We are all familiar with the saying, behind every successful man there is a woman. When it comes to Mehriban Arif qizi Aliyeva, first lady of Azerbaijan, we could paraphrase that into: Beside every successful man, there is an equally successful woman.
First lady was never one to bathe in the reflected glory of her husband, Ilham Aliyev. She has earned a degree from the 1st Moscow State Medical Institute and has at first pursued her career at the Eye Disease Scientific Research Institute in Moscow for some years. In 1995 came the turning point, when she recognized her calling that took her away from practicing medicine and into the fields of charity and politics. “Friends of Azerbaijani Culture” Charitable Foundation was established by her initiative and that set her strongly on the humanitarian course. She is running the foundation to this day.
After the death of Heydar Aliyev, her father-in-law, Aliyeva also established the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, which, at least according to Azerbaijan news article, »builds more schools than Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Education, more hospitals than the Ministry of Health, and conducts more cultural events than the Ministry of Culture”. In addition to the charitable work, holding events and the continuous promotion of Heydar Aliyev`s political ideology, Foundation does work outside state boundaries, too. Most high profile are, among many others, financing renovations at the Louvre Museum, palace of Versailles and Strasbourg Cathedral.
But that is only the tip of the iceberg of her impressive career. She has also founded the “Azerbaijan Heritage” magazine, which presides over promoting the Azerbaijan culture and is published in three languages, Azerbaijani, English and Russian. She was awarded high honour for her continuous efforts in Azerbaijan culture promotion, especially in the fields of folk literature and music, when she was given the title UNESCO`s Goodwill Ambassador in 2004. Additionally, she was the recipient of countless other international honours and prizes for her charitable work, including the ISESCO`s (Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural education) title of Goodwill Ambassador, award from the World Health Organization for exceptional services, international award “Golden Heart” for extensive charity activities, the “Golden Mozart” award from UNESCO, the “Star of the Commonwealth Award” for activities in the humanitarian area and “Olympic Excellence” Special honorary Prize for the promotion of Olympic values. At this year`s first ever European Games, held in Baku, Aliyeva commenced with a welcome speech at the grand opening of the Games.
She was also awarded the Grand Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Polish Republic Sept. 14, 2009, which she received for her contribution to development of friendly ties between Azerbaijan and Poland; the ”Ruby Cross” order of ”Philanthropists of the Century” from International Charity Foundation of Russia; Order of Legion of Honour by French President’s order; the award for “Service to Turkic world” established by the Turkic World musician and writers Union; conferred on the order “Hilal-e Pakistan” of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan; conferred on a high state award of the Serbian Republic – the Sreten Order – for her special services before Serbia in public, cultural and humanitarian fieldand an honorary prize of the Turkish-German Friendship Federation for the contributions made to dialogue between civilizations, as well as for the services to promotion of the Turkic world in Germany and development of Azerbaijan-Germany relations.
She has also begun her career in politics in 2005, when she was elected to the National Assembly with 94 % vote under the flag of New Azerbaijan Party and has been a deputy chairperson since 2013. According to some western media, she is even considered as a highly likely successor of her husband as the president of Azerbaijan, if a third consecutive term would prove to be too controversial for Ilham Aliyev.
Despite shade, thrown at her in the light of leaked diplomatic cables, revealing that many of her western counterparts feel like she is not properly informed or educated on political issues and does not even attend the parliament sessions, she has become a role- model for women in her own country and beyond over the years. In Muslim societies, the way a public female figure presents herself, her level of success, the way she dresses, wears her hair or puts on make- up is always about something more than just general appearance. Aliyeva`s impeccable fashion sense, her impressive public career as a highly educated humanitarian with a PhD in Philosophy, a charity worker, a Goodwill Ambassador and now a politician, many in the western media speculate could be the next president of Azerbaijan, could therefore as well become the first Muslim female President in the future. Due to her successful career and a strong public persona, it is of little wonder that she has been sometimes referred to as the Hillary Clinton of Azerbaijan.