{{Short description|Azerbaijani businessperson and lobbyist}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Tale Heydarov | honorific_suffix = | image = Tale_Heydarov.jpg | office = | parliament = | majority = | predecessor = | successor = | term_start = | term_end = | birth_date = | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | spouse = | party = | relations = | children = 3 | alma_mater = Collingham College; London School of Economics and Political Science; Birkbeck, University of London | occupation = Founder of science and education organisations | profession = | signature = | website = https://taleheydarov.com | footnotes = | parents = Kamaladdin Heydarov }} '''Tale Heydarov''' ({{langx|az|Tale Heydərov}}) is an Azerbaijani businessman and investor.

He founded the European Azerbaijan Society (TEAS), a lobbying group which was known for sponsoring luxurious trips for European politicians to travel to Azerbaijan and promoting the authoritarian regime in Azerbaijan. It has since closed.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |last=Mammadova |first=Paul Radu, Khadija Ismayilova and Madina |title=The Influence Machine |url=https://www.occrp.org/en/azerbaijanilaundromat/the-influence-machine |access-date=2021-07-05 |website=OCCRP |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Broers |first=Broers Laurence |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BHgxEAAAQBAJ |title=Armenia and Azerbaijan: Anatomy of a Rivalry |date=2019-08-21 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-1-4744-5055-3 |pages=220 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":22">{{Cite web |date=2013-11-24 |title=Plush hotels and caviar diplomacy: how Azerbaijan's elite wooed MPs |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/24/azerbaijan-caviar-diplomacy-for-mps |access-date=2021-07-05 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref> The group was involved in the Azerbaijani laundromat scandal. Heydarov was also implicated in a 2018 investigation by the Daphne Project into companies that invested in secret across Europe through a Maltese bank.<ref name=":32">{{Cite web |date=2018-04-23 |title=Azeri ruling families linked to secret investments via Maltese bank |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/23/azerbaijan-ruling-families-linked-to-secret-investments-via-maltese-bank |access-date=2021-07-05 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref>

== Early life and education == {{BLP sources section|date=September 2023}} Heydarov attended Collingham College, London, from 2001 to 2003, and studied for a BSc International Relations and History at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) from 2003 to 2006.

He received a master's degree in International Security and Global Governance from Birkbeck, University of London, in 2008.

== Career == Tale Heydarov is chairman of the Board of Gilan Holdings, a conglomerate business in Azerbaijan. Heyadrov took over the company from his father who founded the company in the 1980s.<ref name=":32"/> The company has invested in the Azeri football clubs Gabala FC football club and Gabala Sports Club. Tale was president of Gabala FC from 2005 to 2019, and Gabala Sports Club, which included the football team Gabala FK, since 2013.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tale Heydərov: "Artıq mənim üçün bu vəzifədən getməyin vaxtı çatıb" |url=https://report.az/futbol-xeberleri/tale-heyderov-artiq-menim-ucun-bu-vezifeden-getmeyin-vaxti-catib/ |access-date=2022-10-14 |website=Report İnformasiya Agentliyi |date=21 June 2020 |language=az}}</ref>

Heydarov is the founder and chairman of the European Azerbaijan School (EAS),<ref>[https://www.ibo.org/en/school/051153 European Azerbaijan School (EAS)]</ref> a private co-educational day-school applying the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme, Cambridge International Examinations and the IB Diploma Programme. He is also the founder and director of the Azerbaijani Teacher's Development Centre (ATDC).<ref>{{Cite web |date=12 June 2018 |title=Azerbaijan Teacher Development Centre accredited as Cambridge Professional Development Centre |url=https://azertag.az/en/xeber/Azerbaijan_Teacher_Development_Centre_accredited_as_Cambridge_Professional_Development_Centre-1171945 |website=Azertac}}</ref>

