Today marks the birthday of Abulfaz Elchibey, one of the leaders of the national freedom movement and the second President of the Republic of Azerbaijan (1992–1993).

Axar.az informs Abulfaz Elchibey was born on June 24, 1938, in the village of Kalaki in the Ordubad district. In 1957, he was admitted to the Department of Arabic Philology at the Faculty of Oriental Studies of Azerbaijan State University. After graduating in 1962, he was assigned to work as a translator at the Baku branch of the USSR Hydroproject Institute. In January 1963, Elchibey was sent to the United Arab Republic (Egypt), where he worked as a translator at the construction site of the Aswan Dam until October 1964. Upon returning from his foreign assignment, he entered the postgraduate program of Azerbaijan State University in 1965 and successfully completed his studies in 1968.

In the late 1980s, Abulfaz Elchibey became one of the leaders of the national freedom movement that began in Azerbaijan and was one of the founders of the Azerbaijani Popular Front. In 1992, he was elected President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. A year later, following the Ganja events, he left the capital and went to his native village of Kalaki. He later continued his political activity as the chairman of the Azerbaijani Popular Front Party.

Abulfaz Elchibey passed away on August 22, 2000, at the age of 62 at the Gulhane Military Medical Academy. He was laid to rest in the Alley of Honor.