Azerbaijan ( ; ), formally the
Republic of
Azerbaijan ( ), is a country in the
Caucasus region of
Eurasia.
Located at
the crossroads of Western Asia and
Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the
Caspian
Sea
to the east, Russia
to the
north, Georgia
to the
northwest, Armenia
to the west,
and Iran
to the
south. The exclave of
Nakhichevan
is bounded by Armenia to the north and east, Iran
to the south and west, while having a short borderline with
Turkey
to the northwest. The
Nagorno-Karabakh region in the southwest of
Azerbaijan proper declared itself independent from Azerbaijan in
1991, but it is
not
recognized by any nation and considered a legal part of
Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan, a nation with a majority
Turkic and
Shi‘ite
Muslim population, is a
secular and
unitary republic.
Azerbaijan was the
first successful attempt to establish a
democratic and
secular
republic in the
Muslim world.
Azerbaijan is one of the founder members
of GUAM
and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons
, and joined the Commonwealth of Independent
States in September 1993. A Special Envoy of the
European
Commission
is present in the country, which is also a member
of the United Nations, the OSCE,
the Council of Europe, and the
NATO
Partnership for
Peace (PfP) program.
Etymology of the name
The name
of Azerbaijan derives from Atropates, a satrap of
Persia
under the Achaemenid
Empire, who was later reinstated as the satrap of Media under Alexander
of Macedonia. The original etymology of this name is
thought to have its roots in the ancient Iranian religion of
Zoroastrianism. In
Avestan Frawardin Yasht ("Hymn to the Guardian
Angels"), there is a mention of
âterepâtahe ashaonô fravashîm
ýazamaide, which literally translates from
Old Persian as
"we worship the
Fravashi of the holy Atare-pata".
Atropates ruled over the region of
Atropatene (present-day
Iranian Azerbaijan). The name "Atropates"
itself is the Greek transliteration of an Old-Iranian, probably
Median, compounded name with the meaning "Protected by the (Holy)
Fire". The Greek name is mentioned by Diodorus Siculus and Strabo,
and it is continued as
ādurbādagān in the Pahlavi
geographical text Shahrestānihā i Erānshahr. The word is
translatable as both "the treasury" and "the treasurer" of fire in
Modern Persian.
History
Antiquity
The
earliest evidence of human settlement in the territory of
Azerbaijan dates to the late Stone Age and
is related to the Guruchay culture
of the Azykh
Cave
, where archeological evidences promoted the
inclusion of Azerbaijan into the map of the ascent man sites of
Europe. The Upper
Paleolithic and late Bronze Age
cultures are attested in the caves of Tağılar
, Damcılı
, Zar
, Yataq-yeri
and in the necropolises of Leylatepe and
Saraytepe. The area was conquered by the
Achaemenids around 550 B.C.E., leading to
the spread of
Zoroastrianism.
it became part of
Alexander the
Great's
Empire and its successor
Seleucid Empire.
Caucasian Albanians, the original
inhabitants of the area, established an independent kingdom around
the fourth century B.C.E.
Early Iranian settlements included the
Scythians in the ninth century BC. Following the
Scythians, Iranian
Medes came to dominate the area to the south of the
Aras. The Medes forged a vast empire
between 900-700 BC, which was integrated into the
Achaemenids Empire around 550 BC.
During this period,
Zoroastrianism
spread in the Caucasus and
Atropatene.
Ancient Azaris spoke
Ancient
Azari language, which belonged to
Iranian branch of
Indo-European languages.
Middle Ages
In 252 C.E., the
Sassanids turned it
into a
vassal state, while King Urnayr
officially adopted
Christianity as the
state religion in the fourth century. Despite numerous conquests by
the Sassanids and
Byzantines,
Albania remained an entity in the region until the ninth century.
The Islamic
Umayyad Caliphate
repulsed both the Sassanids and Byzantines from the region and
turned Caucasian Albania into a vassal state after the Christian
resistance, led by Prince
Javanshir, was
suppressed in 667. The power vacuum left by the decline of the
Abbasid Caliphate was filled by
numerous dynasties such as the
Sallarids,
Sajids,
Shaddadids,
Rawadids and
Buyids. At the beginning of the eleventh
century, the territory was gradually seized by waves of
Turkic Oghuz
tribes from
Central Asia. The first of
these Turkic dynasties was the
Ghaznavids, which entered the area now
known as Azerbaijan by 1030. It is notable that Turkification of
Azaris was completed only By the late 1800s. The old Iranic
speakers found solely in tiny isolated recesses of the mountains or
other remote areas (such as Harzand, Galin Guya, Shahrud villages
in Khalkhal and Anarjan). Today, this
Turkic speaking population is also known as
Azeris.
Locally, the possessions of the subsequent
Seljuq Empire were ruled by
atabegs, who were technically vassals
of the Seljuq sultans, being sometimes de facto rulers themselves.
Under the
Seljuq Turks, local poets
such as
Nizami Ganjavi and
Khagani Shirvani gave rise to a blossoming of
Persian literature on the
territory of present-day Azerbaijan. The next ruling state of the
Jalayirids was short-lived and fell under
the conquests of
Timur. The local dynasty of
Shirvanshahs became a vassal state of
Timur's Empire and assisted him in
his war with the ruler of the
Golden
Horde Tokhtamysh. Following Timur's
death two independent and rival states emerged:
Kara Koyunlu and
Ak
Koyunlu. The Shirvanshahs returned, maintaining a high degree
of autonomy as local rulers and vassals from 861 until 1539. During
their persecution by the
Safavids,
the last dynasty imposed
Shia Islam upon
the formerly
Sunni population, as it was
battling against the Sunni
Ottoman
Empire.
Modern Era
Azerbaijani Khanates in 18th
century
After the Safavids, the area was ruled by the Iranian dynasties of
Afshar and
Zand and briefly by the
Qajars. However, while under Persian
sovereignty
de facto self-ruling
khanates emerged in the area, especially following
the collapse of the Zand dynasty and in the early Qajar era.
The brief
and successful Russian campaign of 1812 was concluded with the
Treaty of Gulistan, in which the
shah's claims to some of the Khanates of the Caucasus were
dismissed by Russia on the
ground that they had been de facto independent long before their
Russian occupation. The khanates exercised control over
their affairs via international trade route between Central Asia
and the West.
