The Declaration of Independence of Azerbaijan (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycanın İstiqlal Bəyannaməsi) is the declaration of independence of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic from the Russian Empire. Azerbaijan was proclaimed independent in Tiflis on 28 May 1918.
The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was founded by the Azerbaijani National Council in Tiflis on May 28, 1918 after the collapse of the Russian Empire that began with the Russian Revolution of 1917. The Muslim representation in the defunct Transcaucasian Seim had constituted itself into the Azerbaijani National Council, and on May 28, 1918 proclaimed that a new nation was born. So far only a geographical reference, Azerbaijan now became the name of a state, and some 2 million people, called variously Tatars, Transcaucasian Muslims and Caucasian Turks, officially became Azerbaijanis.