President Aliyev pays tribute to national leader Heydar Aliyev
December 12 saw the 13th death anniversary of Azerbaijan’s national leader Heydar Aliyev.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his family members visited the Alley of Honors to commemorate national leader Heydar Aliyev. Parliamentarians, ministers, committee chairs, company heads, public figures visited the Alley of Honors to pay tribute to the national leader.
President Aliyev laid a wreath at the national leader's grave. The state anthem of Azerbaijan was played.
President Aliyev and his family members also put flowers at the grave of the national leader`s wife, outstanding ophthalmologist, academician Zarifa Aliyeva.
They also paid tribute to the graves of prominent statesman Aziz Aliyev and professor Tamerlan Aliyev.
Head of the Presidential Administration Ramiz Mehdiyev, Prime Minister Artur Rasizade, Parliamentary Speaker Ogtay Asadov, and other officials attended the commemorative ceremony.
Heydar Aliyev is regarded an architect of the modern Azerbaijan, who created its state administration and laid the legislative basis of the young independent nation.
He created a new milestone in the modern history of Azerbaijan and was always referred to as the founder of contemporary Azerbaijan. He has done unexampled work for his people when he was ruling over the country during the Soviet period and as the president of an independent Azerbaijan.
Heydar Aliyev was born on May 10, 1923 in the city of Nakhchivan of Azerbaijan. In 1939, after graduating from the Nakhchivan Pedagogical School, he studied at the architectural department of the Azerbaijan Industrial Institute (now the Azerbaijan State Oil Academy).
Since 1941, Heydar Aliyev headed the department at the People Commissariat of Internal Affairs of Nakhchivan ASSR and in 1944 was sent to work at the state security bodies. Heydar Aliyev held the post of deputy chairman in the security bodies since 1964 and was chairman of the State Security Committee of the Cabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan Republic since 1967. He was later conferred the rank of major general.
Heydar Aliyev headed Azerbaijan first in July 1969 in the capacity of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan.
In December 1982, Heydar Aliyev was appointed to the position of the First Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR, and became one of the leaders of the USSR.
As a sign of protest against the two-faced policy of the leadership of the USSR, and in connection with the critical conflict occurred in Nagorno-Karabakh, in July 1991, he left the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Returning back to Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev was elected as deputy to the Supreme Soviet of Azerbaijan on the same year.
Heydar Aliyev was elected Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Azerbaijan on June 15, 1993, and undertook the office of the President of Azerbaijan Republic on July 24 at the decision taken by the Milli Majlis.
Heydar Aliyev was elected as President of Azerbaijan Republic on October 3, 1993.
On October 11, 1998, he garnered overwhelming majority of votes at the elections was to reelected the President of Azerbaijan Republic for the next term.