Baku: Today marks the birthday of the national leader of the Azerbaijan people, Heydar Aliyev, APA reports. May 10 commemorates the 102nd anniversary of his birth. Heydar Aliyev was born on May 10, 1923, in Nakhchivan city of Azerbaijan. According to Azeri-Press News Agency, Heydar Aliyev embarked on his professional journey in 1939 after graduating from the Nakhchivan Pedagogical School. He entered the Architecture Department of the Industrial Institute of Azerbaijan, but his education was interrupted by World War II. Between 1941 and 1944, Aliyev worked in various capacities within the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs and the Council of People's Commissars of the Nakhchivan ASSR. In 1944, he began working in the state security organs and later, from 1949 to 1950, he received further training in Leningrad. By 1950, Aliyev was appointed as a department chair in the Azerbaijan USSR State Security Committee. He graduated from the History Department of the Azerbaijan State University in 1957, and by 1 958, he led the counterintelligence department of the State Security Committee of the Azerbaijan SSR. His career in security services continued to advance, and in 1967, he was appointed Chairman of the State Security Committee under the Council of Ministers of the Azerbaijan SSR, earning the rank of Major General. Aliyev's political career further progressed when he was elected First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan in 1969. Aliyev was a long-serving deputy in both the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan SSR and the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. He held influential positions, including Deputy Chairman of the Union Council of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR from 1974 to 1979. In 1982, he was appointed First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, overseeing key areas of economic, social, and cultural life. In 1987, Aliyev resigned from his positions in protest against the political direction of the Soviet Union's leadership. He voiced his opposition to the S oviet actions in Baku during the events of January 19-20, 1990. By July 1991, he left the Communist Party, protesting against policies concerning Nagorno-Karabakh. Returning to Baku in 1990, Aliyev was elected as a people's MP of the Azerbaijan SSR and the Nakhchivan ASSR. In 1991, he became Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. By 1992, he was elected chairman of the New Azerbaijan Party. In 1993, amid a national crisis, Aliyev returned to power, becoming Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Azerbaijan and later, President of Azerbaijan in October 1993. He was re-elected in 1998, securing 76.1 percent of the vote. Due to health issues, he withdrew from the 2003 presidential race in favor of Ilham Aliyev. Heydar Aliyev passed away on December 12, 2003, in the United States and was laid to rest in Baku. Throughout his life, Aliyev received numerous awards, including the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Red Star, alongside various international honors.
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