Mehriban Aliyeva is Azerbaijan’s vice president and first lady.[1014] She is married to President Ilham Aliyev, and they have three children: Heydar, Leyla, and Arzu.[1014]
While Ilham Aliyev rules the country, it is Mehriban’s side of the family, the Pashayevs, who grew wealthy under his rule. Mehriban’s father, Arif Pashayev, was supposedly the driving force behind PASHA Holding, a sprawling holding company that was set up in 2006, shortly after Ilham Aliyev came to power.[682] [528] Leyla and Arzu Aliyeva have beneficially owned the holding since 2013.[1270] [1337] [1336] [1112] [341]
Mehriban Aliyeva is also the president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation,[1014] an Azerbaijani charity that funds cultural and development projects,[609] [607] including the construction of several schools, hospitals, and art galleries.[608] [610] Leyla Aliyeva is its vice president.[607]
The organization has been accused of using cultural soft power in a bid to whitewash Azerbaijan’s reputation abroad.[602] [603] In particular, it has been accused of advancing Baku’s official line on Nagorno-Karabakh,[602] [553] a war-torn region in western Azerbaijan that was occupied by ethnic Armenians for several decades until Azerbaijan retook it in 2023, sparking a mass exodus.[605]
The foundation does not declare the source of its funding, but it is widely believed to be Azerbaijan’s oil revenues, according to a leaked US diplomatic cable.[553] There are also anecdotal reports of Azerbaijani officials being compelled to make contributions in exchange for protection.[553] Meanwhile, some of the projects that it claims to have financed have never reached completion.[602] [553]
Mehriban Aliyeva did not respond to The Sentry’s request for comment.
