Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev celebrates his 50th birthday

Today Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev celebrates his 50th  birthday, APA reports. On 23 December, IX President of Turkey Suleyman Demirel sent a letter of congratulation to President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. The letter reads: 'On 24 December, distinguished President of Azerbaijan Republic Ilham Aliyev turns 50. We congratulate him with his birthday and wish him good health and long happy life. Distinguished President of brother Azerbaijan Republic has been functioning in this post for eight years. He fulfils his job successfully. We wish him more success in coming years".

Also, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has signed a decree to award Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev the Order "Friendship of Peoples", Belarusian President's official website reports on Saturday. President Aliyev is awarded for his significant personal contribution to establishing and developing friendly relations and strategic cooperation between Belarus and Azerbaijan, the report says.

Ilham Aliyev he entered the Moscow State University of International Relations (MSUIR) in 1977. In 1982, upon his graduation, Ilham Aliyev had continued his education as a postgraduate student in MSUIR.
In 1985, he finalized his research works and received a PhD degree in history. During the years of 1985-1990, he gave lectures at the Moscow State University of International Relations. From 1991 to 1994, he led a group of private industrial-commercial enterprises. In 1994-2003, he was the vise-president, and later the first vise-president of the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOCAR). He had been actively involved in the implementation of Heydar Aliyev’s oil strategy.

In 1995 and 2000, he was twice elected to the Milli Majlis (Parliament) of the Republic of Azerbaijan. From 2001 to 2003, he was the head of the Azerbaijani Parliamentary delegation to Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe (PACE). In January 2003, he was elected as Deputy-Chairman of Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe and member of the PACE bureau. In 2003, he stopped his activity as a Member of Parliament due to his appointment to the post of Prime Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan. In October 15, 2003, he was elected as the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. More than 76% of voters supported Ilham Aliyev’s candidacy during the elections. He assumed his post on 31 October, 2003. Ilham Aliyev was elected to the second term of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, after acquiring 88% of votes of electorate in the elections, held on October 15, 2008.