Azerbaijan commemorates national leader Heydar Aliyev today

Heydar Alirza oglu Aliyev was born on 10 May 1923 in the city of Nakhchivan of Azerbaijan.

Since 1941, Heydar Aliyev heads the department at the People Commissariat of Internal Affairs of Nakhchivan ASSR and on 1944 was sent to work at the state security bodies. Heydar Aliyev, working since that time in the security bodies, since 1964 held the post of deputy chairman, and since 1967 - chairman of the Committee of State Security under the Cabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan Republic, and he was conferred the rank of major general.

Being elected at the Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan in July 1969 as the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev heads the Republic until December of 1982.

In December 1982, Heydar Aliyev has been elected as Alternate member of Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Soviet Union, and appointed at the post of the First Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR and became one of the leaders of the USSR. During 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 personally the Secretary General Michael Gorbachev, resigned from his post.

By return in July 1990 to Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev has lived at first in Baku, then in Nakhchivan, and on the same year he was elected as the Deputy to the Supreme Soviet of Azerbaijan.

As a sign of protest against the hypocritical policy of leadership of the USSR, in connection with the critical conflict accrued in Nagorno Karabakh, in July 1991, he left the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In 1991-1993s, he held the post of Chairman of the Supreme Mejlis of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Heydar Aliyev is a founder of the Yeni Azerbaijan party. In 1992, at the constituent congress of the "Yeni Azerbaijan" Party in Nakhchivan, Heydar Aliyev, was elected as the Chairman of the Party.

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

On October 3, 1993, as the result of nationwide voting, Heydar Aliyev was elected as the 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 the 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.

On December 12 national leader of Azerbaijan, President Heydar Aliyev passed away in Cleveland hospital in the United States of America.

Independence and sovereignty of Azerbaijan, the economic development of the country, Azerbaijan's participation in large scale projects, such as Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, the peaceful negotiation process on the resolution of the Karabakh - are all bound to the name of the national leader of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev. He built a stable Azerbaijani state and defined the external priorities in its policy.

Heydar Aliyev was awarded with number of state orders and medals, international awards, elected Honorable Doctor of the universities in many countries

Heydar Aliyev was awarded with Lenin order four times, order of Red Star, awarded with numerous medals, got rank of the Hero of the Socialistic Labor twice, awarded with many orders and medals of foreign countries.