Azerbaijan marks 102nd anniversary of birth of National Leader Heydar Aliyev

Today marks the birthday of the national leader of the Azerbaijan people, Heydar Aliyev, SİA reports.

May 10 marks the 102nd anniversary of birth of National Leader Heydar Aliyev.Heydar Aliyev was born on May 10, 1923, in Nakhchivan city of Azerbaijan.

In 1939, after graduating from the Nakhchivan Pedagogical School, he entered the Architecture Department of the Industrial Institute of Azerbaijan (now the State Oil Academy of Azerbaijan), but World War 2 impeded the completion of his education.

On 1941-1944, Heydar Aliyev worked first as the head of the secret section of the archive department at the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, and then as the head of the general department at the Council of People's Commissars of the Nakhchivan ASSR.

In May 1944, he was sent to work in the state security organs.

In 1949-1950, after getting education in Preparation School of Leading Staff of the USSR Security Committee in Leningrad, he was appointed a department chair in Azerbaijan USSR State Security Committee in 1950.

In 1957 he graduated from the History Department of the Azerbaijan State University (current Baku State University).

In 1958, he was appointed head of the counterintelligence department of the State Security Committee of the Azerbaijan SSR, and in 1964, deputy chairman of the KGB.

In 1966, he successfully completed the leadership development courses at the F. E. Dzerzhinsky Higher School of the KGB in Moscow.

In 1967, he was appointed Chairman of the State Security Committee under the Council of Ministers of the Azerbaijan SSR and in the same year he was awarded the rank of Major General.

At the plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan held on July 14, 1969, Heydar Aliyev was elected First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan.

Heydar Aliyev was a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan SSR and the Supreme Soviet of the USSR for 22 years. In 1974-1979, he held the position of Deputy Chairman of the Union Council of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

In 1976, Heydar Aliyev was elected a candidate for membership in the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and in December 1982, he was appointed First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. While working in this position, Heydar Aliyev led the most important areas of the economic, social and cultural life of the USSR.

Heydar Aliyev resigned from his positions in October 1987 in protest against the political line pursued by the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and personally by General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev.

Heydar Aliyev, in connection with the bloody tragedy committed by Soviet troops in Baku on the night of January 19-20, 1990, made a statement at the Azerbaijani representation in Moscow on January 21, demanding the punishment of the organizers and executors of the crime committed against the Azerbaijani people. He left the ranks of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in July 1991 as a sign of protest against the hypocritical policy of the USSR leadership regarding the acute conflict situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Returning to Baku on July 20, 1990, Heydar Aliyev left for Nakhchivan two days later, and in the same year he was elected a people's MP of the Azerbaijan SSR and a people's MP of the Nakhchivan ASSR.

On September 3, 1991, Heydar Aliyev was elected Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and, in accordance with the relevant legislation, also became Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Azerbaijan. He served in this position until 1993.

Heydar Aliyev was elected chairman of the New Azerbaijan Party at its founding conference held in Nakhchivan on November 21, 1992.

In May-June 1993, due to the threat of civil war and loss of independence in the country, the Azerbaijani people demanded the return of Heydar Aliyev to power, and the then leadership of the country was forced to invite him to Baku.

Heydar Aliyev was elected Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Azerbaijan on June 15, 1993, and from June 24, he began to exercise the powers of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

On October 3, 1993, Heydar Aliyev was elected President of the Republic of Azerbaijan as a result of a nationwide vote.

He was re-elected President of the Republic of Azerbaijan on October 11, 1998, collecting 76.1 percent of the votes in the elections held in conditions of high public activity.

Heydar Aliyev, who agreed to run for president in the presidential elections held on October 15, 2003, withdrew his candidacy in favor of Ilham Aliyev due to health problems.

On December 12, 2003, Heydar Aliyev, the national leader of the Azerbaijani people, died at the Cleveland Clinic in the United States of America and was buried in Baku, on December 15, in the Alley of Honor.

Heydar Aliyev was awarded the Order of Lenin of the former USSR five times, the Order of the Red Star and numerous medals, twice the title of Hero of Socialist Labor, as well as the highest awards of various countries, and honorary titles of prestigious universities.