Arzu Abdullayeva

Arzu Ismail gizi Abdullayeva is an Azerbaijani human rights activist. In 1988, following the outbreak of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, she became an activist for peace and reconciliation between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, for which she was jointly awarded the Olof Palme Prize with Armenian activist Anahit Bayandur.

Personal life Abdullayeva is from Baku. She later studied in Moscow.

Activism During the emergence of the Karabakh movement and the subsequent First Nagorno-Karabakh War, Abdullayeva and Armenian activist Anahit Bayandur advocated for a resolution to the conflict based on mutual respect and non-violence between Azerbaijanis and Armenians. Abdullayeva was the chairperson of the Azerbaijani committee of the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly, as well as the co-chairperson HCA International. Abdullayeva and Bayandur facilitated talks and prisoner exchanges, and promoted the care of hostages and prisoners of war on both sides of the conflict. Abdullayeva was able to appeal directly to the newly elected President of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev, for the release of 38 Armenian prisoners; it is estimated that in total, Abdullayeva and Bayandur were able to secure the releases of 500 prisoners and hostages from both sides of the conflict. Bayandur died in 2011; due to ongoing tension between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Abdullayeva was unable to attend Bayandur's funeral.

In 1998, Abdullayeva was awarded the European Union and United States Government's Award for Democracy and Civil Society.

In 2005, Abdullayeva founded the Public Council of Experts on the Solution of the Karabakh Conflict with the organisations Pax Christi and the Crisis Management Initiative, including peacekeepers, political scientists, internally displaced people and editors, though it does not have any Armenian members.

In 2016, during the Four Day War in Nagorno-Karabakh, Abdullayeva lamented deaths on both sides, as well as war propaganda, and published an appeal calling for the conflict to be ended immediately.