Heydarov has founded several companies in the publishing sector, including Teas Press Publishing House and the Libraff chain of bookstores, which sells publications in Azerbaijani, English, Russian and Turkish.<ref>{{Cite web |title=˝LIBRAFF˝ kitab mağazasının ˝Sumqayıt˝ filialı açılıb - FOTO |url=https://apa.az/az/edebiyyat/libraff-kitab-magazasinin-sumqayit-filiali-acilib-foto-711607 |access-date=2022-10-14 |website=Apa.az |language=az}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title="Teas Press" "Ən yaxşı nəşriyyat" seçilib |url=https://apa.az/az/medeniyyet-siyaseti/teas-press-en-yaxsi-nesriyyat-secilib-552471 |access-date=2022-10-14 |website=Apa.az |language=az}}</ref> From 2006 to 2019, he was Chief Editor of Visions of Azerbaijan magazine, which began in 2006 but also launched as a digital TV channel in 2016.

While a student in London, Heydarov founded the London Azerbaijani Society which later developed into the European Azerbaijani Society (TEAS). It is a lobbying group which was known for sponsoring luxurious trips for European politicians to Azerbaijan and promoting the authoritarian regime in Azerbaijan.<ref name=":02"/><ref name=":12"/><ref name=":22"/> The group was involved in the Azerbaijani laundromat scandal.

== Films == He was executive producer of the movies:

* "Gənc səslər, qədim nəğmələr" * "Azərbaycan xaricilərin gözü ilə" * "İvonna Botto-Şirməmmədovanın həyat hekayəsi".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-10-22 |title="Gənc Səslər, Qədim Nəğmə" adlı sənədli filmin nümayişi keçirildi - FOTOLAR |url=https://teleqraf.com/news/toplum/113574.html |access-date=2022-10-17 |website=Teleqraf.com |language=az}}</ref>

== Publications (Publisher/Editor) == ===English=== * International Visions: The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Karabakh – From History to Future Peace Prospects. Baku, 2007<ref>{{Cite book |date=1 January 2007 |title=International Visions: The Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict over Karabakh. From History to Future Peace Prospects |publisher=Visions of Azerbaijan |isbn=978-9952809244 }}</ref> * Azerbaijan: 100 Questions Answered. Baku, 2008<ref>{{Cite book |date=1 November 2008 |title=Azerbaijan - 100 Questions Answered: 100 Questions Answered: 3rd Edition |id={{ASIN|9952806809|country=uk}} }}</ref> * Ordubadi M.S. Years of Blood – A History of the Armenian–Muslim Clashes in the Caucausus, 1905–06. London, 2010<ref>{{Cite web |title=Years of Blood |url=https://www.goodreads.com/work/best_book/17328035-years-of-blood-a-history-of-the-armenian-muslim-clashes-in-the-caucasus |access-date=2022-10-14 |website=www.goodreads.com}}</ref> * The Armenian Question in the Caucasus – Russian Archive Documents and Publications. Vols. 1–3. London, 2012<ref>{{Cite book |date=1 July 2011 |title=The Armenian Question in the Caucasus: Russian Archive Documents and Publications, 1724-1914 (Three Volume Set) |isbn=978-0863724091 |last1=Heydarov |first1=Tale |publisher=Ithaca Press }}</ref> * Khojaly: Witness of a War Crime – Armenia in the Dock. London, 2014<ref>{{Cite web |date=2 July 2015 |title=Book "Khojaly Witness of a war crime – Armenia in the Dock" launches in London |url=https://azertag.az/en/xeber/Book__quotKhojaly_Witness_of_a_war_crime___Armenia_in_the_Dock_quot_launches_in_London-868642 |website=Azertac}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |date=30 March 2015 |title=Khojaly Witness of a War Crime: Armenia in the Dock |isbn=978-0863725401 |last1=Heydarov |first1=Tale |last2=Peart |first2=Ian |last3=Machlachlan |first3=Fiona |publisher=Ithaca Press }}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Heydarov, Tale}} Category:1985 births Category:Living people Category:Azerbaijani businesspeople Category:Alumni of the London School of Economics Category:Alumni of Birkbeck, University of London