Azadliq Square, Baku

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Azadliq Square (Template:Langx), in Baku is the biggest city-centre square in Azerbaijan. It lies next to Baku Boulevard.

History

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Armored vehicles on the square during a parade in 2011.

The square, formerly named Lenin Square after Vladimir Lenin, was created in the 1960–70s, after construction of the Government House of Baku was finished in 1952. A monument to Lenin was erected in 1955.[1] It was also formerly known as Stalin Square. Along with the square, Baku authorities constructed several buildings including the "Azerbaijan" and "Absheron" hotels encircling the square, which were later demolished and replaced with the Hilton Baku and the JW Marriott Absheron Baku Hotel. The Lenin monument sculpted by D. M. Garyaghdi was removed in the early 1990s.[2] The square was renamed Azadliq Square (Freedom Square) in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union.[3] In 2006, a government-sponsored project oversaw renovation works at Government House and its vicinity including Azadliq Square. Works lasted until 2010.[4]

Buildings and structures

File:Governement house - panoramio.jpg
Government house - from panoramio

Gallery

Events

Parades

File:Парад на площади им. В.И. Ленина, 1970 г. Полковники Чурилов И.К., Смазилкин ВС., Злодеев И.В.jpg
The Baku Higher Combined Arms Command School (BVOKU) marching on Lenin Square during a parade in Baku in October 1970.

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Demonstrations

Starting on 17 November 1988, large-scale demonstrations began in Baku's Lenin Square to protest against the alleged destruction of a forest near Shusha by Armenians.[10] As the demonstrations continued, they became increasingly anti-Armenian, with chants of "death to the Armenians"[11] and demands that those convicted of the murder of Armenians during the Sumgait pogrom be released. The demonstrations also developed into an anti-central government, anti-Soviet protest. On 23 November, a curfew was imposed in Baku and Soviet troops tried unsuccessfully to disperse the crowds.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". The events later led to the proclamation, in 1992, of National Revival Day of 17 November.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Following the Black January crackdown by Soviet troops in Baku on 20 January 1990, Azadliq Square became the gathering and mourning place for approximately 2 million people who gathered to take the dead to a burial site in Martyrs' Lane in upper Baku.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

Protests during the 2003 Azerbaijani protests took place on the square.[12]

Other

In 1989 one of Azerbaijan's greatest vocalists, Yaqub Zourofchi, held a revolutionary concert as Azerbaijan was gaining their independence from USSR.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". The square was used for the Baku City Circuit.[13]

Transportation

Metro

The B6 Metro Station is planned in this area by Baku Metro in the future.

Tram

In February 2012, the government of Azerbaijan announced that it is planning to restore the tram line in Baku. A new line had to be laid along the seaside promenade of Baku Boulevard in central Baku as part of the Baku White City development project. Since then, Formula One made Alstom change the plans and the route of this tram line, which is never happened and project was not implemented yet.

See also

References

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  3. Старые наименования улиц и площадей Баку. Script error: No such module "webarchive". Template:In lang
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  10. Stuart J. Kaufman,Modern Hatreds: The Symbolic Politics of Ethnic War p.66.
  11. Mark Malkasian, Gha-ra-bagh!: The Emergence of the National Democratic Movement in Armenia, p170. Wayne State University Press, 1996.
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External links

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Template:Baku landmarks