By FIKIR GILITSI – Today marks 19th anniversary of the death of a great leader in the Southern Caucuses country of Azerbaijan. National Leader Heydar Aliyev died at the age of 80 in on December 12, 2003 in Cleveland Clinic in the United States of America (USA) from a heart failure.
Baku received the National Leader’s coffin on December 14 and his farewell ceremony was held the next day at the Palace of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Over 250,000 attended the farewell of their beloved leader to paths of greatness, while the rest of Azerbaijanis at home and abroad wept deeply with a live broadcast on Azerbaijani TV channels.
The great leader, who rests in heaven for the good human being he was, while his body was buried at the Alley of Honor. After almost two decades, many might wonder as to why Azerbaijanis have the utmost love for the National Leader.
National Leader Heydar Aliyev was simply the architect and founder of modern and independent Azerbaijan. He’s one of the leaders whose contributions impacted the lives of people even outside their territory of rule.
Born on May 10, 1923 in Nakhchivan, this great politician and patriotic leader came to power in 1993 with the request of the utmost Azerbaijanis to salivated Azerbaijan from the brink of collapse. The people of Azerbaijan have known the National Leader for long time, since he was the ruler of the former Republic of Azerbaijan from 1982.
By then he transformed Azerbaijan from agrarian industry to a dominant industrial nation. He also managed to include Azerbaijani language in the constitution of the then Soviet Union, when he served as a member of the Politburo and First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers.
He resigned his key positions in 1987 because of all the dissatisfaction of his people with the treatment of the leadership in Moscow and even stood by his people by demanding justice for the crimes committed against the people of Azerbaijan in connection with January 20, Black January in the modern Azerbaijan as history documented it.
He was elected president on October 3 in a nationwide election and took office at a time when Azerbaijan was being hit by economic and social challenges and moreover, illegal aggression of territories by Armenia, and various illegal domestic armed and criminal groups, partially attributed to poor governance.
His experience, knowledge and leadership ability helped him to identify the blessings of the country, both the most educated human capital as well as the most precious natural resource, enabled him to design and implement, together with the people of Azerbaijan and international partners, very bold and ambitious but effective plans and policies and have led the country to prosperity, economic, social, political scientific and cultural prosperity.
Thanks to the system built by the National Leader Azerbaijan is now a great nation and home of proud citizens, a center of international tourism, a symbol of multiculturalism and harmony, a reliable base for prosperity of the Caucasus region, and a good neighbor to all who respect its sovereignty and territorial integrity. It is now a country of great economy that has amazing prospects of planning and implementing huge projects domestically and beyond with cooperation with friends and friendly countries based on benefits.
What else can Azerbaijanis can give to this great leader, who raised their beloved country from the ashes and made it one of the strongest states in the region, and laid foundation for a prosperous and peaceful life, other than love?