Flag Day Celebrated in Azerbaijan

Baku / 09.11.18 / Turan: November 9 in Azerbaijan is celebrated as the National Flag Day.

This day was included in the number of public holidays by the order of the President of Azerbaijan dated November 17, 2009, and declared a non-working day.

The colors of the flag symbolize: blue - Turkism, red - the present, and green - Islam.

For the first time, the tricolor flag with a crescent and an eight-pointed star was adopted by the Council of Ministers of the Azerbaijan People"s Republic (APR: 1918-1920) on November 9, 2018.

The flag was raised on one of the significant days of Azerbaijani history on December 7, 1918 at the opening of the parliament of the APR. And at the first meeting of the parliament, the chairman of the National Council of the APR, Mammad Emin Rasulzadeh, stressing the significance of the adoption of the flag, said: "Once a flag is raised, it will never fall again."

After the occupation of Azerbaijan by Soviet Russia, the national attributes of statehood were destroyed.

The tricolor flag was again raised in 1988 at a rally in Baku by activists of the unfolding powerful national-democratic movement in Azerbaijan. For this, some of them were even arrested. However, under the pressure of the national movement, the authorities were forced to restore the flag at the state level.

On November 17, 1990, the flag of the APR was adopted as the national flag of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, and on November 29, 1990 - the Azerbaijan SSR, which was renamed the Republic of Azerbaijan by the same decree.

In 2010, Flag Square was built in Baku with the highest flagpole at that time. About 25 million dollars was spent on these works. In 2017, the flagpole was dismantled, as the area was washed away with sea water. Strengthening work began, which continues to this day. -06D--