SUMMARY
The Military faction (forces of Suret Husseinov) was an armed group made up of the Azeri Army’s 709th brigade that carried out a successful coup attempt to depose President Abulfaz Elchibey in June 1993. Husseinov was opposed to President Elchibey’s “Turkification” of Azerbaijan, and to the government’s anti-Russian stance. Because of the close ties Husseinov had developed to the Russian (ex-Soviet) forces stationed in Ganja (Husseinov’s stronghold), and the threat this was perceived to pose against President Elchibey, he was dismissed from his command in February 1993. When army units loyal to the government tried to disarm Husseinov’s forces, he marched on Baku, aiming to overthrow President Elchibey.
Before the relationship soured, Husseinov’s forces fought as part of the Government of Azerbaijan against the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh from 1991 to February 1993 (see Azerbaijan: Nagorno-Karabakh). From 1991 and until early 1993, Azerbaijan did not yet possess a fully functional and consolidated army. As such, it had to rely on various paramilitary and militia forces to a significant extent; one such force was Husseinov’s “brigade”. While Husseinov was in practice a self-organized warlord, the fact that he was given an official military position by the Azeri President Elchibey means that the UCDP considered him as a de facto part of the government army. A direct consequence of this was that during Husseinov’s coup in 1993, his forces was given the status of a renegade faction of the Azeri armed forces, and not an “independent” non-state actor (hence the label “military faction”).
The leader of the Military faction, Suret Husseinov (alternatively Huseinov, or Huseynov), was a former businessman and owner of a textile factory who became a powerful military leader in the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh (see Azerbaijan: Nagorno-Karabakh). He funded and led a heavily armed paramilitary brigade comprised of mercenaries; by late 1992, Husseinov had established himself as a warlord in the region surrounding the town of Ganja. In mid-1992, the forces of Surat Husseinov numbered around 2000 to 3000. President Elchibey eventually made him the commander of the Azeri forces that fought in Nagorno-Karabakh. However, he was stripped of his official military rank after a failure to stop Armenian offensives in February 1993; Husseinov had withdrawn from the front under suspicious circumstances, which produced the allegations that he was actively attempting to undermine Government of Azerbaijan.
As of 18 June 1993, President Elchibey fled Baku, and thus, gave up the fight for power, and Hosseinov and his forces gained governmental power. Husseinov served as Prime Minister of Azerbaijan 30 June 1993 to 4 October 1994 as part of a power-sharing arrangement with the new President Heydar Aliyev; he was also given responsibility for all military, security, and police forces in Azerbaijan. After falling out with President Aliyev, Husseinov mounted a failed attempt at a new coup in October 1994, and was forced to flee to Russia. Husseinov was extradited to Azerbaijan in 1997 and sentenced to life in prison in 1999; he was pardoned by President Ilham Aliyev in 2004.
When fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh in 1992, Husseinov’s forces likely received support from parts of the Russian 23rd Motor Rifle Division stationed in Ganja; Husseinov for example had access to armored vehicles and attack helicopters manned by Russian-speaking crews. There is no indication that this Russian support was officially sanctioned by the government in Moscow. However, when the Russian 104th Airborne Regiment withdrew from Azerbaijan in May 1993 it left most of its weapons and equipment to Husseinov’s forces, which were stationed near the regiment’s barracks in Ganja; this equipment bolstered his strength when fighting against Elchibey’s forces. It may also be that Russian military intelligence personnel and Special Forces units were left behind to aid in Husseinov’s coup against President Elchibey; it has even been suggested that Husseinov himself was a Russian military intelligence operative. In any case, Husseinov was perceived as pro-Russian.
Husseinov also received indirect support from Russia, which had worked to undermine the Elchibey-led Government of Azerbaijan. Russia had for example provided weapons to Armenia, and taken measures to undermine Azerbaijan’s economy; all this weakened the Government of Azerbaijan, and contributed to Husseinov’s successful coup.
Husseinov’s failed uprising in early October 1994 also coincided with a revolt among the OPON Forces.
