Azerbaijan celebrates the Constitution Day today. The Constitution was adopted in 1995 – the first such a document for independent Azerbaijan. The first independent Azerbaijan Republic – the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic – existed only 23 months from 1918 to 1920 and had no such a sweeping legislative document. As a result, the history of Azerbaijan’s Constitution dates mainly back from the country’s time as a Soviet republic.

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

A necessity arose to develop a new Constitution after Azerbaijan gained its independence. To this end, a commission was established under the guidance of the former President Heydar Aliyev. A draft document was submitted via referendum and independent Azerbaijan’s first Constitution was adopted on Nov. 12, 1995. Ever since, Azerbaijan has celebrated the Nov. 12 as a Constitution Day.

The first Constitution of the Independent Azerbaijan was the basis of the country’s foundation after the fall of the Soviet Union. The document composes 5 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.