Azerbaijan marks 101st birth anniversary of great leader Heydar Aliyev

Today, May 10, marks the 101st anniversary of the birth of Azerbaijan's National Leader Heydar Aliyev.

According to Caliber.Az, Heydar Alirza oglu Aliyev was born on May 10, 1923 in Nakhchivan. After graduating from the Nakhchivan Pedagogical College in 1939, he studied at the Faculty of Architecture of the Azerbaijan Industrial Institute (now the Azerbaijan State Oil and Industry University). The outbreak of war [World War II] did not allow him to complete his education.

Since 1941, Heydar Aliyev has worked as the head of a department in the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the Nakhchivan ASSR (Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) and the Council of People's Commissars of the Nakhchivan ASSR, and in 1944 he was sent to work in the state security bodies. Heydar Aliyev, who worked from that period in the system of security agencies, since 1964 held the post of deputy chairman, and since 1967 - chairman of the State Security Committee under the Council of Ministers of the Azerbaijan SSR, he was awarded the rank of major general. During these years, he received a special higher education in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), and in 1957 he graduated from the history department of the Azerbaijan State University (now the Baku State University).

During the July plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan in 1969, Heydar Aliyev emerged as the nominee for the position of First Secretary of the Central Committee, thus assuming leadership of the republic. By December 1982, he ascended to the rank of member of the Political Bureau (Politburo) of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, concurrently appointed as the First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, establishing himself as a prominent figure within the Soviet leadership.

However, in October 1987, Heydar Aliyev resigned from his positions in protest against the policies implemented by the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, particularly those spearheaded by General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev.

Following the tragic events of January 20, 1990, in Baku, perpetrated by Soviet troops, Heydar Aliyev vocally demanded justice for the perpetrators, denouncing the atrocities committed against the Azerbaijani people. Dissatisfied with the Soviet leadership's handling of the conflict in Karabakh, he severed ties with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in July 1991.

Returning to Azerbaijan in July 1990, Heydar Aliyev was elected as a deputy to the Supreme Council of Azerbaijan. Subsequently, from 1991 to 1993, he assumed the role of Chairman of the Supreme Assembly of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and served as Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Notably, at the inaugural congress of the New Azerbaijan Party in 1992, held in Nakhchivan, Heydar Aliyev was elected as the party's chairman.

Amidst a severe governmental crisis and the looming threat of civil unrest in May-June 1993, the Azerbaijani populace clamoured for Heydar Aliyev to assume leadership. Consequently, the incumbent leaders officially invited Heydar Aliyev to return to Baku. On June 15, 1993, he was elected as the Chairman of the Supreme Council of Azerbaijan, and on July 24, he assumed the presidential powers by the decision of the Parliament.

On October 3, 1993, as a result of a popular vote, Heydar Aliyev was elected President of Azerbaijan. On October 11, 1998, having gained 76.1 per cent of the votes in the elections held in conditions of high activity of the people, he was again elected President of Azerbaijan. Heydar Aliyev, who agreed to be a candidate for the presidential elections held on October 15, 2003, refused to participate in the elections due to health problems.

On December 12, Azerbaijan's national leader, President Heydar Aliyev, died at the Cleveland Clinic in the United States of America.