A larger than life personality and a man of enormous political skill and stature. Heydar Aliyev worked tirelessly for more than 30 yearsfirst as part of the Soviet Union. and later as President of a free and independent Azerbaijanto build a strong. vibrant. healthy and prosperous nation. When Azerbaijan regained its independence in 1991. the political and economic vacuum caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union. domestic tensions fueled by competing forces at home and the disastrous war in NagornoKarabakhwhich resulted in the military occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijan. and nearly one million refugees and internally displaced peoplethreatened to rip the country apart. Many Azerbaijanis were fearful that their first experience as the shortlived first Republic in the Muslim world (19181920). would be repeated. and that a free and independent Azerbaijan would be nothing but a footnote in history. Heydar Aliyev. however. had a vision for Azerbaijan.
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