"MOST MEMORABLE BIRTHDAY"

"There was neither the tradition nor the opportunity to celebrate children's birthdays in our families. And I don't have a single photo of myself in childhood. The notion of a 'birthday' first concerned me only when my daughter was born. We started celebrating the birthdays of my daughter and then of my son. Believe it or not, I often forgot about my own birthday. I remember coming home from the KGB where I was working and my little daughter and wife congratulating me right on the doorstep. I didn't even understand what the occasion was. Then they said, 'It's your birthday.' And only when I turned 70 and was the head of the small Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, when the situation was dire, my assistants came to me and simply said: whether I want it or not, they will be celebrating my birthday. That was the merriest and the most memorable birthday in my life. We sang songs, proposed toasts. In fact, I was surprised how much fun it had been when we started to break up. There was no other birthday like this in my life."

In 2000, when Moskovskiy Komsomolets newspaper published these recollections of Heydar Aliyev, he had no idea that there would come a time when his birthday would be celebrated not only by his family but also by the whole country. People flock to the Avenue of Honour in their thousands every year to pay tribute to Azerbaijan's national leader. Festivities to mark the occasion are held throughout the country. It has also become a tradition to hold the Flower Holiday on this date as a sign of the prosperity and well-being of modern Azerbaijan.

Heydar Aliyev's 88th birthday is marked in 2011 when Azerbaijan will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of restoring its state independence. Quite symbolic. At the same time, these remarkable dates are linked to each other, thanks to Heydar Aliyev.

"A country with an ancient history and rich culture, Azerbaijan has existed on the world map as an independent country for only 20 years. From a historical perspective, 20 years is a short period. But over the 20 years the country has made great achievements. Today, Azerbaijan is a state with record development rates in various spheres, a regional leader that has established partnership relations with the world's leading countries and enjoys great authority in the international arena. Azerbaijan today is a strong state, capable of setting and reaching any objectives and looking into the future with hope," said the president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and UNESCO and ISESCO goodwill ambassador, MP Mehriban Aliyeva, welcoming guests at a ceremony to celebrate the national leader's birthday.

It is hard to find an area to the development of which Heydar Aliyev has not contributed.

"When Heydar Aliyev talks on the problems of medicine, there is the impression that he has been engaged in this field all his life; when he talks about transport problems, it looks as though he were a great transport worker," Russian music expert Janna Dozortseva shares her recollections about Heydar Aliyev. This is how the phenomenal personality is remembered by Col-Gen Aleksandr Kovtunov, who was a member of the Central Committee of the Azerbaijan Communist Party: "When he received me, we talked at length about the republic's readiness for mobilization, about the protection of state borders. He appeared to know every square foot of land on the border."

Practically all researchers agree that Heydar Aliyev was not only a historic personality but also a locomotive in Azerbaijan's modern history. Back when he was leading Soviet Azerbaijan and working in the USSR government, Heydar Aliyev managed to depart from the stereotyped image of a Communist Party leader acting only on the Kremlin's instructions. He always proposed, initiated and achieved what he wanted by going beyond the framework of Soviet governance methodology. Almost all industrial enterprises, major cultural, educational and health facilities built in Azerbaijan in Soviet years are the result of Heydar Aliyev's initiatives.

"Sometimes it seems to me that even back then, in his dreams, he not only thought it was possible for Azerbaijan to develop independently but actually even planned it somehow," Vladimir  Medvedev, a KGB general, recalled. 

This is the conclusion of many researchers into Heydar Aliyev's political career - he was laying the strategic groundwork for the future independence of Azerbaijan.

To see that this was indeed the case, suffice it to examine the history of the creation of Azerbaijan's army. Despite objections from the Soviet leadership, Heydar Aliyev succeeded in establishing a military school in Baku that currently trains highly qualified military personnel for the independent Azerbaijan. It was quite a courageous step for a Soviet leader who was aware of an unofficial order from above that military schools could be opened only in Russia, Ukraine and Belorussia. "When I saw all this, I thought: we are a fully-fledged republic of the Soviet Union and we have the same authority. Why didn't we have an army? Eventually we ordered the establishment of this school… When it was being set up, I could never have thought that one day I would be marking its 30th anniversary. Nonetheless, it is a great honour for me and I am very happy," Heydar Aliyev said in April 2003 addressing a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the Naxcivanski School. 

Heydar Aliyev didn't like to go with the stream. This is confirmed by the history of the signing of the Contract of the Century, when the extraordinary man had just taken charge of Azerbaijan. The country was only recovering from the military crisis, civil war and political turmoil, while the fight for Azerbaijan's energy resources was gathering pace. In a difficult international situation and in the conditions of an ongoing war with Armenia, it was necessary to make the decision that would observe the interests of both international players and, first and foremost, the strategic interests of Azerbaijan proper. Even a minor mistake could have led to the loss of independence. On the other hand, Azerbaijan was known in the world as a high-risk country from the investment standpoint. But despite all the difficulties, Heydar Aliyev successfully laid the foundation of Azerbaijan's oil strategy. Thanks to the Contract of the Century, other oil and gas contracts, trans-national transport projects such as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline, billions of dollars of foreign capital were injected in the country's economy. 

"Azerbaijan has asserted itself in the world as a reliable partner. As a result of the development, transportation and export of our natural resources, we secured economic independence. And economic independence is the basis of state independence," President Ilham Aliyev told a ceremony to mark the 88th birthday of the national leader.

The head of state emphasized that Azerbaijan's economic development in the last seven years has been unparalleled in the world. "Our economy has almost trebled. Industrial production has trebled and poverty fallen five-fold. We already have extensive financial opportunities. Our economy is already diversified. At the same time, our energy policy rests on the oil strategy determined by Heydar Aliyev. This strategy has been aligned with modern requirements and enriched," President Ilham Aliyev said.

Azerbaijan today is a self-sufficient country that has established itself as a reliable partner and a stabilizing factor in the region. The policy of Baku is quite open, its priorities are clear - "the formation of a modern political system on a strong economic foundation, the strengthening of the foundations of statehood and of the Azerbaijani ideology".

There is no doubt that all these factors will eventually facilitate the solution of modern Azerbaijan's top priority problem: the growing economic power and international authority will significantly help the country in liberating the Armenian-occupied territories. And this will be the biggest tribute to the memory of Heydar Aliyev. "If Heydar Aliyev had been leading Azerbaijan at the time, the tragedy of Karabakh and other horrifying moments in the history of Azerbaijan would not have occurred. In periods of transition it is experienced politicians like Heydar Aliyev that should lead states, not laymen and incompetent people," well-known Kazakh poet and writer Olzhas Suleymenov said. History shows that he was right.