Today, National Revival Day is celebrated in Azerbaijan.
The date today is associated with the "Maidan movement" that began on November 17, 1988.
On November 17, 1988, hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Freedom Square and protested the former Soviet Union's policy towards Azerbaijan, which was based on double standards.
The territorial claims made by Armenia against Azerbaijan, the open separatist movement of Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the resulting expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis living in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh from their homeland laid the foundation of the Maidan movement.
The people who took the initiative to prevent these problems, which arose as a result of the policies of Moscow and the then local authorities, gathered in the central square of Baku on November 17, 1988, and began a continuous mass protest. This protest, which lasted uninterrupted for 17 days and was attended by millions of people, was also the largest-scale protest in the former USSR. The majority of local and foreign researchers studying the collapse of the USSR note the important role of the process that started in Azerbaijan. Although the nationwide rally was dispersed by Soviet troops on the night of December 4 to 5, it has been recorded in history as an important stage in the restoration of Azerbaijan's independence.
Although National Revival Day is celebrated at the state level in Azerbaijan, based on the relevant amendments made to the legislation in December 2006, it is considered a working day.
