He was born in the village Khanlyglar in the family of Hadji aga Dilbazi. He spent his childhood in very severe conditions living with his family in exile at the coast of the Aral Sea. After returning to Gazakh from the exile it was psychologically difficult to live as the ”son of the public enemy”. The events of Febru- ary 1931 affected almost each member of the Dilbazis. A large family of his grandfather

Hadji aga also fell victim of those events. His father, grandfather and other relatives were arrested. According to the decision of the “three” of March 8, 1931 80 year old Huseyn aga as a former bek was sentenced to execution, his property was confiscated and the family was exiled to Kazakhstan for 5 years. Moreover, Zahid’s uncle Ziraddin aga was executed in front of the villagers (measures of deterrence of the soviet punitive bodies for the peasants who were against forcible collectivization).

His father Hadji Aga was among those who were executed in the Gazakh prison. His mother Zeynab khanum with the little children and other families were exiled for three years. Zahid’s little sisters died not being able to bear the hot Aral climate. But he and his brother Efendi (Magomed) stood the test of survivability. Zeynab khanum got a job at the fish factory in Avan though she could hardly bear the smell of fish. After the end of the exile period they were allowed to work at the cotton farm. In 1935 Zeynab khanum was offered a choice: either to stay in Kazakhstan or return to Azerbaijan. With the help of her brother Veli aga they returned to Baku. But the “returnees” were not allowed to live in the capital so the family went to Gazakh.

As he himself told me, at that time not only strangers but also close people tried not to have anything common with the “returnees”. However there were such people who with- out fearing the wrath of the soviet authorities secretly or openly helped them in whatever they could. In those years Zahid who was in his teens made friends with the children from the numerous Russian families who lived in Gazakh. Seeing that the son could fluently speak Russian Zeynab khanum enrolled him into the Russian school. When in 1943 his brother Magomed went to the front Zahid got a job at the artel (cooperative associations) where he learned a shoe mak- ing trade of which later he remembered with a smile. In 1946 when Zahid finished a secondary school his brother returned form the front which brought a great relief. Now he could think of getting a higher education.

In 1947 Zahid entered the faculty of geological exploration of the Azerbaijan Industrial Institute which he graduated in 1952 holding a degree of Mining Geological Engineer. By the assignment he was sent to work as a geology teacher at the Oil College. Two years later he accepted the invitation to teach at the Industrial Institute working at the same time at the Oil College. To become a real petroleum geologist one, besides theoretical knowledge, needs to have practical skills as well. For this reason, Zahid quit his work at the institute which caused a lot of raised brows and in 1959 began to work at “Shirvanneft” holding a position of a chief engineer. This was a timely and true step. Soon he was promoted to a head of the geological department and later Zahid Dilbazi got a position ofa chief geologist at “Salyanneft”. He worked at the deposits of Neftchala, Khilly, Kursangi winning the recognition in this field of science. In 1975 Zahid Dilbazi as an experienced geologist was sent to work to friendly Algeria. Staying in this country for more than three years he actively participated in the development of oil and gas deposits (his contract was signed for 2 years but later it was extended for a year more). He would remember with warmth those years of work in Algeria. On returning to Baku in 1976 he successfully defended his candidate’s thesis dedicated to some issues of the Kursangi oil and gas condensate deposit.

From 1960 he began to publish his scientific articles in the relevant printed media. His works in the Russian, French and Azerbaijani languages were published in authoritative special publications. He is author of more than 110 fund reports and took an active part in the discovery of oil and gas accumulations in the Lower - Kura lowland, discovery and development of the North-West part of the “Karabakh” deposit, South-East part of Mishovdag, South-Eastpericlinal of Neftchaly, section of Yeni Gishlag, discovery and development of the Kurzangi deposit.

Until 1981 Zahid Dilbazi was a senior scientific worker at the chair of “Development and exploitation of oil fields” at the Azerbaijan Scientific-Research Chemistry Institute, senior scientific worker at the Azerbaijan Scientific-Re- search and Design Institute of Oil Industry, head of the“Development of Central and East Absheron oil and gas deposits” laboratory. Since December 1993 he held a position of a director deputy - chief geologist in geology and development of oil deposits.

Dilbazi is author of two inventions which brought a considerable economic benefit by using new ways in the discovery and development of structural forms of oil and gas deposits of Azerbaijan, West Siberia and Kazakhstan. According to Zahid Dilbazi, his report dedicated to the “Current situation and ways of development of oil deposits on the Absheron peninsula” which he delivered on February 16, 1987 at the session attended by the minister of oil industry V.Dinkov, the second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan Konovalov, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Re- public N. Seidov, head of “Azneft” A.Jafarov shattered the myth of “maturation” of these fields and proved wrong the necessity of their closure and the transfer of the Azerbaijani oil men to the right bank of the Ob river in West Siberia for the development of new oil fields.

Zahid Hadji Aga oglu Dilbazi was well known in international geological centers. He delivered valuable scientific reports at the international conferences and simposia in Baku, Moscow, Samara, Ufa, Tomsk, Tumen, Ivanovo-Frankovsk, Grozniy, Nebit-Dag, Algeria, London, Los-Angeles. The document prepared by him “Comprehensive program for the development of oil reserves in the “Azneft” fields until 2010” underwent extensive discussions and was highly appraised by the experts.
Zahid Dilbazi had three daughters. Makhbuba Dilbazi works in “British petroleum”. Anjelika Dilbazi (1964) is a graduate of the Azerbaijan Oil and Chemistry Institute, candidate of geological- mineralogical sciences. Currently, she lives in Houston (Texas). Mekhriban Dilbazi (1968) is also a graduate of the Azerbaijan Oil and Chemistry Institute (present Oil Academy) and lives in Moscow.