Azerbaijan marks the 1993 return of a leader that prevented a civil war

National Salvation Day commemorates June 15, 1993, when Heydar Aliyev returned to lead Azerbaijan during a period of extreme political instability. The young nation was facing internal rebellion and economic collapse following its independence from the Soviet Union. Aliyev's arrival in the capital, Baku, is credited with preventing a full-scale civil war and establishing a sense of national unity.