World's Azerbaijanis mark Solidarity Day

The history of the holiday is connected with the events that occurred 17 years ago. Overnight from December 31, 1989 to January 1, 1990, a group of citizens from west Azerbaijan’s Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic broke down installations along the then Soviet-Iranian border to reunite with compatriots, who lived in Iran.

Currently, more than 30 million ethnic Azerbaijanis live in Iran. Some eight million Azerbaijanis live in Azerbaijan.

The country has been marking Solidarity Day as the state holiday since 1993, when the first Azerbaijani president, Heydar Aliyev, approved a decree to this effect.

While addressing fellow countrymen living abroad in a congratulatory message, the incumbent Azerbaijani head of state, Ilham Aliyev, said that serious tasks are put forth before Azerbaijani diasporas in foreign countries.

“Azerbaijanis should integrate into the economic, political and cultural life of the countries they live in and play the role of coordinators between those countries and Azerbaijan,” the message says.

Aliyev also believes that it is necessary "to establish a strong Azerbaijani lobby in leading countries of the world."

All in all, over 40 million Azerbajianis live all over the world.

One of the largest Azerbaijani diasporas lives in Russia. According to some data, from 1.5 to two million Azerbaijanis live in Russia at present.

About two million of Azerbaijanis live in Turkey and almost 200,000 in the U.S. and Germany. Itar-Tass