Victory Day

The war before it

Victory Day recalls the end of the 2020 fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh, a region run in practice by the self-declared Republic of Artsakh while remaining Azerbaijani territory in law. Fighting began on 27 September 2020. Azerbaijani units moved into Fuzuli and Jabrayil and took their administrative centres, then pushed towards Hadrut. After Hadrut fell in mid-October the advance gathered pace, and Zangilan and Qubadli came under Azerbaijani control as Armenian forces pulled back. An offensive aimed at Lachin also took Azerbaijani troops into Shusha District through its woods and mountain passes. Shusha's fall led to a ceasefire signed by the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia, halting hostilities from midnight on 10 November 2020.

Choosing the date

The holiday was created by a decree that Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, signed on 2 December 2020. His first choice was 10 November, the day the ceasefire document was signed and took effect in Azerbaijani time. That decision was reversed the following day. A new date, 8 November, was settled on instead. It is the day Azerbaijani forces took Shusha, and it also avoided a clash with the Turkish commemoration held for Mustafa Kemal Atatürk on 10 November. On 8 December 2020 it was announced that a station on the Purple Line of the Baku Metro would carry the name November 8, a suggestion made by Aliyev. The day is a non-working holiday.

Terms of the ceasefire

The agreement that closed the war was signed by Ilham Aliyev, Armenia's prime minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russia's president Vladimir Putin. Hostilities stopped at midnight Moscow time on 10 November 2020. Each side kept the ground it held at that point. Armenia handed back districts around Nagorno-Karabakh that it had occupied since 1994. Azerbaijan gained a land route to Nakhchivan, its exclave bordering Turkey and Iran. About two thousand Russian soldiers were stationed as peacekeepers in the Lachin corridor, the road joining Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh, under a mandate lasting at least five years.

How it is marked

Victory Day is a public holiday, so the day is free of work in Azerbaijan, and it is observed by the country as a whole. Word of the war's end in November 2020 brought crowds into the capital's streets, and a photograph taken on Bulbul Avenue in Baku on 8 November that year shows residents celebrating the result. Because the holiday was put in place only weeks later, in December, its official life is recent. The sources record no fixed programme of parades, prayers or dishes for the day, so what is documented is the day off itself along with those first street celebrations.

How Victory Day is kept

Azerbaijan keeps 8 November as a public holiday, and it is a day without work. The date is fixed to the anniversary of Azerbaijani forces taking Shusha in 2020. The whole country observes it; no particular religious or local group is named in the sources as its keeper. When the 2020 war ended, people in Baku took to the streets to celebrate, among them crowds on Bulbul Avenue, and that scene is the one the holiday is pictured with.

When and where

It falls on 8 November every year, on the same date rather than by a lunar or movable rule. The choice is deliberate: 8 November 2020 is the day Azerbaijani forces took control of Shusha. An earlier plan to mark 10 November, when the ceasefire was signed and came into force, was dropped the day after it was announced.

The holiday belongs to Azerbaijan, the country that created it, and it is observed there. Its story is tied to Nagorno-Karabakh and to Shusha in particular, and to the wider settlement that also returned districts around the region to Azerbaijani control and opened a land route to Nakhchivan. No other state is described as keeping the day.

What Victory Day means

Those who keep the day read it as the outcome of the 2020 war: the return of land Azerbaijan counts as its own, and above all the taking of Shusha, which the presidential decree treats as the moment worth remembering. The date chosen is not the day the ceasefire was signed but the day the town changed hands, so the emphasis falls on the military result. Because the ceasefire followed the fall of Shusha, that event is presented as the one that ended the fighting.

Victory Day dates: 2026, 2027, 2028

Questions people ask about Victory Day

See also

NowruzThe Iranian new year at the March equinox, kept with fire, greenery and picnicsGeorgian polyphonic singingSeveral voices at once, sung without instruments at Georgian feasts and weddingsHalayA traditional line and circle folk dance kept across Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Iran, and Syria.NazarA blue glass eye amulet worn and displayed to deflect the evil eye.

Good reading and sources

• Armenia and Azerbaijan fight over disputed Nagorno-KarabakhBBC, Article
• Nagorno-Karabakh: Russia deploys peacekeeping troops to regionBBC, Article
• Armenia and Azerbaijan fight over disputed Nagorno-KarabakhBBC, Article
• Nagorno-Karabakh: Russia deploys peacekeeping troops to regionBBC, Article

• Victory Day (Azerbaijan) on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.