By the Decree signed by the President of Azerbaijan, Mr. Ilham Aliyev, on November 17, 2009, November 9 is celebrated as the National Flag Day in our country every year. According to Article 105 of the Labor Code, this holiday is included in the list of holidays that are non-working days in the country.
The tricolor National Flag of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was first adopted on November 9, 1918, at a government meeting in Baku, hoisted over the building of the Council of Ministers where the meeting was held, and had state status until April 1920. The author of the formula “Turkism, modernity and Islamism”, expressed by the three colors on the National Flag and constituting the three fundamental principles of our national independence ideology at the beginning of the 20th century, is the prominent Azerbaijani thinker Ali Bey Huseynzadeh.
The Tricolor State Flag was approved as the State Flag of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic on November 17, 1990, at a session held under the initiative and leadership of the Chairman of the Supreme Assembly of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, the National Leader of our people Heydar Aliyev. On October 18, 1991, with the Constitutional Act “On the State Independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan”, the Republic of Azerbaijan, as the successor of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, restored its state symbols, including the State Flag. According to Article 75 of our Constitution, every citizen must respect the state symbols – the flag, coat of arms and anthem. Demonstrating disrespect for state symbols entails liability established by law.
The National Flag is one of the main factors of national solidarity and close unity of our citizens around a single ideology.
Great Leader Heydar Aliyev: “We must love our anthem, our flag as much as ourselves. Because this is a symbol of loyalty, love and affection for our homeland, nation, and state.”, “Whoever loves Azerbaijan, whoever wants Azerbaijan to be an independent state, whoever wants the occupied lands of Azerbaijan to be liberated, whoever wants the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, must unite under this flag.”
President of Azerbaijan Mr. Ilham Aliyev: “Our flag is our audible voice, our audible breath. Our flag is our source of pride. After the Republic of Azerbaijan regained its independence, the National Flag of Azerbaijan, as a symbol of national sovereignty, has become one of the sacred symbols of statehood for all citizens of our country. This flag, a relic of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, demonstrates our commitment to the ideology of freedom, national-spiritual values, and universal ideals.”