Azerbaijan commemorates 7th anniversary of Heydar Aliyev's death

On December 12, the people of Azerbaijan are commemorating the 7th anniversary of the demise of their Great Leader, Heydar Aliyev, and paying tribute to him at the Cemetery of Honour, Trend reports.

Throughout the day, prominent public figures, intellectuals and representatives of the government and parliament will pay tribute at the memorial of the ex-president of Azerbaijan.

Heydar Alirza oglu Aliyev was born on 10 May 1923 in the city of Nakhchivan in Azerbaijan. From 1941 Heydar Aliyev headed the department of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the Nakhchivan ASSR and in 1944 was sent to work at the state security bodies. Heydar Aliyev, working since that time in the security bodies, held the post of deputy chairman from 1964, and from 1967 was chairman of the State Security Committee of the Cabinet of Ministers of the
Azerbaijani Republic. He was conferred the rank of lieutenant-general.

Having been elected to the Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan in July 1969 as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev headed the Republic. In December 1982, Heydar Aliyev was elected as alternate member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Soviet Union, and appointed to the post of the First Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR, becoming one of the leaders of the USSR. Over the course of twenty years, Heydar Aliyev was the Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and for five years was Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

In October 1987, Heydar Aliyev, as a sign of protest against the policy pursued by Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Secretary General Mikhail Gorbachev personally, resigned from his post.
As a sign of protest against the hypocritical policy of the leadership of the USSR, in connection with the critical conflict developing in Nagorno-Karabakh, in July 1991 he left the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

On returning to Azerbaijan in July 1990, Heydar Aliyev lived first in Baku, then in Nakhchivan, and in the same year he was elected as a deputy to the Supreme Soviet of Azerbaijan. In 1991-1993, he held the posts of chairman of the Supreme Majlis of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and deputy chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Azerbaijan. In 1992, at the constituent congress of the New Azerbaijan Party in Nakhchivan, Heydar Aliyev was elected Chairman of the Party.

In May-June 1993, when, as the result of extreme tension amidst governmental crisis the country was on the verge of civil war and loss of independence, the people of Azerbaijan demanded that Heydar Aliyev be brought to power . The then leaders of Azerbaijan were obliged to officially invite Heydar Aliyev to Baku. On 15 June 1993 Heydar Aliyev was elected Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Azerbaijan, and on 24 July, by resolution of the Milli Majlis, he managed to adopt the
powers of the President of the Azerbaijani Republic.

On October 3, 1993, as the result of nationwide voting, Heydar Aliyev was elected as President of Azerbaijan Republic. On October 11, 1998, having garnered at the elections, passed in high activeness of the population, 76,1 percent of the votes, he was re-elected as President of Azerbaijan Republic.

Heydar Aliyev, giving his consent to be nominated as a candidate at the 15 October 2003 presidential elections, Heydar Aliyev relinquished to run at the elections in connection with health problems.