Today marks the 101st anniversary of Heydar Aliyev's birth

Today marks the 101st anniversary of the birth of the national leader Heydar Aliyev - the pride of the entire Turkic world, a wise political and outstanding statesman, architect and creator of the modern independent Azerbaijani state.

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

After graduating from the Nakhchivan Pedagogical College in 1939, he entered the Faculty of Architecture at the Azerbaijan Industrial Institute (now the Azerbaijan State University of Oil and Industry), but the beginning of World War II prevented him from completing his education.

From 1941 to 1944, Heydar Aliyev worked first as the head of the secret section of the archival department of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs, and then as the head of the general department in the Council of People's Commissars of the Nakhchivan ASSR.

In May 1944, he was assigned to work in the state security agencies.

After training in 1949-1950 at the School for Training Senior Personnel of the USSR State Security Committee in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), he was appointed in 1950 as the head of a department in the State Security Committee of the Azerbaijan SSR.

In 1957, he graduated from the correspondence department of the Faculty of History of Azerbaijan State University (now Baku State University).

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

In 1966, he successfully completed the Advanced Training Courses for Senior Staff at the F.E. Dzerzhinsky Higher School of the KGB in Moscow.

In 1967, he was appointed to the position of 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 June 14, 1969, Heydar Aliyev was elected First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Azerbaijan Republic.

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

Elected in 1976 as a candidate member of the Politburo, and in December 1982 as a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Heydar Aliyev was appointed to the position of First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. Working in this position, Heydar Aliyev led the most important spheres of economic, social and cultural life of the USSR.

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

On January 21, 1990, Heydar Aliyev spoke at the representation of Azerbaijan in Moscow in connection with the bloody tragedy perpetrated by Soviet troops in Baku on the night of January 19-20, demanding punishment for the organizers and perpetrators of the crime committed against the Azerbaijani people. In protest against the two-faced policy of the USSR leadership regarding the acute conflict situation that arose in Nagorno-Karabakh, he left the ranks of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Having returned to Baku on July 20, 1990, Heydar Aliyev went to Nakhchivan two days later, and in the same year was elected a people's deputy of the Azerbaijan SSR and a people's deputy of the Nakhchivan ASSR.

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

At the founding conference of the "New Azerbaijan" Party, held on November 21, 1992, in the city of Nakhchivan, Heydar Aliyev was elected chairman of the party.

In May-June 1993, there was a threat of civil war and loss of independence in the country, so 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.

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

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

In the elections held on October 11, 1998, with high public activity, he received 76.1% of the votes and was again elected President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Having agreed to nominate his candidacy for the presidential elections held on October 15, 2003, Heydar Aliyev withdrew his candidacy in favor of