Grigory Sergeevich Shakhbazyan, a prominent Russian Arabist, a well-known expert in the field of economic and social problems of modern Iraq, a senior researcher at the Center for Arab Studies of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Candidate of Economic Sciences, died suddenly on June 2, 2007.

Grigory Sergeyevich devoted his entire life to Arabic studies. He began his introduction to this branch of knowledge as a student of the Middle East Department of the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies (MIV), from which he graduated in 1953. The acquired knowledge has created a solid foundation for successful research activities in the future. In 1959, G. S. Shahbazyan was hired at the Institute of Oriental Studies, where he completed postgraduate studies, defended his PhD thesis, and went from a novice researcher to a recognized expert on the problems of Iraq.

G. S. Shahbazyan's creative heritage includes about a hundred scientific works, including four monographs, two of which were co-authored, numerous articles, reviews, reviews, reports at scientific international, all-Union, regional conferences, and symposiums. G. S. Shahbazyan's scientific achievements have received well-deserved recognition abroad - a number of his works have been translated into Arabic and published in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon (for example, "The Role of the Public Sector in the Economy of Iraq", "State Capitalism in the Economic Development of the Republic of Iraq", etc.).

The main research interests of the researcher focused mainly on the study of a wide range of problems related to the processes of formation and development of the Iraqi economy.

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Back in the early 1960s, after joining the Department of Arab Countries of the Institute of Oriental Studies, G. S. Shahbazyan began to specialize in studying the complex socio-economic processes that took place in Iraq in those years. In the center of his attention were the most important problems of the development of Iraqi capitalism, the nationalization of the main sectors of the economy, financing and regulating the development of the national economy, and the formation of a state-capitalist system. The works of this cycle are of significant scientific importance. The result of research in this area was the fundamental monograph "The Public sector in the economy of Iraq "(Moscow, 1974). Based on the analysis of extensive and unique material collected by the author bit by bit over many years, including in Iraqi libraries and book repositories, for the first time in Russian Oriental studies, a holistic picture of the evolution of the Iraqi state-capitalist system was given and economic policy in the republican period was studied. Subsequently, this work gained fame and recognition in Arab scientific circles.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the main focus of G. S. Shahbazyan's scientific activity was an in-depth analysis of the further processes of formation of the modern national economic mechanism of Iraq. His works of these years are distinguished by their depth of theoretical approach and novelty. In them, he analyzed the most important directions, stages and problems of Iraq's economic development. Research in this area was summarized in the monograph "Peculiarities of the Economic development of the Republic of Iraq (1958-mid-1980s), which was completed in 1987. Even today, many years later, this major work remains in Russia the most comprehensive and authoritative study of the economic history of Iraq in the second half of the twentieth century.

The range of scientific interests of G. S. Shahbazyan was diverse. In addition to purely economic problems of the development of the Iraqi economy, he fruitfully studied such topics as economic and technical cooperation between the USSR and the Iraqi Republic, the development of the oil industry in Iraq, the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) and its socio - economic consequences for Iraq.

A special place in the scientific work of G. S. Shahbazyan was occupied by the study of the Kurdish problem in Iraq. In a number of his works, the main stages of the creation of a "Free Kurdistan" with the center in Erbil are highlighted, and important aspects of the existence of a "Kurdish enclave" in northern Iraq in the 70s-90s of the XX century are considered.

G. S. Shahbazyan's scientific achievements established him as one of the best experts on Ba'athist Iraq, who not only knows its economic realities, but also understands the subtleties of the political essence of the Ba'athist regime, which has always been characterized by a high level of political violence. He was one of the few who, in his speeches and works on this topic, gave an objective assessment of the Saddam Hussein regime, harshly describing its essence.

Recently, he has worked hard to study the situation in post-war Iraq, which is devoted to his latest work " Iraq after Saddam: the results of four years of occupation."

