Fazail Agamali, the founding leader of Azerbaijan’s Motherland Party and a long-serving member of the National Assembly, died Feb. 9, 2026, following an undisclosed illness. He was 78.
Agamali served as a Member of the National Assembly from 1995 until 2024. He established the Motherland Party in 1990 and remained its chairman for 36 years. Earlier in his political career, he served as the deputy and acting minister of labour and social protection of the population between 1992 and 1994.
Born in the Sisian district of the Armenian SSR in 1947, Agamali was a historian and professor who held a Doctor of Sciences degree. While studying at Baku State University in the late 1960s, he joined a secret student organization that sought independence for Azerbaijan. These activities led to KGB monitoring of his movements during the early 1970s.
Agamali balanced his political life with an academic career, lecturing at Nakhchivan State University and the Azerbaijan Technological University. He received several high-level state honors, including the Shohrat Order in 2017 and the For Service to the Fatherland Order in 2022.