Ilham Aliyev facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ilham Aliyev
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| İlham Əliyev | |
Aliyev in November 2024
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| 4th President of Azerbaijan | |
| Assumed office 31 October 2003 |
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| Prime Minister |
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| Vice President | Mehriban Aliyeva |
| Preceded by | Heydar Aliyev |
| 7th Prime Minister of Azerbaijan | |
| In office 4 August 2003 – 31 October 2003 |
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| President | Heydar Aliyev |
| Preceded by | Artur Rasizade |
| Succeeded by | Artur Rasizade |
| Leader of the New Azerbaijan Party | |
| Assumed office 2005 |
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| Deputy | Mehriban Aliyeva |
| Preceded by | Heydar Aliyev |
| Chairman of the Turkic Council | |
| In office 15 October 2019 – 12 November 2021 |
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| Preceded by | Sooronbay Jeenbekov |
| Succeeded by | Recep Tayyip Erdoğan |
| Secretary General of the Non-Aligned Movement | |
| In office 25 October 2019 – 16 January 2024 |
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| Preceded by | Nicolás Maduro |
| Succeeded by | Yoweri Museveni |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
İlham Heydər oğlu Əliyev
24 December 1961 Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union |
| Political party | New Azerbaijan Party |
| Spouse | |
| Children |
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| Parents |
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| Alma mater | Moscow State Institute of International Relations |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Signature |  |
Ilham Heydar oghlu Aliyev (Azerbaijani: İlham Heydər oğlu Əliyev [ilˈhɑm hejˈdæɾ oɣˈlu æˈlijev]; born 24 December 1961) is an Azerbaijani politician who is the fourth and current president of Azerbaijan. The son and second child of former Azerbaijani president Heydar Aliyev, Aliyev became the country's president on 31 October 2003, after a two-month term as prime minister of Azerbaijan, through a presidential election defined by irregularities shortly before his father's death. He was reelected for a second term in 2008 and was allowed to run in elections indefinitely in 2013, 2018 and 2024 due to the 2009 constitutional referendum, which removed term limits for presidents. Throughout his electoral campaign, Aliyev was a member of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party, which he has headed since 2005.
Azerbaijan being oil-rich is viewed to have significantly strengthened the stability of Aliyev's regime and enriched ruling elites in Azerbaijan, making it possible for the country to host lavish international events, as well as engage in extensive lobbying efforts.
Aliyev's family have enriched themselves through their ties to state-run businesses. They own significant parts of several major Azerbaijani banks, construction firms and telecommunications firms, and partially own the country's oil and gas industries. Much of the wealth is hidden through an elaborate network of offshore companies. Aliyev was named Corruption's 'Person of the Year' by Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project in 2012. In 2017, it was revealed that Aliyev and his family were involved in the Azerbaijani laundromat, a complex money-laundering scheme to pay off prominent European politicians to deflect criticism of Aliyev and promote a positive image of his regime.
Many observers see Aliyev as a dictator. He leads an authoritarian regime in Azerbaijan; elections are not free and fair, political power is concentrated in the hands of Aliyev and his extended family, corruption is rampant, and human rights violations are severe (including torture, arbitrary arrests, as well as harassment of journalists and non-governmental organizations). The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict continued during Aliyev's presidency and devolved into a full-scale war in 2020 in which Azerbaijan regained control over the Armenian-occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh that were lost during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, as well as a part of Nagorno-Karabakh region itself. Then, in the fall of 2023, Azerbaijan initiated a military offensive in the disputed region which ended with the surrender of the self-declared Republic of Artsakh and mass displacement of more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Early life
Ilham Aliyev is the son of Heydar Aliyev, president of Azerbaijan from 1993 to 2003. His mother Zarifa Aliyeva was an Azerbaijani ophthalmologist. He also has an older sister, Sevil Aliyeva. In 1977, Ilham Aliyev entered the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO-MSIIR) and in 1982, continued his education as a postgraduate. In 1985 he received a PhD degree in history. From 1985 to 1990 Aliyev lectured at MSIIR. From 1991 to 1994, he led a group of private industrial-commercial enterprises. In 1994–2003, he was vice-president, and later the first vice-president of SOCAR, the state-owned Azerbaijani oil and gas company. Since 1997, Aliyev is the president of the National Olympic Committee of Azerbaijan.