The scientific value of G. S. Shahbazyan's works is determined by the successful combination of a theoretical approach to the problem with extensive practical experience. Being a professional orientalist, whose entire activity since his student days was connected with the Arab region, Grigory Sergeevich, who speaks English, Arabic and Persian, has always been in demand as a high-level specialist.

For many years, he conducted scientific and organizational work as a scientific secretary of the Department of Arab Countries. For a number of years, he was a trade union specialist of the department, deputy chairman of the trade union committee of the Institute. Since 1966, G. S. Shahbazyan was a member of the central board of the Society of Soviet-Iraqi Friendship (now the Society of Friendship with Iraq), and in 1999 he was elected Vice-president of the Committee for Scientific, Cultural and Business Cooperation with Iraq.

G. S. Shahbazyan always combined his scientific work with educational and scientific-pedagogical activities. He often gave lectures to student audiences, and also trained both Russian and Iraqi graduate students who successfully defended their PhD theses on modern problems in Iraq. He was concerned about the fate of Russian Arabic studies, he was concerned that with his departure the Russian tradition of Iraqi studies would not be interrupted, but would receive further qualitative development in the works of a new generation of Arabists, in the preparation of which he tried to take an active part.

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Grigory Sergeevich's scientific work is characterized by originality and originality, scientific conscientiousness and painstaking search, careful study of primary sources and focus on identifying the essence of scientific problems. With all his fruitful activity in the field of service to science, G. S. Shahbazyan made a great contribution to the development of Russian Arabic studies, to which he devoted his entire life.

The bright image of this decent, sympathetic and dedicated person will always remain in our memory.

COLLEAGUES AND FRIENDS

MAIN SCIENTIFIC WORKS OF G. S. SHAHBAZYAN*

Kuwait-Saudi neutral zone / / Short reports of the Institute of Peoples of Asia. 58. Arab collection, Moscow, 1962, pp. 89-94.

Industry. pp. 65-87; Transport. pp. 87-93; Communications. p. 93 - 94 // Modern Iraq, Moscow, 1966.

The development of state capitalism in Iraq on the eve of the revolution of July, 1988 // problems of Economics and history of the countries of the Middle East. M., 1966. Pp. 73 - 90.

Рец. на кн.: Alnasrawi A. Financing Economic Development in Iraq / The Role Oil in Middle Eastern Economy/New York: Preager, 1967 //New Books Abroad on Social Sciences, Moscow, 1968, N 1, pp. 11-15.

Socio-economic results of the USSR's aid to Iraq. Special Bulletin, Moscow, 1969, N11 / 102, pp. 135-163.

State economic policy and agriculture in Iraq // Gosudarstvenno-kapitalisticheskiy ustroad v stranakh Vostoka [State-capitalist way of Life in the countries of the East]. Moscow, 1972, pp. 137-140.

State capitalism in the economic development of the Republic of Iraq (1958 - 1968) // Economic policy and state capitalism in the East. M., 1972. Pp. 69 - 104.

The development of the national industry in Iraq // USSR. Special Bulletin, Moscow, 1972, N 2/130/, pp. 87-109.

State capitalism in the economic development of the Republic of Iraq. Damascus: Dar Dimashk Publ., 1973. 60 p. - In Arabic.

Public Sector in the Economy of Iraq, Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1974, 263 p. (USSR Academy of Sciences. Institute of Oriental Studies). Bibliogr.: pp. 250-262. The same in Arabic.

Activities of Western capital in Iraq // Foreign capital and foreign entrepreneurship in the countries of Asia and Africa, Moscow, 1977, pp. 212-226.

Conference of Arabists of the USSR and GDR / / Peoples of Asia and Africa. 1977. N 3. pp. 164-169.

The role of the public sector in the Iraqi economy. Baghdad: University Press, 1977. 316 p. - In Arabic.

Problems of socio-economic development in Iraq // Aktual'nye problemy stran Arabskogo Vostoka i Severnaya Afrika [Actual problems of the Arab East and North Africa], Moscow, 1977, pp. 269-284.