Engaged in constant warfare, these khanates
were eventually incorporated into the Russian Empire
in 1813, following two Russo-Persian
Wars. The area to the North of the river Arax, amongst
which the territory of the contemporary republic of Azerbaijan were
Iranian territory until they were occupied by Russia.
Under the
Treaty of Turkmenchay,
Persia recognized
Russian sovereignty over the Erivan
khanate, the Nakhchivan
khanate and the remainder of the Talysh Khanate.
Azerbaijan Democratic Republic
After the
collapse of the Russian
Empire during World War I,
Azerbaijan, together with Armenia and Georgia became part of the short-lived Transcaucasian Democratic Federative
Republic
. When the republic dissolved in May 1918,
Azerbaijan declared independence as the
Azerbaijan Democratic
Republic (ADR). The ADR was the first democratic
parliamentary republic in the Muslim
World.
Among the important accomplishments of the Parliament was the
extension of suffrage to women, making Azerbaijan the first Muslim
nation to grant women equal political rights with men.
In this
accomplishment, Azerbaijan also preceded the United
Kingdom
and the United States
. Another important accomplishment of ADR was
the establishment of Baku State University
, which was the first modern-type university founded
in Muslim East.
By March 1920, it was obvious that Soviet Russia would attack the
much-needed Baku.
Vladimir Lenin said
that the invasion was justified by the fact that
Soviet Russia could not survive without
Baku oil.Independent Azerbajian lasted only 23 months until the
Bolshevik 11th Soviet Red Army invaded it and
establishing the
Azerbaijan SSR on April
28, 1920.
Although the bulk of the newly formed Azerbaijani army was engaged
in putting down an Armenian revolt that had just broken out in
Karabakh, but Azeris did not surrender
their brief independence of 1918-20 quickly or easily. As many as
20,000 Azerbaijani soldiers died resisting what was effectively a
Russian reconquest.
Despite existing for only two short years, the multi party
Azerbaijani Parliamentary republic and the coalition governments
managed to achieve a number of measures on national and state
building, education, creation of an army, independent financial and
economic systems, international recognition of the ADR as a de
facto state pending de jure recognition, official recognitions and
diplomatic relations with a number of states, preparing of a
Constitution, equal rights for all, etc. This has laid an important
foundation for the re-establishment of independence in 1991.
Soviet Azerbaijan
In October 13, 1921, the Soviet republics of Russia, Armenia,
Azerbaijan, and Georgia signed an agreement with Turkey known as
the
Treaty of Kars. The previously
independent Naxicivan SSR would also become autonomous ASSR within
Azerbaijan by the treaty of Kars. On the other hand, Armenia was
awarded the region of Zhangezur and Turkey agreed to return
Alexandropol (Gymri).
In March 12, 1922, under heavy pressure from Moscow, the leaders of
Azerbaijan, Armenian, and Georgian Soviet Socialist Republics
established a union known as the
Transcaucasian SFSR. This was the first
attempt at a union of Soviet republics, preceding the USSR. The
Union Council of TSFSR consisted of the representatives of the
three republics -
Nariman
Narimanov (Azerbaijan),
Polikarp
Mdivani (Georgia), and Aleksandr Fyodorovich Miasnikyan
(Armenia). The First Secretary of the Transcaucasian Communist
Party was Sergo Ordzhonikidze. In 1936, TSFSR was dissolved and
Azerbaijan SSR became one of the constituent member states of the
Soviet Union.
During
World War II, Azerbaijan played
a crucial role in the strategic energy policy of Soviet Union, much
of the Soviet Union's oil on the
Eastern Front was supplied by
Baku. By the Decree of the
Supreme Soviet of the USSR in
February 1942, the commitment of more than 500 workers and
employees of the oil industry of Azerbaijan was awarded orders and
medals.
Operation
Edelweiss carried out by the German Wehrmacht targeted Baku
because of
its importance as the energy (petroleum) dynamo of the
USSR.Some 800,000 Azerbaijanis fought well in the ranks of
the Soviet Army of which 400,000 died and Azeri Major-General
Azi Aslanov was awarded twice Hero of
the Soviet Union.
Restoration of independence
Following the politics of
glasnost, initiated by
Mikhail Gorbachev, civil unrest and ethnic
strife grew in various regions of the Soviet Union, including
Nagorno-Karabakh, a region of the
Azerbaijan SSR. The disturbances in Azerbaijan, in response to
Moscow's indifference to already heated conflict, resulted in calls
for independence and secession, then led to the
Pogrom of Armenians in Baku, and
subsequently culminated in the events of
Black January in Baku. At this time,
Ayaz Mütallibov was appointed as the
First Secretary of the
Azerbaijan Communist Party. Later
in 1990, the Supreme Council of the Azerbaijan SSR dropped the
words "Soviet Socialist" from the title, adopted the Declaration of
Sovereignty of the Azerbaijan Republic and restored the modified
flag of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic as a state flag. On 8
September 1991, Ayaz Mütallibov was elected president in nationwide
elections in which he was the only candidate.
On 18 October 1991, the Supreme Council of Azerbaijan adopted a
Declaration of Independence which was affirmed by a nationwide
referendum in December 1991, when the Soviet Union was officially
dissolved.
The early years of independence were
overshadowed by the Nagorno-Karabakh War with neighboring
Armenia. By
the end of hostilities in 1994, Azerbaijan lost control of up to
16% of its territory, including
Nagorno-Karabakh itself. An estimated
30,000 people had been killed and more than a million had been
displaced. Four
United
Nations Security Council Resolutions (822, 853, 874, and 884)
called for "the withdrawal of occupying forces from occupied areas
of the Azerbaijani Republic". In 1993, democratically elected
president
Abülfaz Elçibay
was overthrown by a military insurrection led by Colonel
Surat Huseynov, which resulted in the rise to
power of the former leader of
Soviet Azerbaijan,
Heydar Aliyev. In 1994, Surat
Huseynov, by that time a prime minister, attempted another military
coup against Heydar Aliyev, but Huseynov was arrested and charged
with treason. In 1995, another coup attempt against Aliyev, by the
commander of the
OMON Militsiya special unit,
Rovshan Javadov, was averted, resulting in
the killing of the latter and disbanding of Azerbaijan's
OMON units.
