National Salvation Day

In the summer of 1993 the young Azerbaijani state was in deep crisis: defeats at the front, an armed mutiny in Ganja and the threat of civil war had put independence itself at risk. At the people's demand Heydar Aliyev was invited from Nakhchivan to Baku and on 15 June 1993 was elected Chairman of the Supreme Council.

Within a short time civil strife was averted, state administration was restored and stability returned. In October that year Heydar Aliyev was elected President by popular vote; the "Contract of the Century" was signed in 1994 and the first Constitution of independent Azerbaijan was adopted in 1995.

Establishing the holiday

In 1997 the National Assembly declared 15 June the National Salvation Day of the Azerbaijani people. Since 1998 it has been an official holiday and a day off, marked across the country with events dedicated to Heydar Aliyev.