Tokyo, 21 April, /AJMEDIA/
The history of the Constitutional structure of the Republic of Azerbaijan mainly coincides with the period when our country was part of the former Soviet Union. The first Constitution of Azerbaijan was adopted on May 19, 1921, and the new edition, adapted to the Constitution of the USSR, was adopted on March 14, 1925. On March 26, 1927, the next Constitution of the Azerbaijan SSR was approved at the V All-Azerbaijan Congress of Soviets. In connection with the adoption of the new Constitution of the USSR in 1936, the new Constitution of the Azerbaijan SSR came into force on March 14, 1937 by the decision of the IX All-Azerbaijan Congress of Soviets.
The fourth Constitution of the Azerbaijan SSR was adopted in 1978, on the basis of the Constitution of the USSR of 1977. The preparation and adoption of this constitution was carried out with the participation of Heydar Aliyev, who led Azerbaijan at that time.
On April 21, 1978, at the extraordinary seventh session of the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan SSR, the new Constitution of Azerbaijan was adopted. This Constitution consisted of 11 sections, 22 chapters and 185 articles. Unlike previous constitutions, the 1978 Constitution of the Azerbaijan SSR was distinguished by its positive and, for that time, bold, progressive provisions. The second section of this Constitution, called “State and Personality”, was characterized by the expansion of the rights and freedoms of citizens, their enrichment with new content and additional material and legal guarantees.
For the first time in the constitutional history of our country, the terms “people’s power” and “democracy” were adopted precisely in the 1978 Constitution of the Azerbaijan SSR. It was stated here that all power in the Azerbaijan SSR belongs to the people. The people exercise state power through the Soviets of People’s Deputies, which are the political basis of the Azerbaijan SSR. Another article of the same Constitution states that the organization and activities of the Soviet state are built on the principle of democratic centralism: all state authorities from the bottom up are elected, they are accountable to the people, and the decisions of higher authorities are binding on lower authorities.
For the first time, it was in this constitution that the referendum, which is an institution of direct democracy of people’s power, was correctly established as a nationwide vote.
One of the positive aspects of this Constitution is that it distinguished the referendum from a public opinion poll and discussion of draft laws and decisions, and also included, along with the referendum, a nationwide discussion of draft laws and decisions, which was considered a form of direct democracy of people’s power. It was in this Constitution that new political rights were declared, such as the right of citizens to petition, which played an important role in ensuring people’s power, and the right of citizens to unite in political parties.
The issue of language was one of the main principles in the new Constitution adopted in 1978.
It should be noted that in the Constitutions adopted until 1956, there was no article at all about the state language. Only in 1956, by the decision of the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan SSR, an article was added to the 1937 Constitution on the Azerbaijani language being the state language. However, the attempts of the leadership of the republic at that time to accelerate events, unable to properly assess the existing political situation, doomed this noble cause to failure.
Starting from the mid-70s, the issue of language was again brought to the agenda in the socio-political life of the republics that made up the USSR. After the adoption of the Constitution of the USSR, the process of suppressing national languages was further intensified. The leaders of the national republics that were part of the USSR were powerless to bring the issue of their native language to the agenda. At that time, Heydar Aliyev, the head of the Azerbaijan SSR, expressed his position on the language issue with great courage and determination. On April 2, 1978, at the 7th session of the Supreme Soviet of the 9th convocation of the Azerbaijan SSR, dedicated to the draft Constitution of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic and the results of its nationwide discussion, at the suggestion of our national leader Heydar Aliyev, Article 73 was proposed in the following wording: “The state language of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic is the Azerbaijani language.” This was a historical initiative that left a deep mark on the history of the Azerbaijani language and the memory of our people as a whole. This initiative of Heydar Aliyev was reflected in the Constitution of the Azerbaijan SSR adopted on April 21, 1978.
The Republic of Azerbaijan, in fact, paved the way for other republics at that time — Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan — to adopt their native languages in their constitutions.
Granting the Azerbaijani language the status of the state language was one of Heydar Aliyev’s greatest historical services to the people, and our national leader skillfully preserved one of the national symbols of the future independent statehood.
Vugar Aghayev