Although during his presidency Aliyev managed to reduce the
country's unemployment, reined in criminal groups, established the
fundamental institutions of independent statehood, and brought
stability, peace and major foreign investment, the country was
tainted by rampant corruption in the governing bureaucracy. In
October 1998, Aliyev was reelected for a second term. Despite the
much improved economy, particularly with the exploitations of
Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil
field and
Shah Deniz gas
field, Aliyev's presidency became unpopular due to vote fraud,
widespread corruption and objection to his
autocratic regime. The same harsh criticism
followed the elections of former
Prime Minister Ilham Aliyev, the second leader of
New Azerbaijan Party after the death of
his father Heydar.
Geography
Azerbaijan is in the
South Caucasus
region of
Eurasia, straddling
Western Asia and
Eastern Europe.
Three physical
features dominate Azerbaijan: the Caspian Sea, whose shoreline forms a natural boundary to the
east; the Greater Caucasus mountain
range to the north; and the extensive flatlands at the country's
center.The total length of Azerbaijan's
land borders is , of which 1007
are with Armenia, 756 with Iran, 480 with Georgia, 390 with Russia
and 15 with Turkey. The
coastline stretches
for , and the length of the widest area of the Azerbaijani section
of the Caspian Sea is . The territory of Azerbaijan extends from
north to south, and from west to east.
The three mountain
ranges are the Greater and Lesser
Caucasus
, and the
Talysh Mountains, together covering
approximately 40% of the country. The highest peak of
Azerbaijan is mount Bazardüzü
(4,466 m), while the lowest point lies in the
Caspian Sea (-28 m). Nearly half of all the
mud volcanoes on Earth are concentrated in
Azerbaijan.
The main water sources are the surface waters. However, only 24 of
the 8,350 rivers are greater than in length. All the rivers drain
into the Caspian Sea in the east of the country. The largest lake
is
Sarysu (67 km²), and the longest
river is
Kur (1,515 km), which is
transboundary. Azerbaijan's four main islands in the Caspian Sea
have a combined area of over thirty square kilometres.
Orography
Azerbaijan is home to a vast variety of landscapes. Over half of
Azerbaijan's land mass consists of mountain ridges, crests, yailas
and plateaus which rise up to hypsometric levels of 400-1000 meters
(including the Middle and Lower lowlands), in some places (Talis,
Jeyranchol-Ajinohur and Langabiz-Alat foreranges) up to 100-120
metres, and others from 0 - 50 meters and up (
Qobustan, Absheron). The rest of
Azerbaijan's terrain consist of plains and lowlands. Hypsometric
marks within the Caucasus region vary from about -28 metres at the
Caspian Sea shoreline up to 4466 metres, (Bazardüzü peak).
Climate
Mountainous landscape near Mount
Murov
The
formation of climate in Azerbaijan is influenced particularly by
cold arctic air
masses of Scandinavian anticyclone, temperate of Siberian
anticyclone, and Central
Asian anticyclone. Azerbaijan's diverse landscape
affects the ways air masses enter the country. The Greater Caucasus
protects the country from direct influences of cold air masses
coming from the north. That leads to the formation of
subtropical climate on most foothills and plains
of the country. Meanwhile, plains and foothills are characterized
by high
solar radiation rates.
Nine out of eleven existing
climate zones are present
in Azerbaijan. Both the absolute minimum temperature ( ) and the
absolute maximum temperature ( ) were observed in
Julfa and
Ordubad.
The
maximum annual precipitation falls in Lankaran
(1,600 to 1,800 mm) and the minimum in
Absheron (200 to 350 mm).
Flora
Azerbaijan has a very rich flora, more than 4,500 species of higher
plants have been registed in the country. Due the unique climate in
Azerbaijan, the flora is much richer in the number of species than
the flora of the other republics of the South Caucasus. About 67%
of the species growing in the whole
Caucasus can be found in Azerbaijan.
The richness of Azerbaijan's flora and the variety of its
vegetation results from the variety and richness of its
physical-geographic and natural-historic conditions and from its
compound history influenced by the remote floristic regions.
Fauna
The first reports on the richness and diversity of animal life in
Azerbaijan can be found in travel notes of Eastern travelers.
Animal carvings on architectural monuments, ancient rocks and
stones survived up to the present times. The first information on
the animal kingdom of Azerbaijan was collected during the visits of
naturalists to Azerbaijan in 17th century. Unlike fauna, the
concept of animal kingdom covers not only the types of animals, but
also the number of individual species.
There are 106 species of mammals, 97 species of fish, 363 species
of birds, 10 species of amphibians and 52 species of reptiles which
have been recorded and classified in Azerbaijan.
The symbol of Fauna in Azerbaijan is the
Karabakh horse which is a mountain-steppe
racing and riding horse which can only be found in Azerbaijan. The
Karabakh horse has a reputation for its good temper, speed,
elegance and intelligence. It is one of the oldest breeds, with
ancestry dating to the ancient world. The horse was originally
developed in the Azerbaijani Karabakh region in the 5th century and
is named after it.
Rivers and lakes
Rivers and lakes form the principal part of the water systems of
Azerbaijan, they were formed over a long geological timeframe and
changed significantly throughout that period. This is particularly
evidenced by remnants of ancient rivers found throughout the
country. The country's water systems are continually changing under
the influence of natural forces and human introduced industrial
activities. Artificial rivers (canals) and ponds are a part of
Azerbaijan's water systems.
There are 8,359 rivers of various lengths within Azerbaijan. Of
them 8,188 rivers are less than 25 kilometers in length. Only 24
rivers are over 100 kilometers long.
The
Kura and
Aras are the most popular rivers in Azerbaijan,
they run through the
Kura-Aras
Lowland. The rivers that directly flow into the Caspian Sea,
originate mainly from the north-eastern slope of the Major Caucasus
and
Talysh Mountains and run along
the Samur-Devechi and Lenkeran lowlands.
From the
water supply point, Azerbaijan
is below the average in the world with approximately
100,000 m³/year of water per km². All big
water reservoirs are built on Kur.
The hydrography of
Azerbaijan basically belongs to the Caspian Sea basin
.
