The elder Aliev had no qualms about employing a man who had served his two predecessors. He entrusted Guluzade to be his main interlocutor with the growing foreign diplomatic corps and the media.

I first met Guluzade at a press briefing in 1995—this was an era when the country still had a more or less independent press. He was masterful. He took questions about the country’s turn away from democracy and said, “Of course we want democracy, but it’s not realistic to expect us to build democracy like in Paris.” Asked about the routing of the projected Western export oil pipeline, he said, “I want it to go through Armenia,” inviting the Armenians to compromise on the Karabakh conflict.

He was a diplomat of the finest sort, working for what he believed to be his country’s best interests, cultivating many different relationships, personally charming, building as many bridges as he could.

As it later transpired, at the time Aliev also delegated Guluzade to be his representative in secret bilateral talks with his Armenian presidential counterpart Gerard Libaridian. The two of them met in Europe, discussed how to resolve the most vexing issue—the status of Nagorny Karabakh—and struck up a good friendly relationship. This channel was probably the most promising initiative on the conflict but unfortunately it shut down with the OSCE Lisbon summit at the end of 1996.

Guluzade resigned from the presidential administration in 1999, but, stayed on good terms with the elder President Aliev, who called on him for advice. Under the presidency of the younger Aliev, he fell out of the inner circle and lost a role. In public he made strong and less than subtle attacks on Russia.

Now, the paradox is that, for all the massive resources it now enjoys and the dozens of embassies it has round the world, Azerbaijan has never again had such an astute diplomat as Guluzade. A diplomatic resolution of the Karabakh conflict is further away than ever and no creative thinking is allowed. Relations with the West have become purely transactional, as a crackdown on pro-Western voices in the country shows no signs of ending.

Even Foreign Minister Eldar Mammadyarov, who worked in Washington and used to have good connections in the United States, made a routine anti-American speech this week, accusing certain people of conducting “an anti-Azerbaijan campaign” under “the pretext of 'protection of human rights’.”

The magic touch of a Guluzade is badly missed.