Heydar Aliyev — Profile, Rankings & Fame Trend

Summary

Updated 2026-06-08

Twenty-eight years in the KGB, a decade running Soviet Azerbaijan, then a return after a 1993 coup to rule independent Azerbaijan until death — installing his son in a fraudulent election just before the end.

Biography

About

Heydar Aliyev spent nearly three decades in Soviet state security organs beginning in 1941, then governed Soviet Azerbaijan as First Secretary of the Communist Party from 1969 to 1982, rising through Moscow's hierarchy with backing from Brezhnev and Andropov to become First Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union until 1987. After Azerbaijan's independence and its first free election in 1992 brought dissident Abulfaz Elchibey to power, a military coup in 1993 ousted Elchibey and installed Aliyev as president, ending the country's brief democratic interlude. He won a presidential election with nearl…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Heydar Aliyev

Heydar Aliyev

said1999

In reality, the Khojali tragedy is one of the greatest human atrocities of the 20th century.

— Azerbaijan International (7.1) Spring 1999

Heydar Aliyev

said4 Oct 1998

I ask Congressmen why they have such close relations with Armenia, and they say that the Armenian Diaspora gives them a lot of money. Is that corruption or not?

— Answering the question of Jeffrey Goldberg "What sort of corruption do you see in America?" October 4, 1998, The New York Times.

Heydar Aliyev

said20 Sep 1994

Azerbaijan became the Independent Republic […] A new epoch has begun in the life of Azerbaijan.

— The speech of President Heydar Aliyev at the signing ceremony of the Contract of the Century (20 September 1994)

Heydar Aliyev

saidundated

There is no alternative to reforms [...] Whoever is against this and is stealthily trying to interfere with our work, is not with us along the way.

— as quoted in "Azeri leader slams government for frequent economic forecast changes", Reuters, October 17, 2019

Heydar Aliyev

saidundated

The Territorial integrity of Azerbaijan is not and will never be the topic of negotiations… Azerbaijan will not retreat from this position in any single step.

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

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