Azerbaijan declares September 20 as Day of State Sovereignty

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has officially established September 20 as the Day of State Sovereignty in Azerbaijan, according to an order published on the official website of the Azerbaijani leader.

The new national day will be celebrated annually to commemorate the significant events of September 20, 2023, when an anti-terrorist operation was successfully completed in the Karabakh economic region, Caliber.Az reports, citing the Azerbaijani president's press service.

The document stresses that the anti-terrorist operation was launched to stop large-scale provocations in the Karabakh economic region of Azerbaijan, disarm and withdraw the remnants of the Armenian Armed Forces from Azerbaijani lands, and restore the constitutional order of the Republic of Azerbaijan in these territories ended on 20 September 2023.

As a result of the operation, which lasted only 23 hours, the Azerbaijani army fulfilled all its tasks with high professionalism. Thus, the sovereignty of the Republic of Azerbaijan was fully restored on September 20.

On September 19, 2023, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces launched a one-day local anti-terror operation to remove illegal Armenian armed formations and their military infrastructure in the Karabakh region in response to their escalating armed provocations and attacks on Azerbaijani positions. This decision came after fatalities caused by mine incidents in the Khojavand district, resulting in casualties among Azerbaijani law enforcement and civilian workers. Azerbaijani troops stationed in the Aghdam district also suffered injuries due to the presence of illegal Armenian armed formations in Azerbaijani territories.