27 Oct 2021 10:00 30 years ago

Rally of 100,000 people presents demands to Azerbaijani authorities

This news story first came out 30 years ago to the day, and we are publishing it today as part of Interfax's project, "Timeline of the Last Days of USSR. This Day 30 Years Ago." The project's goal is to reconstruct as fully as possible the timeline of the last few months of 1991 and to give everyone interested in understanding the historical processes of that period the opportunity to study and analyze the events that led to and accompanied the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of the new Russian state. The complete timeline can be found in Russian.


MOSCOW. Oct 27 (Interfax) – A 100,000-strong rally on Baku's central square on Saturday lambasted the Azerbaijani president for not signing an address of the leaders of seven Soviet republics to Ukraine's Supreme Council.

The protesters said that the move was at odds with the course and the spirit of recent discussions in the Azerbaijani parliament.

They adopted a resolution demanding the Azerbaijani leadership publish a number of laws as soon as possible. The list of laws includes a constitutional act on Azerbaijan's state sovereignty and a law on the national army, as well as a document on the attitude to the economic community that the Azerbaijani parliament passed earlier.

The second demand is to stop appointing previous staff to the posts of local executive authorities.

The third is to take measures to prevent the withdrawal of Soviet Army equipment from Azerbaijan.

The fourth is to adopt a package of economic documents for the social security of working people, primarily intelligentsia.

In addition, the protestors demanded a law on the indexation of prices and assurances that a session of the Azerbaijani parliament that will begin on October 29 is broadcast live from the parliament.