Today in Azerbaijan is the day of memory of the national leader Heydar Aliyev, who died 18 years ago.
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev paid tribute to the memory of the national leader together with his wife Mehriban Aliyeva and members of the family of the great Heydar Aliyev. The head of state laid a wreath at his grave, after it the national anthem was played. President Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva also paid tribute to the wife of the great leader, an outstanding ophthalmologist scientist, academician Zarifa Aliyeva.
Heydar Aliyev played a crucial role in the formation of modern independent Azerbaijan. He was born on May 10, 1923 in the city of Nakhchivan. In 1944, Heydar Aliyev was sent to work in the state security authorities.
In 1969, Heydar Aliyev headed the Azerbaijan SSR, and later, in 1982, he was elected a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU, appointed to the post of first deputy chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers and became one of the leaders of the USSR.
Aliyev left the Communist Party in 1991 in connection with the Karabakh problem, then held the post of Chairman of the Supreme Mejlis of the NAR, Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Azerbaijan Republic.
Heydar Aliyev was elected President of Azerbaijan on 3 October 1993 by popular vote, and in 1998 was re-elected for the second time.
The national leader passed away on December 12, 2003 at the Cleveland Clinic in the United States.
