Vali Akhundov

Vali Yusif oglu Akhundov (Azerbaijani: Vəli Yusif oğlu Axundov; 14 May [O.S. 1 May] 1916 – 22 August 1986), also spelled as Veli Akhundov, was the 10th First Secretary of Azerbaijan Communist Party, politician and scientist.

Akhundov was born in Baku, in the Baku Governorate of the Russian Empire in 1916. In 1941, he graduated from Azerbaijan State Medical Institute and completed his research in 1964 receiving PhD in Medical Sciences and obtaining a title of a Professor and academician in 1964 and 1966, respectively. From 1946 through 1949, Akhundov served as the Chairman of Committee of Trade Union of Medical Workers. In 1949, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Public Health of Azerbaijan SSR and left the post for the position of Deputy Chief of the Central Committee of Communist Party of Azerbaijan SSR in 1953 and in 1954 was appointed the Minister of Public Health of Azerbaijan SSR which he held until 1958. Akhundov served as the Chairman of the Council of Ministers for a period of one year and was eventually appointed the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan SSR, a position he held until 1969 when he was replaced by Heydar Aliyev.

First Secretary of Communist Party

Veli Akhundov succeeded Imam Mustafayev who served as the First Secretary from February 1954 to 1959. During his career, Akhundov was blamed for the economic crisis and was accused of corruption. In the mid 1960s, the number of ethnic Azerbaijanis in the Azerbaijan Communist Party apparatus grew making up 61%, however, many key posts were still held by ethnic Russians and Armenians. Akhundov is credited in Azerbaijan for rebuffing the Armenian claims for Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast in 1965 while he was in office.

After the end of political career, Akhundov served as the Vice President of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences until 1972. He was then the principal at the Institute of Virology, Microbiology and Hygiene until his death in 1986.

Akhundov has been awarded with Order of Lenin, Order of the Red Star, Order of the Patriotic War and other ordens and medals of honor throughout his political and scientific career.