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Tenth anniversary of Heydar Aliyev's death
Tenth years have passed since the death of former Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev was announced.
Commemorative events have been organized in all regions of Azerbaijan, as well as in the capital Baku.
Representatives of government agencies, political parties, non-governmental organizations, the media and general public are visiting Heydar Aliyev’s grave in the Avenue of Honour.
Azerbaijani diaspora organizations have also organized commemorative events to mark the anniversary.
Heydar Alirza oglu Aliyev was born on 10 May 1923 in Nakhchivan. In 1944 he began working for the state security bodies and worked his way up through the security system. In 1964 he became deputy chairman and in 1967 chairman of the Committee for State Security under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic with the rank of lieutenant general. During these years, he received special higher education in Leningrad (now St Petersburg), and in 1957 graduated from the history department of Azerbaijan State University.
In July 1969 he was elected first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan at a plenum of the party's Central Committee and as such was head of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1982, he was the first Muslim and first Azerbaijani to be made a full member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party.
In October 1987, Heydar Aliyev left the Politburo amidst disagreement about the policy of the Politburo and personally with Secretary General Michael Gorbachev.
After Soviet troops killed 137 civilians on the streets of Baku on 20 January 1990, Heydar Aliyev appeared the next day at the Azerbaijan Representation in Moscow and made a statement calling for the organizers and executors of the crime to be punished.
As a sign of protest against the hypocritical policy of the leadership of the USSR over the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, he left the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in July 1991.
Having returned to Azerbaijan in July 1990, Heydar Aliyev lived first in Baku, then in Nakhchivan. The same year he was elected deputy to the Supreme Soviet of Azerbaijan. In 1991-1993, he was chairman of the Supreme Majlis (parliament) of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and deputy chairman of the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan. In 1992, at the constituent congress of the New Azerbaijan Party in Nakhchivan, Heydar Aliyev was elected party chairman.
On 15 June 1993, Heydar Aliyev was elected chairman of the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan. On 24 July, by resolution of the Milli Majlis, he became acting president of the country and was elected president on 3 October that year.
On 11 October 1998, he was re-elected president.
Health problems forced Heydar Aliyev not to run in the 15 October 2003 presidential elections, in which his son Ilham was elected president.
On 12 December 2003, the death of Heydar Aliyev at Cleveland Hospital in the USA was announced. He has since become known as Azerbaijan's National Leader.