Ali Karimli

Who is Ali Karimli?

Ali Karimli born Ali Amirhuseyn oglu Karimov is an Azeri politician and the head of the reformist wing of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party.

Karimli was born in the Saatli region of southeastern Azerbaijan. After military service in the Soviet army in 1985, he studied law at the Baku State University. During his studies he established and headed the Yurd movement which supported democratic reforms. In November 1988, Yurd, supported by intellectuals, organized student meetings in Baku to protest the communist regime. Special units of the security services were used to suppress the demonstrations. Like other Azerbaijani nationalists, Karimov changed his name erasing the Russian ending -ov and became Əli Kərimli.

In July 1989 Karimli led Yurd into the newly created Popular Front of Azerbaijan movement. He headed a party cell at his university and participated in the creation of the movement's charter.

In 1991, after receiving his diploma, he started working as a teacher in the Baku State University Law Department. At the same time, Karimli worked as a correspondent with the independent Azadlıq newspaper.