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Azerbaijan’s First
Lady, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, UNESCO and ISESCO Goodwill
Ambassador and Member of the Azerbaijani Parliament, Mehriban Aliyeva marks her
birthday on August 26.
Mehriban Aliyeva was
born in Baku, in a famous family in Azerbaijan. Her father, Professor Arif
Pashayev, is an academician at the National Academy of Sciences and holds a PhD
in physics and mathematics. He is the rector of the National Academy of
Aviation in Baku. Her mother, Aida Imanguliyeva, was an orientalist, PhD in
philological sciences, professor, and director of the Institute of Oriental
Studies of the National Academy of Sciences, and a specialist in Arabic literature.
Mehriban Aliyeva
graduated from secondary public school No. 23 in Baku in 1982 with a gold
medal, and later entered the Nariman Narimanov Azerbaijan State Medical
University. She continued her studies at the Sechenov Moscow Medical Academy
(currently the I.M.Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University), from where
she graduated with an honorary diploma in 1988. She worked at the Moscow
Scientific Research Institute for Eye Diseases under leadership of academician
Krasnov in 1988-1992.
Since 1995, Mehriban
Aliyeva has been the president at the Friends of the Azerbaijani Culture
Foundation, created upon her initiative. In 1996, Mehriban Aliyeva founded the
‘Azerbaijan - Irs’ magazine, published in three languages (Azerbaijani,
Russian, and English) for a wider promotion of Azerbaijani culture.
Thanks to this
publication, Azerbaijan was being presented on international arena not only as
a country rich with oil and gas, but also as a nation that has created
masterpieces in many areas – in music, architecture, fine and applied arts.
Mehriban Aliyeva has
been heading the Heydar Aliyev Foundation since the very date of its
establishment on May 10, 2004. The foundation’s goal is to study and preserve
the rich heritage of the National Leader of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev, to bring
up new generations in the spirit of his ideas of national statehood. The
priority directions of the foundation are education, health, culture and social
sphere. This covers assistance to children devoid of parents, recreation and
improving logistics base of orphanages and boarding schools.
The status of a first
lady and working for the foundation allow Mehriban Aliyeva to constantly expand
the scale of projects and draw extra resources for their realization.
Mehriban Aliyeva was
elected a member of Azerbaijan’s parliament in 2005 and 2010. She was elected
the deputy chairperson of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party at the fifth meeting
of the party on June 7, 2013.
On January 17, 2013,
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on creation of the
Organizing Committee for holding the first-ever European Games in Baku in 2015.
Mehriban Aliyeva, the member of the Executive Committee of Azerbaijan’s
National Olympic Committee, Mehriban Aliyeva was appointed the chairperson of
the Baku 2015 European Games Organizing Committee.
The Baku 2015 European
Games was held between June 12 and June 28. There were a total of 20 sports at
Baku 2015: 16 Olympic sports and four non-Olympic sports. Some 20,000
volunteers provided help to prepare and hold the Games. Competitions were held
in about 20 sports facilities in Azerbaijan. The grand ceremonies for opening
and closing of the Games were held in the new Baku Olympic Stadium. The stadium
for some 70,000 spectators was sold out during the opening and closing
ceremonies.
The Athletes Village
was built to accommodate the athletes, while the Media Village was opened for
the first time in the Olympic movement’s history for the work of the media
outlets. European countries were represented at the Baku 2015 by 6,000
athletes, who competed for 253 medal sets. Representatives of 42 countries
became the winners at the Games.
About 300 Azerbaijani
athletes took part in the Baku 2015, winning 56 medals (21 gold, 15 silver, 20
bronze medals), putting Azerbaijan on the second place in the medal
standings.
The European Games
were widely broadcast in 145 countries. The opening ceremony alone was
broadcast in 140 countries, and there were over 1,100 airing hours throughout
the world. Overall, the Games were viewed by an audience of about 823 million
people, and about 5-6 million people followed the competitions every day on the
official website of the Baku 2015.