The role of oil in the socio-economic development of Iraq // Petrodollars and socio-economic development of the countries of the Middle East. M., 1979. Pp. 152 - 162. Ditto: An-Naft wat-tanmiyat. Baghdad. 1980. N 4-In Arabic.

Resursy ekonomicheskogo razvitiya stran Asii i Afrika [Resources of Economic development of Asian and African countries], Moscow, 1979, author's article: Using water resources of Iraq for the development of the national economy, pp. 114-124; Oil and gas resources of Iraq and their use for the development of the national economy, pp. 218-233.

Yerevan Forum of Arabists / / Peoples of Asia and Africa. 1980. N 1. Pp. 147-152. (Signed: Grishin G. S.)

K voprosu o tendentsiyakh v izmenenii sotsial'noi struktury naseleniya Irakii v 70-e gg. [On the issue of trends in changing the social structure of the population of Iraq in the 1970s]. Yerevan, 1980. pp. 103-110.

The Iraqi-Iranian military conflict of 1980-1982, Moscow, 1983. (sovm. with others)

Influence of oil revenues on socio-economic processes in Iraq / / Arab countries: Oil and Differentiation, Moscow, 1984, pp. 217-229 (together with S. A. Alitovsky).

Osnovnye etapy deyatel'nosti natsional'noi bourzhuazii v Irakke posle revolyutsii 1958 g. [The main stages of the national bourgeoisie's activity in Iraq after the 1958 revolution].

Economic development of Kuwait - the most important problems and prospects for their solution / / Arab countries: history, economy, politics. Moscow, 1986. pp. 86-102.

Iraq in the system of international economic relations / / Problems of modern Soviet Arabic Studies. Yerevan, 1988, issue 1, pp. 269-276.

International Seminar "Class Struggle and social development of Arab and African countries" / / Peoples of Asia and Africa. 1988. N 5. pp. 156-159.

* Comp. by I. H. Minyazhetdinov.

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Rossiya i problemy kurdov [Russia and the problems of the Kurds]. Obozrevatel-observer, Moscow, 1993, No. 21(25).

K voprosu o strategii ekonomicheskogo razvitiya malykh nefteeksportiruyushchikh stran Araviyskogo peninsulrova [On the strategy of economic development of small oil exporting countries of the Arabian Peninsula]. Basra. 1982. Vol. 14. N 2. - In Arabic.

Osobennosti ekonomicheskogo razvitiya Irakskoi Respubliki (1958 - mid-1980s) [Features of the economic development of the Iraqi Republic (1958-mid-1980s)]. Institute of Oriental Studies, Moscow, 1996, 280 p. (Manuscript of dep. INION RAS No. 51900 dated 25.09.96).

UN sanctions and their consequences / / Asia and Africa Today. 1996. N 3. pp. 21-25.

Iraq after the operation "Storm in the Desert" / / Arab countries: politics and Economy. Moscow, 1997. Issue 3. pp. 100-110.

Economic and social consequences for Iraq of the armed conflict with Iran (1980-1988) / / Arab countries of West Asia and North Africa, Moscow, 1997, pp. 147-159.

The Kurdish problem and its foreign policy aspects Regional conflicts in Asia and North Africa. M., 1997. P. 75 - 86.

On the minefield / / Asia and Africa today. 1998. N 2. pp. 19-22.

Book review: Iraq under Siegehe Deadly Impact of Sanctions and War. Cambridge, 2000 // East (Oriens). 2002. N 3. From 192-196.

Review of the book: Tripp Ch. A History of Iraq. L., 2002 / / Voprosy istorii. 2004. N 4. pp. 171-173.

The policy of Saddam Hussein's regime against the Sunni Arabs of Iraq // scientific notes of the Center for Arab studies. M., 2006. Vol. 4. Pp. 197 - 202.

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