Mehriban Aliyeva is the Moscow-educated wife of Azeri president Ilham Aliyev. She is the Vice-President and First Lady of Azerbaijan, the head of Heydar Aliyev Foundation, the chairperson of Azerbaijani Culture Friends Foundation, the President of Azerbaijani Gymnastics Federation, the goodwill ambassador of UNESCO and ISESCO.
Background
Mrs. Aliyeva was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, on August 26, 1964. She is from a family described in leaked US Embassy cables as "the single most powerful family in Azerbaijan". Her grandfather was noted Iranian-born Azerbaijani writer Mir Jalal Pashayev. Her uncle Hafiz Pashayev was Azerbaijan's first Ambassador to the United States. Aliyeva's father Arif Pashayev is Rector of the National Aviation Academy in Baku, and her mother, Aida Imanguliyeva (1939–1992) was a prominent philologist and Arabist, daughter of the prominent journalist and pedagogue Nasir Imanguliyev.
Education
Having finished secondary school №23 with a gold medal in 1982, Mehriban Aliyeva entered the Preventive-Treatment Faculty of the Azerbaijan State Medical University named after N.Narimanov, in which she excelled, and later continued her studies at the Sechenov Moscow Medical Academy, from which she graduated in 1988. Mrs. Aliyeva got her Doctor of Philosophy degree after defending the thesis on “Euthanasia and humanism issues in medicine” in 2005.
From 1988–1992 Mrs. Aliyeva worked at the State Research Institute of Eye Diseases of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences in Moscow, which was led by Dr. Mikhail Krasnov. In 1995, the Azerbaijan Culture Foundation, which is currently led by her, was established upon Mehriban Aliyeva’s initiative.
In 1996, with the objective of extensive promotion of the Azerbaijani culture, Mehriban Aliyeva founded the "Azerbaijan - Irs" Magazine, which is published in three languages (Azerbaijani, English and Russian).
In 2002, Mrs. Aliyeva was elected president of the Gymnastics Federation of Azerbaijan. Under her chairmanship, Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation held A-category phase of the world cup competitions on rhythmic gymnastics in 2003, and in 2004, 27th World Championship in 2005, 23rd Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships in 2007, 25th in 2009 and 30th in 2014 European Championships conducted by the International Federation of Gymnastics.
Mehriban Aliyeva has been leading the Heydar Aliyev Foundation founded to study the rich legacy of Heydar Aliyev, the national leader of Azerbaijan, as well as deliver his national statehood ideas to new generations. The Heydar Aliyev Foundation was inaugurated on May 10, 2004.
Mrs. Aliyeva was elected as a member of the Executive Committee of the National Olympic Committee of Azerbaijan at the 4th General Assembly of the NOC On December 28, 2004.
In Azerbaijan's 2005 parliamentary elections, she was elected to the National Assembly of Azerbaijan. She was nominated from Khazar Constituency №14 in 2010 and 2015 parliamentary elections and gained 94.49% of the votes in 2010, 96,7% in 2015.
Mehriban Aliyeva was appointed the chairperson of the Organizing Committee founded on January 17, 2013 by the President Ilham Aliyev, after the decision of European Olympic Committee’s General Assembly on holding the 1st European Games in Baku. Under the direction of Mehriban Aliyeva, Baku 2015 European Games Operations Committee (BEGOC) was formed.
She became a member of the World Azerbaijanis Coordination Board according to the decision made at the 4th Congress of the World Azerbaijanis in 2016.
On 21 February 2017 she was appointed Vice President of Azerbaijan. Mehriban Aliyeva, as the 1st Vice President of Azerbaijan, made her official visit to France on 14–15 March 2017. On May 23 Mrs. Aliyeva attended the event organized for the winners of 4th Islamic Solidarity Games.
First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva and President Ilham Aliyev visited USA on September 17–20, 2017 and attended 72th Session of the UN General Assembly. Mehriban Aliyeva received the delegation of Italy led by Linda Lanzillotta, the deputy chairperson of Senate on 11 November 2017 and discussed about the relationship between these two countries, and energy security of Europe.
Achievements
Mehriban Aliyeva is a prominent Azerbaijani politician and public activist, who has established a number of foundations and organizations: Azerbaijani Culture Friends Foundation, magazine "Azerbaijan - Heritage", Heydar Aliyev Foundation etc. The latter sponsors projects outside Azerbaijan, including helping to finance renovations at the Louvre Museum, Palace of Versailles, and Strasbourg Cathedral.
Due to her hard efforts in protection and development of Azerbaijan's verbal folk literature and music heritage, Mrs. Aliyeva was awarded the title of Goodwill Ambassador of UNESCO on August 13, 2004.
On 24 November 2006 Mehriban Aliyeva was awarded the title of Goodwill Ambassador of ISESCO for her attention to the children in need and help to improve their living conditions and education.
Politics
During her MP period, Mehriban Aliyeva appealed to Milli Majlis on the adoption of amnesty acts on 28 May – Republic Day. As a result, in 2007, 2009, 2013 and 2016, more than 30K prisoners have released from different types of penalties. She became the head of Azerbaijan-France working group on inter-parliamentary relations according to the decision of Milli Majlis on March 4, 2016.
When she was appointed Vice President of Azerbaijan, this was an office that was created through a constitutional referendum in 2016. Mehriban Aliyeva visited foreign countries to attend different kinds of events and to meet with high-level foreign officials. She paid trips to France, the UK, Turkey, Greece, Italy, China, Vietnam, Russia, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, etc.
She met with First Lady of USA Laura Bush on her visit to the USA on December 7, 2006 and discussed USA-Azerbaijan relations, cooperation in the fields of education, healthcare and culture.
Mrs. Aliyeva was on a 5-day trip to Paris in September 2015, where she met with Francois Hollande, Jean Pierre Jouyet, mayor of the first Arrondissement of Paris Jean-François Legaret; addressed the opening events of the “Azerbaijan-the country of tolerance” photo-exhibition, “Azerbaijani Village”, and the conference on “Religious tolerance: the culture of coexistence in Azerbaijan.
Mehriban Aliyeva paid a visit to the Vatican on February 23, 2016, and was at the Pio-Clementino Museum to view samples of art recovered with the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation chaired by her.
Connections
Mehriban Aliyeva married Ilham Aliyev, the son of Heydar Aliyev, in Baku on 22 December 1983. The Aliyevs have two daughters, Leyla (born 3 July 1984) and Arzu (born 23 January 1987) and a son Heydar (born 2 August 1997). Leyla is the editor of Baku magazine, published by Azerbaijani Russian businessman Aras Agalarov, and was married to his son Emin Agalarov.
