan"s first Distance Education Project, US State Department"s Partnership Program (Project-IU/AzRENA) between the University of Indiana and the Research and Educational Networks of Azerbaijan (AzRENA).

In his media publications (more than 140 articles), Abdul bey spared his knowledge of an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) expert to promote the communication sector transparency and improve professional level of young communication workers of Azerbaijan. Suffice it to say that Azerbaijani communication specialists could familiarize with approx. 50 analytical telecommunication articles of the expert in newspaper Internet News, 2002-2006, in heading "IT opinion".

From the first issue of IT magazine, an information technology journal in 2004 to 2008, Abdul bey published 25 articles as a telecommunication expert.

Abdul bay holds that "The first step in the communication sector is to secure in our legislation the Azerbaijani citizens" right to free access to national and global communication networks to thus ensure the basis of alternative and structural change of the national telecommunication monopoly of Azerbaijan". In so doing, the alternative and competition are sure to be provided.

As is known, projects (Project-AZE/01/003) on information and communication technologies (IT) have been underway in the country since February 17, 2003. However, according to Abdul bey as a participant (national expert) of the current project, "Development of the IT infrastructure is dependent on telecommunication fairness as a basic infranstructure of Internet users in the country."

Finally, the expert claims that today, mattering most for developing countries, including Azerbaijan is the "Introduction of digital technologies is not an achievement of the branch and especially of its heads but the financial interests of foreign producers seeking to gain maximum profit from their new developments."

That"s why Abdul bey believes that "An expert"s mission, as distinct from journalist, is not only to reveal a communication sector"s problem but, the most important thing, to suggest alternative points of view to get out of the current situation in the country." Note that he has been engaged in resolving this issue since 1992 in order to make contribution to the independence and alternativeness of the Azerbaijani communication sector.

The positive aspect of the UN expert"s views on the subject is based on the fact that Abdul bey climbed the career ladder from a technician in 1996 to the Minister of Communication of the country in 1992, knows well the elder generation of communication workers (he collaborated with them) and younger specialists he taught at the ATU within 25 years.

The first Azerbaijani international telecommunication expert to the UNO says, "It is possible to comprehend tasks and issues of the communication and information technologies sector provided there are specialists speaking common language. The telecommunication is too specific, so technical tasks cannot frequently be considered in isolation from continuity and business problems."

At present, Abdul bey has had a portfolio of 53 years of production, pedagogical and expert activity (3 international MCT projects as the UN senior export) and the same number of international projects in Baku, including Project-TNAZ-9601 in 1998, Project-AZE/01/003 in 2002, and Project IU/AzRENA in 2005.

Proficient in telecommunication theoretical and practical issues, Abdul bey, as a candidate of technical sciences and associate professor, is the author of more than 290 publications, including 153 research works (10 monographs) and 143 analytical articles in mass media.

He has been specialized in telecommunication: designing, forecasting, regulation and management; his 10 monographs deal with various aspects of communication sector development, creation of open information community in Azerbaijan. All the above is a sort of reference book for the country"s telecommunication specialists. In 2007, Abdul bey had the honor of winning the Intellect-2007 award.

Abdul bey is a communication sector expert and a civic-minded person!

He appears to be the only scientist out of nearly 50 communication scholars of Azerbaijan who openly, without any political ambitions, shows interests in communication sector only, has since 1992 been bringing up for discussion (more than 140 times) all urgent telecommunication problems in plain and accessible language. He is not a pessimist, he is just not indifferent to his native communication sector.

He believes that 80% of his projects have been realized in his textbooks, monographs, programs, and scientific articles in Azerbaijan"s mass media. He once dropped: "I would not like our generation of communication workers and telecommunication scientists of Azerbaijan be charged with ordinary cowardice in all what has been happening in the communication sector over these independence years!"

Therefore, he was hit hard by the autumn 2015 developments (purging and two years of investigation of the case of Ministry of Communication 10 senior officials) in connection with the National Security Ministry case.

The expert believes: "The fact of independent regulator outside the Telecommunication Ministry (beyond state structurres) is a guarantor of transparance in sector interconnection and mutual payments with their dark side of things and subjects to no calculation of undocumented incomes of the communication sector of Azerbaijan that still cannot be dealt with since autumn of 2015."

As the story goes, "no man is a prophet in his own land", but he proved that "one can conquer along!"

References:

• Gahramanzadeh А.G. Monograph. Stages of telecommunication development in Azerbaijan. Baku. "Elm". 2011. 726 p. http://www.anl.az/el_ru/k/ka_ert.pdf
• Gahramanzadeh А.G. Monograph. One of the Sharifli dynasty. Baku. "Sabah" press, 2016. 584 p. http://anl.az/el_ru/kniqi/2016/2-841166.pdf
• https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gahramanzadeh,_Abdul Hamid Gaminullah oglu