In particular,
Azerbaijani gymnasts had grand success at the Games, winning seven medals. The
attention and care of the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation’s President,
Azerbaijani First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva stands at the heart of Azerbaijani
gymnasts’ success at the European Games. The conditions created at the National
Gymnastics Arena, which meets the most modern standards, enrapture the foreign
athletes as well.
The Baku 2015 has
become a gold standard for all the following European Games. Everything,
including the ceremonies for opening and closing the Games, were organized at
the highest level, which has also been acknowledged throughout the world.
Mehriban Aliyeva, as the chairperson of the Baku 2015 Organizing Committee,
made a huge contribution to holding of the Games.
Azerbaijan's President
Ilham Aliyev, at the meeting with Azerbaijani athletes, who claimed victory at
the Baku 2015, and the representatives of the sports community, said that he
highly appreciated the great work of Mehriban Aliyeva, who led the Organizing
Committee.
“She has made huge
contribution to holding of the Games,” President Aliyev further said. “I can
say she has put all her heart in holding the Games at such a level. While
determining the staff of the Organizing Committee, I was absolutely convinced
that with this staff, the highest results can be yielded, because of
experience, professionalism, and most importantly – the love for the people,
the state.”
For her fruitful work
in the development of culture, education, health and sports in Azerbaijan, the
wide promotion of Azerbaijani people’s cultural heritage on international scale
and great merits in organization of the European Games, Mehriban Aliyeva was
awarded the ‘Heydar Aliyev Order’.
To popularize and
promote Azerbaijani culture, Azerbaijan hosted in July numerous guests from all
over the world at the Seventh Gabala International Music Festival upon the
initiative of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation. The Heydar Aliyev Foundation pays
special attention to the release of music albums of prominent Azerbaijani
performers.
The foundation
reprinted the Akhlaq-e Nasiri ("Ethics of Nasir"), a book of the
world-renowned thinker, great scholar of the encyclopedic knowledge, Nasreddin
Tusi. Also a photo-book called ‘Azerbaijan’ and Azerbaijani and Russian
versions of the ‘Gabusname’, a publication which popular in many Turkic
countries, were prepared, and a multimedia collection titled ‘Azerbaijani
Mugham’ and the ‘The World of Mugham’ publication were released. There is also
the Museum of Modern Art in Baku, which was created upon Mehriban Aliyeva’s
initiative.
The Heydar Aliyev
Foundation also successfully implements many projects beyond Azerbaijan through
its representations abroad. The foundation participates in the restoration of
universal cultural monuments. Thus, the foundation restored two monuments included
in the World Heritage List, damaged with time and by climatic conditions, in
the park of Versailles Palace in Paris.
The foundation also
allotted financial aid to repair stained-glass windows of the Strasbourg
Cathedral. The Heydar Aliyev Foundation and Vatican signed the ‘Bilateral
Agreement on Restoration of Roman Catacombs’ in June 2012.
Also, the foundation
and Vatican Apostolic Library signed on June 2, 2014 an agreement on
‘Restoration and the Digitalization of New Manuscripts in 2015-2016’. The next
day, two agreements were signed on the restoration of the Statue of Zeus and
the restoration work in the Sistine Hall of the Vatican museum by the Heydar
Aliyev Foundation.
On March 6, 2015
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva met with
the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis in Vatican. During the meeting,
satisfaction was expressed with the level of bilateral relations between
Vatican and Azerbaijan, and it was underscored that these relations have good
perspectives.
It was also emphasized
at the meeting that Vatican highly appreciates the relations with Azerbaijan
and attaches great importance to them. Mehriban Aliyeva’s merits in restoration
of the Roman catacombs, several unique manuscripts in the Vatican Apostolic
Library, as well as the implementation of other projects, were highly evaluated
as an important historic step taken by Azerbaijan as a Muslim country.
