jamil hasanli was born january 15 1952 in azerbaijan he graduated with a history degree from baku state university in 1975 in 1984 he finished his phd and he served as a professor at bsu in 19932011 and a professor at khazar university in 20112013 he was advisor to the president of azerbaijan in 1993 and served two terms as a member of parliament of azerbaijan in 20002010 professor hasanli was presidential candidate from the national council of democratic forces of azerbaijan in october 2013 he was a history and public policy scholar of the woodrow wilson international center in 2011hasanli is the author of 28 books published in azerbaijan russia usa turkey iran and other countries two of his monographs were published in the harvard cold war studies book series at the dawn of the cold war the soviet american crisis over iranian azerbaijan 19411946 rowman and littlefield publishers 2006 stalin and the turkish crisis of the cold war 19451953 lexington books 2011 his books the khrushchev thaw and national question in azerbaijan 19541959 moscow 2009 foreign policy of azerbaijan in the soviet period 19201939 baku 2012 and moscow 2013 and ali mardan bey topchibashov life for the idea 18631934 baku 2013 and moscow 2014 raw heavily upon information from newly opened archiveshasanlis new book foreign policy of the republic of azerbaijan 19181920 the difficult road to western integration me sharpe new york 2014 narrates the tumultuous path of the first azerbaijan republic toward winning international recognition based on the archived documents of several countries the author reconstructs a vivid image of the azeri political elites quest for nationhood after the collapse of the russian colonial system with a particular focus on the liberation of baku from bolshevik factions relations with regional neighbors and the arduous road to recognition of azerbaijans independence by the paris peace conference the author provides valuable insights into the history of the south caucasus region and the dynamics of the postworld war i era