Elmira Gafarova

Elmira Mikayil gizi Gafarova[alt 1] (1 March 1934 – 1 August 1993) was an Azerbaijani politician and diplomat.

While in foreign service, she participated in UN General Assembly sessions in October 1984 on issues of racism and discrimination.

[3] When she was the speaker of parliament, Gafarova played a significant role in restoring the historic name of Ganja on 30 December 1989, and made the Nowruz holiday celebrated throughout Azerbaijan an official public holiday on 13 March 1990.

The session of 160 deputies issued a statement of condemnation of the massacre and appealed to Supreme Soviet of USSR, Supreme Soviets of union republics, all parliaments of the world and United Nations mentioning military aggression against civilians in disregard of Geneva and Vienna Conventions.

[2] As a result, Azerbaijani General Prosecutor's Office launched a criminal investigation on paragraphs 4 and 6 of article 94 (premeditated murder in aggravating circumstances), 149 (deliberately destroying or damaging the property), 168 (abuse of power) and 225 (abuse of authority) of the Criminal Code that was effective at that time.