Advisory Council - Baku Dialogues Journal

H.E. Dr. Hafiz Pashayev

Chairperson of the Baku Dialogues Editorial Advisory Council. He has been serving as Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan and founding Rector of ADA University (formerly Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy) since 2006. He previously served as the inaugural Ambassador of Azerbaijan to the United States (1993‑2006). At the time of his appointment, he was Director of the Metal Physics Laboratory at the Physics Institute of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, where he had been employed in various positions since receiving an undergraduate degree in physics from Baku State University in 1964. He received his doctorate in physics from Baku State University in 1984, having previously received an advanced degree in 1971 from the Kurchatov Research Institute of Atomic Energy in Moscow, on the basis of which he was awarded a prestigious post‑graduate research fellowship at the University of California at Irvine (1975‑1976). He is the author of two major books, Racing Up the Hill and Manifesto of an Ambassador.

Mr. Nasimi Aghayev

A member of the Baku Dialogues Editorial Advisory Council, Consul General of Azerbaijan in Los Angeles, and Dean of its consular corps. He previously held diplomatic postings in Washington, DC (2010‑2012), Berlin (2005‑2008), and Vienna (2000‑2003). A former Visiting Scholar at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto (2009), he has been trained at the Vienna Diplomatic Academy and holds a degree in European law (LL.M) from the Europa‑Institut of Saarland University in addition to degrees in international relations (M.A., B.A.) from Baku State University. He is a former Editor‑in‑Chief of the Caucasian Review of International Affairs.

H.E. Mr. Hikmet Çetin

A member of the Baku Dialogues Editorial Advisory Council. He served as NATO Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan (2003‑2006), Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (1997‑1999), Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey on two occasions (1995, 1978‑1979), and Foreign Minister of Turkey (1991‑1994). He holds a degree in development economics (M.A.) from Williams College and one in economics (B.A.) from Ankara University. He has been a member of the Global Leadership Foundation since 2013.

H.E. Mr. Tedo Japaridze

A member of the Baku Dialogues Editorial Advisory Council and Vice Chairman for International Relations of the Ankalia Development Consortium. Previous positions include: Chairperson of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Parliament of Georgia (2012‑2016), Co‑Director of the Energy Security Research Center at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy (2011‑2012), Alternate Director General of the International Center for Black Sea Studies (2007‑2011), Public Policy Scholar at the Wilson Center (2006), Secretary General of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation–BSEC (2004‑5), Foreign Minister of Georgia (2003‑2004), National Security Adviser to the President of Georgia (2002‑2003), and Ambassador of Georgia to the United States (1994‑2002).

Prof. Dr. Jeffrey Sachs

A member of the Baku Dialogues Editorial Advisory Council, University Professor and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, SDG Advocate for UN Secretary‑General António Guterres, and Commissioner of the UN Broadband Commission for Development. From 2001‑2018, he served as Special Advisor to three consecutive UN Secretaries‑General (Kofi Annan, 2001‑2007; Ban Ki‑moon, 2008‑2016; and António Guterres, 2017‑2018). He served as Director of the Earth Institute from 2002 to 2016, having spent over twenty years as a professor at Harvard University, most recently as the Galen L. Stone Professor of International Trade. He received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees at Harvard and has authored and edited numerous books, including several New York Times bestsellers. In 2019, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in public policy and economics from ADA University.

H.E. Mr. Sodik Safayev

A member of the Baku Dialogues Editorial Advisory Council. He is First Deputy Chairman of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis of Uzbekistan, a position he has held since 2016, and a former Chairman of its Foreign Policy Committee. He has been a member of the Senate since its establishment in 2005. He twice served as Foreign Minister of Uzbekistan (2003‑2005, 1993) and twice as Ambassador of Uzbekistan (to the United States, 1996‑2001; to Germany, 1993‑1996). In 2002‑2003, he was Special Representative of the President of Uzbekistan to Afghanistan and in 1996 he served as State Adviser to the President of Uzbekistan. In 1995, he served as Rector of the University of World Economy and Diplomacy.

Prof. Dr. Samad Seyidov

A member of the Baku Dialogues Editorial Advisory Council. He has been a member of the National Assembly (Milli Mejlis) of Azerbaijan since 2001 and is currently Chairman of the Committee on International Relations and Inter‑parliamentary Relations of the National Assembly of Azerbaijan, Chairman of the Azerbaijan‑U.S. Interparliamentary Working Group, and Head of Azerbaijan’s Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. A professor at the Azerbaijan University of Languages since 1999 who also served as its rector (2000‑2015), he is the author of more than 150 scientific books, monographs, and articles. He was awarded a degree in psychology from Leningrad State University (now Saint Petersburg State University) in 1986 and two doctorates in psychology (in 1989 and 1994).

Prof. Dr. S. Frederick Starr

A member of the Baku Dialogues Editorial Advisory Council and Chairman of the Central Asia‑Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program, a research and policy center affiliated with the American Foreign Policy Council and the Institute for Security and Development Policy in Stockholm. He is also Distinguished Fellow for Eurasia at the American Foreign Policy Institute and served for many years as Research Professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Previous positions include: President of the Aspen Institute (1994‑1996), President of Oberlin College (1983‑1994), Vice‑President for Academic Affairs of Tulane University (1979‑1982), and co‑founder and Chairman of the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute (1974‑1979). He served as an advisor on Soviet affairs to U.S. President Ronald Reagan (1985‑1986) and U.S. President George H.W. Bush (1990‑1992). He holds a Ph.D. in history from Princeton University, an MA from King’s College, Cambridge, and a BA from Yale University. He is a trustee of ADA University and Nazarbayev University. He holds five honorary doctorates, including an honorary doctorate in the humanities from ADA University (2014).

Mr. S. Enders Wimbush

A member of the Baku Dialogues Editorial Advisory Council, President of StrateVarious, and Distinguished Senior Fellow at The Jamestown Foundation. Previous positions include: Senior Director for Foreign Policy and Civil Society of the German Marshall Fund of the United States (2011‑2012), Governor of the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors (2010‑2012), Senior Vice President for International Programs and Policy at the Hudson Institute (2004‑2010), and Director of Radio Liberty (1987‑1993). In the private sector, he served at Booz Allen Hamilton and Science Applications International, directing analyses of future security environments for both government and corporate clients (1996‑2004). He also founded and directed the Society for Central Asian Studies in Oxford (1980‑1987) and served as an analyst of Soviet affairs at the Rand Corporation (1976‑1980). He was awarded an M.A. from the University of Chicago’s Committee on International Relations and a B.A. in history from the University of Massachusetts at Boston.