Najmeddin Huseyn oghlu Sadikov ( az, Nəcməddin Hüseyn oğlu Sadıkov; born May 24, 1956) is an

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

Colonel General Colonel general is a three- or four-star military rank used in some armies. It is particularly associated with Germany, where historically general officer ranks were one grade lower than in the Commonwealth and the United States, and was a ra ...

who served as the incumbent Chief of the General Staff of Azerbaijani Armed Forces and the First Deputy Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan. He was appointed to both positions on November 2, 1993 by

President of Azerbaijan The president of the Republic of Azerbaijan is the head of state of Azerbaijan. The Constitution states that the president is the embodiment of executive power, commander-in-chief, "representative of Azerbaijan in home and foreign policies", ...

Heydar Aliyev Heydar Alirza oghlu Aliyev ( az, Һејдәр Әлирза оғлу Әлијев, italic=no, Heydər Əlirza oğlu Əliyev, ; , ; 10 May 1923 – 12 December 2003) was a Soviet and Azerbaijani politician who served as the third president of Aze ...

. It was announced that he was not serving as the chief of staff on 28 January 2021, and

Karim Valiyev Karim Tofig oglu Valiyev ( az, Kərim Tofiq oğlu Vəliyev; born 9 February 1961) is an Azerbaijani military officer, serving as the colonel general in the Azerbaijani Armed Forces. He is the Chief of the General Staff of Azerbaijani Armed Forc ...

took his position on 23 July of that year.

Personal life

Sadikov was born in the city of

Derbent Derbent (russian: Дербе́нт; lez, Кьвевар, Цал; az, Дәрбәнд, italic=no, Dərbənd; av, Дербенд; fa, دربند), formerly romanized as Derbend, is a city in Dagestan, Russia, located on the Caspian Sea. It is ...

to an ethnic

Azeri Azerbaijanis (; az, Azərbaycanlılar, ), Azeris ( az, Azərilər, ), or Azerbaijani Turks ( az, Azərbaycan Türkləri, ) are a Turkic peoples, Turkic people living mainly in Azerbaijan (Iran), northwestern Iran and the Azerbaijan, Republi ...

family. He has a brother who died in the 1980s. After the outbreak of hostilities in 1991, he moved to Azerbaijan with his family. He is married and has three children. Sadikov’s nephew, Ramil Asgarov, is another senior military official, who was major general until June 2020.

Soviet Armed Forces

He joined the

Soviet Armed Forces The Soviet Armed Forces, the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union and as the Red Army (, Вооружённые Силы Советского Союза), were the armed forces of the Russian SFSR (1917–1922), the Soviet Union (1922–1991), and th ...

in 1975. He graduated from the

Baku Higher Combined Arms Command School The Baku Higher Combined Arms Command School (BVOKU) was one of the military academies of the USSR. It trained military personnel in a number of specializations. It was located in Baku in the Azerbaijan SSR. History On November 29, 1939, the s ...

in 1979 and earned the “Gold medal”. He served as a platoon commander, a company commander, a battalion commander and regiment deputy commander in the

Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

from 1979 to 1992. He graduated from the

Frunze Military Academy The M. V. Frunze Military Academy (russian: Военная академия имени М. В. Фрунзе), or in full the Military Order of Lenin and the October Revolution, Red Banner, Order of Suvorov Academy in the name of M. V. Frunze (rus ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

in 1988, and completed the Higher Officer Courses " Vystrel" ("Shot") named after

Marshal of the Soviet Union Marshal of the Soviet Union (russian: Маршал Советского Союза, Marshal sovetskogo soyuza, ) was the highest military rank of the Soviet Union. The rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union was created in 1935 and abolished in 19 ...

Boris Shaposhnikov , birth_name = Boris Mikhailovitch Shaposhnikov , birth_date = , death_date = , birth_place = Zlatoust, Ufa GovernorateRussian Empire , death_place = Moscow, Soviet Union , placeofburial = Kremlin Wall Necropolis , placeofbu ...

in 1991.

Azerbaijani Armed Forces

He joined the Azerbaijani Army on 1 February 1992. After its creation on 3 March 1992, Sadikov became the first commander of the 1st Army Corps. He led the corps during the failed

Battle of Kalbajar The Battle of Kalbajar took place in March and April 1993, during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. It resulted in the capture of the Kalbajar District of Azerbaijan by Armenian military forces. Kalbajar lies outside the contested enclave of t ...

. On 2 November 1993, he was appointed as Chief of the General Staff. Up until his dismissal, he was the longest serving chief of defence in the

Commonwealth of Independent States The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an area of and has an estimated population of 239,796,010. ...

. Sadikov was a member of the Commission on National Security Policies which prepares and develops documents on national security concepts, foreign policy strategies and military doctrines of Azerbaijan Republic. According to the Presidential Decree No. 858 from June 24, 2005 he was promoted to the rank of Colonel General.

