American author and journalist (1954–2023)
Thomas Goltz (October 11, 1954 – July 29, 2023) was an American author and journalist best known for his accounts of conflict in the
Caucasus region during the 1990s. He spent 15 years in and around
Turkey and the
Caucasus .
[1]
Career
He directed and co-produced a documentary for Global Vision's Rights and Wrongs program
[2] which was a finalist in the
Rory Peck Award for excellence in television journalism in 1996
[3]
[1]
[4]
Goltz has written news for most leading
US publications, including the
New York Times , the
Los Angeles Times ,
Wall Street Journal and the
Washington Post . In-depth articles have appeared in
Foreign Policy magazine,
The National Interest ,
The Washington Quarterly and other broad-based magazines. In electronic media, he has worked on or produced video documentaries on a variety of topics for
ABC /
Nightline ,
BBC /Correspondent and
CBS /
60 Minutes .
[5]
He became known mainly as a crisis correspondent due to coverage of the
first war between
Azerbaijan and
Armenia over
Karabakh , the war of secession in
Abkhazia from
Georgia and the separatist conflict in
Chechnya .
[1]
He spent time in
Samashki ,
Chechnya before the
massacre happened there. He made video reports about the massacre immediately afterwards. Goltz made a film out of them which was in mainstream in
US ,
UK , and even in
Russia .
[6]
On August 22, 2000, Goltz carried the symbolic “first barrel of oil” from
Baku ,
Azerbaijan with
IMZ sidecar motorcycle, to
Ceyhan , Turkey with other 25 riders. They used to future
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline route at the time. The aim was to draw attention to this mega project which symbolizes both Azerbaijan's and
Georgia 's (country) economic independence.
[7]
[8]
He lectured at most leading US universities including
Columbia ,
Georgetown ,
Berkeley ,
Northwestern ,
Princeton , etc and foreign policy-related institutes in Azerbaijan,
Canada ,
Georgia , the
United Kingdom and the United States.
[5] Other than that he was also professor in
Montana State University .
[9] In 2020, he was awarded an honorary
PhD by the
ADA University .
[10]
Personal life
Thomas Goltz was born in
Japan and raised in
North Dakota . He graduated from
New York University with an MA in
Middle East studies.
[1] He married to Hicran Oge in 1984 in
Istanbul , Turkey.
[11] Goltz were able to fluently speak
English ,
German ,
Turkish , and
Azerbaijani . He knew some
Arabic ,
Russian and
Japanese too.
[1]
[12] He died on July 29, 2023, at the age of 68 after a long illness.
[13]
[14]
[11] Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev sent a condolences message to his family and described Goltz as "great friend of Azerbaijan".
[15]
Controversy
The Armenian National Committee of Canada accused Goltz of racism in March 2009 for remarks made at a lecture allegedly sponsored by Assembly of Azerbaijani-Canadian Organizations. According to the Armenian National Committee, Goltz characterized the
Armenian inhabitants of Nagorno-Karabakh as "garlic-growing Armenians", and selectively mentioned instances of ethnic cleansing by Armenians against Azerbaijanis while omitting mention of cases of ethnic cleansing of Armenians by Azerbaijanis.
[16]
[17] [
unreliable fringe source? ]
Books
Requiem for a would-be republic (1994)
[18]
[19]
Goltz, Thomas (1998). Azerbaijan Diary: A ROGUE REPORTER'S ADVENTURES IN AN OIL-RICH, WAR-TORN POST-SOVIET REPUBLIC .
ISBN
076560244X .
[20]
Oil Odyssey (2000)
[8]
[21]
[22]
[23]
Chechnya Diary: A War Correspondent's Story of Surviving the War in Chechnya (2003)
ISBN
0312268742
[24]
[25]
Georgia Diary: A Chronicle of War and Political Chaos in the Post-Soviet Caucasus (2006)
ISBN
0765617102
[26]
Assassinating Shakespeare: Confessions of a Bard in the Bush (2006)
ISBN
0863567185
[11]
Türkiye Diary ('The Bridge'): Forty Years Of Intimate Association With A Wayward US Eurasian Ally (2020)
[27]
[28]
Zakhrafa : Memories of a disappearing Middle East (2021)
[29]
[30]
See also
References
^
a
b
c
d
e Gausan, Robert.
"Thomas Goltz - Biography" . IMDb . Archived from
the original on 2023-09-27. Retrieved 2023-09-27 .
^
"Rights and Wrongs Series: Europe, Chechnya: Russia's Human Rights Nightmare | Alexander Street, part of Clarivate" . search.alexanderstreet.com .