Protection
Since the independence of Azerbaijan in 1991, the
Azerbaijani government has taken
drastic measures to preserve the environment of Azerbaijan. But
national protection of the environment started to truly improve
after 2001 when the state budget increased due to new revenues
provided by the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.
Within four years protected areas doubled and now make up eight
percent of the country's territory.
Since 2001 the government has set up seven large reserves and
almost doubled the sector of the budget earmarked for environmental
protection.
Administrative divisions
Azerbaijan is divided into 59 rayons (rayonlar, singular rayon),
11 city districts (şəhərlər, singular şəhər), and
one autonomous republic
(muxtar respublika) of Nakhchivan
, which subdivides into 7 rayons and a city.
The
President of Azerbaijan
appoints the governors of these units, while the government of
Nakhchivan is elected and approved by the parliament of Nakhchivan
Autonomous Republic.
- In Nakhchivan
Note: City districts in italics.
Major cities
Below are the 20 most populous cities of Azerbaijan:
Government and politics
Azerbaijani Government House in
downtown Baku.
Baku City Council Building (the
Parliament House of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in
1918-1920).
The structural formation of Azerbaijan's political system was
completed by the adoption of the new
Constitution on 12 November 1995.
According to the Article 23 of Constitution, the
state symbols of the Azerbaijan Republic are
the
flag, the
coat of arms and the
national
anthem. The state power in Azerbaijan is limited only by law
for internal issues, but for international affairs is additionally
limited by the provisions of international agreements.
The government of Azerbaijan is based on the
separation of powers among the
legislative,
executive and
judicial branches. The legislative power is held
by the
unicameral National Assembly and the
Supreme National Assembly in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.
Parliamentary elections are held every five years, on the first
Sunday of November. The accuracy of the election results is checked
and confirmed by the
Constitutional Court. The
laws enacted by the National Assembly, unless specified otherwise,
go into effect on the day of their publication. The executive power
is held by the
President,
who is elected for a 5-year term by
direct elections. The president is
authorized to form the
Cabinet,
an inferior executive body, subordinated to him. The Cabinet of
Azerbaijan consists primarily of the
Prime Minister, his Deputies
and Ministers. The president does not have the right to dissolve
the National Assembly, but he has the right to
veto its decisions. To override the presidential veto,
the parliament must have a majority of 95 votes. The judicial power
is vested in the Constitutional Court,
Supreme Court and the
Economic Court. The President
nominates the judges in these courts.
The Security Council is the deliberative body under the president,
and he organizes it according to the Constitution. It was
established on 10 April 1997. The administrative department is not
a part of the president's office but manages the financial,
technical and pecuniary activities of both the president and his
office.
Foreign relations
The
short-lived Azerbaijan Democratic Republic succeeded in
establishing diplomatic relations with six countries, sending
diplomatic representatives to Germany
and Finland
. The process of international recognition of
Azerbaijan's independence from the collapsing Soviet Union lasted
roughly one year.
The most recent country to recognize
Azerbaijan was Bahrain
, on 6 November 1996. Full diplomatic
relations, including mutual exchanges of missions, were first
established with Turkey, Pakistan
, the United States, Iran and Israel
.
Azerbaijan has diplomatic relations with 158 countries so far and
holds membership in 38 international organizations. It holds
observer status in the
Non-Aligned
Movement and
World Trade
Organization and is a correspondent at the
International
Telecommunication Union. The Azerbaijani
diaspora is found in 36 countries, and in turn
there are dozens of centers for ethnic minorities inside
Azerbaijan, including the (German cultural society "Karelhaus",
Slavic cultural center,
Azerbaijani-
Israeli community,
Kurdish cultural center, International
Talysh Association,
Lezgin national center "Samur", Azerbaijani-
Tatar community,
Crimean
Tatars society, etc.). On 9 May 2006 Azerbaijan was elected to
membership in the newly established
Human Rights Council by the
United Nations General
Assembly. The term of office began on 19 June 2006.
Foreign policy priorities of Azerbaijan include: first of all, the
restoration of its territorial integrity; elimination of the
consequences of the loss of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven other
regions of Azerbaijan; development of good-neighbourly and mutually
advantageous relations with neighbouring countries; promotion of
security and stability in the region; integration into European and
Transatlantic security and cooperation structures; and promotion of
transregional economic, energy and transportation projects. The
Azeri Government, in late 2007, stated that the long-standing
dispute over the Armenian-occupied territory of Nagorno-Karabakh is
almost certain to spark a new war if it remains unresolved. The
Government is in the process of increasing its military budget, as
its oil and gas revenues bring a torrent of cash into its coffers.
Furthermore, economic sanctions by Turkey to the west and by
Azerbaijan itself to the east have combined to greatly erode
Armenia's economy, leading to steep increases in prices for basic
commodities and a great decline in the Armenian state
revenues.
Azerbaijan is an active member of international coalitions fighting
international terrorism. The country is contributing to
peacekeeping efforts in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. Azerbaijan is
an active member of NATO's “Partnership for Peace” program. It also
maintains good relations with the
European Union and could potentially one day
apply for membership.
Military
The history of the modern Azerbaijan army dates back to
Azerbaijan Democratic
Republic in 1918, when the National Army of the newly formed
Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was created on 26 June 1918. When
Azerbaijan gained independence after the
collapse of the Soviet Union,
the Armed Forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan were created
according to the Law on the Armed Forces of 9 October 1991. The
original date of the establishment of the short-lived National Army
is celebrated as Army Day (26 June) in today's Azerbaijan.
Initially, the equipment and facilities of Azerbaijan's army were
those of the Soviet
4th
Army. The Armed Forces have three branches, according to the
CIA World Fact Book:
Land Forces,
Air Force and
Air Defence Force (a united
branch),
Navy. Besides the Armed
Forces there are several military sub-groups that can be involved
in state defence when needed. These are the
Internal Troops of the Ministry
of Internal Affairs and forces of the
State Border Service, which includes
the
Coast Guard as well. The
Azerbaijan National Guard
is a further paramilitary force. It operates as a semi-independent
entity of the
Special
State Protection Service, an agency subordinate to the
President.
Azerbaijan adheres to the
Treaty on
Conventional Armed Forces in Europe and has signed all major
international arms and weapons treaties.
