The world celebrates International Mother Language Day to promote linguistic and cultural diversity, as well as multilingualism on February 21 every year. In 1999, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) approved the idea of celebrating International Mother Language Day.
According to the UNESCO website, the day was established on the initiative of Bangladesh and has been observed worldwide since 1999. For societies to be sustainable, cultural and linguistic diversity is crucial. This day honoured and remembered the historical language movement and the martyrs who gave their lives in Bangladesh in 1952. This day, also known as ‘Matribhasha Diwas,’ is widely observed and celebrated.
The theme of the 2023 International Mother Language Day, “Multilingual education – a necessity to transform education” aligns with recommendations made during the Transforming Education Summit, where an emphasis was also placed on Indigenous people’s education and languages.
Multilingual education based on mother-tongue facilitates access to and inclusion in learning for population groups that speak non-dominant languages, languages of minority groups and indigenous languages.
International Mother Language Day was declared by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) General Conference in November 1999.
International Mother Language Day is being celebrated across the world to promote linguistic and cultural diversity, as well as multilingualism.
The comprehensive development of the native language in our country, its transformation into a working language, finding its way into the system of international relations is the result of the well-thought-out policy of the great leader Heydar Aliyev, a great connoisseur of our language. The foundation of this policy was laid in 1969: Heydar Aliyev spoke in the Azerbaijani language on the 50th anniversary of Baku State University. Not long ago, this language also paved the way for events of state importance. The adoption of the Azerbaijani language as the state language in the 1978 Constitution of the Azerbaijan SSR was an important event for that period.
In accordance with the Decree of the National Leader Heydar Aliyev dated August 9, 2001 every year August 1 annually celebrates the Day of Azerbaijani Alphabet and Day of Azerbaijani language.
The adoption of the Law “On the State Language in the Republic of Azerbaijan” on September 30, 2002 was another step towards the use of the Azerbaijani language as the state language, its application, protection and development, meeting the national and cultural self-defense needs of Azerbaijanis around the world. This document is one of the brightest examples of national leader Heydar Aliyev’s inexhaustible love and care for our people and its language.
The language policy has been successfully continued by President Ilham Aliyev. A decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan “On the carrying out of mass publications in Azerbaijani language with Latin script”, a decree “On the publication of the Azerbaijan National Encyclopedia”, “The State Program on the use of the Azerbaijani language in the context of globalization and the development of linguistics”, a decree “On measures to protect the purity of the Azerbaijani language and further improve the use of the state language”, Order of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan “On a number of measures to ensure wider use of Azerbaijani language in electronic space”, Order “On approval of the new composition of the State Language Commission of the Republic of Azerbaijan” are the most vivid illustrations of the state attention to the Azerbaijani language.