Archived from the original on 2023-09-27. Retrieved 2023-09-27 .
^ Goltz, Thomas (1996-12-29).
"U.S. Quietly Abandons the Kurds of Northern Iraq" . Los Angeles Times .
Archived from the original on 2023-09-27. Retrieved 2023-09-27 .
^
"News Award" . The Rory Peck Trust .
Archived from the original on 2023-06-08. Retrieved 2023-09-27 .
^
a
b
"Thomas Goltz: books, biography, latest update" . Amazon.com .
Archived from the original on 2023-09-27. Retrieved 2023-09-27 .
^
"BOOK REVIEW" . Jamestown . Retrieved 2023-12-20 .
^
"Oil Odyssey 2000" .
Azerbaijan International : 60–61. 2001.
^
a
b
"Oil Odyssey" . Amazon . Retrieved 2023-09-27 .
^
"Thomas Goltz | Pulitzer Center" . Pulitzer Center . Retrieved 2023-09-27 .
^ TheEditor (2021-06-15).
"American author Goltz: Eccentric regional icon still at it" . The Tribune . Retrieved 2023-09-27 .
^
a
b
c
"Thomas Caufield Goltz Obituary 2023" . Franzen-Davis Funeral Home, Crematory and Monument Company . Retrieved 2023-09-27 .
^ Blair, Betty (2006). "The Caucasus Trilogy Azerbaijan, Chechnya and Georgia". Azer (14): 66–67.
^
American writer Thomas Goltz who wrote about Khojaly tragedy passed away
^ Pope, Hugh (2023-08-01).
"RIP Thomas Goltz, the journalist who knew no limits" . Hugh Pope . Archived from
the original on 2023-09-27. Retrieved 2023-09-27 .
^
"To the family of Thomas Goltz" . President.az . 29 July 2023. Retrieved 29 July 2023 .
^
"ANCC: American professor made racist and derogatory remarks about Armenians" .
PanARMENIAN.Net . 10 March 2009.
Archived from the original on 4 January 2024.
^
" 'Let the garlic-growing Armenians beg to join you [Azerbaijan]' " .
Armenian Weekly . 10 March 2009.
Archived from the original on 24 October 2013. Retrieved 24 October 2013 .
^ Requiem for a would-be republic: The rise and demise of the former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan : a personal account of the years 1991-1993 . Istanbul: The Isis Press. 1994-01-01.
ISBN
978-975-428-068-5 .
^ Goltz, Thomas Caufield (1994).
Requiem for a would-be republic : the rise and demise of the former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan ; a personal account of the years 1991 - 1993 (1. publ. ed.).
ISBN
978-975-428-068-5 .
^
"Azerbaijan Diary: A Rogue Reporter's Adventures in an Oil-rich, War-torn, Post-Soviet Republic" . Amazon .
Archived from the original on 2023-09-27. Retrieved 2023-09-27 .
^ Abdel-Hassan, Mohamed Aziz (2018-01-30).
"Geopolitical dimensions to build the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the Nabucco gas pipeline to Western Europe" . International Journal of Multidisciplinary and Current Research . 6 (1).
doi :
10.14741/ijmcr.v6i01.10909 .
ISSN
2321-3124 .
^
"An Oil Odyssey" . 2021-02-07.
Archived from the original on 2023-03-26. Retrieved 2023-09-27 .
^
"Oil Odyssey by Thomas Goltz, Judy Gunderson-Muncy" . app.thestorygraph.com . Retrieved 2023-09-27 .
^
CHECHNYA DIARY | Kirkus Reviews .
^ Chechnya Diary: A War Correspondent's Story of Surviving the War in Chechnya .
ISBN
0312268742 .
^
"Georgia Diary: A Chronicle of War and Political Chaos in the Post-Soviet Caucasus" . Amazon .
Archived from the original on 2023-09-27. Retrieved 2023-09-27 .
^
"Amazon.com: Türkiye Diary ('The Bridge'): Forty Years Of Intimate Association With A Wayward US Eurasian Ally eBook : Goltz, Thomas: Kindle Store" . Amazon .
Archived from the original on 2023-09-27.
^ Chaffetz, David (2020-11-30).
" "Türkiye Diary (The Bridge): Forty Years Of Intimate Association With A Wayward US Eurasian Ally" by Thomas Goltz" .
Archived from the original on 2022-11-25. Retrieved 2023-09-27 .
^
Zakhrafa : Memories of a disappearing Middle East . New Silk Road LLC / Publishing. 2021-09-01.
^
"Zakhrafa" . 2021-08-29. Retrieved 2023-09-27 .
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