Since 2021, Azerbaijan celebrates Victory Day on November 8 (Azerbaijan). Zəfər Günü) – celebration of victory in the Patriotic War 2020. It is established by order of the President of the Republic dated December 2, 2020 and is a public holiday in the country.
The 2020 Patriotic War in Azerbaijan is officially called the large-scale armed conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, which began on September 27 and lasted until November 10, 2020, when a ceasefire was signed by the heads of Azerbaijan, Russia and Armenia.
These hostilities were a continuation of many years of conflict and resulted in civilian casualties. The parties made several attempts to conclude a truce, but the tripartite agreement reached on the night of November 9-10, 2020, when, through the mediation of the Russian government, Azerbaijan and Armenia agreed to a complete ceasefire and exchange prisoners and bodies of the dead, was successful. In addition, Russian peacekeepers were stationed in the region.
During the fighting, 5 cities, 4 villages and 240 villages came under the control of the Azerbaijani army, and control over the Azerbaijani-Iranian border was restored. The decisive event in the conflict was the capture of the city of Shusha – on November 8, as a result of which the war ended and Azerbaijan recorded success. Therefore, the date of the holiday was November 8th.
Although Victory Day was originally set for November 10, the date of signing the ceasefire statement, the new presidential order declared November 8 as Victory Day, the day the city of Shusha was taken under control, which, according to the text of the order, played a significant role in the victory of Azerbaijan. The decision to change the date was made due to the fact that November 10 coincides with the Day of Remembrance of the Founder of the Republic of Turkey Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.