US Montana State newspaper "Bozeman Daily Chronicle" has published an article by Azerbaijani Ambassador to the United Kingdom Elin Suleymanov commemorating an outstanding journalist, writer, publicist and a great friend of Azerbaijan Thomas Goltz.
The article reads: "Thomas Goltz was well-known in Azerbaijan, so when the news of his passing on July 29 hit, the response was genuine sadness and feeling of losing a friend even if Thomas’ home is literally half the way across the globe.
Since early ’90s, when Goltz first arrived on the shores of the Caspian Sea to witness and document the brutality of war in his brilliant Azerbaijan Diary, he had indeed become a part of a new and growing nation in its first years of independence. Thomas stayed with us through most difficult days and filed media reports to wake up the indifferent world to the tragedy unfolding before his eyes. He then witnessed Azerbaijan’s rebirth under the leadership of his friend, the late President Heydar Aliyev, and he let a sigh of relief every time he saw Azerbaijan stand firmer and firmer on its feet. In a sense, Azerbaijan was his nation as much as ours.
Loud-speaking in his mix of Azerbaijani and Turkish, bold, mustachioed and wearing his characteristic shirt and suit, Thomas was impossible to miss and he did not intend to be missed. He had friends and knew more people in Azerbaijan than a regular Azerbaijani does. He was clearly a Montana man too, a hunter and a grilled game enthusiast, uncompromising free spirit uncomfortable in big cities and very much at home in the mountains and open spaces.
A decade later, Thomas introduced me to Montana’s unmatched beauty as we travelled all around the Big Sky state from Missoula to Bozeman and from Yellowstone to Salmon Lake to the Blackfoot reservation to Butte and Continental Divide to his home in Livingston. As Azerbaijan’s first Consul-General in Los Angeles, I worked with Thomas in his new role as “Professor Goltz” to establish courses on the region at both the University of Montana and Montana State. I returned to Montana frequently because just as Thomas felt at home in the Caucasus, he made me feel at home under the big sky.
One could envy Thomas’ students — in addition to his truly encyclopedic knowledge, he brought the world to his classroom. Not just the facts of the world but the taste and feel of it too, lived through the unique experiences of a slightly eccentric Professor Goltz.
A believing Catholic, Thomas was also very knowledgeable about Islam and taught me much about my own faith. Through his wide-ranging knowledge and experiences, he helped all of us to rediscover ourselves. Thomas had a very kind and generous heart; he enjoyed sharing more than receiving.
Throughout his life, Thomas was always a tireless advocate for justice, he persisted when even those on the receiving end of injustice would give up. Notably, this quality of Goltz is exactly what Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev highlighted speaking to Thomas at a conference in once-occupied Shusha, a city in near the Azerbaijan-Armenia border.
Thomas witnessed first-hand the tragedy of the first Armenia-Azerbaijan war, and the unbearable pain of occupation and displacement that came with it. I know, it was a blessing and relief for him to see this sad chapter close, lands devastated by war coming back to life, to visit a free Shusha and see refugees begin to return to their homes. Our shared hopes became true."
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