Ilham Aliyev

Ilham Aliyev
İlham Əliyev
Aliyev in 2023
4th President of Azerbaijan
Incumbent
Assumed office 31 October 2003
Prime Minister	Artur Rasizade Novruz Mammadov Ali Asadov
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
Incumbent
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
Incumbent
Assumed office 25 October 2019
Preceded by	Nicolás Maduro
Personal details
Born	İlham Heydər oğlu Əliyev (1961-12-24) 24 December 1961 (age 62) Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union
Political party	New Azerbaijan Party
Spouse	Mehriban Aliyeva ​ (m. 1983)​
Children	Leyla Arzu Heydar
Parents	Heydar Aliyev Zarifa Aliyeva
Alma mater	Moscow State Institute of International Relations
Occupation	Politician
Signature

This article is part of a series about Ilham Aliyev
President of Azerbaijan Incumbent Presidency Domestic 2009 constitutional referendum Eurovision Song Contest 2012 Gulargate Launching of Azerspace-1/Africasat-1a Halting of the Khazar Islands Project 2015 European Games 2015 Baku residence building fire 2015 Gunashli Platform fire 2016 Azerbaijani constitutional referendum Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games 2018 Baku fire Foreign Inauguration of Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline Inauguration of Baku–Tbilisi–Kars railway Border clashes 2008 Mardakert 2010 Nagorno-Karabakh 2010 Mardakert 2012 2014 2014 Armenian Mil Mi-24 shootdown 2016 Gyunnut Operation 2020 Tovuz clashes Second Nagorno-Karabakh War Russian Mi-24 shootdown Ceasefire Ramil Safarov repatriation Caviar diplomacy Zamira Hajiyeva controversy Inauguration of Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh Opposition 2003 Baku protests Our Azerbaijan bloc Alikram Hummatov Elmar Huseynov Nida Civic Movement 2013 Baku protests Ilgar Mammadov Leyla Yunus Rasul Jafarov Intiqam Aliyev Khadija Ismayilova Mehman Huseynov Operation Nardaran 2018 Ganja protests 2019 Baku protests Incidents 2007 Baku terrorist plot 2008 Abu Bakr Mosque attack 2009 ASOA shooting Presidential campaigns 2003 2008 2013 2018 Personal life Heydar Aliyev‎ (father) Zarifa Aliyeva‎ (mother) Jalal Aliyev (uncle) Mehriban Aliyev‎a (wife) Leyla Aliyeva‎ (daughter) Arzu Aliyeva‎ (daughter) Panama Papers
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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 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 and 2018 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 owns the country's oil and gas industries. Much of the wealth is hidden through an elaborate network of offshore companies. He 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]} 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 culminated 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.