Heydar Alirza oghlu Aliyev was an Azerbaijani politician who was a Soviet party boss in the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic from 1969 to 1982, and the third president of Azerbaijan from October 1993 to October 2003.
Official portrait
Heydar Aliyev with his family in 1920s
Aliyev in his KGB uniform
Aliyev during his visit to a state collective farm in 70s
Azerbaijani or Azeri, also referred to as Azeri Turkic, is a Turkic language from the Oghuz sub-branch. It is spoken primarily by the Azerbaijani people, who live mainly in the Republic of Azerbaijan, where the North Azerbaijani variety is spoken, and in the Azerbaijan region of Iran, where the South Azerbaijani variety is spoken. North Azerbaijani has official status in the Republic of Azerbaijan and Dagestan, but South Azerbaijani does not have official status in Iran, where the majority of Azerbaijani people live. Azerbaijani is also spoken to lesser varying degrees in Azerbaijani communities of Georgia and Turkey and by diaspora communities, primarily in Europe and North America.
Mohammad-Hossein Shahriar, Iranian Azerbaijani poet, who wrote in Azerbaijani and Persian.
Reza Shah and Kemal Atatürk during the Shah's official visit to Turkey in 1934. Reza Shah spoke in South Azerbaijani while Atatürk spoke in Turkish, and the two leaders managed to communicate with each other quite effectively.
Azerbaijani-language road sign.