Aziz Aliyev
Encyclopedia
Dr. Aziz Mammad Karim oglu Aliyev (Azeri
: Əziz Əliyev; ) (20 December 1896, Hamamli (present-day Spitak
) – 27 July 1962, Baku
), Ph.D., was an Azerbaijan
i, Dagestan
i and Soviet politician, scientist, and member of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. He was the father-in-law of Heydar Aliyev
and maternal grandfather of Azerbaijan's current President Ilham Aliyev
.
working-class family in the rural part of Erivan Governorate
(then part of the Russian Empire
, now mostly part of Armenia
). While still an infant, he moved with his family to Erivan, where he soon started attending a Russian-Muslim primary school and later the Erivan gymnasium
(secondary school in the Russian Imperial education system). Due to his high academic standing, he was exempt for paying for education, fortunately for his family which was in financial need. After graduating with honours, Aliyev was sponsored by philanthropist Zeynalabdin Taghiyev to enter the Russian Medical Military Academy in Saint Petersburg
in 1917. Because of the October Revolution
and civil unrest in the South Caucasus
marked by political instability and ethnic cleansings, Aliyev had to return to Armenia in 1918 and fled with his family first to Shahtakhti
(a town in Nakhchivan) and then to northern Iran
. In the early 1920s he worked in aid posts in Erivan, Nakhchivan and on the southern bank of the Aras River. In 1923 he came to Baku to work in the administrative department of the Azerbaijan Council of Ministers and finish his undergraduate degree in medical studies. In 1937 he earned a Ph.D. degree in medicine
.
. During these years he published a number of articles and textbooks, and was editor of the Azerbaijani Medical Journal. From January to May 1937 Aliyev was also rector of the Azerbaijan State University.
Supreme Soviet. In 1939–1941 he served as Azerbaijan Minister of Health Care. In 1941, after the Soviet invasion
of Iranian Azerbaijan and Iranian Kurdistan
, Aliyev was deployed to Tabriz
on a political mission. The goal of his council (later known as the "Aziz Aliyev Group") was to establish ties with local Communists and to propagate Communism on political, social and cultural levels.
appointed Aliyev Secretary of the Dagestan Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
, the highest authority in the Dagestan ASSR. During the six years that he served in this position, Aliyev managed to put an end to hostility expressed by the locals towards the central government. At the peak of the Great Patriotic War, desertion driven by mutual distrust between the Soviet authorities and the peoples of the Caucasus, was a huge issue (in 1944 it would lead to the deportation of over 600,000 residents of the North Caucasus
into Central Asia
that did not affect Dagestanis). In November 1942 Aliyev held a meeting with aul
leaders aiming to reconcile them with the Communist government. He openly supported the heritage of Imam Shamil
, the 19th century Muslim
leader of an anti-Russian resistance, that is well-celebrated by Dagestanis but had been frowned upon and dismissed by the Kremlin
at the time due to its religious and nationalist nature.
Aziz Aliyev's party leadership in Dagestan was marked by significant improvements in the medical, educational and cultural spheres. The Dagestan branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR
, the Dagestan State Pedagogical University (founded as the Dagestani Women Teachers Institute), a number of theatres and professional medical schools of this autonomous republic were founded during Aliyev's term. He was twice awarded the Order of Lenin
, the highest national order of the Soviet Union.
, the communist leader of Azerbaijan SSR in the Stalinist era. Concerned by rumours of being replaced by Aliyev, Baghirov managed to have him fired from the executive power of Dagestan and sent to Moscow
to work as an inspector in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In 1950 Aliyev was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Azerbaijan SSR Supreme Soviet. In 1951 he was fired from the government and became director of the Institute of Orthopædy. In 1952 he was further demoted to physician at a hospital in a Baku suburb. The official reason behind this repression was the accusation that Aliyev never reported his parents' social origin; aggravated by the fact that his sister lived in Iran. After Stalin's death and Baghirov's arrest in 1953, Aliyev was reestablished as director of the Institute of Orthopædy and secretary of the Supreme Soviet, where he worked until his death in 1962.
and President of Azerbaijan in 1993–2003.
Azerbaijani language
Azerbaijani or Azeri or Torki is a language belonging to the Turkic language family, spoken in southwestern Asia by the Azerbaijani people, primarily in Azerbaijan and northwestern Iran...
: Əziz Əliyev; ) (20 December 1896, Hamamli (present-day Spitak
Spitak
Spitak is a city in northern Armenia located in the Lori region with a population of 18,237. It was mostly destroyed by the devastating Spitak Earthquake in 1988, and was subsequently rebuilt in a slightly different location. Spitak means '"White" in Armenian....
