Public holidays in Azerbaijan

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There are several public holidays in Azerbaijan. Public holidays were regulated in the constitution of the Azerbaijan SSR for the first time on 19 May 1921. They are now regulated by the Constitution of Azerbaijan.

Holidays

Main holidays

Date	English name	Azerbaijani name	Remarks
1–2 January	New Year's Day	Yeni il	2 days
20 January	Martyrs' Day	Qara Yanvar	Commemorates Black January (1990) when Soviet troops entered Baku and killed more than 130 civilians.²
8 March	Women's Day	Qadınlar günü	1 day
20–24 March	Nowruz	Novruz	5 days
9 May	Victory Day over Fascism	Faşizm üzərinə qələbə günü	In honor of victory of the USSR over Nazi Germany during World War II.
28 May	Independence Day	Müstəqillik Günü	Founding of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan (1918).
15 June	National Salvation Day	Azərbaycan xalqının Milli Qurtuluş günü	Parliament invited Heydar Aliyev to Baku to lead the country (1993).
26 June	Azerbaijan Armed Forces Day	Azərbaycan Respublikasının Silahlı Qüvvələri günü	Commemorates the founding of the Azerbaijani National Army on this day in 1918.
8 November	Victory Day	Zəfər Günü	Commemorates the Azerbaijani victory in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war as well as in the Battle of Shusha. It is a non-working day.
9 November	State Flag Day	Dövlət Bayrağı günü	Commemorates the adoption of the Flag of Azerbaijan on November 9, 1918,³ which was officially established on November 9, 2009, as the State Flag Day.⁴
31 December	International Solidarity Day of Azerbaijanis	Dünya Azərbaycanlılarının Həmrəyliyi günü	Inspired by the fall of the Berlin Wall, the nationalist Popular Front of Azerbaijan called for and lead the removal of borders between Soviet Azerbaijan and Iran on December 31, 1989. This has since been celebrated by Azerbaijanis around the world as the International Solidarity Day of Azerbaijanis.⁵
Changes due to the Islamic lunar calendar	Ramazan Bayram	Ramazan Bayramı	2 days
Changes due to the Islamic lunar calendar	Gurban Bayram	Qurban Bayramı	2 days

Other observances

National days in Azerbaijan that are working days follows:

30 January – Day of Azerbaijani customs
2 February – Day of Youth in Azerbaijan⁶
11 February – Day of Revenue Service
14 February – Day of the Air Force
26 February – Khojaly massacre commemoration day
5 March – Day of Physical Culture and Sport
10 March – Day of National Theatre/Golden Crescent Day
12 March – Day of Internal Troops
16 March – Day of Employees of the State Agency for the Protection of Strategic Facilities
19 March – Day of Migration Service Employees
27 March – Science Day
28 March – Day of National Security
31 March – Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis [az]
10 April – Day of the builder
10 May – Flower Festival
23 May – Day of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources
2 June – Day of Civil Aviation
5 June – Day of Water Resources and Land Reclamation Workers
18 June – Human Rights Day
20 June – Day of the gas sector
23 June – Day of Civil Servants
2 July – Day of Azerbaijani Police
9 July – Day of the employees of the diplomatic service
22 July – National Press Day in Azerbaijan
1 August – National Language Day
2 August – National Day of Azerbaijani Cinema
5 August – Day of the Navy
18 August – Day of Border Troops
23 August – Day of the Security Service of the President of Azerbaijan
15 September – Day of Knowledge
18 September – Day of National Music
20 September – Day of Azerbaijani Oil / Oil Workers' Day⁷
20 September – State Sovereignty Day [az]
26 September – Day of the State Service for Special Communications and Information Security
27 September – Remembrance Day
29 September – Day of Tourism Workers
1 October – Day of Prosecutors in Azerbaijan⁸
10 October – Day of Firefighters
13 October – Day of Azerbaijani Railway
18 October – Day of Restoration of Independence
20 October – Day of Energy Workers
6 November – Day of Baku Metro Employees/Day of Radio and Television
12 November – Constitution Day
17 November – National Revival Day
22 November – Day of Justice of Azerbaijan
6 December – Day of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies of Azerbaijan
12 December – Memorial Day of Heydar Aliyev
16 December – Day of Azerbaijani Ministry of Emergency Situations
17 December – Day of the Ministry of Defence Industry
28 December – Lawyer's Day
29 December – Day of the State Agency for Public Services

Religious days

Only the holidays of Ramadan and Qurban remain as non-working religious days in Azerbaijan, as the country is highly secular and irreligious.⁹ ¹⁰ The religious population of the country, mainly in Nardaran and a number of other villages and regions, celebrate the Day of Ashura, a Shia mourning day in the Islamic calendar. Religious minorities of the country – mainly Orthodox Christians and Jews - also celebrate notable religious days of their faith.¹¹ Despite the fact that the holiday Novruz takes its roots from the religion of Zoroastrianism, almost all Azerbaijanis celebrate it as a holiday of spring.

External links

Holidays of Azerbaijan (in English)

References

"Constitution of Republic of Azerbaijan". Archived from the original on 2019-02-24. Retrieved 2012-06-03. https://web.archive.org/web/20190224153203/http://www.azerbaijan.az/portal/General/Constitution/constitution_01_a.html ↩
Esslemont, Tom (20 January 2010). "BBC News – Azerbaijan remembers Martyrs' Day". BBC Online. Retrieved 20 January 2012. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8469802.stm ↩
"Azerbaijan marks National Flag Day". Today.az. November 9, 2012. Archived from the original on November 11, 2012. Retrieved November 14, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20121111123333/http://en.trend.az/news/society/2085725.html ↩
"Azerbaijan sets National Flag Day". Today.az. Retrieved 2010-05-22. http://www.today.az/news/politics/57558.html ↩
"Breaking Down The Azerbaijani-Iranian Border". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 2009-12-29. Retrieved 2024-11-08. https://www.rferl.org/a/Breaking_Down_The_AzerbaijaniIranian_Border/1916891.html ↩
2 February-Youth Day in Azerbaijan http://news.az/articles/society/76007 ↩
"Azerbaijan marks Oil Workers' Day". news.az. Retrieved 2019-10-23. https://news.az/articles/society/82741 ↩
"Azərbaycan :: Baş səhifə". www.azerbaijans.com. Retrieved 2019-10-23. http://www.azerbaijans.com/content_572_en.html ↩
"South Travels – Azerbaijan". Archived from the original on 2012-02-01. Retrieved 2012-06-03. https://web.archive.org/web/20120201102734/http://www.southtravels.com/middleeast/azerbaijan/culture.html ↩
GALLUP WorldView – data accessed on 17 january 2009 https://worldview.gallup.com/default.aspx ↩
Azerbaijan's Udin ethnic minority celebrates Easter. http://ann.az/en/?p=35641 ↩