Cengiz Mustafayev

Cengiz Mustafayev — Biography

Cengiz Mustafayev (known in Azerbaijani as Çingiz Fuad oğlu Mustafayev) was an independent Azerbaijani journalist and war correspondent. A physician by original profession, with no formal training in journalism, he is known as the reporter who recorded the early stage of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War on video. After his death he was given the title National Hero of Azerbaijan.

He studied at Azerbaijan Medical University, graduated in 1983 and practised medicine for three years. In 1983 he also produced Azerbaijan's first hip hop record, and he is described as a DJ as well. From 1991 he worked as a reporter at Azerbaijan State Television and contributed to the development of national television. When the war in Karabakh began he went to the front and prepared many reports from the war zone. He founded an independent news studio, "215 kl", where he put his reports together, and its work appeared on leading news agencies and television channels in the United States and Europe.

Internationally he is best known for the footage he shot in Khojaly in 1992. On 15 June 1992 he died in Karabakh, near the village of Nakhchivanik, while filming.