Zarifa Aliyeva


Zarifa Aziz gizi Aliyeva was an Azerbaijani ophthalmologist, academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan and professor.
She was the wife of third President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev and the mother of the fourth President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev.

Biography

Zarifa Aziz gizi Aliyeva was born in Shakhtahkty village, Sharur, in 1923. Her father was Aziz Aliyev, People's Commissar of Public Health Services of the Azerbaijan SSR and later the first secretary of the Communist party's oblast committee of Dagestan. In 1948, she married Heydar Aliyev. On October 12, 1955, their daughter Sevil was born, and on December 24, 1961, their son Ilham was born. In 1982, she lived in Moscow with her family.
Much of Aliyeva's working life was spent at the Azerbaijan State Institute of Advanced Medical Studies. She devised and introduced new methods for treatment of ocular diseases. She was the author of 14 monographs, hundreds of research papers, and 12 rationalization proposals.

Death and legacy

In 1985, she died of cancer and was buried in Moscow. Later, in 1994, her remains were reburied in the Alley of Honor, Baku.
Postage stamps dedicated to Zarifa Aliyeva were released in 2003, 2008 and 2013.

Awards and honors