Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev strongman buoyed by war victory

Azerbaijani strongman Ilham Aliyev, who will likely sail to a fifth presidential term in the 2024 presidential election, is cementing his hardline rule after securing a historic victory over Armenian separatists.

Azerbaijani strongman Ilham Aliyev, who will likely sail to a fifth presidential term in the 2024 presidential election, is cementing his hardline rule after securing a historic victory over Armenian separatists.

Mr. Aliyev called the elections one year ahead of schedule in December 2023, when he was riding high in polls for securing victory over Armenian rebels in a three-decade territorial dispute.

Mr. Aliyev was celebrated as a national hero after his troops recaptured the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region in September's one-day offensive, ending one of the most bitter standoffs of the post-Soviet era and reclaiming territory that had sparked wars in 2020 and in the 1990s and claimed tens of thousands of lives on both sides.

The victory "saw Mr. Aliyev's approval ratings soar and guaranteed his electoral win in the upcoming election," said political analyst Farhad Mammadov.

"Polls have shown that the occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijani lands was the number one issue for Azerbaijanis," he added.

The 62-year-old took over in 2003 after the death of his father Heydar Aliyev, a former Soviet KGB officer and Communist-era boss.

He then extended his family's grip over the oil-rich Caspian state in elections in 2008, 2013, and 2018 that were denounced by the embattled opposition as fraudulent.