Bahodir Abdurazzoqov

Bahodir Abbosovich Abdurazzoqov (Russian: Bakhadyr Abdurazakov) was a Soviet and Uzbek diplomat and a candidate of historical sciences. He was born in Tashkent on 12 July 1927 and died in 2006. From 1980 to 1985 he was Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Uzbek SSR.

He studied history at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (1945–1950), qualifying as an international historian and a referent-translator for the United States. From 1951 to 1954 he took his postgraduate course there and defended a candidate’s dissertation on British and American policy in Iran in 1941–1947; a monograph on the same subject was published in 1959 by the state publishing house of the Uzbek SSR.

His career ran through the Party apparatus and the diplomatic service. In 1963–1966 he headed the department of science, culture and educational institutions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan. In 1966–1970 he represented the USSR in Cairo at the Permanent Secretariat of the Afro-Asian People’s Solidarity Organization. He then served as counsellor at Soviet embassies, in Bangladesh (1974–1977) and Afghanistan (1977–1980).

In 1980 he became minister of foreign affairs of the Uzbek SSR and held the post until 1985. In 1985–1986 he then headed the department of information and foreign relations of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan.

From 24 December 1985 to 8 February 1989 he was Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the USSR to Somalia.

He was a member of the Auditing Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan (1966–1971 and 1981–1986) and a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Uzbek SSR (1971–1975 and 1985–1990). He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour.