Editing Heydar Aliyev (section)

== Death and successor ==
[[File:Heydar Aliyev International Airport. Domestic terminal at night.jpg|thumb|alt= Two-storey building with a concrete-and-glass façade with a large neon sign reading "Heydər Əliyev" on the roof|The [[Heydar Aliyev International Airport]] in Baku]]
{{main|Death and state funeral of Heydar Aliyev|Heydar Aliyev's cult of personality}}
Aliyev's health began to fail in 1999 when he had a major [[heart bypass]] operation in the United States at the [[Cleveland Clinic]]. He later had [[prostate]] surgery and a [[hernia]] operation. He collapsed while giving a speech on live television in April 2003. On 6 August, Aliyev returned to the US for treatment of [[congestive heart failure]] and [[kidney]] problems. He did not return to Azerbaijan again.<ref>{{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=105 |language=en}}</ref> 

Less than two weeks before the [[2003 Azerbaijani presidential election]], he withdrew his candidacy and appointed his son Ilham as his party's sole presidential candidate.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hale |first=Henry E. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/patronal-politics/4C1B4D49A7F17739E75A5AB7B66E2115 |title=Patronal Politics: Eurasian Regime Dynamics in Comparative Perspective |date=2014 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-07351-7 |pages=293 |doi=10.1017/cbo9781139683524}}</ref> On 12 December 2003, President Aliyev died at the Cleveland Clinic.<ref>China Daily News [http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-12/16/content_290650.htm Azerbaijan's Geidar Aliev dies at 80]. Published 16 December 2003</ref> He was given a large state funeral and buried at the [[Alley of Honor]] cemetery in Baku.

Heydar Aliyev's son [[Ilham Aliyev]] won a presidential election on 15 October 2003, widely considered to have been fraudulent. International observers criticized the contest as falling well below expected standards.<ref name="HRW_AZ_pres_elec2003" />