The Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan adopted in 1995 was the first Constitution of independent Azerbaijan. As it is known, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, which existed for 23 months in 1918-1920, could not adopt the Basic Law of the state. Thus, the history of the constitutional structure of the Republic of Azerbaijan mainly falls into the period when it was part of the USSR.

The first Constitution of Azerbaijan was adopted on May 19, 1921 at the First All-Azerbaijan Congress of Soviets. The new edition of the Constitution of the Azerbaijan SSR adapted to the Constitution of the SSR of 1921 was adopted on March 14, 1925 at the IV All-Azerbaijan Congress of Soviets. The last Constitution of the Azerbaijan SSR, adopted on April 21, 1978, was adapted to the Constitution of the USSR, like the previous Constitutions.

It became necessary to draft a new Constitution after Azerbaijan gained independence. For this purpose, a special commission headed by President Heydar Aliyev was created, and the draft Constitution was submitted for public discussion. On November 12, 1995, the first Constitution of Independent Azerbaijan was adopted by a national referendum.

The first Constitution of independent Azerbaijan set the foundations of the state building of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The new Constitution of Azerbaijan consists of 5 sections, 12 chapters and 158 articles.

The first additions and changes to the Constitution were made on August 24, 2002, and the last additions and changes were made on September 26, 2016 through a referendum. A total of 31 amendments were made to 22 articles of the Constitution on August 24, 2002, and a total of 41 amendments were made to 29 articles of the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan with the referendum held on March 18, 2009. With the referendum held on September 26, 2016, additions and amendments were added to 23 articles of the Constitution, as well as 6 new articles.

In our country, November 12 is celebrated as the Constitution Day of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The people of Azerbaijan, continuing their centuries-old traditions of statehood, based on the principles reflected in the Constitutional Act "On the State Independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan", wishing to ensure the prosperity of the whole society and everyone, to establish justice, freedom and security, realizing their responsibility to past, present and future generations, using its sovereign right, solemnly declares the following intentions:

• To protect the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the state of Azerbaijan;
• To ensure the democratic structure within the framework of the Constitution;
• To achieve the establishment of civil society;
• To build a legal, secular state that ensures the supremacy of laws as an expression of the will of the people;
• To ensure a decent standard of living for all in accordance with fair economic and social rules;
• To live in friendship, peace and tranquility with all the peoples of the world, being loyal to universal values, and to interact with each other for this purpose.
• This Constitution is adopted by popular vote - referendum with the noble intentions listed above.