102nd anniversary of Heydar Aliyev’s birth

Today marks the 102nd anniversary of the birth of Heydar Aliyev, a world-renowned statesman, wise political leader, and the architect and founder of modern independent Azerbaijan — a source of pride for the entire Turkic world.

Heydar Alirza oglu Aliyev was born on May 10, 1923, in the city of Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan Republic.

After graduating from the Nakhchivan Pedagogical Technical School in 1939, he entered the Faculty of Architecture at the Azerbaijan Industrial Institute (now the Azerbaijan State University of Oil and Industry). However, the outbreak of World War II prevented him from completing his education.

From 1941 to 1944, he worked first as head of the secret department in the archive division of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR), and later as head of the general department of the Council of People's Commissars of the Nakhchivan ASSR.

In May 1944, he was assigned to work in state security agencies.

After studying at the School for Senior Staff Training of the USSR State Security Committee in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) from 1949 to 1950, he was appointed head of a department at the Azerbaijan SSR State Security Committee in 1950.

In 1957, he graduated in absentia from the Faculty of History at Azerbaijan State University (now Baku State University).

In 1958, he was appointed head of the counter-intelligence division of the Azerbaijan SSR State Security Committee, and in 1964, he became deputy chairman of the KGB.

In 1966, he successfully completed senior staff training courses at the Dzerzhinsky Higher School of the KGB in Moscow.

In 1967, he was appointed Chairman of the State Security Committee under the Council of Ministers of the Azerbaijan SSR and was promoted to the rank of Major General the same year.

At the Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan held on July 14, 1969, Heydar Aliyev was elected First Secretary of the Party’s Central Committee.

Heydar Aliyev served as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan SSR and the USSR for 22 years. From 1974 to 1979, he was Deputy Chairman of the Soviet of the Union of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

In 1976, he became a candidate member of the Political Bureau of the CPSU Central Committee, and in December 1982, he became a full member of the Politburo and was appointed First Deputy Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers. In this role, he oversaw key areas of the USSR’s economic, social, and cultural development.

In October 1987, he resigned from his positions in protest against the political course pursued by the CPSU Central Committee and its General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev.

On January 21, 1990, in response to the brutal military crackdown in Baku on the night of January 19–20, Heydar Aliyev made a public statement at the Azerbaijani Representation in Moscow, demanding punishment for those responsible for the crime against the Azerbaijani people. In July 1991, in protest of the Soviet leadership’s duplicitous policies on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, he withdrew from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Returning to Baku on July 20, 1990, Heydar Aliyev soon traveled to Nakhchivan, where he was elected a deputy of the Azerbaijani SSR and of the Nakhchivan ASSR that same year.

On September 3, 1991, Heydar Aliyev was elected Chairman of the Supreme Assembly of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and, according to legislation, also became Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Azerbaijan. He held this position until 1993.

On November 21, 1992, at the founding conference held in Nakhchivan, he was elected Chairman of the New Azerbaijan Party.

In May–June 1993, amid civil strife and the threat of national disintegration, the people of Azerbaijan demanded that Heydar Aliyev be brought to power. The then leadership of the country was compelled to invite him to Baku.

On June 15, 1993, he was elected Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Azerbaijan and began exercising the powers of President on June 24.

On October 3, 1993, Heydar Aliyev was elected President of the Republic of Azerbaijan by nationwide vote.

He was re-elected President on October 11, 1998, securing 76.1% of the vote in elections marked by high public participation.

Although he initially agreed to run in the October 15, 2003 presidential election, he later withdrew his candidacy in favor of Ilham Aliyev due to health concerns.

On December 12, 2003, Heydar Aliyev passed away at the Cleveland Clinic in the United States. He was laid to rest on December 15 in the Alley of Honor in Baku.

Heydar Aliyev was honored five times with the USSR's Order of Lenin, received the Order of the Red Star, numerous medals, and was twice named Hero of Socialist Labor. He was also awarded high honors by various countries and received honorary degrees from prestigious universities.

By decree of President Ilham Aliyev dated September 29, 2022, the year 2023 was declared the "Year of Heydar Aliyev" in Azerbaijan.