Azerbaijan is marking the Day of Alphabet and Language on August 1, according to the order of President Heydar Aliyev of August 9, 2001. The document was preceded by the presidential decree of June 18, 2001. The order of August 1, 2001, switched the Azerbaijani alphabet to Latin letters, News Azerbaijan reports.
Azerbaijan used the Arab alphabet when it was part of the Russian Empire. The Soviets made Russian the state language of Azerbaijan.
The Arab alphabet was replaced with the Latin alphabet in the late 1920s. Cyrillic was adopted less than ten years later. Thus, the Azerbaijani alphabet was changed three times in just a decade.
The switch to the new alphabet started in 1991, when the country became independent. Publications were still printed using both Latin and Cyrillic letters. Heydar Aliyev ordered unification of styles.
