İlham Aliyev

Ilham Heydar oghlu Aliyev (Azerbaijani: İlham Heydər oğlu Əliyev, pronounced [ilˈhɑm hejˈdæɾ oɣˈlu æˈlijev]; born 24 December 1961) is an Azerbaijani politician serving as the fourth president of Azerbaijan since 31 October 2003. He is a former prime minister of Azerbaijan. The son and second child of former Azerbaijani leader Heydar Aliyev, Aliyev became the president of Azerbaijan in 2003 through a presidential election defined by irregularities following his father's death. He was reelected for a second term in 2008 and was allowed to run in elections indefinitely in 2013 and 2018 due to the 2009 constitutional referendum, which removed term limits for presidents. Throughout his electoral campaign, Aliyev served as a member of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party, which he has headed since 2005.

Azerbaijan being oil-rich is viewed to have significantly strengthened the stability of Aliyev's regime and enriched ruling elites in Azerbaijan, making it possible for the country to host lavish international events, as well as engage in extensive lobbying efforts.

Aliyev's family have enriched themselves through their ties to state-run businesses. They own significant parts of several major Azerbaijani banks, construction firms and telecommunications firms, and partially owns the country's oil and gas industries. Much of the wealth is hidden through an elaborate network of offshore companies. He was named Corruption's 'Person of the Year' by Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project in 2012. In 2017, it was revealed that Aliyev and his family were involved in the Azerbaijani laundromat, a complex money-laundering scheme to pay off prominent European politicians to deflect criticism of Aliyev and promote a positive image of his regime.

Many observers see Aliyev as a dictator. He leads an authoritarian regime in Azerbaijan; elections are not free and fair, political power is concentrated in the hands of Aliyev and his extended family, corruption is rampant, and human rights violations are severe (including torture, arbitrary arrests, as well as harassment of journalists and non-governmental organizations). The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict continued during Aliyev's presidency and culminated into a full-scale war in 2020 in which Azerbaijan regained control over the Armenian-occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh that were lost during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, as well as a part of Nagorno-Karabakh region itself.