Electoral history and fraud
In 1999, Ilham Aliyev was elected as the deputy chair of the ruling party New Azerbaijan Party and in 2001, he was elected to the post of first deputy chair at the Second Congress of the Party. At the third Congress of the New Azerbaijan Party held on 26 March 2005, President Aliyev and the first deputy of the Party was unanimously elected to the post of chairman of the Party. The fourth and fifth congresses of the party held in 2008 and 2013 unanimously supported his nomination for the next presidential term.
In 1995, Aliyev was elected to the Parliament of Republic of Azerbaijan; later he became president of the National Olympic Committee (still incumbent).
From 2001 to 2003, Aliyev was head of the Azerbaijani delegation to Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
In August 2003, while his father Heydar Aliyev was still formally president of Azerbaijan but was ill and absent from public events, Ilham Aliyev was appointed as prime minister.
2003 election
The official results of the 15 October 2003 elections gave victory to Ilham Aliyev, who earned 76.84% of the votes. The election was defined by election fraud. Human Rights Watch and the Institute for Democracy in Eastern Europe documented arrests of opposition candidates, police violence against journalists and participants in election rallies, and "widespread fraud and abuse" in the conduct of the election itself.
2008 election
Ilham Aliyev was re-elected in 2008 with 87% of the polls. A total of seven candidates filed to run in the election who had to collect 40,000 voter signatures. According to the report of the Election Observation Delegation from the European Parliament the elections took place with no reported unrest and few minor electoral violations. The report also highlights numerous reforms to the Electoral Code in accordance with OSCE and Council of Europe requirements and standards, which include inking of voters, more transparency of voter lists, and the prohibition of government interference in the election process.
During the 2008 presidential elections, PACE observers included a large group of frankly pro-Azerbaijani MPs. The variant of the statement on elections, prepared by the head of the group of observers Andreas Herkel, containing critical remarks, faced the rejection of the pro-Azerbaijani group consisting of Michael Hancock, Eduard Lintner and Paul Ville. Herkel was forced to declare his resignation if criticism did not go into the statement. During the referendum, which lifted the limits on the number of presidential terms for Ilham Aliyev, four PACE deputies – Eduard Litner, Paul Ville, Khaki Keskin and Pedro Agramunt evaluated the referendum as the progress of democracy. In a constitutional referendum in 2009, term limits for the presidency were abolished. The opposition claimed this to be a violation of the Azerbaijani constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. European Commission said the step "signalled a serious setback".
2013 election
In the 2013 presidential elections held on 9 October, Aliyev claimed victory with 85 percent of the vote, securing a third five-year term. The election results were accidentally released before the polls opened.
Election observation delegations from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament claimed to have observed a free, fair and transparent electoral process with no evidence of voter intimidation. A day before voting began, however, the Central Election Commission released a new smartphone application intended to allow citizens to watch the ballot counting in real time, and instead the app accidentally showed the results of the election before the election had taken place. The Central Election Commission tried to justify the incident by saying that the initially displayed results were those of the 2008 election, even though the candidates listed, including Jamil Hasanli in second place, were from the 2013 ballot. Aliyev's main rivals in the election were Jamil Hasanli and Igbal Agazade.
In 2013, Amnesty International called on western leaders to speak up against the arrest of Anar Mammadli, prominent human rights activist and head of the independent Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre, who was falsely charged with tax evasion and illegal business activity, after his organisation had reported widespread violations during the election.
Observers from the OSCE / ODIHR spoke of restrictions on freedom of speech during elections. The US State Department described the elections as not meeting international standards, and expressing solidarity with the ODIHR's assessment.
There was a controversy over election observers who had allegedly been paid by the Azerbaijani regime through the Azerbaijani laundromat scandal. A German former lawmaker Eduard Lintner led a mission that claimed that the elections were up to "German standards"; however, Lintner's group had been paid 819,500 euros through the laundromat moneylaundering scheme. According to the OCCRP, there is "ample evidence of its connection to the family of President Aliyev."
2018 election
Ilham Aliyev got 86.02% of votes in the 2018 presidential election. Major opposition parties did not participate in the election, and evidence indicates that the election was fraudulent.
