Azerbaijan national awakening

Azerbaijani national awakening or the period of Azerbaijani cultural renaissance (Azerbaijani آذربایجان ملی اویانیشی Azerbaycan milli uyanışı) is the process of formation of national opinion and flourishing of culture of Azerbaijanis living in the Russian Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This period is characterized by the spread of enlightenment in Azerbaijan, the development of education, press and art, the implementation of Western values and institutions.

Thus, Azerbaijan became the first country in the Islamic world to establish a national theatre, opera, western-style university and ballet, and the Azerbaijan People's Republic went down in history as one of the first secular democratic states in the Islamic world. It is the first state among Islamic countries to grant women the right to vote and be elected. Azerbaijani reformist intellectuals of the Enlightenment period gained influence in the South Caucasus as well as in Iran, the Ottoman Empire and Central Asia through their publications, theater groups and participation in constitutional movements in neighboring countries.