Azerbaijan Diary: A Rogue Reporter's Adventures in an Oil-Rich, War-Torn, Post-Soviet Republic.

• Author: Schupp, Robert A.
• Position: Review

Azerbaijan Diary: A Rogue Reporter's Adventures in an Oil-Rich, War-Torn, Post-Soviet Republic

Thomas Goltz (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe Press, 1998) 496 pp.

Thomas Goltz's Azerbaijan Diary is a fascinating account of Azerbaijan's path from the end of the Soviet era to the ceremonious day in 1997 when President Heydar Aliyev turned on the petroleum flow from the Chirag-1 Caspian platform, ushering his country into the modern energy age. It is worthwhile reading for those interested in the Caucasus region, ethnic war or the difficulties facing a newly-reformed state--and an absolutely necessary work for anyone thinking about joining the Baku-as-oil-boomtown rush currently en vogue. Originally published in 1994 as Requiem for a Would-Be Republic, the book focuses mainly on the tumultuous period between Goltz's arrival in Baku in the summer of 1991 and his departure in late 1994, with a lengthy description of his return in November 1997.

During his time in Azerbaijan, Goltz witnessed the trepidation that Azeris felt with the end of the Soviet Union: the seemingly endless coups that took place in Baku, the ubiquitous corruption of Azeri officials and the horrors of Azerbaijan's war with Armenia over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Azerbaijan Diary is a chronological, journalistic account of his personal experiences in Azerbaijan, with each chapter based on the author's often dangerous adventures throughout Azerbaijan and Armenia, Georgia, Iran and Chechnya. Because the Caucasus region is so complicated, Goltz claims that he can write only about things he has witnessed first hand. This methodology, which Goltz calls "History as Contact Journalism," has the author being beaten up by Azeri police, barely escaping Armenian shells dropped on the town of Xodjali and throwing a temper tantrum to get onto the Chirag-1 oil platform.

Goltz was the first Western journalist to live in Azerbaijan. He speaks Turkish, a language close to Azeri, and allowed himself to "get bumped around a bit." As a result, he obtained unusually open access to a number of political and military actors while becoming somewhat of a local hero in the country. During President Aliyev's rise to power, for instance, Goltz badgered Aliyev on live television by repeatedly asking a question that clearly made Aliyev uncomfortable. Visibly shaken, the future president nervously referred to Goltz by his first name and eventually gave an evasive answer. Later, Goltz was congratulated on...