On May 28 Azerbaijan celebrates Republic Day. Azerbaijan People"s Republic - the first republic in the Muslim world - was proclaimed on this day 99 years ago. The Republic Day is an official state holiday and a day off.
The Independence of Azerbaijan and other Caucasian republics became possible after the end of World War I and a political situation that weakened the Russian empire. However the Russian empire has caused serious confrontation between the nations of the region to prevent them uniting.
Azerbaijan proclaimed its independence after the collapse of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic on May 26, 1918 caused by confrontations between Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijani factions in the Transcaucasian parliament. On May 26 Georgian Deputies dropped out of the Federation and proclaimed independence of Georgia and on May 27 members of the Muslim faction of the Transcaucasian parliament decided to proclaim independence of Azerbaijan and announced themselves the Interim National Council of Azerbaijan. At that session Mamed Emin Rasulzada was elected chairman of the National Council of Azerbaijan.
The Independence Declaration was adopted on May 28, 1918. The Declaration announced creation of the democratic parliament republic in Azerbaijan and it said that all nations living in Azerbaijan have sovereign rights and Azerbaijan is an independence state.
The National Council operated in Tbilisi for 18 days and then moved to Ganja. At that time Baku was controlled by the Baku commune led by Stepan Shaumian. In September 1918 the Azerbaijan People"s Republic government moved to Baku after the liberation of Baku from the Menshevik government "Dictatorship of Central Caspian" by the Caucasian Turkish Islamic army.
Azerbaijan People"s Republic guaranteed rights and freedoms of all citizens, irrespective of their nationality and religion. For the first time in the Muslim world women had electoral rights and the Republic was recognized at the Versailles World Conference.
During 23 months Azerbaijan People"s Republic"s government adopted several laws, implemented political, military, legal and economic reforms and created the first university.
Even after Azerbaijan"s occupation by the bolshevist Russia, Azerbaijan"s statehood was preserved. The first Azerbaijan Democratic republic collapsed on April 28, 1920 as a result of invasion of the Red Army. Azerbaijan gained independence after the USSR collapse in 1991 and announced itself a successor of Azerbaijan People"s Republic.-0-
Politics
-
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan published a set of proposals on his Facebook page aimed at establishing long-term peace in the region. Among them, he suggested that Azerbaijan should abandon mutual claims against Armenia, including in international courts. Other proposals include: refraining from using belligerent rhetoric, continuing the demarcation of borders, signing a peace agreement that is 90% ready, mutually implementing arms control, creating a joint mechanism to investigate violations of the ceasefire regime, and dissolving the OSCE Minsk Group.
-
The United States announced a new and final military aid package to Ukraine under President Joe Biden’s administration. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin stated in Germany that the total amount of assistance will be $500 million.
-
In 2024, 249 employees of the State Service for Mobilization and Military Conscription were held accountable. According to a statement from the agency, internal investigations were conducted regarding officials who violated anti-corruption legislation. Disciplinary and organizational measures were applied to 78 employees in 2023 and 249 employees in 2024. This included the transfer of 13 employees to the reserve for negative reasons, and their labor contracts were terminated.
-
Recently, a member of the Public Chamber of Russia, political scientist Vladimir Kara-Murza, used offensive language towards the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, on his social media page. This occurred after Aliyev blamed Russia for the downed AZAL plane. Kara-Murza considered that Aliyev had no right to address the Russian authorities in such a manner.
Leave a review