It should also be
noted that many mosques, synagogues and churches have been restored in Azerbaijan
through the Heydar Aliyev Foundation.
In April of 2015,
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, his spouse Mehriban Aliyeva and their
family members performed Umrah pilgrimage in the holy city of Mecca.
Azerbaijan’s First
Lady Mehriban Aliyeva is committed to use all the available opportunities to
enhance the efficiency of humanitarian programs, which target benefiting the
Azerbaijani people.
One of the priorities
of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation is to inform the international community about
the realities of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. With this regard, the
foundation has published a collection of ‘Karabakh Realities’ booklets,
reflecting the history of the Armenian aggression, books entitled ‘War and Our
Cultural and Historical Monuments’ and ‘War Against Azerbaijan: Targeting
Cultural Heritage’, recounting Armenian destruction. At the same time, a number
of events and photo and video exhibitions are held in various countries on the
Khojaly genocide.
The Heydar Aliyev
Foundation also supported the creation of the Guba Genocide Memorial Complex,
erected in memory of tens of thousands of Azerbaijanis perished as a result of
massacres committed in 1918 by Armenian-Bolshevik armed groups. President Ilham
Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva attended the inauguration of the Complex
on September 18, 2013.
The Heydar Aliyev
Foundation considers it important to preserve the memory of the Azerbaijani
people’s heroism in the Great Patriotic War and the Azerbaijanis’ contributions
to the victory over fascism.
On May 4, 2015 the
Heydar Aliyev Center hosted the presentation for a documentary titled
‘Objective Baku. Hitler’s War on Oil’, filmed with the support of the Heydar
Aliyev Foundation. This project, dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the
victory over fascism, was headed by Arzu Aliyeva. Louis Vaudeville was the
film’s producer and Robert Mugnerot its director.
One of the main areas
in Mehriban Aliyeva’s work is the promotion of Azerbaijani culture in the
world.
On July 9, 2015,
Azerbaijan’s pavilion, created upon the initiative of the Heydar Aliyev
Foundation and the Heydar Aliyev Center at the Universal Exposition Expo Milano
2015, hosted the ‘National Day’. Azerbaijan’s pavilion was officially presented
during the ‘National Day’. The ceremony was attended by President Ilham Aliyev
and his spouse Mehriban Aliyeva. Representatives of Italian government, public
figures and members of diplomatic corps in the country took part in the event
as well.
On July 14 this year,
Cannes hosted the opening of the Days of Azerbaijani Culture organized by the
Heydar Aliyev Foundation. The opening ceremony was attended by Mehriban Aliyeva
and her family members.
Opening of the
exhibition ‘Azerbaijani Carpets in Art’ took place as part of the Days of
Azerbaijani Culture in Cannes, July 15. The opening ceremony was attended by
Azerbaijan’s First Lady, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban
Aliyeva and family members. Held with the Heydar Aliyev Foundation’s
organizational support, the exhibition informed visitors about the history of
the Azerbaijani carpet art, and its present and worldwide dissemination.
In August of 2004,
Mehriban Aliyeva became a designated UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for promoting
national literature and the musical heritage of Azerbaijan. Two years later,
she was conferred with the title of ISESCO (Islamic Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization) Goodwill Ambassador for extensive and selfless activity
in various fields, including intercultural dialogue, attention to children in
need of special care and support for improving living conditions, great support
for education and projects being realized in the Islamic world.
To be an ambassador
for such authoritative international organizations is a very honorable and
responsible mission. Both UNESCO and ISESCO are non-political institutions, as
is written in their charter. And at the same time, this is an international
arena on which Mehriban Aliyeva represents her country. This is an opportunity
to present the modern Azerbaijan and its people with the most profound
historical and cultural roots, and to inform the world about the achievements
of national culture and literature.