Policies
Foreign policy
Azerbaijani foreign relations under Aliyev included strengthened cooperation with the European Union (EU), strong economic ties with Russia, cooperation with NATO via the NATO–Azerbaijan Individual Partnership Action Plan, and close relations with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). using Azerbaijan's oil wealth, the Azerbaijani regime engages in extensive lobbying efforts, using complex money-laundering and bribery schemes discovered during the Azerbaijani laundromat scandal, such as Caviar diplomacy, to pay off prominent European politicians to deflect and whitewash criticism of Aliyev and promote a positive image of his regime and gain support for Azerbaijani projects.
During Aliyev's presidency, in 2019, Azerbaijan was elected chair of the Turkic Council, as well as Non-Aligned Movement for a three-year mandate.
United Nations
Ilham Aliyev attended and addressed the general debates of the 59th, 65th and 72 sessions (2004, 2010, 2017) of the UN General Assembly.
European Union
Ilham Aliyev expanded cooperation with the European Union (EU) during his presidency, using caviar diplomacy as a controversial technique of persuading European officials to support Azerbaijani projects. in 2004, Azerbaijan became part of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) of the EU. In 2006, Aliyev and Matti Vanhanen, president of the European Council, and José Manuel Barroso, president of the commission, signed the Memorandum of Understanding on a Strategic Partnership.
In 2009, Azerbaijan was included in the Eastern Partnership Policy. In 2011, Aliyev and José Manuel Barroso concluded the Joint Declaration on the Southern Gas Corridor.
On 6 February 2017, Aliyev visited Brussels, the capital of the EU, where he paid visits to High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, with the president of the European Council, Commission President, and the Commissioner for Energy Union. which resulted in signing the "Partnership Priorities" between EU and Azerbaijan on 11 July 2018.
France
During 12–15 March 2017, Aliyev made an official visit to France and met with executive officials of international companies SUEZ, DCNS, CIFAL, Space Systems in the Airbus Defence and Space Division. during a meeting with French entrepreneurs, he stated that the activities of some companies in the Republic of Artsakh is "unacceptable and violates international and national laws". Following his visit, Aliyev met with the French president in the Elysee Palace. French president Francois Hollande made a press statement in which he stated that "the status quo in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is not the right option and he hopes that there can be a resumption of negotiations." During the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, in which France supported Azerbaijan's adversary Armenia, Aliyev demanded that French president Emmanuel Macron apologize for accusing Azerbaijan of using Syrian mercenaries.
Russia
On 6 February 2004, Aliyev and Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, signed the Moscow Declaration, which stated principles of relations between Azerbaijan and Russia. On 16 February 2005 Aliyev participated in the ceremony of opening the Year of Azerbaijan in Russia. On 29 June 2006, Ilham Aliyev and Dmitry Medvedev, former president of the Russian Federation, concluded a joint statement on the Caspian Sea. In 2018, Aliyev and Putin signed Joint Statement on Priority Areas of Economic Cooperation between the two countries. Aliyev met with Russian and Iranian leaders in Baku in 2016 to discuss terrorism, transnational organized crime, arms smuggling and ... in the region. the trilateral summit signed a declaration to develop the International North–South Transport Corridor, which would run from India to Saint Petersburg, providing better alternatives to existing sea routes.
United States
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Aliyev has met with multiple U.S. presidents during his tenure: George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump.
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)
During Aliyev's presidency, Azerbaijan joined the Individual Partnership Action Plan. Azerbaijan has completed NATO-Azerbaijan Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) documents for three periods. Ilham Aliyev introduced Azerbaijan's first IPAP to NATO in Brussels on 19 May 2014.
Aliyev has attended several NATO summits and other meetings. Azerbaijan contributed to the NATO-led "Resolute Support" mission in Afghanistan.
Domestic policy
Religious policy
On 10 January 2017 Ilham Aliyev announced 2017 as the year of Islamic Solidarity and allocated funds to organize the related events. In 2014 and 2015, Aliyev allocated funds from Presidential Reserve Fund multiple time towards efforts to promote "interreligious dialogue and tolerance" and to restore monuments in Azerbaijan.
