In 1994-2003, he was the vice-president, and later the first vice-president of the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOCAR). He had been actively involved in the implementation of Heydar Aliyev’s oil strategy.
He is an author of numerous research works on geopolitical aspects of oil strategy of sovereign Azerbaijan. He holds a degree of doctor of political sciences.
In 1995 and 2000, he was twice elected to the Milli Majlis (Parliament) of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
In 2003, he stopped his activity as a Member of Parliament due to his appointment to the post of Prime minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Since 1997, Mr. Ilham Aliyev is the President of the National Olympic Committee of Azerbaijan. For his great contribution to the development of sports and Olympic movement, Mr. Aliyev was awarded the highest order of International Olympic Committee and “Grand Cordon” Order of Merit of International Military Sport Council.
He has been elected deputy chairman of the New Azerbaijan Party in 1999, first deputy chairman in 2001, and the chairman of the Party in 2005.
From 2001 to 2003, he was the head of the Azerbaijani Parliamentary delegation to Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe (PACE).
In January 2003, he was elected as Deputy-Chairman of Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe and member of the PACE bureau.
In August 4 2003, following the approval of the Milli Majlis (Parliament), he was appointed as the Prime minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
In October 15, 2003, he was elected as the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. More than 76% of voters supported Ilham Aliyev’s candidacy during the elections. He assumed his post on 31 October, 2003.
In April of 2004, Mr. Aliyev was awarded a medal and diploma of honorable member of PACE for his active participation in PACE events and commitment to European values.
Ilham Aliyev was elected to the second term of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, after acquiring 88% of votes of electorate in the elections, held on October 15, 2008. He started to execute the Office of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan on October 24, 2008.
As a result of the presidential elections, held on October 9, 2013, Ilham Aliyev was re-elected by a majority of voters as a President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. 84.54% of voters supported his candidacy. Ilham Aliyev took office on October 19, 2013.
Mr. Aliyev is fluent in Azerbaijani, English, Russian, French, and Turkish.
Mr. Aliyev is married, has three children and three grandchildren.
President Aliyevs’ honorary names, orders, and awards include: Heydar Aliyev Order (the Republic of Azerbaijan), Ihsan Dogramacı Prize for International Relations for Peace (Turkey), The Star of Romania Order (Romania), King Abdul Aziz Order (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), Order of Honor (Georgia), Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor (France), Sheikhulislam Order (Republic of Azerbaijan), Prepodobniy Sergiy Rodonejskiy first degree Order of Russian Orthodox Church, Grand Cordon Order of Merit (International Military Sport Council), Honorary decoration of International Confederation of Sport Organizations of CIS countries, highest order of FİLA Sport legend, Grand Cross of Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (Republic of Poland), Order of Prince Yaroslav Mudry of 1st Class (Ukraine), Mubarak Al-Kabeer Order (Kuwait), Gold medal of the Hellenic Republic (Greece), Badge of Honor of European Fair Play Movement, Order of the Three Stars (Commander of the Grand Cross) (Latvian Republic); The National Order “Faithful Service” in rank of Grand Cross Special Order (Romania), Order of “İsmoili Somoni” (Tajikistan), Order of the State of Republic of Turkey (Turkey).
Honorary Doctor of Lincoln University (USA), Honorary Doctor of the Moscow State University of International Relations, Honorary Professor of L.N.Gumilev Eurasian National University (Kazakhstan), Honorary Doctor of Bilkent University (Turkey), Honorary Doctor of National Academy for Taxes (Ukraine), Honorary Doctor of Petroleum and Gas University of Ploesti (Romania), Honorary Professor of University of National and World Economy (Bulgaria), Honorary Doctor of Kyung Hee University (South Korea), Honorary Doctor of Jordan University (Jordan), Honorary Doctor in Social Sciences of the Corvinus University (Republic of Hungary), Honorary Professor of Moscow State University (Russian Federation), Honorary Doctor of the Kiev National University named after Taras Shevchenko (Ukraine), Honorary Professor of the Turkmenistan State University after Makhtumkuli (Turkmenistan), Honorary Doctor of the Baku State University (Azerbaijan), Honorary Professor of the Belarusian State University (Belarus), Honorary Doctor of the Ankara University (Turkey), Honorary Doctor of Cukurova University (Turkey), Honorary Professorship in History by Renmin University (China).
Article 109. Power of the President of Republic of Azerbaijan.
