The World - News from Jan. 29, 1989
The premier of Soviet Azerbaijan has been replaced less than two weeks after 2,500 officials and party workers in the republic were disciplined over ethnic unrest linked with the predominantly Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. “Comrade (Gasan N.) Seidov was relieved of his duties as chairman of the Azerbaijan Council of Ministers to retire for health reasons,” said a decree issued by the Azerbaijani Supreme Soviet. The decree named Ayaz Mutalibov, one of several deputy premiers, as Seidov’s successor. The statement made no explicit link between the departure of Seidov, 56, and the violence in which at least 78 people died last year. New Communist Party leaders were appointed in Azerbaijan and neighboring Armenia last year.
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