Safar Abiyev with U.S. Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld during a visit to
The Pentagon on 26 March 2004. Abiyev was part of the
State Commission for the funeral of Heydar Aliyev. Upon the pardon of
Ramil Safarov, Abiyev promoted Safarov to the rank of major, provided him with an apartment and over eight years of back pay. He commanded the first parade in 16 years in 2008 to honor the 90th anniversary of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces. He went on to command two subsequent parades on
Azadliq Square.
Foreign relations Under his orders, the
Training and Education Center of the Armed Forces was established in accordance with the protocol which was signed between
Azerbaijan and the
Turkish Armed Forces in 2000. In November 2011, when the
United States Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus met President Aliyev, Abiyev was also present. Mabus later announced that the military ties between their countries would expand. In 2012, Abiyev, during a meeting in
Tehran with Iranian Defense Minister
Ahmad Vahidi, declared that "No threat will be made against Iran from Azerbaijan's territory and we will not help the enemies of the Islamic Republic of Iran under any circumstances." According to materials published by Wikileaks in December 2010, Abiyev claimed that in January 2009 during his visit to
Moscow, the Russian defence minister
Anatoliy Serdyukov had unofficially admitted to Russian weapon transfers to
Armenia, although it officially was denied.
Downfall In early 2013, he came under criticism from demonstrators during the
Baku protests, after Azerbaijani Army soldier Ceyhun Qubadov was found dead on 7 January. It was first reported that the cause of death was heart attack. However, Qubadov's family asked for an investigation as they believed he was murdered. Hundreds of protesters gathered at the Fountains Square with slogans such as "Stop killing our soldiers" and "You must answer to us." Immediately after the internal investigation, Abiyev was fired by the order of President
Ilham Aliyev. Later that year, his successor
Zakir Hasanov visited the
2nd Army Corps, which was considered the Abiyev's "fortress". During the visit, he announced changes in the leadership structures, including the promotion of about 50 officers who were neglected during Abiyev's tenure. == Post-military ==