Ziya Bunyadov

Bunyadov researched ancient and medieval Azerbaijani historiography, specializing in Caucasian Albania and Azerbaijan during the Arab caliphate rule, concentrating on events from the 7th–19th centuries AD. In different areas, Bunyadov's work has met severe criticism. According to journalist Thomas de Waal:

On February 21, 1997, Bunyadov was murdered at the entrance to his apartment in Baku. Though the official state investigation placed the responsibility on a group of Islamic extremists, many of whom received life sentences, the culprits and circumstances of Bunyadov's murder remained mysterious. According to John W. Parker, chief of the Division for Caucasus and Central Asia within the U.S. State Department, Bunyadov's murderers were trained in Iran. He was buried at the Alley of Honor.

Bunyadov is also known for his article, "Why Sumgait?", on the 1988 ethnic riots in the town of Sumgait. Thomas de Waal calls Bunyadov "Azerbaijan’s foremost Armenophobe," and says, "Buniatov concluded that the Sumgait pogroms had been planned by the Armenians themselves in order to discredit Azerbaijan and boost the Armenian nationalist cause." (see Sumgait pogrom#Conspiracy theories).

According to Russian historian Victor Schnirelmann, Bunyadov "purposefully tried 'to clear' the territories of modern Azerbaijan from the presence of Armenian history". "Another way is to underestimate the presence of Armenians in ancient and medieval Transcaucasia and to belittle their role by reprinting antique and medieval sources with denominations and replacements of the 'Armenian state' term to 'the Albanian state' or with other distortions of original texts. In the 1960s to 1990s there were many such reprintings of primary sources in Baku, where academician Z.M. Bunyadov was actively engaged".

After the war, Bunyadov graduated from the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies and in 1954 defended his doctorate dissertation. He returned to Baku and started working at the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Azerbaijan SSR. Here he progressed from the position of research associate to chief scientist, head of the Institute of History, corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences and then finally full academician and vice-president of the Academy of Sciences. He was the author and editor of numerous monographs, books, and articles on the history of Caucasus.

Ziya Bunyadov was awarded the Soviet Union's highest military honor, Hero of the Soviet Union, for his actions in the battle over a bridge on Pilica river in Poland on January 14, 1945, resulting in 100 enemy fatalities and 45 enemy prisoners taken. As well as this medal, for his participation and heroism in World War II Bunyadov was also awarded the honors Red Banner, Red Star, Alexander Nevsky, and 2nd degree Patriotic War. For a year after the end of war, he was deputy military commandant of the Pankow district of Berlin.

Ziya Musa oglu Bunyadov (Azerbaijani: Ziya Bünyadov sometimes spelled in English as Zia Buniatov or Bunyatov) (21 December 1923, Astara – 21 February 1997, Baku) was an Azerbaijani historian, academician, and Vice-President of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan. As a historian, he also headed the Institute of History of the Azerbaijani Academy of Sciences for many years. Bunyadov was a World War II veteran and Hero of the Soviet Union.

Ziya Bunyadov was born on December 21, 1923 in the town of Astara in Azerbaijan. His father, originally from Bibiheybat village of Baku, was a customs officer and, due to his work, the Bunyadov family changed their residence several times. After finishing secondary school in Goychay in 1939, he joined Baku Military School. In 1942 he was sent to World War II to fight on the Caucasus Front, near the town of Mozdok. Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Star), the official newspaper of the Soviet Army, wrote about Bunyadov in 1942: "sly, swift as a tiger, the intelligence officer Ziya Bunyadov, who under improbable conditions, in the most complex situation could clearly orient himself, bring precise data about the number, armament and location of the enemy. He was valued in the battalion for his romantic soul and literary erudition" [2]. He went on to fight on the European Front and participated in the Soviet capture of Warsaw and Berlin.