Day of the Azerbaijani alphabet and language (01/08)

Day of the Azerbaijani alphabet and language (Azerbaijani). Azərbaycan əlifbası və Azərbaycan dili günü) is celebrated in the Republic annually on August 1, according to the Decree of Heydar Aliyev dated August 9, 2001 «On the establishment of the day of the Azerbaijani alphabet and the Azerbaijani language».

As you know, during the years of Azerbaijan’s entry into Tsarist Russia, Azerbaijanis used the Arabic alphabet. With the Bolsheviks coming to power, cosmopolitan experiments began to be carried out in Azerbaijan with many customs and traditions of the Azerbaijani people, including their language and alphabet. Soon the Russian language actually acquired the status of the state language.

By the end of the 20s of the last century, a reform of the alphabet was carried out, as a result of which, instead of the Arabic alphabet, the new Azerbaijani alphabet began to be used according to the Latin script. But less than ten years have passed since the beginning of this reform, when the decision was made to switch to Cyrillic. Thus, in about ten years, changes were made to the alphabet of the Azerbaijani language three times.

By the end of the 20th century, when Azerbaijan acquired state independence for the second time, the issue of alphabet reform became relevant again. On August 1, 1990, the Alphabet Commission was created. The new alphabet was approved and began to be used in 1992. But the realities of that time did not allow this process to be completed.

Publishing and printing work in the country was carried out in parallel in two alphabets: newspapers were published half in the new alphabet in the Latin script, and half — in the Cyrillic alphabet. This led to serious bewilderment among the population.

The situation changed radically with the issuance of the Presidential Decree of June 18, 2001. It was on that day that national leader Heydar Aliyev signed Decree «On improving the use of the state language», which emphasized the role and functions of the Azerbaijani language as an attribute of independent statehood. According to the Decree, from August 1, 2001, the transition to the Azerbaijani alphabet to the Latin script was carried out everywhere. And on November 1, 2018, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan signed Decree « on measures to protect the purity of the Azerbaijani language and further improve the use of the state language».

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