Isgandar Majid oglu Hamidov () (also transliterated as ''Iskender Majid oglu Hamidov'' or ''Iskander Medjid oglu Hamidov''; April 10, 1948 in Bağlıpəyə village, Kalbajar rayon – February 26, 2020 in

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

) was an Azerbaijani politician,

Minister of Internal Affairs An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

who served in the Popular Front government of 1992–1993. He was a nationalist and anti-communist. He played a key role in preventing Ayaz Mutallibov's 1992

self-coup A self-coup, also called an autocoup () or coup from the top, is a form of coup d'état in which a political leader, having come to power through legal means, stays in power illegally through the actions of themselves or their supporters. The le ...

. When Ayaz Mutallibov, first president of Azerbaijan, cancelled

presidential elections A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The ...

which were set to take place on June 7, 1992, Hamidov marched with an armed force to confront Mutallibov. Mutallibov subsequently fled the country and Isa Gambar was made acting president. Gambar reinstated the upcoming presidential elections which were won by Abulfaz Elchibey. As Minister of Internal Affairs, Hamidov sought to clamp down on the black market in Azerbaijan. Isgandar Hamidov resigned in April 1993. As a chairman of Azerbaijan National Democrat Party, informally known as the Grey Wolves, Hamidov pleaded for the creation of a unified Turkic country which would include northern

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and extend itself to

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and

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. He was known to have threatened

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

with a nuclear strike. He had also supported

Chechnya Chechnya, officially the Chechen Republic, is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia. It is situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, between the Caspian Sea and Black Sea. The republic forms a part of the North Caucasian Federa ...

in the

First Chechen war The First Chechen War, also referred to as the First Russo-Chechen War, was a struggle for independence waged by the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria against the invading Russia, Russian Federation from 1994 to 1996. After a mutually agreed on treaty ...

as part of the Grey Wolves and played a major role in the

First Nagorno-Karabakh war The First Nagorno-Karabakh War was an ethnic conflict, ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nag ...

. Historian Audrey Altstadt writes of Hamidov's military tenure,

Compared with the many men who had given themselves the title of “colonel” after building a private army with the accumulated bribes of their
Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
-era jobs, Hamidov had earned his living and his rank. He had the paramilitary training of the regular police and through years of service had achieved the rank of colonel. He commanded the personal loyalty of thousands of willing fighters.

In 1995, he was arrested and sentenced to 14 years in prison by the Heydar Aliyev regime for embezzlement of state funds. According to Amnesty International and the Council of Europe,Amnesty International. "Concerns in Europe and Central Asia", July–December 2003
he was a

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although ...

. He was pardoned by the decree of President

Ilham Aliyev Ilham Heydar Oghlu Aliyev (born 24 December 1961) is an Azerbaijani politician who has been the fourth president of Azerbaijan since 2003. He is also the leader of the New Azerbaijan Party since 2005. The son and second child of former Aze ...

in 2004. He died in April 10, 2020, he was 72.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamidov, Isgandar 1948 births 2020 deaths History of Nagorno-Karabakh Recipients of Azerbaijani presidential pardons Azerbaijani Popular Front Party politicians Azerbaijani people of the Nagorno-Karabakh War Pan-Turkists Azerbaijani prisoners and detainees Political prisoners in Azerbaijan Azerbaijani dissidents