THE CONCEPT “THE AZERBAIJAN LANGUAGE” IN THE PERIOD OF INDEPENDENCE

Abstract

Azerbaijan gained own state independence with the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991. But it wasn’t only an
event implemented by the agreement of “the center”. The Azerbaijan people had struggled and made sacrifices for their
independence for a long time.
In the first Constitution, accepted after the establishment of Soviet power in Azerbaijan, there was no article on the
state language at all. There was no such article even in the epoch after joining the USSR, more precisely, in the 1937
Constitution of Azerbaijan. Mother tongue was one of the most important attributes of independence.
Heydar Aliyev who took into consideration the importance of the name of the state language seriously held an extensive discussion on the corresponding article of the new draft of the Constitution.
The Azerbaijan language was submitted as the state language in the Constitution of the Independent Azerbaijan
Republic adopted via the referendum on November 12, 1995.