State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) held an event devoted to the 100thanniversary of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic on May 30, 2018. The event was attended by the Executive Director of SOFAZ Shahmar Movsumov and the Head of the division of “Caucasian history” at the Institute of History named after Abbasgulu Agha Bakikhanov of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, PhD Irada Bagirova.

Before the event, the staff of SOFAZ laid a wreath and flowers in front of the statue of the national leader Heydar Aliyev located at SOFAZ’s administrative building and commemorated the memory of the national leader with deep respect.

At the beginning of his speech, Shahmar Movsumov mentioned that Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was the first democratic, legal and secular republic in the Muslim East and informed the attendees about the unprecedented role of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in the statehood and socio-political history of modern Azerbaijan.

Shahmar Movsumov stated the following: “After the declaration of the independency for the second time in XX century, Azerbaijan announced itself as the follower and processor of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic’s ideas. The tricolor flag that was first adopted as the flag of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic by the initiative of the national leader Heydar Aliyev was later approved as the state flag of independent Azerbaijan.

The President Ilham Aliyev signed an Order on the declaration of 2018 as the "Year of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic". All of that shows the high commitment of the country's leader to Azerbaijan’s history, past and statehood principles.”

Irada Bagirova featured the event with an interesting speech about the history of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the situation during that period, the adoption of “Declaration of Independency” and the fall of Democratic Republic.

At the end of her speech I. Baghirova answered the questions of the event attendees.

The event featured the presentation of “The Last Session” documentary film dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. The film was produced by the President of Baku Media Center Arzu Aliyeva.