Corruption
Corruption is rampant in Azerbaijan. According to Transparency International, Azerbaijan scores just 30 on the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index, indicating a serious problem with corruption. On 8 August 2017, Transparency Azerbaijan announced that it had scaled back its operations in the capital city of Baku, because the government would not approve an extension of the funding as it comes from outside the country. According to Transparency International "The blanket ban on foreign grants has brought the country's civil society to a halt and has dealt a devastating blow to civic initiatives across the board".
LGBT rights
Discrimination against LGBT people is severe in Azerbaijan. In 2020, ILGA-Europe again declared Azerbaijan the worst country in all of Europe for LGBT rights, with the country receiving a final score of just 2%. Human rights activists have criticized Aliyev's record on LGBT rights.
International sporting events
Azerbaijan's oil wealth has made it possible for the country to host lavish international events.
Aliyev is the president of the National Olympic Committee since 1997. During his presidency, Azerbaijan hosted some international sports events such as the 2015 European Games, 4th Islamic Solidarity Games and 42nd Chess Olympiad and the 2016 European Grand Prix. Aliyev attended various opening and award ceremonies where he awarded the winning prizes.
Economic policy
Upon becoming president in 2003, Aliyev was positioned to enjoy a booming economy fueled by the oil and gas sector; Azerbaijan had the world's fastest rate of economic growth in the three-year period from 2005–2007. Azerbaijan's oil riches strengthened the stability of Aliyev's regime and enriched ruling elites in Azerbaijan. However, periods of low oil prices, as well as inflation, weakened the Azerbaijani economy and slowed economic growth. Aliyev continued the neopatrimonial system inherited from his father. Azerbaijan's oligarchic system inhibited smaller businesses and blocked foreign investment outside the fossil fuels sector. Persistent pledges by Aliyev and Azerbaijani elites to prioritize economic diversification yielded few major results, as the country remained largely depended on oil and gas. The International Monetary Fund has urged Azerbaijan to diverse its economy. Efforts to economically liberalize were inhibited by the authorities' fear of political liberalization. Currency devaluation has been another economic challenge under Aliyev's tenure. In a rare public criticism of other government officials, Aliyev criticized his Economy Minister Shakhin Mustafayev and other Cabinet members for frequently shifting economic forecasts, and for seeking to block economic reforms by blackmailing and denigrating other officials.
Personal life
Ilham Aliyev married Mehriban Aliyeva in Baku on 22 January 1983. They have three children, Leyla, Arzu and Heydar, and five grandchildren. He is fluent in Azerbaijani, English, French, Russian and Turkish. His wife is the inaugural Vice President of Azerbaijan.
Honours
National honours and medals
Source:
Azerbaijan – Heydar Aliyev Order- Azerbaijan – Order of Sheikhulislam
Foreign honours
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Romania – Order of the Star of Romania (2004)
Saudi Arabia – Order of Abdulaziz Al Saud (2005)
Georgia – Order of Honor of Georgia
Bulgaria - Order of Stara Planina
France – Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor
Poland – Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland
Ukraine – First Class of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (2008)
Kuwait – Order of Mubarak the Great
Greece – Gold Medal of the Hellenic Republic
Latvia – Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Three Stars- Romania – Grand Cross of Faithful Service
Tajikistan – Order of Ismoili Somoni
Turkey – First Class of the Order of the State of Republic of Turkey (2013)- Ukraine – Order of Liberty (2013)
Serbia – Order of the Republic of Serbia (2013)
Italy – Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (12 July 2018)- Bulgaria – "Friendship" order of Bulgaria (2019)
Kazakhstan – Order of the Golden Eagle (22 August 2022)
- International organizations
CIS Medal For Distinction in Protection of CIS State Borders and Badge for Strengthening of Border Cooperation (2008).
Organization of Turkic States – Supreme Order of Turkic World
- Others
- Turkey – İhsan Doğramacı Prize for International Relations for Peace
Russia – Prepodobniy Sergiy Rodonejskiy first degree Order of Russian Orthodox Church- International Military Sports Council – Grand Cordon Order of Merit
Honorary degrees
Aliyev has also received honorary degrees from universities from the following states: Turkmenistan, Belarus, Russia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Romania, Jordan, Hungary, Azerbaijan, and South Korea.
See also
- Politics of Azerbaijan
