May 28 - on the eve of the founding day of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, a group of students of our college made an excursion to the historical building of the republic located in Ganja at that time. First, after getting acquainted with the corners dedicated to the republic period in the main building of the current Agrarian University, the students also got acquainted with the museum, which contains the history of the ADR. Historical documents based on real facts of those years, photographs, uniforms of the Azerbaijani army and police of those years, banknotes and other exhibits were welcomed here. It was brought to the students' attention that in 1918, as a result of the national liberation struggle of the Azerbaijani people against Tsarist Russia, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic became an independent state and the first parliamentary republic in the Muslim East, which was established in Northern Azerbaijan after the First World War. Mammad Amin Rasulzadeh, Fatali Khan Khoyski, Nasib Bey Yusifbeyli, Alimardan Bey Topchubashov, Mammadhasan Hajinsky and a group of other intellectuals first gathered in Tbilisi and announced the establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic on May 28. Ganja was chosen as the capital of the People's Republic on June 16. This was not accidental. At that time, there were intellectuals in Ganja whose heart was beating with democracy, and whose brains contained the seeds of the national liberation movement. In March 1917, Nasib Bey Yusifbeyli, Khudadat Bey Rafibeyov and other politicians founded the Turkish People's Central Party in Ganja. Many well-known intellectuals in this city united around this party and started to lay the foundation for the creation of a democratic state. The state power consisted of three branches: the parliament of Azerbaijan, the government, and the judiciary.

    It was brought to the attention of the students, who were familiar with the building of the Parliament of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic at that time, that the activity of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in Ganja for three months was written down in history as one of the glorious pages of our history and statehood. At the same time, the most productive period in the history of the Republic was experienced in Ganja. Over a hundred laws and decisions regarding the fate of the people were adopted in Ganja within three months, and the Azerbaijani language was declared the state language. Our crimson moon and star flag was raised in Ganja for the first time. Practical steps were taken in creating the socio-economic and financial foundations of the state, protection in the border regions, organization of customs posts, regularization of bank operations and other directions. The military ministry was established, and the first steps in the organization of the Azerbaijan National Army were taken in Ganja. In order to protect the statehood of Azerbaijan and ensure the territorial integrity of our country, real work was done, a military ministry and a military plant were created.

     In those years, the army of 12-14 thousand Ottoman soldiers led by Nuru Pasha came to help Ganja. Here, with the participation of local Azerbaijani Turkic volunteers, the Caucasian Islamic army, which numbered approximately 20 thousand, started fighting in order to prevent mass massacres against the Turkish-Muslim population of Azerbaijan in Baku and to ensure the establishment of a democratic state there. After the liberation of Baku, on September 17, the capital of the People's Republic was transferred from Ganja to Baku. After that, the first parliamentary republic in the Muslim East was quickly recognized as an independent state by the decision of the Paris Peace Conference. The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was invaded on April 28, 1920 as a result of the military intervention of the RSFSR, which grossly violated international law, and a Soviet socialist republic was established in Northern Azerbaijan.