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The problem of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) was at the center of attention of the Azerbaijani society, political scientists and media. The former president of Azerbaijan Abulfaz Elchibey said Heydar Aliyev had contributed seriously to the creation of the PKK and its activities, according to the book “From Freedom to Tyranny” by Turgut Er, a Turkish diplomat who served press attaché for the Turkish Embassy in Azerbaijan during Heydar Aliyev’s rule.

During a meeting, Elchibey said that Heydar Aliyev was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan and USSR Politburo member candidate in 1970. Moscow liked him, and he was the special representative on Turkey and Near East. KGB’s strongest positions were in Baku, and large-scale operations were conducted abroad, especially in Turkey and Near East, from there.

“Yevgeny Primakov, of Jewish origin, was then Heydar Aliyev’s assistant and made secret visits to Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt on his order. He was especially diligent in the tasks, which were of interest to Heydar Aliyev. He met Habash and Hafez al-Assad, the teachers of the PKK and leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Heydar Aliyev was on friendly terms with them. Led by Ba'ath Party, Iraq, Syria and the PLO were receiving material aid and military assistance through Aliyev,” Elchibey said, as cited by the author.

According to Er, in a 1988 interview, Elchibey said that Heydar Aliyev was the founder of the PKK. After this statement was made, Aliyev sued Elchibey, and a travel ban was imposed on him.

In spring 1994, a serious pressure on Heydar Aliyev started both inside the country and from abroad. Although his whole life was connected with Russia, Moscow did not trust him; Aliyev was on the verge of fleeing from the country. By that time, a meeting of foreign ministers of the NATO member-states was underway in Istanbul. Early in the morning, Heydar Aliyev contacted the Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Altan Karamanoglu, and asked him to organize an audience with the US Secretary of State. The Turkish President Suleyman Demirel saw that the necessary changes were made in the agenda so that the Azerbaijani President was not forced to meet the Secretary of State in a hotel or in corridors. On learning about that, Heydar Aliyev told the Turkish Ambassador, “My plane is waiting for me at the airport. I am departing to Istanbul at 11 o’clock. As a friend and a brother of mine, Suleyman bey set me on this duty. Now let him protect me.”

During the meeting with the US Secretary of State Warren Christopher, Aliyev came up with two unexpected and attractive offers: to use the Caspian energy fields together and to hand over Gabala Radar Station to the US.

Further, Aliyev arrived in Ankara to meet the Turkish President Suleyman Demirel. He asked Demirel to send General Dogan Gures, the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Turkey, to Azerbaijan. During a meeting with then Prime Minister of Turkey, Tansu Ciller, Aliyev asked her to allocate a credit for Azerbaijan. The request, however, was denied on the ground that Aliyev had not yet paid up the interest of the $250 million credit he had taken from Eximbank.

Coming back to Baku, Heydar Aliyev told the Turkish Ambassador how the Prime Minister had chastised him “like a schoolboy, shaking her finger at him” because of the consumed credit. He asked the Ambassador to organize a Baku visit for Ciller in order to “butter her up.” “Shortly afterwards, the Defense Minister of Russia, Grachev, arrived in Baku accompanied by his generals. Aliyev realized that his visits and discussions in Turkey had concerned Russia,” Er points.

Meanwhile, the Chief of the General Staff of Turkey arrived in Azerbaijan and was received in the Defense Ministry without a proper military protocol. “He was met by paunchy and mustached military men. Looking at them, one would think that the country was not under martial law at all but had been living in peace for dozens of years. They plumed themselves on their Soviet time medals,” Er writes. He also recalls an incident which occurred during the meeting with the high-ranked guest in Baku: getting out of the plane, the Turkish General loudly greeted the Azerbaijani soldiers in the guard of honor to which they answered with stone silence until the Defense Minister of Azerbaijan ordered them with a gesture to thank the guest.

Another incident took place during the meeting in the Defense Ministry. A big black board and a map of Azerbaijan with Russian keys were hanging on the wall. A man in civilian clothes was standing in front of the map. He was trying to translate the Russian text but the military attaché for the Turkish embassy, Khalil Galaycioglu, had to correct him all the time. The translator turned out to be drunk and could hardly stand on his feet. Dogan Gures, the Chief of the General Staff, started to inquire about the deployment of troops on the front, the quantity of troops and equipment; however, he never received any sensible response, which made him even angrier. Later, he learned all the information from his own military attaché and ordered to carry out an inventory checking of Turkey’s entire military assistance to Azerbaijan, keeping it in a safe place just in case.

After the book “From Freedom to Tyranny: As if Stalin and Beria revived” was published, the authorities in Azerbaijan accused Er of libel and anti-Azerbaijani activities as he unmasks Heydar Aliyev’s two-faced government and proves that Aliyev’s actions were often conditioned by personal interests rather than the benefit of the state and people. In response, Turgut Er said that everything he wrote in the book is based on well-known and published documents, and the accusations of libel are yet another proof of the Azerbaijani authorities’ stupidity and meanness.

Related:
Turgut Er: Heydar Aliyev is known worldwide as atheist, communist and KGB general 

Turgut Er: It was Ramiz Mehdiyev who Azerbaijanis feared and despised more than Heydar Aliyev 

Turgut Er: Heydar Aliyev regime humiliated and racketeered Turkish investors in Azerbaijan 

Turgut Er: Heydar Aliyev introduced Lisbon resolution – adopted due to Turkey’s efforts – as his own achievement