Ilham Aliyev | |
|---|---|
| İlham Əliyev | |
 Aliyev in 2024 | |
| 4th President of Azerbaijan | |
| Assumed office 31 October 2003 | |
| Prime Minister | |
| Vice President | Mehriban Aliyeva |
| Preceded by | Heydar Aliyev |
| 7th Prime Minister of Azerbaijan | |
| In office 4 August 2003 – 31 October 2003 | |
| President | Heydar Aliyev |
| Preceded by | Artur Rasizade |
| Succeeded by | Artur Rasizade |
| Leader of the New Azerbaijan Party | |
| Assumed office 2005 | |
| Deputy | Mehriban Aliyeva |
| Preceded by | Heydar Aliyev |
| Chairman of the Turkic Council | |
| In office 15 October 2019 – 12 November 2021 | |
| Preceded by | Sooronbay Jeenbekov |
| Succeeded by | Recep Tayyip Erdoğan |
| Secretary General of the Non-Aligned Movement | |
| In office 25 October 2019 – 16 January 2024 | |
| 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 | |
| Parents | |
| Alma mater | Moscow State Institute of International Relations |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Signature |  |
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Incumbent Presidency
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Ilham Heydar oghlu Aliyev (Azerbaijani: İlham Heydər oğlu Əliyev [ilˈhɑm hejˈdæɾ oɣˈlu æˈlijev]; born 24 December 1961) is an Azerbaijani politician who has been the fourth and current president of Azerbaijan since 2003. 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.[1] 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.[2][3][4][5][6][7][excessive citations] 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.[8]
- ^ ""Ilham Aliyev, 2012 Person of the Year in organised crime and corruption". Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. Archived from the original on 11 April 2023. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
- ^ Turp-Balazs, Craig (17 March 2021). "Alexander Lukashenko is a dictator, but he is not Europe's last". Emerging Europe. Archived from the original on 15 December 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
- ^ Neukirch, Ralf (4 January 2012). "A Dictator's Dream: Azerbaijan Seeks to Burnish Image Ahead of Eurovision". Der Spiegel. ISSN 2195-1349. Archived from the original on 15 December 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
- ^ Rubin, Michael (22 October 2021). "Azerbaijan's Aliyev is a strategic liability, not an asset". The National Interest. Archived from the original on 1 October 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
- ^ "French court backs media description of Aliyev as a "dictator"". The Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin. Archived from the original on 9 December 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
- ^ "Autocrats take advantage of coronavirus". Council on Foreign Relations. Archived from the original on 12 December 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
- ^ Hunder, Max. "Azerbaijan's dissenting voices face imprisonment and worse". Kyiv Post. Archived from the original on 13 February 2024. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ Service, RFE/RL's Armenian. "Azerbaijan Threatens Military Action Against Armenia Over Border 'Provocations'". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Archived from the original on 5 September 2024. Retrieved 17 August 2024.