) – 27 July 1962, Baku
Baku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
), Ph.D., was an Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
i, Dagestan
Dagestan
The Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea...
i and Soviet politician, scientist, and member of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. He was the father-in-law of Heydar Aliyev
Heydar Aliyev
Heydar Alirza oglu Aliyev , also spelled as Heidar Aliev, Geidar Aliev, Haydar Aliyev, Geydar Aliyev was the third President of Azerbaijan for the New Azerbaijan Party from June 1993 to October 2003, when his son Ilham Aliyev succeeded him.From 1969 till 1982, Aliyev was also the leader of Soviet...
and maternal grandfather of Azerbaijan's current President Ilham Aliyev
Ilham Aliyev
Ilham Heydar oglu Aliyev is the President of Azerbaijan since 2003. He also functions as the Chairman of the New Azerbaijan Party and the head of the National Olympic Committee...
.
Early life
Aziz Aliyev was born into an AzeriAzerbaijani people
The Azerbaijanis are a Turkic-speaking people living mainly in northwestern Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as in the neighbourhood states, Georgia, Russia and formerly Armenia. Commonly referred to as Azeris or Azerbaijani Turks , they also live in a wider area from the Caucasus to...
working-class family in the rural part of Erivan Governorate
Erivan Governorate
Erivan Governorate was one of the guberniyas of the Russian Empire, with its centre in Erivan . Its area was 27,830 sq. kilometres. It roughly corresponded to what is now most of central Armenia, the Iğdır Province of Turkey, and Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan exclave...
(then part of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
, now mostly part of Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
). While still an infant, he moved with his family to Erivan, where he soon started attending a Russian-Muslim primary school and later the Erivan gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
(secondary school in the Russian Imperial education system). Due to his high academic standing, he was exempt for paying for education, fortunately for his family which was in financial need. After graduating with honours, Aliyev was sponsored by philanthropist Zeynalabdin Taghiyev to enter the Russian Medical Military Academy in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
in 1917. Because of the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
and civil unrest in the South Caucasus
South Caucasus
The South Caucasus is a geopolitical region located on the border of Eastern Europe and Southwest Asia also referred to as Transcaucasia, or The Trans-Caucasus...
marked by political instability and ethnic cleansings, Aliyev had to return to Armenia in 1918 and fled with his family first to Shahtakhti
Sahtaxti
Şahtaxtı is a village and municipality in the Kangarli Rayon of Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan. It has a population of 3,092.- Notable natives :...
(a town in Nakhchivan) and then to northern Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
. In the early 1920s he worked in aid posts in Erivan, Nakhchivan and on the southern bank of the Aras River. In 1923 he came to Baku to work in the administrative department of the Azerbaijan Council of Ministers and finish his undergraduate degree in medical studies. In 1937 he earned a Ph.D. degree in medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
.
Medical career
In 1928 Aziz Aliyev worked as head of the medical department of the Azerbaijan People's Commissariat (Ministry) of Health Care. In 1929 he was promoted to Deputy Minister of Health Care and director of the Azerbaijan State Clinical Institute. In 1934 he became head of the Baku Department of Health Care. In 1935 he was appointed head of the Azerbaijan Medical UniversityAzerbaijan Medical University
Azerbaijan Medical University, named after Nariman Narimanov is the formal name of the public medical school located in Baku, Azerbaijan. Due to difficulties with translation, the school is sometimes called: Azerbaijan Medical University, Azerbaijan State Medical University, Azerbaijan State...
. During these years he published a number of articles and textbooks, and was editor of the Azerbaijani Medical Journal. From January to May 1937 Aliyev was also rector of the Azerbaijan State University.
Political career
In 1938 Aziz Aliyev was elected secretary of the Azerbaijan SSRAzerbaijan SSR
The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Azerbaijan SSR for short, was one of the republics that made up the former Soviet Union....
Supreme Soviet. In 1939–1941 he served as Azerbaijan Minister of Health Care. In 1941, after the Soviet invasion
Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran
The Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran was the Allied invasion of the Imperial State of Iran during World War II, by British, Commonwealth, and Soviet armed forces. The invasion from August 25 to September 17, 1941, was codenamed Operation Countenance...
of Iranian Azerbaijan and Iranian Kurdistan
Iranian Kurdistan
Iranian Kurdistan is an unofficial name for the parts of Iran inhabited by Kurds and has borders with Iraq and Turkey. It includes Kurdistan Province, Kermanshah Province, Ilam Province and parts of West Azerbaijan province....
, Aliyev was deployed to Tabriz
Tabriz
Tabriz is the fourth largest city and one of the historical capitals of Iran and the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. Situated at an altitude of 1,350 meters at the junction of the Quri River and Aji River, it was the second largest city in Iran until the late 1960s, one of its former...
on a political mission. The goal of his council (later known as the "Aziz Aliyev Group") was to establish ties with local Communists and to propagate Communism on political, social and cultural levels.
