MP Sevinc Huseynova claimed that Azerbaijani was first included in the Constitution of the Azerbaijan SSR as the official state language at Heydar Aliyev’s initiative: “In 1978, at the initiative of the Great Leader Heydar Aliyev, the Azerbaijan SSR became the first union republic to include the provision ‘Azerbaijani is the official state language of the Azerbaijan SSR’ in its Constitution.”
“Fakt Yoxla” concludes that the claim is false.
MP Sevinc Huseynova’s statement can be assessed as two separate claims.
1. Azerbaijani was first included in the Constitution of the Azerbaijan SSR as the official state language at Heydar Aliyev’s initiative.
The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) was established in 1920 and existed until Azerbaijan declared independence in 1991. During this period, the Azerbaijan SSR adopted four constitutions: in 1921, 1927, 1937 and 1978. However, the Constitution of the Azerbaijan SSR was amended on various occasions. In 1956, amendments to the 1937 Constitution established Azerbaijani as the official language of the Azerbaijan SSR. The Law on Adding an Article on the State Language of the Azerbaijan SSR to the Constitution (Basic Law) of the Azerbaijan SSR states:
Article 1. An article on the state language of the Azerbaijan SSR shall be added to the Constitution (Basic Law) of the Azerbaijan SSR as Article 151, with the following wording:
“Article 151. The state language of the Azerbaijan SSR is Azerbaijani.”
Thus, the constitutional provision establishing Azerbaijani as the official language of the Azerbaijan SSR was adopted in 1956, rather than in 1978.
2. The inclusion of Azerbaijani in the Constitution of the Azerbaijan SSR was a first in the Soviet Union.
Note: This material was originally prepared in Azerbaijani. This English version was translated using artificial intelligence. The credible version is the Azerbaijani version.
Although the Azerbaijan SSR included Azerbaijani as its official language in its Constitution in 1956, it was still not the first Soviet republic to do so. The Constitution of the Georgian SSR, adopted in 1922, had already established Georgian as the state language.
Thus, Heydar Aliyev was not responsible for first including Azerbaijani in the Constitution of the Azerbaijan SSR, nor was Azerbaijan the first Soviet republic to include its language in its constitution.
“Fakt Yoxla” concludes that both of the claims are false.
