National Revival Day of Azerbaijan

Freedom Square in BakuNational Renaissance Day is celebrated in Azerbaijan on November 17. In 1988, on this day, the first indefinite mass protests against the policy of the central authorities of the former Soviet Union regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict began on Lenin Square (now Freedom Square) in Baku, and calls were made for Azerbaijan to secede from the USSR.

A few days later, the square was cordoned off by the forces of internal troops drawn into Baku from locations in various places of the former USSR, which on the night of December 3 to 4 forcibly ousted the protesters, many of whom were then arrested.