The President of the Republic of Azerbaijan:
1) shall appoint elections to the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan;
2) shall submit the State budget of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Milli Majlis for ratification;
3) approves State economic and social programs;
4) on co-ordination with the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan shall appoint the Prime-Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan and shall remove from position the Prime-Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan; the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan shall perform duties of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
5) shall appoint to position and remove from position members of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan; in required cases shall preside at the meetings of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan;
6) shall take a decision on resignation of the Cabinet of Ministers;
7) shall set up central and local executive bodies for exercising executive pointer within the expenses planned by the State budget of the Republic of Azerbaijan;
8) shall annul the Resolutions and Orders of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Cabinet of Ministers of the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, Acts of central and local executive bodies;
9) shall submit a proposal to the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the appointment and removing from the position of judges of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the courts of appeal of the Republic of Azerbaijan; on co-ordination with the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan shall appoint and remove General Prosecutor of the Republic of Azerbaijan from holding position; appoint to the position of judges of other courts of Republic of Azerbaijan;
10) shall submit proposals to the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the appointment to the position and removal from the position the members of the Board Committee of the National Bank of the Republic of Azerbaijan;
11) shall submit military doctrine of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Milli Majlis for ratification;
12) shall appoint and remove from position higher commanders of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan;
13) shall form the President’s Administration and shall appoint its Head;
14) shall nominate the ombudsman of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Milli Meljlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan for his election;
15) shall submit to the Milli Majlis a proposal on establishing diplomatic representations of the Republic of Azerbaijan in foreign countries and international organizations, appoint and recall diplomatic representatives of the Republic of Azerbaijan in foreign States and international organizations;
16) shall accept credentials and letters of recall of the diplomatic representatives of foreign States;
17) shall conclude intergovernmental Treaties and Agreements, shall submit interstate Treaties, to the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan for ratification or denunciation; shall sign Decrees on the ratification of international Treaties and Agreements;
18) shall appoint a referendum;
19) shall sign and issue laws;
20) shall settle the issues of citizenship;
21) shall decide issues on granting political asylum;
22) shall pass Acts on Granting Mercy;
23) shall grant State awards;
24) shall confer higher military and higher special ranks;
25) shall announce total or partial mobilization and demobilization;
26) shall take a decision on calling up citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan for urgent military service and transferring soldiers to the reserve;
27) shall found Security Council of the Republic of Azerbaijan;
28) shall introduce representation to the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan on giving consent to enlist armed forces to the fulfillment of obligations not connected with their main destination;
29) shall declare emergency situation and martial law;
30) shall upon consent of the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan declare war and conclude peace;
31) shall set up special guard services;
32) shall in the executive order settle other issues not referred by the present Constitution to the power of the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Elections:
Article 8. Head of Azerbaijan State.
I. President shall be the head of the Republic of Azerbaijan. He shall represent the Azerbaijan state in home and foreign policies.
II. President of the Republic of Azerbaijan shall embody the unity of the Azerbaijan people and shall ensure the continuity of the Azerbaijan state.
III. President of the Republic of Azerbaijan shall guarantee independence, territorial integrity and fulfillment of international Agreements to which the Republic of Azerbaijan is a party.
IV. President of the Republic of Azerbaijan shall ensure independence of Judicial power.
Article 9. Armed Forces.
III. President of the Republic of Azerbaijan shall be Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.
Article 99. Affiliation to Executive Power.
Executive power in the Republic of Azerbaijan shall belong to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Article 106. Immunity of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
The President of the Republic of Azerbaijan shall have the right of immunity. The honor and dignity of the president of the Republic of Azerbaijan shall be protected by Law.
Mehriban Arif gizi Aliyeva was born in Baku in 1964.
In 1982, she graduated from the secondary school No. 23 in the city of Baku with distinction and entered Azerbaijan State Medical Institute named after Nariman Narimanov, Preventive-Treatment Faculty.
In 1988, she graduated from the First Moscow State Medical Institute named after M.Sechenov with distinction.
In 1988-1992, she worked at the Eye Diseases Scientific Research Institute in Moscow.
In 1995, Mehriban Aliyeva founded “Azerbaijani Culture Foundation”, which she currently heads.
In 1996, Mehriban Aliyeva founded “Azerbaijan – Heritage” magazine, which is published in three languages (Azerbaijani, English and Russian) in order to widely promote the Azerbaijani culture.
In October 2002, Mehriban Aliyeva was elected as President of Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation.
Mehriban Aliyeva has headed the Heydar Aliyev Foundation since 2004, which was founded to study the rich political legacy and promote the national statehood ideas of national leader of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev.
In August 2004, Mehriban Aliyeva was named Goodwill Ambassador of UNESCO for her role in protection and development of Azerbaijan’s intangible folk literature and national musical legacy.
In December 2004, Mehriban Aliyeva was elected as a member of the Executive Committee of NOC at the 4th General Assembly of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Mehriban Aliyeva has been a member of the New Azerbaijan Party’s Political Council since 2004, and deputy chairman of the party since 2013.
In 2005, Mehriban Aliyeva received an academic degree of PhD in Philosophy.
In 2005, 2010 and 2015, Mehriban Aliyeva was elected as a Member of Parliament at the third, fourth and fifth convocation of the Milli Mejlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
In November 2006, Mehriban Aliyeva was named Goodwill Ambassador of ISESCO for her outstanding contribution to humanitarian area, including the development of dialogue among civilizations and cultures, promotion of Islamic cultural legacy and for her tremendous role in addressing problems of children with special needs.
