“Azerbaijani people, being one of the oldest peoples in the world, occupy a unique place in human history. Its culture, rich literature, and traditions of great statesmanship have written the glorious pages of our glorious history. Today, every Azerbaijani, as he studies his history, is proud of what our ancestors did for the Motherland and the people and takes their example.
It is the Atabeys, Garagoyunlus, Aghgoyunlus, etc.that they created with a thousand pains. the states, as well as the Safavid Empire, are considered one of the most majestic States of the medieval world. One of the glorious pages of the history of Azerbaijan is that our people fought for the national liberation struggle for many years and created its independent state in 1918 on May 28. Thus, the Azerbaijani people demonstrated their determination to live freely.”
Sattar Mohbaliyev, chairman of the Azerbaijan Trade Unions Confederation (AHIK), member of the Milli Majlis, expressed these views to the mass media.
“It was an extremely modern state of that time, and most importantly, it went down in world history as the first democratic republic in the East. Also, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was a legal, secular and parliamentary republic. According to all these indicators, Azerbaijan even left a number of European countries behind. Based on the principle of people’s power and equality of people, the Republic eliminated racial, national, religious and class inequality by giving equal rights to its citizens and became one of the first states to take this step. With this, it becomes clear once again that the roots of the culture of tolerance and coexistence in Azerbaijan are older. Also, one of the important decisions was giving women the right to vote for the first time in the East.
Although women got the right to vote in the United States in 1920 and in France in 1944. Therefore, the Azerbaijani woman won this right earlier than the women of the most advanced countries of the world”, said the deputy of the Milli Majlis.
The chairman of ATUC (AHIK) noted that despite the short existence of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic – only 23 months, it left a deep mark on the life and history of our people: “The first parliament and government were created, state attributes were established, the mother tongue was declared the state language, military units were established, borders was determined, important works were done in the direction of the recognition of our independent state by the countries of the world.
In January 1920, the de facto recognition of the state independence of Azerbaijan by the big powers made it possible for Azerbaijan not to be erased from the world map as a state after the Bolshevik occupation. In a word, the Republic fulfilled its duties with honor, restored the national self-consciousness of the people, and revealed the ability of our people to determine their own destiny.
Sattar Mohbaliyev stressed that although the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was destroyed by military intervention, his ideas were not erased from the memory of the people, he lived with the desire for freedom and was sure that this desire would be realized again one day: “after 70 years, our Tricolor and Moon-Star flag was blown up in the skies of the motherland, our people The first years of independence were very difficult, we were even faced with the threat of losing it, and what is more painful-the disintegration of Azerbaijan.
This time, our wise people demonstrated their will and brought their eldest son Heydar Aliyev to the head of the state, and with this, the danger facing our country was overcome, and our independence began to strengthen. Today, under the leadership of Mr. Ilham Aliyev, a worthy follower of the Great Leader, Azerbaijan has become a leading country in the region and is considered one of the most important countries in the world. The policy pursued by President Ilham Aliyev served to strengthen modern Azerbaijan and protect our national and moral values at the highest level.”