Today Azerbaijan celebrates Republic Day, commemorating the establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR) on May 28, 1918 as independent from the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic and following the collapse of the Russian empire.
On Friday, Azerbaijani officials hosted a reception to mark the ninety-ninth anniversary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, which lasted until April 1920 when the Bolsheviks took control and Azerbaijan was absorbed by the Soviet Union.
“Exactly ninety nine years ago the first democratic republic in the Muslim world was created in Azerbaijan. This is a world-wide historical event for our people. It shows how much the people of Azerbaijan are progressive and talented,” President Ilham Aliyev said at the reception.
The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, with a population of about 2.86 million, was centered on parliament, which was elected on the basis of universal, free, and proportionate representation. Amongst its accomplishments was granting suffrage to women, making Azerbaijan one of the first countries in the world, and the first majority-Muslim nation, to grant females equal political rights to those of men. The same rights were not granted to women in the United States until the passage of the 19th amendment to the US constitution, in 1920.
The ADR government was also responsible for establishing Baku State University, a major scientific and educational center in Azerbaijan, in 1919. Also credited to the ADR is the design of Azerbaijan’s tricolor flag in 1918. Its colors symbolize the Turkic origin of Azerbaijan (blue), progress and modernity (red), and Islamic culture in Azerbaijan (green).
“Unfortunately, the ADR government was not been able to last long. Two years after, we had been deprived of our independence. If Azerbaijan could protects its independence, I’m sure that today Azerbaijan will be one of the most progressed and wealthiest countries in the world,” President Aliyev said.
Various ceremonies, concerts, and official receptions are being held in Baku and throughout Azerbaijan to commemorate the 99th birthday of the Muslim world’s first democratic republic.
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