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Heydar Aliyev
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== Career in the Soviet era == === Early life === [[File:Heydar Aliyev childhood.jpg|thumb|left|alt= Black-and-white photo depicting four women, two men, and three young children|Heydar Aliyev with his family in 1920s]] According to both his official biography and the [[Great Soviet Encyclopedia]], Aliyev was born on 10 May 1923 in the city of [[Nakhchivan (city)|Nakhchivan]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |date=2018 |title=In Armenia, Azerbaijani Leader's Ancestral Village Lies Abandoned |work=Eurasianet |url=https://eurasianet.org/in-armenia-azerbaijani-leaders-ancestral-village-lies-abandoned}}</ref> His family had moved to Nakhchivan before his birth from the village of Comardlı (modern-day [[Tanahat]] in the [[Syunik Province]] of Armenia), located only a few miles from Nakhchivan.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|date=10 May 2015|title=Armenian Tanahat (Jomartlou); The Native Village of Haydar Aliyev|url=http://www.aniarc.am/2015/05/10/tanahat-jomartlou-the-native-village-of-the-worlds-most-famous-azerbaijani-haydar-aliyev/|access-date=19 December 2021|website=ANI Armenian Research Center}}</ref> Some sources claim that Aliyev was actually born 2 years earlier in Comardlı, but that it was later decided that a senior Azerbaijani politician should not have an Armenian place of birth.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|title=Heidar Aliev: A Political Colossus|url=https://iwpr.net/global-voices/heidar-aliev-political-colossus|access-date=19 December 2021|website=iwpr.net|language=en}}</ref><ref name="dewaal">{{cite book|last=De Waal|first=Thomas|url=|title=Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War|date=2003|publisher=New York University Press|isbn=0-8147-1944-9|location=New York and London|pages=306|quote=Some maintain that Heidar Aliev was actually born in Armenia in 1921, not in Nakhichevan in 1923. His younger brother, Jalal Aliev, interviewed on 4 November 2000, said that the Aliev family came from the village of Jomartly in Zangezur but had moved to Nakhichevan by the time Heidar was born.|author-link=}}</ref><ref name=":3" /> His father was from Comardlı<ref name="auto1"/> and his mother was from [[Vorotan, Sisian|Vorotan]] (also in modern-day Syunik Province of Armenia).<ref name="auto"/> Aliyev had four brothers: [[Hasan Aliyev (academician)|Hasan]], [[Huseyn Aliyev|Huseyn]], [[Jalal Aliyev|Jalal]], and Agil, as well as three sisters: Sura, Shafiga and Rafiga. After graduating from the Nakhchivan Pedagogical School, Aliyev attended the Azerbaijan Industrial Institute (now the [[Azerbaijan State Oil and Industry University]]) from 1939 to 1941, where he studied architecture. In 1949 and 1950, he studied at the USSR Ministry of State Security Higher School in [[Leningrad]]. Aliyev's official biography also states that he studied at [[Baku State University]], graduating with a degree in history in 1957.<ref name="biography">{{cite web|title=Biography|url=http://heydaraliyevcenter.az/#2_HeydarAliyev|publisher=Heydar Aliyev Center|access-date=20 July 2015}}</ref> According to American journalist [[Pete Earley]], Aliyev first attended the Ministry of State Security Academy in Leningrad and graduated in 1944.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Earley|first1=Pete|title=Comrade J: The Untold Secrets of Russia's Master Spy in America After the End of the Cold War|date=2008|publisher=[[Penguin Books]]|page=200|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TxxynN0KTJcC&pg=PT200|isbn=9781101207673}}</ref> He also took Senior Staff Professional Development courses at the [[FSB Academy|Dzerzhinsky Higher School of the KGB]] in Moscow in 1966.<ref name=":1" /> In 1948, Aliyev married [[Zarifa Aliyeva]].<ref>{{cite web|date=28 April 2015|title=Remembering Zarifa Aliyeva - wife, mother, scientist|url=https://www.azernews.az/analysis/81124.html|access-date=16 October 2020|publisher=AzerNews}}</ref> On 12 October 1955, their daughter Sevil Aliyeva was born. On 24 December 1961, their son [[Ilham Aliyev|Ilham]] was born. Zarifa Aliyeva died of cancer in 1985. === Early career === [[File:Young Heydar Aliyev.jpg|thumb|150px|left|alt=refer to caption|Young Heydar Aliyev]] During World War II, he served as commander of a [[SMERSH|Smersh]] battalion, which conducted intelligence operations on the Soviet Union's own forces and executed soldiers who deserted or fought insufficiently hard.<ref name=":6">{{Cite news |date=2003 |title=Heydar Aliyev, Azerbaijan's Hard-Nosed 'Savior,' Dies |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2003/12/13/heydar-aliyev-azerbaijans-hard-nosed-savior-dies/5d2901ae-1c50-41da-96a4-15438d870a56/}}</ref> He joined the [[Azerbaijan SSR]] [[People's Commissariat for State Security]] (NKGB) in 1944 and proceeded to become the department head of the [[Committee for State Security of the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic|State Security Committee of Azerbaijan SSR]] in 1950, after he graduated from the Senior Staff Training School of the [[KGB|USSR State Security Committee]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://en.president.az/azerbaijan/leader|title=Heydar Alirza oglu Aliyev|website=en.president.az|access-date=28 February 2018}}</ref> In 1954, as part of a government reform, the NKGB, which was previously named the [[Ministry of State Security (Soviet Union)|Ministry of State Security]] (MGB), was again renamed, this time as the [[KGB]]. Sources point to Aliyev working in the Azerbaijani KGB's Eastern Division, which included Iran and the Middle East.<ref name=":23">{{Cite book |last=Cornell |first=Svante E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4aZzCQAAQBAJ |title=Azerbaijan Since Independence |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-47620-7 |pages=42–43 |language=en}}</ref> During this time, Aliyev was a close associate of Semyon Tvsigun.<ref name=":23" /> Aliyev became head of the [[Committee for State Security of the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic|Azerbaijani KGB]] in 1960<ref name=":19">{{Citation |last=Waal |first=Thomas de |title=Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War |date=2013 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.18574/nyu/9780814770825.001.0001/html |work=Black Garden |pages=106 |publisher=New York University Press |language=en |doi=10.18574/nyu/9780814770825.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-8147-7082-5|s2cid=250081480 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> and eventually received the rank of [[major general]].<ref name=":20">{{Cite news |date=1984 |title=A Soviet Politician's Rise: Talent and Guile Pay Off |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1984/12/16/a-soviet-politicians-rise-talent-and-guile-pay-off/80d72494-cc2c-4093-aa52-17a11fd0c2ef/}}</ref><ref>Nikolaij Nor-Mesek, Wolfgang Rieper. ''The Defense Council of the USSR'', Institut für Sowjet-Studien, 1984, p. 9</ref> During his time in Soviet Secret Service, Aliyev was mostly unknown in Azerbaijan.<ref name=":20" />
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