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Azerbaijan marks Constitution Day

Politics Materials 12 November 2009 09:00 (UTC +04:00)
The Constitution was adopted in 1995 – the first such document for independent Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan marks Constitution Day

Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 12 / Trend /

Azerbaijan celebrates Constitution Day today.

The Constitution was adopted in 1995 - the first such document for independent Azerbaijan.

The first independent Azerbaijan - the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic - existed only 23 months from 1918 to 1920 and had no such sweeping legislative document. As a result, the history of Azerbaijan's Constitution dates mainly to the country's time as a Soviet republic.

Azerbaijan's first Constitution was adopted May 19, 1921 at the All-Azerbaijan Soviet Congress. A new version of the Azerbaijan SSR Constitution was fitted to the Soviet Constitution in 1921, which was adopted at the Fourth All-Azerbaijani Soviet Congress March 14, 1925. The final Azerbaijan SSR Constitution was adopted April 21, 1978 and fitted to the Soviet Constitution.

After Azerbaijan received independence, the necessity arose to develop a new Constitution. A commission headed by former President Heydar Aliyev was established with this aim. A draft document was presented via referendum and independent Azerbaijan's first Constitution was adopted Nov. 12, 1995.

Ever since, Azerbaijan has celebrated Nov. 12 as Constitution Day.

Independent Azerbaijan's first Constitution was the basis of the country's foundation after the fall of the Soviet Union. The document composes five sections, 12 chapters and 158 articles.

Amendments and additions to the Constitution were first made via referendum Aug. 24, 2002 and most recently March 18, 2009. In 2002, 31 additions and amendments were injected into 22 articles of the Constitution and 41 additions and amendments to 29 articles in 2009.

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