Mehriban Aliyeva was
awarded the UNESCO Mozart Medal on July 30, 2010. Mehriban Aliyeva's task as a
goodwill ambassador is to show the opportunities of the Islamic world through
science, culture, and education and to demonstrate how the West and the East,
two very different civilizations, could be interesting and helpful to each
other.
On March 11, 2015, the
Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain, as part of his visit to Azerbaijan,
presented the highest award of Pakistan – the ‘Hilal-e-Pakistan’ order – to
Mehriban Aliyeva, for active participation in various humanitarian, educational
and medical projects in Pakistan.
On June 11 this year,
Serbia’s President Tomislav Nikolic, while on a visit to Azerbaijan, presented
the Sreten Order – a high state order of Serbia – to the Heydar Aliyev
Foundation’s President Mehriban Aliyeva.
On June 9, 2005, the
first lady of Azerbaijan was awarded the order of the ‘Ruby Cross’ from the
International Charitable Foundation ‘Maecenas of the Century’ for her public
support and charity activities, considerable contribution to the support of
educational and cultural institutions and strengthening friendships between the
peoples of Russia and Azerbaijan.
The World Health
Organization (WHO) awarded Mehriban Aliyeva for her exceptional services in
protecting and strengthening the health of mother, child and family. This was
made upon a unanimous decision of the 120th session of the WHO executive
committee in Geneva on January 29, 2007.
Mehriban Aliyeva was
honored with ‘Gold Heart’ international award in 2007 for her charitable
activities and the outstanding achievements in services to the highest ideals
of humanity. She was also awarded the title of ‘Woman of the Year’ in 2005
according to the social poll held in Azerbaijan.
The Azerbaijani
National Hero Chingiz Mustafayev Foundation and the ANS Group of Companies
announced Mehriban Aliyeva the ‘Person of the Year 2005’ for her services to
the development of the country's education system, protection of the national
and cultural heritage, preparation and holding of the 27th Rhythmic Gymnastics
World Championship in the country at a high level, as well as broad charitable
activity.
Mehriban Aliyeva was
awarded the golden medal of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
in March 2006 for her contribution to preservation of cultural and moral
values.
Based on a survey,
held with initiative of the ‘Turkystan’ newspaper and the support of about 20
organizations, Mehriban Aliyeva was awarded the title of ‘Protector of Turkic
Culture’ for her achievements in preservation and promotion of Turkic culture
in February, 2013.
Mehriban Aliyeva was
honored with Pakistani ‘Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women Excellence Award 2013’ on
December 27, 2013. Major projects were carried out upon Mehriban Aliyeva’s
initiative and with her support in the education, public health, as well as in
the humanitarian field in Pakistan’s provinces.
According to a survey
jointly conducted by France’s Arab Cultural Heritage Centre and Egypt’s
Nefertiti Media Productions Company, Mehriban Aliyeva was honored with the
title of the "Most influential woman of 2014". She was chosen the
winner, taking into account her special merits as UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador,
and due to her promotion of culture and international exchange of culture,
contribution to development of science, healthcare, sport, education,
technology and environment.
The First Lady’s
merits also include the establishment of the International Mugham Center in
Baku, providing assistance to children deprived of parental care, and numerous
other charity events.
Mehriban Aliyeva was
awarded an honorary prize of the Turkish-German Friendship Federation on May
12, 2014 for her contributions to dialogue between civilizations, as well as
for the services towards promotion of the Turkic world in Germany and
development of relations between Azerbaijan and Germany.
‘The Business Year’
named Mehriban Aliyeva the ‘First Lady of the Year’ at the ceremony of
presentation of ‘The Business Year: Azerbaijan 2014’ magazine in Baku on May
14, 2014. Mehriban Aliyeva was named the ‘First Lady of the Year’ for her
active participation in the public, social and cultural life of Azerbaijan,
significant contribution to the dynamic development of society, inestimable
merits in promoting Azerbaijani culture in the world, as well as all-round
support for the protection and preservation of the world's cultural heritage
and faithfulness to the principles of social justice and humanism.
