Azernews.Az

US President Barack Obama has congratulated his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev on his 50th birthday.

Obama said in a letter addressed to Aliyev over his jubilee that the United States and Azerbaijan have established strong relations based on common interests and mutual respect, adding that he is fully committed to boosting the vital partnership.

"We will continue closely cooperating to strengthen the energy security of Europe by the efforts of the two countries, to conduct democratic and economic reforms, to strengthen regional security," Obama wrote, adding that a special focus will be on a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

Congratulatory messages also came from the leaders of Georgia, Poland, Serbia, Bulgaria, Germany, and Jordan.

Biography
Ilham Aliyev was born on December 24, 1961 in Baku. He was admitted to the Moscow State University of International Relations (MSUIR) in 1977. In 1982, upon his graduation, Mr. Aliyev had continued his education as a postgraduate student in MSUIR. In 1985, he finalized his research and received a PhD degree in history. In 1985-1990, he gave lectures at MSUIR.

From 1991 to 1994, he led a group of private industrial-commercial enterprises.

In 1994-2003, he was the vise-president, and later the first vise-president of Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR. He has been actively involved in the implementation of the oil strategy founded by his father, Azerbaijan’s late national leader, former President Heydar Aliyev.

He is an author of numerous research works on geopolitical aspects of Azerbaijan’s oil strategy. He holds a degree of doctor of political sciences.

In 1995 and 2000, he was twice elected to the Milli Majlis (Parliament). In 2003, he stopped his activity as a member of parliament due to his appointment to the post of Prime Minister.

He was elected deputy chairman of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party in 1999, first deputy chairman in 2001, and the chairman of the party in 2005.

From 2001 to 2003, he headed the Azerbaijani parliamentary delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). In January 2003, he was elected as deputy chairman of PACE and a member of a PACE bureau.

In October 2003, Aliyev was elected as president of Azerbaijan. More than 76% of voters supported his candidacy during the elections.

Aliyev was elected for the second term in office, after gaining 88% of votes in the elections held in October 2008.

Aliyev is fluent in Azerbaijani, English, Russian, French, and Turkish.

He is married, has three children and two grandchildren.