Parliament passes Law on Independence Day

Baku/15.10.21/Turan: The Azerbaijani Parliament today adopted in the third reading the Law "On Independence Day". Only one deputy voted against it.

According to the document, "Independence Day" is declared on 28 May that was previously celebrated as "Republic Day".

On this day in 1918 the Azerbaijani People's Republic was proclaimed which existed until the occupation by Soviet Russia on April 28, 1920.

Note that the "State Independence Day" which was previously celebrated on October 18 due to the adoption of the Constitutional Act of Independence of Azerbaijan in 1991, will now be called "Independence Restoration Day."

At the same time, May 28th will continue to be considered a day off, and October 18th - a working day.

The authorities have not yet provided a comprehensible explanation for the need in these innovations.

The opposition criticized the renaming of holidays. The authorities' critics indicate the inappropriateness of removing the word "Republic" from the May 28th holiday, since it emphasized Azerbaijan's choice of the republican form of government in the early 20th century. Moreover, it was the first republic in the Muslim East.

The oppositionists believe that the authorities deliberately downplayed the importance of the republican form of government and in practice abandoned republican values.

After the innovations a number of protest actions took place which were stopped by the police.-0-