Azerbaijan declared its independence from the former Soviet Union on August 30 , 1991 , with Ayaz Mutalibov , former First Secretary of the Azerbaijani Communist Party , becoming the country 's first President . Following a massacre of Azerbaijanis at Khojali in Nagorno-Karabakh in March 1992 , Mutalibov resigned and the country experienced a period of political fragility . The old guard returned Mutalibov to power in May 1992 , but less than a week later his efforts to suspend scheduled presidential elections and ban all political activity prompted the opposition Azerbaijan Popular Front Party ( PFP ) to organize a resistance movement and take power . Among its reforms , the PFP dissolved the predominantly Communist Supreme Soviet and transferred its functions to the 50-member upper house of the legislature , the National Council
massacre of Azerbaijanis
Khojaly Massacre
Politics of Azerbaijan