Today marks the 130th birthday of Mammad Amin Rasulzada, one of the founders of the independent Azerbaijani state that existed for only two years before being invaded by Soviet Russia in April 1920. 

Rasulzada was born in the village of Novxani, near Baku, on January 31, 1984, and died in Turkey in exile on March 6, 1955.

His expression "Bir kərə yüksələn bayraq, bir daha enməz!" (The flag once raised will never fall!) has become the motto of the independence movement in Azerbaijan in the 20th century.

The two-year Azerbaijani state, which was the first democracy in the Muslim world, gave voting rights to women and was run by a democratically-elected parliament.  

ANN.Az