Azerbaijan closely
cooperates with NATO in programs
such as Partnership for Peace
and Individual
Partnership Action Plan. Azerbaijan has deployed 151 of its
Peacekeeping Forces in Iraq
and
another 100 in Afghanistan
.
The military expenditures of Azerbaijan for 2009 are set at $2.46
billion
USD. Azerbaijan has its
own
Defense Industry,
which manufactures small arms, artillery systems, tanks, armors and
noctovision devices, aviation bombs, pilotless vehicles, various
military vehicles and military planes and helicopters.
Azerbaijan's Armed Forces have a training cooperation partnership
with the
Oklahoma Army
National Guard.
Economy
After
gaining independence in 1991, Azerbaijan became a member of the
International Monetary Fund
, the World Bank, the
European Bank
for Reconstruction and Development, the Islamic Development Bank and the
Asian Development
Bank. The banking system of Azerbaijan consists of the
Central Bank of
Azerbaijan,
commercial banks and
non-banking credit organizations. The National (now Central) Bank
was created in 1992 based on the Azerbaijan State Savings Bank, an
affiliate of the former State Savings Bank of the USSR. The Central
Bank serves as Azerbaijan's central bank, empowered to issue the
national currency, the
Azerbaijani
manat, and to supervise all commercial banks. Two major
commercial banks are the state-owned
International Bank of
Azerbaijan and the
United Universal Joint-Stock
Bank.
Azneft Square in downtown Baku, named
after historical "Azneft" ("AzOil") trust.
The Central Bank building amid Heydar
Aliyev Square in downtown Baku.
Pushed up by spending and demand growth, the 2007
Q1 inflation rate reached 16.6%. Nominal incomes and
monthly wages climbed 29% and 25% respectively against this figure,
but price increases in non-oil industry encouraged inflation in the
country. Azerbaijan shows some signs of the so-called "
Dutch disease" because of the fast growing
energy sector, which causes inflation and makes non-energy exports
more expensive.
Two thirds of Azerbaijan is rich in
oil and
natural gas. The region of the Lesser
Caucasus accounts for most of the country's
gold,
silver,
iron,
copper,
titanium,
chromium,
manganese,
cobalt,
molybdenum, complex
ore and
antimony.
In September 1994, a
30-year contract was signed between the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan
Republic and 13 oil companies, among them Amoco, BP, Exxon, LUKoil and Statoil
. As Western oil companies are able to tap
deepwater oilfields untouched by the Soviet exploitation,
Azerbaijan is considered one of the most important spots in the
world for oil exploration and development. Meanwhile the
State Oil Fund was established as an
extra-budgetary fund to ensure the
macroeconomic stability, transparency in the
management of oil revenue, and the safeguarding of resources for
future generations.
At the beginning of 2007 there were 4,755,100 hectares of utilized
agricultural area. In the same year the total wood resources
counted 136 million m³. Azerbaijan's agricultural scientific
research institutes are focused on meadows and pastures,
horticulture and
subtropical crops,
green vegetables,
viticulture and
wine-making, cotton growing and
medicinal plants. In some lands it is
profitable to grow grain, potatoes,
sugar
beets, cotton and tobacco. The Caspian
fishing industry is concentrated on the
dwindling stocks of
sturgeon and
beluga. In 2002 the Azerbaijani
merchant marine had 54 ships.
Some portions of most products that were previously imported from
abroad have begun to be produced locally (among them are Coca Cola
by Coca Cola Bottlers LTD, beer by Baki-Kastel, parquet by Nehir
and oil pipes by EUPEC Pipe Coating Azerbaijan).
Azerbaijan is also an important economic hub in the transportation
of raw materials. The
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline
(BTC) became operational in May 2006 and extends more than 1,774
kilometers through the territories of Azerbaijan (440 km),
Georgia (260 km) and Turkey (1114 km). The BTC is
designed to transport up to 50 million tons of crude oil annually
and carries oil from the Caspian Sea oilfields to global markets.
The
South Caucasus Pipeline,
also stretching through the territory of Azerbaijan, Georgia and
Turkey, became operational at the end of 2006 and offers additional
gas supplies to the European market from the
Shah Deniz gas field. It is expected to
produce up to 296 billion cubic metres of natural gas per year.
Azerbaijan also plays a major role in the EU-sponsored
Silk Road Project.
In 2008, Azerbaijan was cited as one of the top 10 reformers by the
World Bank's Doing Business report:
Transportation and communications
The convenient location of Azerbaijan on the crossroad of major
international traffic arteries, such as the
Silk Road and the South-North corridor, highlights
the strategic importance of transportation sector for the country’s
economy.
In 2002 the Azerbaijani government established the Ministry of
Transport with a broad range of policy and regulatory functions.
The highest priority being; upgrading the transport network and
transforming transportation services into one of the key
comparative advantages of the country, as this would be highly
conducive to the development of other sectors of the economy.
Broad gauge railways in 2005 stretched
for and
electrified railways
numbered . By 2006, there were 36 airports and one
heliport.
The transport sector in Azerbaijan includes roads, railways,
aviation, and maritime transport.
The economy of Azerbaijan has been markedly stronger in recent
years and, not surprisingly, the country has been making progress
in developing its telecoms sector. Nonetheless, it still faces
problems. These include poor infrastructure and an immature telecom
regulatory regime. The Ministry of Communications & Information
Technologies (MCIT), as well as being an operator through its role
in Aztelekom, is both a policy-maker and regulator. A boom in oil
and gas exports has boosted the economy, reducing the country’s
dependence on international aid.
In 2002 Azerbaijan led the way in per capita
mobile phone use within the CIS. Public pay
phones are available for local calls and require the purchase of a
token from the telephone exchange or some shops and kiosks. Tokens
allow a call of indefinite duration. As of 2005, there were
1,091,400 main
telephone lines and
1,036,000 internet users. There are three
GSM:
Azerfon (
Nar Mobile),
Bakcell and
Azercell
mobile network operators and
one
CDMA.
Demographics
From the total population of about 8 million people as of April
2006, there were 4,380,000 (nearly 51%) city dwellers and a rural
population of 4,060,000 (49%). 51% of the total population were
female. The
sex ratio for total population
in that year was therefore 0.94 males per female.
