Azerbaijan Party Chief Geidar Ali Rza ogly Aliyev, 59, has been largely ignored by many Western observers, who assumed that a non-Russian would have difficulty rising to the top. His double promotion last week changed that by putting him in line to become the Soviet Union's first Premier from a Muslim republic. Aliyev joined the Soviet security force at 18, and headed the Baku branch of the KGB from 1967 to 1969. As Azerbaijan party leader, he has at tracted attention by cracking down on corruption and making his tiny Caucasian mountain fief into...
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