Heydar Alirza oglu Aliyev (sometimes transliterated as Heidar Aliev or Geidar Aliev) (May 10, 1923 - December 12, 2003) served as president of Azerbaijan for the New Azerbaijan Party (YAP) from June 1993 to October 2003, when his son Ilham Aliyev succeeded him. Aliyev dominated the political life of Azerbaijan for over 30 years, but left his oil-rich country with a problematic legacy of gross corruption. He was married to Zarifa Aziz kizy Aliyeva, who died in 1985, and was survived by his son and daughter.
 

Contents Aliyev's career in the Soviet era Fall and re-invention Aliyev as President

Aliyev's career in the Soviet era

Aliyev obscured much of his early life, and details remain uncertain. He claimed to have been born into a working-class family in the Azerbaijani province of Nakhchivan, but other sources suggest he was actually born in Armenia. Doubt also exists over his date of birth. He also claimed to have studied at the Azerbaijan State University in Baku, graduating with a degree in history. It seems, however, that he actually attended the Ministry of State Security Academy in Leningrad.

He joined the Azerbaijani Committee of State Security (the KGB) in 1944. He worked his way up through the ranks, becoming its deputy chairman in 1964 and chairman in 1967. Two years later, in 1969, Leonid Brezhnev's administration appointed Aliyev to the post of First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Azerbaijani Communist Party. He also became a candidate (non-voting) member of the Soviet Politburo in 1976. He occupied this position until December 1982 when Yuri Andropov promoted him to the post of first Deputy Prime Minister of the Soviet Union. Aliyev thus became the first Muslim full member of the Politburo. He took up responsibility for transport and for social services.

His star waned following the appointment in 1985 of Mikhail Gorbachev as Soviet leader. His political views became a liability in the era of perestroika. His fall from grace became public when the state newspaper Pravda attacked him for corruption, with critics labeling him "one of the great Communist dinosaurs." In October 1987, Gorbachev mounted a clear-out of the Brezhnevite old guard and forced Aliyev to resign from the Politburo and as head of the Azerbaijan Communist Party "for reasons of health".

Fall and re-invention

Aliyev returned to his native Nakhchivan in 1990. He re-invented himself as a moderate nationalist, resigning from the Communist Party in ostensible protest against the violent Soviet suppression of demonstrations in Baku in January 1990. He was subsequently won election as a deputy in the Azerbaijani legislature and in 1991 gained the appointment of Chairman of the Supreme Majlis [Council] of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. Azerbaijan declared its independence from the Soviet Union on August 30, 1991, though it did not receive formal recognition of its new status until the USSR dissolved in December that year.

The period immediately after the declaration of independence proved a troubled one for Azerbaijan, which became locked in a bloody conflict with Armenia over the Armenian-populated enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Azerbaijani president, Abulfaz Elchibey, turned in 1992 to Aliyev to bolster a weak and ineffective government, appointing him to the post of Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council of Azerbaijan.

By 1993, Azerbaijan had descended into chaos and seemed on the verge of a civil war, following disastrous military defeats inflicted by the Armenians. Echibey had to flee the capital in June following an attempted coup d'état. Aliyev became acting president and, as part of a deal with the coup leaders, gained appointment as the Chairman of the Supreme Council of Azerbaijan on June 15. The National Assembly elected him as President nine days later.

Aliyev as President

Over the course of the subsequent decade, Aliyev ruled his country with a firm hand, encouraging foreign investment while discouraging political dissent. He twice ran and won the presidency of Azerbaijan in national elections (held in the October of 1993 and the October of 1998), but international observers regarded neither election as free or fair.

Aliyev had considerable success at attracting multinational companies to invest heavily in Azerbaijan's oil industry, which controlled large oil and gas reserves under the Caspian Sea but had suffered poor management in Soviet times. In 1997 President Aliyev signed a huge contract with the international oil consortium AIOC. He also acted as one of the driving forces behind the controversial multi-billion dollar project to build an oil pipeline from Baku to Ceyhan in Turkey, via neighboring Georgia (thus bypassing Russia to the north and Iran, much to those countries' displeasure).

However, mismangement corruption flourished under Aliyev's decade of autocratic rule and Azerbaijan gained an unenviable reputation as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Aliyev and his son, Illham both stood accused of personally skimming off huge sums of oil revenue, leading to some describing the country as a kleptocracy.

He also tried but failed to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis, attempting a military solution in December 1993 that eventually resulted in an estimated 30,000 deaths and the displacement of a further 750,000 Azeris. The issue remains unresolved, with Armenian rule continuing in Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan still hosting several hundred thousand refugees.

In 1995 assassins tried to kill Aliyev in retaliation for his attempts to clean up the Turkish casino influence in Azerbaijan. The authorities never captured the would-be assassins, who presumably included Abdullah Catli.

Aliyev's health began to fail in 1999, when he had a major heart bypass operation in the United States. He later had prostate surgery and a hernia operation. He suffered a collapse while giving a speech on live television in April 2003. On August 6, Aliyev returned to the United States for treatment for congestive heart failure and kidney problems. He stood down from the presidency at the start of October 2003, but in an extremely controversial move appointed his son Ilham as his party's sole presidential candidate.

Ilham Aliyev duly won the presidential election of October 15, 2003 but international observers again criticised the contest as falling well below expected standards. This transfer of power became the first case of top-level dynastic succession in the former Soviet Union. Only two months into Ilham Aliyev's presidency, his father's death on December 12 marked the end of an era in Azerbaijani politics.
 

Aliyev in the Tomb
After his death there is still no rest for Heydar Aliyev. In the best North Korean style he has been appointed "National leader of Azerbaijan". His son's regime has used and abused him to try to get some ligitimacy that seemed to be lacking from the polls. This has taken meany shapes: museums everywhere like Ataturk, thousands of statues like the Turkmenbashi and father and son portraits like Kim Il Sung and Kim Young Il. (Lately he is even supposed to have performed a few miracles - maybe aspiring to become a Muslim Haile Selassie?). The oil revenue funds the 'Heydar Aliyev Foundation' which is run by Mehriban Aliyeva and specializes in this propaganda business. Hyedar and his wife Zafire are buried at the 'Honour cemetery', behind him is a large stone map of Azerbaijan - though the country he left when he went to meet his maker was about 20% smaller...

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