PanARMENIAN.Net - Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has appointed the chairwoman of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and his wife, Mehriban, as the country's First Vice-President, RIA Novosti reports.

Under the constitution, the First Vice-President assumes the head of state's duties in case the president is unable to perform his commitments.

The political position of a Secretary of State existed in Azerbaijan from 1991 to 1994. The last holder of the position, Professor Lala Shevket said in an interview in the 90s that "our Secretary of State is actually more like a Vice-President."

"However, according to the Constitution if something should happen to the President, God forbid, the Head of the Parliament would take the President's place - not the State Secretary," she said then.