Today, Azerbaijan is celebrating the 104th anniversary of the emergence of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic on May 28, 1918. This date is an important public holiday in the republic - the Independence Day.
On May 8, 1918, the National Council of Azerbaijan proclaimed the independence of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. The signing ceremony of the Declaration of Independence took place on the same day in the hall of the former Caucasus Viceroy’s Palace in Tiflis. According to the document, all the peoples of the ADR were declared the owners of sovereign rights. The Republic granted equal civil and political rights to all citizens of the country, regardless of their gender, nationality, religion and social status. Women in the ADR received the right to vote - for the first time in the East and earlier than in a number of European countries.
Soon the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic approved the national flag, anthem and coat of arms, and Azerbaijani became the state language. At the Paris Peace Conference in January 1920, the independence of Azerbaijan was recognized at the international level.
After the victory of the Azerbaijani army in the Karabakh war against the occupying forces of Armenia, Independence Day is celebrated in Azerbaijan with a special feeling, as the republic defended its sovereignty, first acquired on May 28, 1918, and restored its territorial integrity.
The number of international leaders, including Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Joe Biden, Queen Elizabeth II, Xi Jinping, Isaac Herzog, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Sadyr Japarov, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Alexander Lukashenko congratulated the president of the country, Ilham Aliyev.