Dagestan
On 16 September 1942 Joseph StalinJoseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
appointed Aliyev Secretary of the Dagestan Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
, the highest authority in the Dagestan ASSR. During the six years that he served in this position, Aliyev managed to put an end to hostility expressed by the locals towards the central government. At the peak of the Great Patriotic War, desertion driven by mutual distrust between the Soviet authorities and the peoples of the Caucasus, was a huge issue (in 1944 it would lead to the deportation of over 600,000 residents of the North Caucasus
North Caucasus
The North Caucasus is the northern part of the Caucasus region between the Black and Caspian Seas and within European Russia. The term is also used as a synonym for the North Caucasus economic region of Russia....
into Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
that did not affect Dagestanis). In November 1942 Aliyev held a meeting with aul
Aul
An aul is a type of fortified village found throughout the Caucasus mountains, especially in Dagestan.The word itself is of Turkic origine and means simply village in many Turkic languages....
leaders aiming to reconcile them with the Communist government. He openly supported the heritage of Imam Shamil
Imam Shamil
Imam Shamil also spelled Shamyl, Schamil, Schamyl or Shameel was an Avar political and religious leader of the Muslim tribes of the Northern Caucasus...
, the 19th century Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
leader of an anti-Russian resistance, that is well-celebrated by Dagestanis but had been frowned upon and dismissed by the Kremlin
Kremlin
A kremlin , same root as in kremen is a major fortified central complex found in historic Russian cities. This word is often used to refer to the best-known one, the Moscow Kremlin, or metonymically to the government that is based there...
at the time due to its religious and nationalist nature.
Aziz Aliyev's party leadership in Dagestan was marked by significant improvements in the medical, educational and cultural spheres. The Dagestan branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR
Russian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences consists of the national academy of Russia and a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation as well as auxiliary scientific and social units like libraries, publishers and hospitals....
, the Dagestan State Pedagogical University (founded as the Dagestani Women Teachers Institute), a number of theatres and professional medical schools of this autonomous republic were founded during Aliyev's term. He was twice awarded the Order of Lenin
Order of Lenin
The Order of Lenin , named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union...
, the highest national order of the Soviet Union.
Azerbaijan
Aziz Aliyev's successful career was a matter of speculation among government officials in Azerbaijan, particularly Mir Jafar BaghirovMir Jafar Baghirov
Mir Jafar Baghirov Abbas oglu was the communist leader of Azerbaijan SSR from 1932 till 1953, under the Soviet leadership of Joseph Stalin.-Early life:Born in Quba of Baku Governorate in 1896, Baghirov studied pedagogy in Petrovsk....
, the communist leader of Azerbaijan SSR in the Stalinist era. Concerned by rumours of being replaced by Aliyev, Baghirov managed to have him fired from the executive power of Dagestan and sent to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
to work as an inspector in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In 1950 Aliyev was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Azerbaijan SSR Supreme Soviet. In 1951 he was fired from the government and became director of the Institute of Orthopædy. In 1952 he was further demoted to physician at a hospital in a Baku suburb. The official reason behind this repression was the accusation that Aliyev never reported his parents' social origin; aggravated by the fact that his sister lived in Iran. After Stalin's death and Baghirov's arrest in 1953, Aliyev was reestablished as director of the Institute of Orthopædy and secretary of the Supreme Soviet, where he worked until his death in 1962.
Family
In 1920 Aziz Aliyev married Leyla Abbasova, an Erivan-native. Three of their children: Tamerlan, Zarifa and Jamil, pursued careers in medicine. His other daughter Gulara Aliyeva became a composer and concertmaster. In 1948 his daughter Zarifa married Heydar Aliyev, future First Secretary of the Azerbaijan Communist PartyAzerbaijan Communist Party
The Azerbaijan Communist Party was the ruling political party in the Azerbaijan SSR, making it effectively a branch of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union...
and President of Azerbaijan in 1993–2003.
Honours and awards
- Two Orders of Lenin
- Order of the Red Banner of LabourOrder of the Red Banner of LabourThe Order of the Red Banner of Labour was an order of the Soviet Union for accomplishments in labour and civil service. It is the labour counterpart of the military Order of the Red Banner. A few institutions and factories, being the pride of Soviet Union, also received the order.-History:The Red...
- Order of the Patriotic WarOrder of the Patriotic WarThe Order of the Patriotic War is a Soviet military decoration that was awarded to all soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, and to partisans for heroic deeds during the German-Soviet War, known by the former-Soviet Union as the Great Patriotic War.- History :The Order was...
, 1st class - Honoured Doctor of the Azerbaijan SSRAzerbaijan SSRThe Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Azerbaijan SSR for short, was one of the republics that made up the former Soviet Union....