The 2006
population growth rate
was 0.66%, compared to 1.14% worldwide. A significant factor
restricting the population growth is rather a high level of
migration.
As many as 3 million
Azeris, many of them guest workers, live in Russia. In
2006 Azerbaijan saw migration of -4.38/1,000 persons.The highest
morbidity in 2005 was from
respiratory diseases (806.9 diseases per
10,000 of total population). In 2005, the highest morbidity for
infectious and
parasitic diseases was
noted among
influenza and
acute respiratory infections (4168,2 per 100,000
population). 2007 estimate for total
life expectancy is 66 years, 70.7 years for
women and 61.9 for men. With 800,000 refugees and IDPs, Azerbaijan
has the largest
internally
displaced population in the region, and, as of 2006, had the
highest per capita IDP population in the world.
The ethnic composition of the population according to the 1999
population census: 90.6%
Azeris,
2.2%
Lezgins, 1.8%
Russians, 1.5%
Armenians
(Almost all live in the break-away region of Nagorno-Karabakh),
1.0%
Talysh (disputed as too low by
Talysh nationalists), 0.6%
Avars,
0.5%
Turks, 0.4%
Tatars, 0.4%
Ukrainians,
0.2%
Tsakhur, 0.2%
Georgians, 0.13%
Kurds, 0.13%
Tats, 0.1%
Jews, 0.05%
Udins,
other 0.2%. Many Russians left Azerbaijan during the 1990s.
According to the 1989 census, there were 392,000 ethnic
Russians in Azerbaijan, or 5.6% of the population.
According to the statistics, about 390,000
Armenians lived in Azerbaijan in
1989.
Although
Azerbaijani (also
called
Azeri) is the most widely spoken language in the
country and is spoken by about a quarter of the population of Iran.
There are
13 other languages
spoken natively in the country. Some of these languages are very
small communities, others are more vital. Azerbaijani is a
Turkic language which belongs to the
Altaic family and is mutually
intelligible with
Turkish. The
language is written with a
modified
Latin alphabet today, but was earlier written in the
Arabic alphabet (until 1929), in the
Uniform Turkic Alphabet
(1929-1939), and in the
Cyrillic
alphabet (1939-1991). The changes in alphabet have been largely
molded by religious and political forces.
Iranian Azeris are the largest minority in
Iran. The CIA World Factbook estimates Iranian
Azeris as comprising nearly 16 million, or 24% of Iran's
population.
Religion
95% of the population of Azerbaijan is Muslim. There are many other
fairths practiced among the different ethnic groups within the
country. By article 48 of its
Constitution, Azerbaijan is a
secular state and ensures religious
freedom. Of the nation's religious minorites,
Christians comprise 3% to 4% of the population, of
whom most are
Russian,
Georgian and
Armenian Orthodox (Almost all Armenians live in
the break-away region of Nagorno-Karabakh). In 2003 there were 250
Roman Catholics. Other
Christian denominations as of 2002 include
Lutherans,
Baptists and
Molokans. There are also
Jewish,
Bahá'í,
Hare Krishna
and
Jehovah's Witnesses
communities, as well as adherents of the
Nehemiah Church,
Star in the East Church and the
Cathedral of Praise
Church.
Zoroastrianism
had a long history in Azerbaijan, evident in sites such as the
Fire Temple
of Baku
, and along with Manichean. It is estimated that the
Zoroastrian community of
Azerbaijan numbers around 2,000.
According to the recent Gallup Poll Azerbaijan is one of the most
irreligious countries in the world with about 50% of respondents
indicating the importance of religion in their life as little or
none. Even so, religious tolerance has been threatened in
Azerbaijan, though it continues a signatory to the
Convention for the
Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. A number
of nationals who are Jehovah's Witnesses have been harassed,
detained, jailed and in some cases physically assaulted by police
because of their religious activity. Jehovah's Witnesses are
entitled to protection of freedom of religion under Articles 9, 10,
and 11 of the aforementioned Convention. In some cases the
defendants have been cleared of all charges.
Culture
Azerbaijani culture has developed as a result of many influences.
Today,
Western influences, including
globalized consumer culture, are strong.
Azerbaijan folk consists of Azerbaijanis, the representative part
of society, as well as of nations and ethnic groups, compactly
living in various areas of the country. Azerbaijani national and
traditional dresses are the
Chokha and
Papakhi. There are radio broadcasts in
Russian,
Armenian,
Georgian,
Kurdish,
Lezgin and
Talysh languages, which are financed from
the state budget.
Some local radio stations in Balakən
and Xaçmaz
organize
broadcasts in Avar and Tat. In Baku several newspapers are
published in Russian, Kurdish (
Dengi Kurd), Lezgin
(
Samur) and Talysh languages. Jewish society "Sokhnut"
publishes the newspaper
Aziz.
Architecture
Philharmonic Hall of Baku.
Azerbaijani architecture typically combines elements of
East and
West.
Many
ancient architectural treasures such as the Maiden Tower
and Palace of the Shirvanshahs
in the Walled
City of Baku survive in modern Azerbaijan. Entries submitted on
the UNESCO World Heritage
tentative list include the Gobustan State Reserve
, the Fire Temple of Baku, the Momine Khatun Mausoleum
and the Palace
of Shaki Khans in Sheki.Among other medieval architectural treasures
reflecting the influence of several schools are the Shirvan Shahs'
palace in Baku, the palace of the Shaki Khan's in the town of
Shaki
in north-central Azerbaijan, the Surakhany Temple
on the Absheron
Peninsula
, a number of bridges spanning the Aras River, and several mausoleums. In the
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, little monumental
architecture was created, but distinctive residences were built in
Baku and elsewhere. Among the most recent architectural monuments,
the Baku subways are noted for their lavish decor.
Cinema
The first film studio in Baku
established in the 1919s.
The film industry in Azerbaijan dates back to 1898. In fact,
Azerbaijan was among the first countries involved in
cinematography.
When the Lumière brothers of France
premiered
their first motion picture footage in Paris
on
December 28, 1895, little did they know how rapidly it would ignite
a new age of photographic documentation. These ingenuous
brothers invented an apparatus, patented in February 1895, which
they called the "
Cinématographe"
(from which the word "cinematography" is derived).