Criticisms

His critics allege that Sadikov, who despite being ethnically Azeri, does not know the

Azerbaijani language Azerbaijani () or Azeri (), also referred to as Azeri Turkic or Azeri Turkish, is a Turkic language from the Oghuz sub-branch spoken primarily by the Azerbaijani people, who live mainly in the Republic of Azerbaijan where the North Azerbaija ...

because he was born in

Dagestan Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North C ...

, and therefore all documents on his desk are first translated from Azerbaijani into Russian by special services. In early October 2020, Azeri press circles spread rumors on the arrest of Sadikov, who was accused of treason. Investigators claimed that he was recruited by the Russian special services through a nephew in Russia. Later, this information was refuted, and the media reported that Sadikov was sidelined at the beginning of the

2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict in 2020 that took place in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenian-occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, the surrounding territories. It was a major escalation of ...

due to his dissatisfaction with the widespread presence of the

Turkish Armed Forces The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF; tr, Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri, TSK) are the military forces of the Republic of Turkey. Turkish Armed Forces consist of the General Staff, the Land Forces, the Naval Forces and the Air Forces. The current Chi ...

in the administrative level of the Azerbaijani military. He has also been accused of having a good relationship with Armenian officials, with many pointing to a photo of Sadikov and Armenian general

Mikael Harutyunyan Mikael Harutyuni Harutyunyan ( hy, Միքաել Հարությունի Հարությունյան; born 10 February 1946) was the 7th Defence Minister of Armenia from 4 April 2007 until 14 April 2008. From 14 April 2008 to 24 May 2018, he has serv ...

laughing at a

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

summit in 2008 as a reason to be distrustful of Sadikov.

Protests against him

During the

July 2020 Azerbaijani protests The 2020 Azerbaijani protests, also known within Azerbaijan as the Karabakh March (), were series of civil protests from 12 to 15 July in various cities and towns in Azerbaijan. They erupted during the Armenian–Azerbaijani border clashe ...

, the protesters chanted slogans "Najmaddin resign". The demonstrators demanded his resignation due to him being suspected of acting as a

sleeper agent A sleeper agent, also called sleeper cell, is a spy who is placed in a target country or organization not to undertake an immediate mission but to act as a potential asset if activated. Even if unactivated, the "sleeper agent" is still an asset ...

for the

Armenian Army The Armed Forces of Armenia ( hy, Հայաստանի զինված ուժեր, Hayastani zinvats uzher), sometimes referred to as the Armenian Army ( hy, Հայկական Բանակ, Haykakan Banak), is the national military of Armenia. It consist ...

, in which he leaked the coordinates of General

Polad Hashimov Polad Israyil oghlu Hashimov ( az, Polad İsrayıl oğlu Həşimov; 2 January 1975 – 14 July 2020) was an Azerbaijani military officer, National Hero of Azerbaijan and a major general who served as the Deputy Commander and the Chief of Staff ...

during mini skirmishes that month. Sadigov served as a pallbearer at his funeral.

Dismissal and missing

On 28 January 2021, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry confirmed the dismissal of Sadikov, saying that he no longer serves in the Azerbaijani army. It was earlier reported that he had serious health problems and underwent open-heart surgery in Moscow. Later, his name was removed from the official website of the ministry. During Azerbaijan's military offensive against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh Najmeddin Sadikov disappeared and hasn't been seen since.

Agil Abbas Agil Magomed oğlu Abbas ( az, Aqil Məhəmməd oğlu Abbasov) is a deputy of National Assembly of Azerbaijan and a member of Azerbaijan Writers Union since 1986. Biography Abbas was born in Kolalı, Agjabadi on 1 April 1953. In 1955, when he wa ...

, deputy of the National Assembly of Azerbaijan, believes that Sadikov is under house arrest. Official information has not been published. Fuad Shahbaz, a Baku-based political and military analyst, said, that "The state wants a quiet solution to this and for people to forget about it."

Awards

Sadikov has received numerous awards, among them: *

Veten Ughrunda Medal Veten is a mountain in the city of Bergen, Norway. At above sea level, it is the highest mountain in Åsane borough, and the ninth-highest in Bergen. The name is an archaic word for "beacon" in Norwegian. See also *List of mountains of Norway ...

(2003) * Vetene Xidmete Gore Order 3rd degree (2007) * Herbi Xidmete Gore Medal (2009) *

Azerbaijani Army 100th anniversary medal Medal “100th anniversary of the Azerbaijani army” ( az, Azərbaycan Ordusunun 100 illiyi (1918–2018) medalı) is a state award of Azerbaijan dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijani army The Azerbaijani Armed Forces ( az, A ...

(2018)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sadikov, Najmeddin Azerbaijani generals Azerbaijani military personnel of the Nagorno-Karabakh War Azerbaijani people of Dagestani descent Ministers of Defense of Azerbaijan Living people 1956 births People from Derbent Chiefs of General Staff of Azerbaijani Armed Forces Recipients of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic 100th anniversary medal