President of ELPIDA
Friendship Association of Children Suffering from Cancer, Marianna
Vardinoyannis presented the ELPIDA Prize to Mehriban Aliyeva on June 15, 2014.
ELPIDA, which has carried out many successful projects, possesses an exemplary
medical department in the field.
ELPIDA achieved great
progress in the bone marrow transplantation, the treatment of various tumors,
thalassemia and other child genetic diseases. It opened a specialized
children's hospital, and more importantly, greatly contributed to resolving
such an important problem as the social isolation of children with cancer.
On August 14, 2014,
the members of the Duma of Russia’s Astrakhan Oblast supported Governor
Alexander Zhilkin on awarding Mehriban Aliyeva with ‘Astrakhan Oblast Order of
Merit’. The Heydar Aliyev Foundation implements a number of major social
projects in Astrakhan under Mehriban Aliyeva’s leadership.
Mehriban Aliyeva also
received a high award of the State of Kuwait in August 2014 for extensive
promotion of cultural heritage of Islam, noble charitable activity in
Azerbaijan and abroad, as well as great contribution to education and
healthcare. This comes as the first award presented to a foreign political and
public figure on behalf of the women of Kuwait.
On December 28, 2004,
Mehriban Aliyeva was elected a member to the Executive Committee of the
National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan at the 4th General
Assembly of the Organization. Mehriban Aliyeva was re-elected member of the
Executive Committee of the National Olympic Committee of Azerbaijan at the
sixth report-election General Assembly of the National Olympic Committee of
Azerbaijan on April 3, 2013.
Azerbaijan’s first
lady received the Olympic Excellence award of the International Olympic Academy
in Athens on June 16, 2014. President of the International Olympic Academy
Isidoros Kouvelos handed the award to Mehriban Aliyeva, which honors her contribution
to promoting Olympic values.
Azerbaijan’s president
signed an order on May 5, 2009 to award Mehriban Aliyeva the ‘Heydar Aliyev
Prize’ for productive activities in the country's socio-political and cultural
life.
Mehriban Aliyeva was
awarded the ‘Grand Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of
Poland’ on September 14, 2009. She received this Order for her contribution to
development of friendly ties between Azerbaijan and Poland.
Mehriban Aliyeva was
awarded the ‘Order of Legion of Honor’ by French president’s order dated
February 10, 2010.
Mehriban Aliyeva was
awarded the ‘Crans Montana Forum’s Gold Medal’ on June 24, 2011. The medal is
awarded to people who achieved great prestige in the world by their services,
and have special merits. This reward is a next evidence that her multilateral
activities in the field of culture, science, education, health, social and
other spheres, are in focus on international scale.
Mehriban Aliyeva
received a PhD in Philosophy in 2005. She was honored with the title of
Honorary Professor of Russian Federation’s I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State
Medical University on February 13, 2012.
The Humanitarian
Cooperation Council (HCC) of CIS member states and the CIS Interstate
Humanitarian Cooperation Foundation (IHCF) presented Mehriban Aliyeva the
‘Stars of the Commonwealth’ Interstate Prize on April 13, 2012.
She was also awarded
the ‘Prix de la Fondation’ Prize of the Crans Montana Forum on June 29, 2012.
The forum’s highest award – ‘Prix de la Fondation’ – is awarded to people who
distinguished themselves with their work, and earned sympathy at international
level.
The Heydar Aliyev
Foundation initiated Azerbaijan’s participation in the Eurovision song contest.
Azerbaijani representatives have always been among the Eurovision’s leaders
during the country’s participation in this contest. The young singers from
Azerbaijan, Eldar and Nigar won the Eurovision Song Contest in May, 2011.
The Today.az's staff congratulates the First Lady of Azerbaijan, President of the
Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban Aliyeva on the occasion of her birthday,
wishes her health, happiness, prosperity, and further success in the
multifaceted and important activity for the benefit of Azerbaijani people.