Diplomats, former colleagues about loss of Vafa Guluzade

The death of Vafa Guluzade, one of the architects of Azerbaijani independent diplomacy and guide to the shifting world of Azeri political life, is a big loss for friends all around the world, western diplomats say.

Guluzade’s death was announced in Baku on Friday, May 1.

Richard Kauzlarich, a veteran American diplomat (ret) and analyst, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and US Ambassador to Baku, (1994-1997) shared his memories about late Guluzade with TURAN’s Washington correspondent.

“I am deeply saddened by the passing of Vafa Guluzade. He was the finest professional diplomat that I have known in my career as a US Foreign Service Officer,”he said.

Guluzade, he added, was also - in the truest sense of the word - a good friend.“I spent many hours in his office at the Presidential Apparat. He was always willing to see me; and our meetings always involved drinking vast amounts of chai. He had a personal involvement in the pre- and immediate post-independence Azerbaijan that was unmatched. Meeting with Vafa was like having a one-on-one seminar with a professor of history and international relations.”

Back in 1990s, Guluzade was the principal Azerbaijani negotiator regarding Nagorno-Karabakh.

His opposite number on the Armenia side was Gerard Libaridian.

“Both stuck to their positions but treated each other with upmost respect,” Kauzlarich remembers.

“Vafa knew that making every effort to resolve the N-K conflict through diplomatic means was important,” he said.

“The last time saw Vafa was outside the White House following President HeydarAliyev's successful Oval Office meeting with President Clinton in the summer of 1997. It was a bright summer day in Washington and everyone in the official party was happy with the results. Vafa had his biggest Vafa-esque smile as President Aliyev congratulated him for making this a great step forward in US-Azerbaijan relations. I could not have been happier for anyone. That is the Vafa Gulazade I will remember. Rest in peace my very good, good friend,”Amb. Kauzlarich said.

TURAN’s Washington correspondent also reached out to Gerard Libaridian, former foreign policy advisor for the Armenian president LevonTer-Petrossian, asked for his memories about late Guluzade.

In his response, Libaridian shared the following.

“Vefa Guluzade and I met in Paris in 1993 at a European youth conference which we both addressed. From there we developed a friendly relationship, which evolved into a friendship based on mutual trust and respect. 
We conducted negotiations on many levels: public, private, confidential, and secret.  He was soft-spoken but a patriot wisened by experience and a devotion to Azerbaijan’s independent statehood; he was flexible yet firm. Obviously we had disagreements. Yet our cooperation, based on trust, made possible the transformation of the May 1994 Russian propelled cease-fire, which all sides considered temporary, into a permanent one, negotiated between the sides directly in July and August of 1994. Although we were unable to conclude a peace agreement, at least on one occasion we came quite close.
I should also add that our friendship developed and grew even when we had both left our positions; over the years I knew most of the members of his family and had  visited their home in Baku, just as he knew my family and has been a guest in my  house in Cambridge, Mass.”

Richard Miles, former U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan from 1992 to 1993, also shared his memories about late Guluzade with TURAN’s Washington correspondent.

Milles, who currently serves as U.S. charge d’affaires in Kyrgyzstan, noted the followings.

“I arrived in Baku on May 2, 1992. This was a very difficult time for the Azeri people. The fighting over NagornoKarabakh was not going well, Baku was still reeling from the earlier outbreak of inter-ethnic conflict in Sumgait and Baku and there was visible public discontent with the existing government. In fact, only two weeks after my arrival, Ayaz Mutallibov, the then President, was deposed in a relatively bloodless coup and fled the country. I never had the chance to meet the man.
I did, however, have the very valuable opportunity to meet, the President's foreign policy adviser, Vafa Guluzade.

As the new Government of Abulfaz Elchibey began to exercise its authority, Vafa proved to be a wise counselor not just to the President, but to me, personally. Finally, and, not least, he was a friend.

When the Elchibey Government was replaced by that of Haydar Aliyev, he wisely retained Vafa as his counselor as well. Through all this turmoil, Vafa was a source of wise advice and counsel He was first and foremost an Azeri patriot but he was neither an extreme nationalist nor an ideologue. In short, he was someone you could talk to and a person on whom you could rely.
When he said, "No", he meant "No" and when he said "Yes", he meant "Yes." This may not sound like much, but, in the world of diplomacy, it is a rare and treasured virtue.
At this time, my sympathy and my condolences go to his family and his friends in Azerbaijan.

I will miss Vafa very much.”
 

A.Raufoglu

Washington, DC