[2] Elchibey declined to call his supporters into the streets to confront Huseynov's army, as he feared that this would embroil Azerbaijan into a conflict akin to Georgian Civil War.
[1] After serving in the army in 1977–1979 and later graduating from the Leninabad Technological Institute,[6] Surat Huseynov worked as a plumber, a warehouse employee and an assistant operator at the Kirovabad Textile Factory.
In winter 1992–1993, when at the time Azerbaijani Minister of Defence Rahim Gaziyev ordered troops out of Haterk (a village near Mardakert), Huseynov relocated his detachments to Ganja and refused to disband them.
[9] At the end of May 1993 the last sub-units of the 104th Division left Azerbaijan, eventually to be relocated to Ulyanovsk in Russia, but handed over all their arms and military equipment to Huseynov.
[1] After the remaining Soviet turned Russian troops left Ganja on 28 May 1993, President Abulfaz Elchibey initiated a military operation called Tufan aimed at arresting Huseynov and disarming his detachments.
Elchibey deployed 4,000 troops led by Minister of Defence Dadash Rzayev, Commander of Internal Forces Fahmin Hajiyev and Attorney General Ikhtiyar Shirinov to Ganja.
Surat Huseynov demanded that Ikhtiyar Shirinov signed a warrant for President Elchibey's arrest on grounds of conspiracy, murder, and abuse of power, which was exercised immediately.
Heydar Aliyev who had just returned to Baku from Nakhchivan City and was elected Chairman of the Supreme Council of Azerbaijan on 15 June, was subsequently voted to take over presidency in the country.
On 5 October 1994, riot squads reportedly accompanied by Huseynov's units attempted a coup d'état, supported by the military, against Aliyev, which was immediately suppressed.
[11] On 31 July 2023, Huseynov, who was suffering from stomach and kidney problems, travelled to Istanbul, Turkey on a flight from Moscow, to seek medical treatment.