It's not surprising
that this apparatus soon showed up in Baku – at the
turn of the 19th century, this bay town on the Caspian was producing more than 50 percent of the world's
supply of oil. Just like today, the oil industry attracted
foreigners eager to invest and to work.In 1919, during the
Azerbaijan Democratic
Republic, a documentary called
The
Celebration of the Anniversary of Azerbaijani Independence was
filmed on Azerbaijan's independence day, May 28, and premiered in
June 1919 at several theatres in Baku.
After the Soviet power was established in 1920, Nariman Narimanov,
Chairman of the Revolutionary Committee of Azerbaijan, signed a
decree nationalizing Azerbaijan's cinema.
In 1991, after Azerbaijan gained its independence from the Soviet
Union, first
Baku International
Film Festival East-West was held in Baku.
Cuisine
Light snacks of the Azerbaijani
cuisine.
Azerbaijani cuisine, throughout
the centuries, has been influenced by the foods of different
cultures due to political and economic processes in Azerbaijan.
Still, today's Azerbaijani cuisine has distinctive and unique
features. Many foods that are indigenous to the country can now be
seen in the cuisines of other cultures. For the Azerbaijanis, food
is an important part of the country's culture and is deeply rooted
in the history, traditions and values of the nation.
Azerbaijani cuisine is an important part of the country's culture.
Climatic
diversity and fertility of the land are reflected in the national
dishes, which are based on fish from the Caspian Sea, local meat (mainly mutton and beef), and an
abundance of seasonal vegetables and greens. Saffron-rice
plov is the flagship food in Azerbaijan and
black tea is the national beverage.
Folk dance
There are a number of Azerbaijani dances, these
folk dances of the
Azerbaijani people are old and extremely
melodious. It is performed at formal
celebrations and the dancers wear
festival clothes or
Chokha
cloaks. It has a very fast
rhythm, so the
dancer must have inherent skill.Azerbaijan’s national dance shows
the characteristics of the Azerbaijani nation. These dances differ
from other dances with its quick temp and optimism. And this talks
about nation’s braveness.The national clothes of Azerbaijan are
well preserved within the national dances.
Azerbaijan is a country where national traditions are well
preserved. In Azerbaijan where are a lot of traditions.
Novruz holiday (novruz is translated as "a new day")
is the most ancient and cherished holiday of a
New Year and
spring.
It is celebrated on the day of vernal equinox - March 21-22. Novruz
is the symbol of nature renewal and fertility. Agrarian peoples of
Middle East have been celebrating Novruz since ancient times.
Folk art
The Azeris have a rich and distinctive culture, a major part of
which is decorative and applied art. This form of art is
represented by a wide range of handicrafts, such as chasing,
jeweler, engraving in metal, carving in wood, stone and bone,
carpet-making, lasing, pattern weaving and printing, knitting and
embroidery. Each of these types of decorative art, evidence of the
and endowments of the Azerbaijan nation, is very much in favor
here. Many interesting facts pertaining to the development of arts
and crafts in Azerbaijan were reported by numerous merchants,
travelers and diplomats who had visited these places at different
times.
Music
Music of Azerbaijan builds on
folk
traditions that reach back nearly 1,000 years. For centuries
Azerbaijani music has evolved under the badge of
monody, producing rhythmically diverse melodies.
Azerbaijani music has a branchy
mode
system, where
chromatisation of
major and minor scales is of great importance.According to
The Grove Dictionary of Music and
Musicians "In terms of ethnicity, culture and religion the
Azeri are musically much closer to Iran than Turkey."
Mugham,
Meykhana and
Ashik
art are one of the many musical traditions of Azerbaijan.
Mugham is usually a suite with
poetry and instrumental interludes. When performing
Mugam, the singers have to transform their emotions into singing
and music. Mugham singer
Alim Qasimov
is revered as one of the five best singers of all time.In contrast
to the
mugam traditions of Central Asian countries, Azeri
mugam is more free-form and less rigid; it is often
compared to the improvised field of
jazz.
UNESCO
proclaimed
the Azerbaijani mugam tradition a Masterpiece
of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity on 7 November
2003.
Meykhana is a kind of traditional Azeri
distinctive folk unaccompanied song, usually performed by several
people improvising on a particular subject.Among national musical
instruments there are fourteen
string
instruments, eight
percussion
instruments and six
wind
instruments.
Ashik is a mystic troubadour or traveling bard
who sings and plays the
saz. This tradition
has its origin in the
Shamanistic
beliefs of ancient
Turkic peoples.
Ashiks' songs are semi-improvised around common bases. Azerbaijan’s
ashik art was included in the list of
Intangible Cultural Heritage by
the UNESCO on September 30, 2009.
Azerbaijan made its debut appearance at the
Eurovision Song Contest 2008,
and placed 8th among 43 contestants.The country's entry in the
Eurovision Song Contest
2009 by
AySel and
Arash won the 3rd place.
Sport
Sport in Azerbaijan has ancient roots, and even now, both
traditional and modern sports are still practiced.
Freestyle wrestling has been
traditionally regarded as Azerbaijan's
national sport, however today, the most
popular sports in Azerbaijan are
football and
chess.
Backgammon, a game that has ancient roots
in
Persian Empire, plays a major role
in Azerbaijani culture. This game is very popular in Azerbaijan and
is widely played among the local public. There are also different
variations of backgammon developed and analysed by Azerbaijani
experts.
Azerbaijan is known as one of the chess
superpowers; despite the collapse of the Soviet Union
, chess is still extremely popular. Notable
Azerbaijani chess players include
Teimour Radjabov,
Shahriyar Mammadyarov,
Vladimir Makogonov,
Gary Kasparov,
Vugar
Gashimov and
Zeinab
Mamedyarova. Azerbaijan has also hosted many international
chess tournaments and competitions and became
European Team Chess
Championship winners in 2009.
Namig Abdullayev,
Rovshan Bayramov and
Farid Mansurov in
wrestling,
Ramil
Guliyev in
athletics,
Elnur Mammadli in
judo,
Valeriya Korotenko and
Natalya Mammadova in
volleyball are also very popular athletes in
Azerbaijan.
