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Chair of Canada-Azerbaijan Interparliamentary Friendship Group makes statement on Azerbaijan`s Republic Day
Chair of the Canada-Azerbaijan Interparliamentary Friendship Group Barry Devolin has made a statement on the occasion of the Republic Day of Azerbaijan at a session of the Parliament of Canada.
“It was 96 years ago today that the Republic of Azerbaijan was established as the first democratic and secular republic in the Muslim world,” said Mr. Devolin.
“Among the most important accomplishments of that first republic was granting suffrage to women in 1919, making Azerbaijan the first Muslim nation to grant women political rights equal to men. Interestingly, that was the same year Canadian women got the vote, and years before British and American women gained the same.”
Mr. Devolin said: “Alas, this independent Azerbaijani state did not last long. Less than two years later, the Soviet Red Army rolled into Baku and a free and democratic Republic of Azerbaijan was no more.”
“This story does, however, ultimately have a happy ending. Shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Republic of Azerbaijan was re-established in 1991.”
“As chair of the Canada-Azerbaijan Interparliamentary Friendship Group, I congratulate the Azeri people on this special day and wish the Republic of Azerbaijan a bright future,” said Mr. Devolin.