Today in Azerbaijan is the day of memory of the national leader Heydar Aliyev - the national leader of the Azerbaijani people, who passed away 19 years ago.
The memory of the national leader is honored both in Azerbaijan and abroad.
Heydar Aliyev was born on May 10, 1923 in Nakhchivan. Having worked in the state structures since 1944, Heydar Aliyev since 1964 held the position of Deputy Chairman of the State Security Committee under the Council of Ministers of the Azerbaijan SSR, and since 1967 - Chairman, achieved the rank of Major General. He received a special higher education in Leningrad, and in 1957 he graduated from the history faculty of the Azerbaijan State University.
Heydar Aliyev was elected first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Azerbaijan SSR at the July 1969 plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Azerbaijan SSR. Elected a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in December 1982, Heydar Aliyev was appointed first deputy chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers.
Heydar Aliyev resigned in October 1987 in protest against the political line pursued by the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev.
In connection with the bloody tragedy committed by Soviet troops in Baku on January 20, 1990, the next day, Heydar Aliyev made a statement at the Azerbaijani mission in Moscow and demanded that the organizers and perpetrators of the crime against the Azerbaijani people be punished. He left the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in July 1991 in protest against the hypocritical policy of the USSR leadership regarding the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Returning to Azerbaijan in July 1990, Heydar Aliyev lived first in Baku and then in Nakhchivan, and in the same year was elected a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of Azerbaijan SSR. In 1991-1993 he was the chairman of the Supreme Assembly of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, deputy chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan Republic.
In 1992, Heydar Aliyev was elected chairman of the New Azerbaijan Party at its founding congress in Nakhchivan.
Heydar Aliyev, elected Chairman of the Supreme Council of Azerbaijan on June 15, 1993, by the decision of the Milli Majlis (parliament) on June 24, began to exercise the powers of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. On October 3, 1993, as a result of a nationwide vote, Heydar Aliyev was elected President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
He remained the president until 2003, stepping down from his post in October of 2003 due to health problems.
Following a long-lasting treatment in a Cleveland clinic, Heydar Aliyev passed away on December 12, 2003. He was buried in Baku, in the Alley of Honor.
A series of memories are collected in the book 'Going ahead. On the 90th anniversary of Heydar Aliyev,' published in 2013 by Vestik Kavkaza with support from the Heydar Aliyev Fund.
"He was the first from the Transcaucasus to enter the Politburo,was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. This might even cause jealousy from his neighbors. However, Aliyev’s nomination to Moscow was a well-deserved, right decision,” prominent Russian diplomat, former foreign minister and prime minister Yevgeny Primakov said on the pages of the book.
"I know that Yuri Andropov treated him very well. And not just because of Heydar Aliyev's outstanding qualities, but also because he headed the Azerbaijani KGB. Obviously, it was also due to human sympathy for Heydar Aliyev. Once (when Aliyev was still a Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan) we were driving in a car, and Andropov, who was resting in the North Caucasus then, called him. The security guard and I got out of the car. I don’t know what they were talking about, but the fact that Andropov called him was significant," he said.
According to the former President and Prime Minister of Israel, Nobel peace prize laureate Shimon Peres, Heydar Aliyev was a courageous leader and a man of vision. "I had the pleasure of meeting President Heydar Aliyev at the World Economic Forum in Davos, when the Contract of the Century was signed. We had the opportunity to hold a unique conversation and an informative exchange of opinions on a wide range of issues relevant to both parties, which caused my deep respect to him as a courageous and devoted leader of his country who cares about the future. I was amazed by his inexhaustible determination to achieve and secure a better future for his people and country by promoting economic growth and discovery of Azerbaijan by a new and changing world, coupled with the freedom of religion that existed in his presidency," Shimon Peres recalled.
Former U.S. President George W. Bush listed the achievements achieved by independent Azerbaijan thanks to Heydar Aliyev. "His personal efforts in the establishment of current friendship relations between the United States of America and Azerbaijan, as well as defense of Azerbaijan's independence is of vital importance. Steadiness he demonstrated in the field of achievement of the just and long-term solution of Nagorno Karabakh tragedy via the peace negotiations had been of great importance in the maintenance of the peace and stability in the region. In the meantime, his position and efforts demonstrated in attraction of the large-volume foreign investments that strengthened economic development of Azerbaijan played key role. These achievements had improved lives of million Azerbaijanis and created opportunity for Azerbaijan to come into the twentieth century as the modern state," George W. Bush pointed out.
