USAN congratulates the Azerbaijani nation with October 18 - the
Independence Day of Azerbaijan
Washingon D.C. -- On October 18, 1991 the Parliament of then-Soviet
Azerbaijan adopted the Constitutional Act that brought Independence to
Azerbaijan, which was later ratified by the referendum held on
December 30thof that same year, establishing the Third Republic. With
this act, the
Republic of Azerbaijan became an independent state once again, after 71
years of being part of USSR as a Second Republic. Previously, the Azerbaijan
Democratic Republic (ADR) became the first-ever parliamentary republic in
the whole of Muslim world from May 28, 1918 till April 28, 1920, the period
also known as the First Republic. On March 2, 1992 Azerbaijan was admitted
to the United Nations within internationally recognized territorial borders,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
However, the path to independence was a difficult one, as newly established
Azerbaijani Republic faced military conflict, occupation of Azerbaijani
lands by Armenian aggressors, and sabotage of internal and external forces
against the statehood, as well as social and economic difficulties that are
characteristic of the transition period. All of these obstacles made the
path to independence thorny and difficult. The independence movement was
under immense pressure culminating in the January 20th, 1990 tragedy, a
bloody massacre in Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku authorized by then-President
of Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev, when hundreds of civilians were killed in
what became to be known as the Black January. Despite all of the
difficulties, Azerbaijani nation continued the struggle for the independence
and succeeded in this fight.
On October 15, 2009, President Barack Obama offered his congratulations to
Azerbaijani President and People on the ocassion of 18 October – the State
Independence Day. Today, as Azerbaijan celebrates 18 years of
re-establishment of independence, the country still faces many challenges on
the way to democratization and integration into the world economy. However,
the foundation of democratic values and principles, marked by the State
Independence Day and the heritage of the First Republic, the ADR, continues
to serve as the symbol of independence movement of a democratic Azerbaijan.
The Azerbaijani-American Diaspora wishes all the Azerbaijani people to
always remember its great history and work in sync to build a better future.
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The U.S. Azeris Network (USAN) <http://www.usazeris.org/> is a registered
non-profit, non-partisan, non-sectarian genuine grassroots advocacy and
voter education network that is facilitating political activism and efforts
by the Azerbaijani-Americans and other Turkic-Americans and their
associations, organizations, councils, conferences, and other formal,
semi-formal and informal groups, on federal, state and local levels. USAN is
the first nationwide grassroots organization uniting Azerbaijani-Americans,
being created by the grassroots, for the grassroots.
