Aliyev, Geidar Alirza (1923–2003)

Azerbaijani politician, president 1993–2003. An Azeri Muslim veteran of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), of which he was a full Politburo member 1982–87, he returned to politics in his newly independent homeland in 1991. He became president in June 1993, after Albufaz Elchibey was overthrown in a military coup, and was elected in October 1993 in a contest boycotted by the opposition. His authoritarian regime has developed closer ties with Russia, while gradually promoting market-centred economic reforms. He was re-elected in 1995 and 1998.

Born in Nakhichevan and educated at the Azerbaijan State University, he became a member of the CPSU in 1945. Aliyev worked in the KGB in Azerbaijan, where he was communist party leader 1969–82. A pragmatist, who had made his reputation purging party corruption in Azerbaijan, he survived the initial period of reforms promoted by the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev from 1985, before being retired from the CPSU Politburo in October 1987. In 1991 he became leader of the Nakhichevan autonomous region (situated in Armenia), and in 1992 founded the New Azerbaijan Party.

In October 1998 Aliyev was re-elected with 75% of the vote but the opposition and some foreign observers maintained that the poll was marred by fraud.