See also
References
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Western Asia;
the CIA World Factbook
[1], National Geographic, and Encyclopædia Britannica also place Georgia
in Asia. Conversely, numerous sources place Azerbaijan in Europe
such as the BBC [2], Oxford Reference Online [3], Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, and
www.worldatlas.com.
- Tadeusz Swietochowski. Russia and Azerbaijan: A Borderland in
Transition. Columbia University Press, 1995. ISBN 0231070683,
9780231070683.
- Reinhard Schulze. A Modern History of the Islamic World.
I.B.Tauris, 2000. ISBN 1860648223, 9781860648229.
- Minorsky, V.; Minorsky, V. "Ādharbaydjān (Azarbāydjān )."
Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by: P.Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E.
Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2007. Brill
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Shippmann.
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Swietochowski and Brian C. Collins. The Scarecrow Press, Inc.,
Lanham, Maryland (1999), ISBN 0-8108-3550-9, retrieved 7 June
2006.
- ed. Touraj Daryaee, Mazda Publishers, Costa Mesa 2002.
- In dictionaries: Steingass: āẕar-bād-gān, āẕar-abād-gūn, āẕar, āẕur, ādar, bāygān, pāy. Dehkhoda: آذربایجان/Âzarbâyjân, آذربایگان/Âzarbâygân, آذربادگان/Âzarbâdegân, آذر/Âzar, آدر/Âdar, بایگان/Bâygân, بادگان/Bâdegân, -پای/pây-, گان-/-gân( جان-/-jân)
- %20Azerbaijan%20institutional%20report%20FINAL.pdf
National report on institutional landscape and research policy
Social Sciences and Humanities in Azerbaijan.
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Studies, retrieved 7 June 2006.
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http://www.iranica.com/newsite/index.isc?Article=http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v3f3/v3f2a88b.html
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2004, p. 5.
- Charles King. The ghost of freedom: a history of the
Caucasus, 2008, p. 10.
- Sandra L. Batalden, The newly independent states of Eurasia:
handbook of former Soviet republics 1997, p. 98.
- Robert E. Ebel, Rajan Menon, 2000, Energy and conflict in
Central Asia and the Caucasus, p. 181.
- Elena Andreeva, Russia and Iran in the great game: travelogues
and orientalism, 2007, p. 6.
- Kemal Çiçek, Ercüment Kuran, Nejat Göyünç, İlber Ortaylı,The
Great Ottoman-Turkish Civilisation: Politics, 2000.
- Karl Ernest Meyer, Shareen Blair Brysac, Tournament of Shadows:
The Great Game and the Race for Empire in Central Asia, 2006, p.
66.
- Tadeusz Swietochowski. Russia and Azerbaijan: A Borderland in
Transition. Columbia University Press, 1995. ISBN 0231070683,
9780231070683
- Reinhard Schulze. A Modern History of the Islamic World.
I.B.Tauris, 2000. ISBN 1860648223, 9781860648229
- Lenin and Caucasus oil on GlobalRus.ru
- Deliveries of Baku oil to Russia in April-May 1920
"History of the City of Baku"
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world", New York: The Overlook Press, 2006, p. 116, ISBN
1-58567-804-X
- Swietochowski, Tadeusz(1995) Russia and Azerbaijan: A
Borderland in Transition, Columbia University, p. 133.
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Through Peace and War. New York: New York University Press, p.
286. ISBN 0-8147-1945-7.
- A Conflict That Can Be Resolved in Time:
Nagorno-Karabakh. International Herald Tribune.
November 29, 2003.
- Orography of Azerbaijan
- paralumun.com Karabakh Horse
- Ecological problems in Azerbaijan
- Azerbaijan: Short History of Statehood,
Embassy of Republic of Azerbaijan in Pakistan, 2005, Chapter
3.
- Creation of National Army in 1918 .
- Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Armed
Forces, No. 210-XII, 9 October 1991 .
- Azerbaijan's Army Day (26 June) declared by
Presidential Decree of 22 May 1998.
- http://www.axisglobe.com/news.asp?news=13236
-
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/aj.html
CIA World Factbook, Azerbaijan Internet users: 1.036 million.
- Results of population censuses in Azerbaijan for
1979, 1989, and 1999.
- http://demoscope.ru/weekly/2004/0183/analit05.php
- Azerbaijan Acts to Limit the Discrimination Against
Azeris in Russia by Nailia Sohbetqizi. Eurasianet.org.
11 November 2002. Retrieved 15 September 2006
- Education in Azerbaijan (PDF). UNICEF.
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in Azerbaijan: One Europe, Many Nations: A Historical
Dictionary of European National Groups, by James Minahan,
Greenwood, 2000, ISBN 0313309841, ISBN 9780313309847, p. 674
(viewable on Google Books).
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Ethnic Russians Long For Better Life. EurasiaNet.org. August
30, 2003.
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other minorities (PDF).
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
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Studies in languages of Azerbaijan. Baku, Azerbaijan and
Saint Petersburg, Russia: Institute of International Relations,
Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan and North Eurasian Group, SIL
International.
- Hatcher, Lynley. 2008. Script change in Azerbaijan: acts of
identity. International Journal of the Sociology of
Language 192:105-116.
- CIA - The World Factbook. "Iran".
- GALLUP WorldView - data accessed on 17 january
2009
- http://www.azadliq.org/content/article/1807372.html
- Celebrating 100 Years in Film, not 80 by Aydin
Kazimzade. Azerbaijan International, Autumn 1997
- Culture of AZERBAIJAN - THe Arts and
Humanities
- Azerbaijan - a part of Europe
- David C. King. Azerbaijan, Marshall Cavendish, 2006,
p. 94
- Энциклопедический музыкальный словарь, 2-е изд., Москва, 1966
(Encyclopedical Music Dictionary (1966), 2nd ed.,
Moscow)
- "Alim Qasimov: the living legend you’ve never heard
of" on timesonline.co.uk.
- "ashik,shaman" - European University
Institute, Florence, Italy (retrieved10 August 2006).
- Today.az. Azerbaijan’s ashug art included into UNESCO
list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. 01 October 2009
- Backgammon History
- Нарды – игра, требующая сноровки и удачи
- История Нард
- World Chess Champion
- Шахматы в Азербайджане
- Azerbaijan’s chess team became European champion
- Azerbaijan, Russia take gold at the European Team
Chess Championship
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