Ilgar Mammadov, leader of the opposition REAL party, recently told RFE/RL that historians could find merit in Aliyev’s claim that he has continued the policy of his father, Heydar Aliyev, who was president from 1993 until his death in 2003, when Ilham took over.
“There is a need for big research by historians here,” Mammadov said. “But from a political point of view I can say that in 1994 a period when Azerbaijan was truly weak in military, political, and most importantly, economic terms Heydar Aliyev stopped the war without surrendering the country. He began to gain strength for the country that’s what Ilham Aliyev is saying now and managed to do so.”