Rovshan Javadov

Rovshan Bakhtiyar oghlu Javadov (Rövşən Bəxtiyar oğlu Cavadov, 19 October 1951 – March 17, 1995 ) was an officer in the Azerbaijani Armed Forces and the chief of the Special Purpose Police Detachment of Azerbaijan (OPON).

Born in what was then part of the Soviet Union.

He took on an early role in the early years of the newly independent Azerbaijan, becoming the leader of OPON, a military police unit of a few thousand people.

The creation of the organization would lead to clashes with President Heydar Aliyev.

Rovshan Javadov was born on 19 October 1951 in Lachin.

In 1973, he graduated from Azerbaijan State Medical University.

In 1973-1976 he worked as a surgeon in the Interior Ministry Hospital of Azerbaijan SSR.

In 1976, Rovshan Javadov entered the USSR Interior Ministry Military Academy in Rostov from which he graduated in 1980.

After completing his military education in 1980 he volunteered for service in Afghanistan.

In 1982 Rovshan Javadov became the Police Inspector of Ganja.

In 1987, Rovshan Javadov, organized the underground Takamul ("Evolution") Party in the NKAO and Ganja with his brother Mahir Javadov.

In 1989, the Takamul Party established military units which were composed of Azerbaijanis as well as of Rovshan's karate students.

In January 1990, Soviet troops took control of Azerbaijan and fighting broke out in Baku and other cities between the Popular Front of Azerbaijan activists whom Rovshan Javadov helped train and Soviet troops.

The Soviets quickly took over Baku.

Javadov planned to withdraw to Ganja with his supporters and proclaim Ganja a capital city and resume fighting the occupation.

However, Soviet troops withdrew by mid-March.

Due to the escalating situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, in 1990 the Takamul party had turned into an official military organization known as HTPD or more popularly by its Russian acronym OMON.

It was later renamed the OPON (Special Purpose Police Unit).

That same year Rovshan Javadov became Supreme Commander of OPON and rose to the rank of colonel the Azerbaijani Armed Forces.

Due to successful operations in Nagorno-Karabakh led by OPON forces against Russian and local Armenian forces, the provisional government in 1991 proclaimed OPON members National Heroes.

In 1993, Javadov was appointed Deputy Minister of the Interior in the Popular Front government and was elected as a Chairman of the Azerbaijan Youth Movement.

As the fighting was escalating in Nagorno-Karabakh, Javadov travelled to Afghanistan in 1993 and returned with 1,300 experienced Afghan mujahideen.

In 1993, after personally regrouping most of the Interior Ministry forces and OPON forces, he launched the most successful military assault on Armenians from Artsakh in Askeran.

Simultaneously he organized the military offensive in Fizuli which was halted after two weeks when the Popular Front government was overthrown by Colonel Suret Huseynov.

After the overthrow of President Abulfaz Elchibey who led the People Front government, Suret Huseynov and Javadov welcomed the return of KGB General Heydar Aliyev to Baku.

Huseynov and Javadov supported Aliyev in the 1993 presidential elections, and he was victorious.

In the summer of 1993, Suret Huseynov's Ganja Brigade seized 10 villages from Armenians in the Karabakh zone.

After this operation Huseynov was officially proclaimed a National Hero and appointed a Prime Minister of Azerbaijan.

The same year Javadov was offered the medal of a national hero, but he refused to accept it until Azerbaijan would fully occupy Nagorno-Karabakh and the independence of an Azerbaijan Republic was fully secure.

Huseynov and Javadov began to purchase arms for the Azerbaijani Armed Forces and restarted the Fizuli offensive in January 1994.

Three weeks later, the Fizuli offensive was halted by Heydar Aliyev as he secretly agreed to hidden negotiations with Russian and Armenian officials in order to solidify his grip on power in Azerbaijan.

The result of Aliev's negotiations came to be known to the public as the Bishkek Protocol in May 1994.

Rovshan Javadov and Suret Husseynov publicly opposed the Bishkek deal and threatened to start military operations if Russian troops were to come to Azerbaijan as called for in the treaty.

The political outrage caused by the potential return of Russian troops to Azerbaijan forced Heydar Aliev and Boris Yeltsin to amend that part of the treaty.

In June 1994 Javadov announced his aim to run for the November 1995 parliamentary elections in which he would represent the opposition block to the authoritarian rule of Heydar Aliyev.

In August 1994 he announced a plan to impeach Heydar Aliyev once he won the elections to the parliament.

After Javadov proclaimed his opposition towards Heydar Aliyev's rule, Javadov became the main target of Aliyev's system.

On 30 September 1994, Deputy Chairman of Parliament Affiadin Jalilov and Chief of Military Intelligence Shamsi Rahimov were assassinated next to their place of residence.

In 1995, this conflict with Aliyev would eventually culminate into an attempted coup against Aliyev, which would fail and lead to a siege of OPON headquarters.

During the siege, Javadov was shot and eventually died of his wounds.