The name of academician Ramiz Mehdiyev, the former head of the Presidential Administration who was brought to criminal responsibility, remains on the agenda. For instance, in one of the discussions about him on social networks, it is stated that Mehdiyev receives a very high – “dazzling amount” – pension. According to these claims, Mehdiyev is provided with a pension between 10-12 thousand.
It should be noted that the minimum amount of labor pension in Azerbaijan will be 320 manats from February 1, 2025. If the pension claim regarding Mehdiyev is true, then it can be emphasized that his pension is a fantastic amount.
Despite the claims, we cannot state the specific amount of Ramiz Mehdiyev's monthly pension. This is because the State Social Protection Fund does not officially disclose this amount without the citizen's consent.
Modern.az website has attempted to investigate Mehdiyev's pension amount.
However, it has become clear that calculating the academician's pension is also quite difficult. The necessary information for this (his official salary, length of service, additional payments) is not precisely known. But we can confidently state that the pension of a person who has worked in high positions for many years, such as the head of the Presidential Administration and the president of the National Academy of Sciences, is ten to twenty times higher than an ordinary labor pension.
In Azerbaijan, the pensions of civil servants, deputies, and high-ranking officials are calculated based on certain percentages according to their length of service and official salary - for example, there is a provision for deputies such as “approximately up to 80 % of the salary”.
Experts say that the pension of a high-ranking official like Ramiz Mehdiyev can theoretically be many times higher than the average labor pension — because high salary, long work experience, and special allowances as a high-status civil servant are factors that play a special role here.
Mehdiyev was the head of the Presidential Administration from 1995–2019. This means “high position + long service”. He also held the post of president of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (AMEA) in 2019-2022.
Furthermore, the 87-year-old academician has been a full member of AMEA since 2007. According to the decree of the head of state, the monthly rank salaries of full members of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences amount to 2000 manats from November 1, 2018.
In other words, Ramiz Mehdiyev currently receives 2000 manats per month solely for his academic rank.
Ramiz Mehdiyev has been receiving a pension since 2003, when he turned 65. Since then, pensions have been indexed annually multiple times, which has not been without effect on the increase in the amount of his retirement allowance.
According to the current Law “On Pension Provision for Civil Servants”, the period of work in state, Soviet, and party bodies until October 18, 1991, is also included in the conditions for pension assignment. As stated in his biography, Ramiz Mehdiyev held various positions in the former Soviet-party-state system from 1965 to 1991.
According to Article 6.1.3 of the Law “On Pension Provision for Civil Servants”, a person with 10 to 15 years of service in a civil service position is assigned a pension amount equal to 55 percent of the state salary, with an additional 5 percent of the state salary for each year of service exceeding 10 years, but not exceeding 80 percent of the state salary.
Article 7.1 of the Law states: “ Based on the applicant's wish, the state salary is calculated from the state salary received during the 24 months of civil service preceding the date of application or any consecutive 60 months, taking into account subsequent increases in the state salary”.
Although the fantastic amount of pension for a person who has served in a high position for many years, like Ramiz Mehdiyev, is legally justified, it raises public discussion and questions.
A.Gorkhmaz
