Araz Azimov Boyukagha oglu ' onMouseout='HidePop("20706")' href="/topics/Baku">Baku

Baku

Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...

), is the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs at the Government of Azerbaijan since 1994.

Early life

Azimov was born in Baku

Baku

Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...

, Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...

 on June 13, 1962. In between 1978-1984, he studied at the Oriental Studies faculty of, with the former name, Azerbaijan State University, current Baku State University

Baku State University

Baku State University is a public university located in Baku, Azerbaijan. Established in 1919 by the Parliament of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the University started with faculties of history and philology; physics and mathematics; law and medicine with an initial enrollment of 1094...

. During his study period, he was majoring on the Persian

Persian language

Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...

 language and studies. After the graduation, he started to work at the Foreign Service department of the Azerbaijan State Teleradio Company until 1989.

Political career

Azimov started his diplomatic career in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijani SSR in 1989. He served there as a second and first secretary at the Department of Information until 1991. In 1991-1992, Azimov worked as a deputy director at the same department. Afterward, in 1992, he was appointed the director of the Department of International Organizations in the Ministry. Since 1994, he is the Deputy Foreign Minister at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan. His diplomatic rank is Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.

Mention in American Media

In a 2011 Forbes article, Azimov is quotes as saying to Turkey’s Hürriyet Daily News: "Armenia is interested in war, more so than Azerbaijan. They want to gain further justification of the occupation in Karabakh, so they would be looking for an opportunity to provoke. So war is a possibility but it will only start with a provocation."

Personal life

Araz Azimov is married and has one child. Other than his mother tongue Azerbaijani, he speaks fluent English, Russian, Persian and Turkish.

External links

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan