Vafa Guluzade

Vafa Guluzade (surname also spelled as Gulizade(h), Goulizade(h), Kulizade(h), Quluzade(h)) (21 December 1940 – 1 May 2015) was an Azerbaijani diplomat, political scientist and specialist in conflict resolution. He worked as Foreign Policy State Advisor for the President of Azerbaijan between 1990-1999.

Education and political career Vafa Guluzade was born on 21 December 1940 in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, USSR. Guluzade graduated from high school in 1958 and from the Azerbaijan State University in 1963. Later he worked for Azerbaijani radio as an editor at the foreign desk. In 1999, he was the first local expert to articulate the idea of placing NATO military bases in the Caucasus. This caused uproar in a number of well-known newspapers and publications, and triggered sharp reactions in Russia and Iran.

In October 1999 due to disagreements on key foreign policy issues with the then leadership, he resigned from the position of the Foreign Policy Advisor for the President of Azerbaijan and established the Caspian Policy Studies Foundation.