The cult of personality is alive and kicking in Azerbaijan
In Azerbaijan, the late president is often portrayed as the father of the nation
Originally published on Global Voices
Screengrab from a video shared by the official Istanbul Mayor Office's X account. Fair use.
On December 11, Argentinian football star Lionel Messi visited the memorial of Heydar Aliyev, the late president and father of current president Ilham Aliyev. Messi was in Azerbaijan for a charity football game together with his teammates from Inter Miami. The footballer's visit to the memorial and the grand tour of the city, including a photo-op with Heydar Aliyev's grandchildren, drew criticism among Azerbaijani users of social media. Messi's visit coincided with Heydar Aliyev's death anniversary — December 12, 2003.
The football player is not new to criticism. He was featured as the official brand ambassador of the Saudi Tourism Authority and cozied up with Gabon's former leader, Ali Bongo Ondimba, to name a few in the past. While it was not officially disclosed how much Messi was paid for this visit, it was only a matter of time before users on social media platforms circulated posts that Azerbaijan paid Messi a hefty sum of USD 8 million to accommodate the star's visit. Messi's visit was not just a reminder of the football player's past stints with regimes which have ranked poorly on global human rights indexes. It also served as a reminder that Baku continues to push for Heydar Aliyev's cult of personality.
Keeping the memory or something else?
In 2022, to celebrate his father's lifelong achievements and a hundred years since his birth, Ilham Aliyev declared 2023 the Year of Heydar Aliyev in Azerbaijan. “The country is already home to a substantial cult of personality to the former president. Now it’s going to get bigger,” read a headline in an article published by the regional media platform Eurasianet at the time. It was a packed agenda featuring events, roundtable discussions, conferences, and documentary films, to name a few.
In Azerbaijan, the late president is often portrayed as the father of the nation. His pictures, portraits, and statues are everywhere. Avenues, buildings, and parks are named after him. Songs and poems are dedicated to his wisdom. There are also Heydar Aliyev Centers across the country, featuring educational content on the late president's life and achievements as well as the history of Azerbaijan. The centers are courtesy of a decree signed in 2006 by his son, Ilham Aliyev, “to perpetuate the memory of the National Leader of the Azerbaijani people, Heydar Aliyev, to promote and study his socio-political heritage.”
The phenomenon is present not only in Azerbaijan but across the world, too.