At the 4th Congress of the World Azerbaijanis held in Baku in June 2016, Mehriban Aliyeva was elected as a member of the World Azerbaijanis Coordination Board.
On February 21, 2017, Mehriban Aliyeva was appointed as First Vice-President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. This terminated her power as a Member of Parliament of the Republic of Azerbaijan on March 6, 2017.
Mehriban Aliyeva is married, and has two daughters, a son and five grandchildren.
Mehriban Aliyeva`s awards and honorary titles:
Heydar Aliyev Order (Republic of Azerbaijan); Order of the Legion of Honor (French Republic); Grand Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Polish Republic; Hilal-e Pakistan Order of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan; the Sreten Order (Serbian Republic); Commander’s Cross Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary; UNESCO’s Golden Mozart Medal, the UN World Intellectual Property Organization’s gold medal; Gold Medal and “Prix de la Fondation” Prize of the Crans Montana Forum; High Order of the European Olympic Committees; Honorary Diploma of the State of Kuwait; Heydar Aliyev Award; Executive Board Award of World Health Organization; Golden Heart international award; Olympic Excellence Special Honorary Prize of the International Olympic Academy; Turkish-German Friendship Federation Award;
Honorary professor of Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, honorary doctor of the Veliko Tyrnovo University named after Saints Cyril and Methodius (Bulgaria).
Heydar Alirza oglu Aliyev was born on 10 May 1923 in Nakhchyvan City of Azerbaijan. In 1939, after graduating from the Nakhchyvan Pedagogical School he studied at the Architecture Department of the Azerbaijan Industry Institute (present Azerbaijan State Oil Academy). The incipient war impeded to complete his education.
From 1941, Heydar Aliyev headed the department at the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of Nakhchyvan and in 1944 was sent to work at the state security bodies. Heydar Aliyev, working since that time in the security bodies, from 1965 held the post of deputy chairman, and from 1967 chairman of the Committee of State Security under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and he was conferred the rank of lieutenant general. These years, he received special higher education in Leningrad (present St Petersburg), and in 1957 he graduated from the History Department of the Azerbaijan State University.
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 became the head of the republic. In December 1982, Heydar Aliyev was elected a member of Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Soviet Union, and appointed to the post of the First Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR, and became one of the leaders of the USSR. For twenty years Heydar Aliyev was the deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and the Azerbaijan SSR, and for five years he worked as the Deputy Chairman of the Soviet of the Union of Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
In October 1987, Heydar Aliyev, as a sign of protest against the policy pursued by Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and personally the Secretary General Michael Gorbachev, resigned from his post.
In bound with the tragedy committed on 20 January 1990 in Baku by the soviet troops appearing in the next day at the Azerbaijan Representation in Moscow with a statement Heydar Aliyev demanded to punish the organizers and executors of the crime committed against the people of Azerbaijan. As a sign of protest against the hypocritical policy of leadership of the USSR, in connection with the critical conflict accrued in Daghlig Garabagh, in July 1991 he left the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
By return in July 1990 to Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev lived in Baku, then in Nakhchyvan, and in the same year was elected a deputy to the Supreme Soviet of Azerbaijan. In 1991-1993, he held the post of Chairman of the Supreme Assembly of the Autonomous Republic of Nakhchyvan, Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Azerbaijan. In 1992, at the constituent congress of the New Azerbaijan Party in Nakhchyvan, Heydar Aliyev was elected Chairman of the Party.
In May-June 1993, when, as a 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 Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Azerbaijan, and on 24 June – on resolution of the Milli Mejlis, he commenced to fulfill powers of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
On October 3, 1993, as a result of nationwide voting, Heydar Aliyev was elected President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. 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 President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Heydar Aliyev, giving his consent to be nominated as a candidate at the 15 October 2003 presidential elections, relinquished to run at the elections in connection with health problems.
On 12 December 2003 National Leader of the Azerbaijani people Heydar Aliyev passed away in Cleveland Hospital in the United States of America.
Heydar Aliyev was awarded a number of state orders and medals, international awards, elected honorable doctor of universities in many countries.
Heydar Aliyev was awarded the Lenin Order five times, Order of Red Star, numerous medals, also orders and medals of foreign countries, received rank of the Hero of the Socialistic Labor twice.
On 27 March 1997 the head of the state of Azerbaijan was awarded in Kiev the “Yaroslav Mudry” Order, the supreme order of Ukraine.
On 13 April 1999 President Heydar Aliyev was awarded the “Peace Premium of Ataturk” Order, the high order of Turkey.
On 20 January 1999 President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev was awarded the rank of the Honorable Professor of Moscow State University.
On 3 April 2003 President Heydar Aliyev was elected professor and full member of the Academy of Safety, Defense and Legal Norms Problems of the Russian Federation, awarded the premium of Y.V.Andropov.
On 10 May 2003 decree was signed on awarding Heydar Aliyev the Order of Saint Apostle Andrey Pervozvanny, the supreme order of Russia.
Mehriban Arif gizi Aliyeva was born in Baku in 1964.
