The history of the constitutional framing of the Republic of Azerbaijan mainly coincides with the period when it was part of the USSR. The first Constitution of Azerbaijan was adopted on May 19, 1921, and the new edition adapted to the Constitution of the USSR was adopted on March 14, 1925. On March 26, 1927, the next Constitution of the Azerbaijan SSR was approved at the Fifth All-Azerbaijan Congress of the Soviets. In connection with the adoption of the new Constitution of the USSR in 1936, on March 14, 1937, the new Constitution of the Azerbaijan SSR entered into force by the decision of the 9th All-Azerbaijan Congress of Soviets.
    
The fourth constitution of the Azerbaijan SSR was adopted in 1978, based on the Constitution of the USSR of 1977. The preparation and adoption of this Constitution were carried out with the participation of Heydar Aliyev, who was the head of Azerbaijan at that time.

On April 21, 1978, at the extraordinary seventh session of the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan SSR, the new Constitution of Azerbaijan was adopted. This Constitution consisted of 11 sections, 22 chapters, and 185 articles. Unlike previous constitutions, the 1978 Constitution of the Azerbaijan SSR was distinguished for its positive and, for that time, bold and progressive provisions. The second section of this Constitution entitled "The state and the individual " was characterized by the expansion of the rights and freedoms of citizens, strengthening them with new content and additional substantive legal guarantees.

For the first time in the history of the constitution of our country, the term "people's power" and "democracy" were adopted in the 1978 Constitution of the Azerbaijan SSR. It read that all power in the Azerbaijan SSR belongs to the people. People's state power is exercised through the Soviets of People's Deputies, which are the political basis of the Azerbaijan SSR. Another article of the same Constitution states that the organization and activity of the Soviet state are based on the principle of democratic centralism: all bodies of state administration from the bottom to the top are elected, they are accountable to the people, and the decisions of the higher bodies are binding on the lower authorities.
 
For the first time, in this constitution, the referendum, which is a direct democratic institution of the people's power, was correctly established as a national vote.

One of the positive aspects of this Constitution is that it distinguished the referendum from the public opinion polls and the discussion of draft laws and decisions, as well as including the nationwide discussion of draft laws and decisions, which is considered a form of direct democracy of people's power. It was in this Constitution that new political rights were declared, such as the right of citizens to petition and the right of citizens to join political parties, which play an important role in ensuring the people's power.

The issue of language was one of the main principles in the new Constitution adopted in 1978.

It should be noted that the Constitutions adopted before 1956 did not contain any articles on the state language at all. Only in 1956, by the decision of the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan SSR, an article was added to the Constitution of 1937 stating that the Azerbaijani language was the state language. But the leadership of the republic at that time failed to appreciate the current political situation and attempts to force the events ended this noble cause in failure.

Since the mid-1970s, the issue of language has been raised again in the socio-political life of the republics that were part of the USSR. After the adoption of the Constitution of the USSR, the process of suppression of national languages was further intensified. Even the leaders of the national republics included in the USSR were powerless to raise the issue of the mother tongue. At that time, Heydar Aliyev, who was the head of the Azerbaijan SSR, expressed his position on the language issue with great courage and determination. On April 2, 1978, at the 7th session of the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan SSR of the 9th convocation, dedicated to the draft Constitution of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic and the results of its national discussion, at the suggestion of our national leader Heydar Aliyev, Article 73 was proposed in the following amendment: "The state language of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic is the Azerbaijani language." This was a historical initiative that left an indelible mark in the history of the Azerbaijani language and in the memory of our nation as a whole. This initiative of Heydar Aliyev was reflected in the Constitution of the Azerbaijan SSR adopted on April 21, 1978.

When the article about the state language was included in the Constitution of Azerbaijan adopted in 1978, only two of the fifteen republics of the Soviet Union had an article about the state language - in the Constitutions of Georgia and Armenia.

The Republic of Azerbaijan, in fact, paved the way for other republics — Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan — to adopt their native languages in their constitutions.

Giving the Azerbaijani language the status of the state language was one of Heydar Aliyev's greatest historical contributions to the people, and our national leader skillfully protected one of the national symbols of the future independent statehood.
 

Recommended literature:

1. Рәҹәбли, Рә`на. Азәрбајҹан Республикасы Конститусијасынын баш ме`мары / Р. Рәҹәбли ; елми ред. Г. Ә. Рәҹәбли. - Бакы : Мүтәрҹим, 1999. - 15 с.
2. Heydər Əliyev və müstəqil Azərbaycanın ilk Konstitusiyası / tərt.: Q. Əliyeva, G. Hacızadə, red., ön sözün müəl. S. C. Həsənova. - Bakı : Azərbaycan nəşriyyatı, 2011. - 304 s.
3. Xudiyev, Nizami Manaf oğlu. Heydər Əliyev və Azərbaycan dili / N. M. Xudiyev ; red. A. A. Axundov. - Bakı: Təhsil, 1997. - 288 s.
4. Sadıqlı, Ayşən Əsəd qızı. Ümummilli lider Heydər Əliyev və Azərbaycan dili / A. Ə. Sadıqlı; elmi red. Y. M. Seyidov.- Bakı: Mütərcim, 2011.- 180 s.
5. Seyidov,Ənvər. Heydər Əliyev və Azərbaycan Respublikasının Konstitusiyası / Ə.Seyidov.- Bakı: UniPrint, 2009.-255 s.