Today in history: November 17 is National Revival Day in Azerbaijan.
As a result of the Soviet empire’s anti-Azerbaijan policy, more than 200,000 Azerbaijanis living in Armenia were expelled from their ancestral lands beginning in 1988, and riots erupted in Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Protest rallies in Baku continued for 18 days in November and December in response. On November 17, 1988, the people’s national liberation movement reached its apex in Baku’s Freedom Square. On that day, the Azerbaijani tricolor flag was raised once more, and the question of leaving the Soviet Union was raised. The people’s movement that began in Baku’s Azadlig Square quickly spread throughout the USSR, culminating in the Soviet Union’s demise in December 1991.
