Two years passed since death of the President Heydar Aliyev

Heydar Alirza oglu Aliyev was born in Nakhchivan on May 10, 1923. Having elected the First Secretary of the Azerbaijani Communist Party at the plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party in July 1969 Heydar Aliyev became the leader of the country. In December 1982 Aliyev was re-elected a member of the Political Board of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the USSR, appointed the first deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of the former USSR and became one of the leaders of the USSR.

Over 20 years Heydar Aliyev had been a member of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and taken the post of deputy chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

As a sign of protest to a policy pursued by the Political Board of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the General Secretary, Michael Gorbachov, in October 1987 Heydar Aliyev resigned from his post.

Following the bloody tragedy in Baku on 20 January 1990, in his speech at the Azerbaijan’s representation in Moscow Heydar Aliyev condemned the executors of the crime, committed against the people of Azerbaijan. He also announced on his leaving from the Communist Party in July 1991 in protest to two-faced policy of the USSR in respect to the acute conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Returning back to Azerbaijan in July 1990, Heydar Aliyev, who for a while lived in Baku, later decided to go to Nakhchivan and the same year was elected a member of Supreme Assembly of Azerbaijan. In 1991-1993 he took a post of the chairman of the Supreme Assembly of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, deputy chairman of the Supreme Assembly of the Azerbaijan Republic. In a constituent assembly of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party (NAP) held in Nakhchivan in 1992 Heydar Aliyev was elected the chairman of the party.

On 15 June 1993 he was elected the chairman of the Supreme Assembly [parliament] of Azerbaijan, while on 24 July the Milli Majlis [parliament] through its resolution empowered Aliyev with an authority of the President of Azerbaijan.

On 3 October 1993 Heydar Aliyev was elected the Azerbaijani President through general poll. On 11 October 1998 with 76.1% of votes he was re-elected as the President of Azerbaijan for the second term. Aliyev, who agreed upon nomination of his candidacy during the 15 October 2003 presidential elections, later had to refuse from balloting in connection with the poor health.

Aliyev died aged 80 at a clinic in Cleveland, Ohio at 1000 (1500 GMT) on Friday, December 12, 2003.

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