Azerbaijan, wey dem dey officially callRepublic of Azerbaijan, be one transcontinental den landlocked country wey dey de boundary between West Asia den Eastern Europe.[1] E be part of de South Caucasus region, den e get de Caspian Sea for east, Russia ein Dagestan republic for north, Georgia for northwest,Armenia den Turkey for west, den Iran for south. Baku be de capital den de biggest city.
De area wey now be Azerbaijan, first dem rule am under Caucasian Albania, then later different Persian empires take over. Till de 19th century, e still be part of Qajar Iran, but after de Russo-Persian wars of 1804–1813 den 1826–1828, de Qajar Empire lose ein Caucasian territories to de Russian Empire; de treaties of Gulistan for 1813 den Turkmenchay for 1828 set de border between Russia den Iran.[2][3] De region north of de Aras River be part of Iran before Russia conquer am for de 19th century,[4][5] den e be part of de Caucasus Viceroyalty.
By de late 19th century, Azerbaijani national identity start emerge, wey for 1918, de Azerbaijan Democratic Republic declare ein independence from de Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic, just one year after de Russian Empire collapse. E be de first secular democratic Muslim-majority state. But for 1920, de Soviet Union conquer am den e turn de Azerbaijan SSR.[4][6] De modern Republic of Azerbaijan declare ein independence on 30 August 1991,[7][8] just before de Soviet Union dissolve. For September 1991, de ethnic Armenian majority for Nagorno-Karabakh region declare de self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh,[9] wey e turn de facto independent after de First Nagorno-Karabakh War for 1994, even tho de region den seven surrounding districts still dey internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.[10][11][12][13] After de Second Nagorno-Karabakh War for 2020, de seven districts plus parts of Nagorno-Karabakh return to Azerbaijani control.[14] For 2023, one Azerbaijani offensive end de Republic of Artsakh den e lead to mass flight of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians.[15]
Azerbaijan be one unitary semi-presidential republic. E be one of de six independent Turkic states den e be active member of de Organization of Turkic States den de TÜRKSOY community. Azerbaijan get diplomatic relations plus 182 countries den e be member of 38 international organizations,[16] like de United Nations, de Council of Europe, de Non-Aligned Movement, de OSCE, den de NATO PfP program. E be founding member of GUAM, de Commonwealth of Independent States,[17] den de OPCW. Azerbaijan be observer state for de World Trade Organization.
De majority of de country ein population (97%) be nominally[18] Muslim.[19] De Constitution of Azerbaijan no dey declare any official religion, den all de major political forces for de country be secular. Azerbaijan be developing country den e dey rank 89th for de Human Development Index. De ruling New Azerbaijan Party, wey e dey power since 1993, dem accuse am of authoritarianism under presidents Heydar Aliyev den ein son Ilham Aliyev. Dem talk say e dey worsen de country ein human rights record, wey dey including more restrictions on civil liberties, especially press freedom den political repression.[20]
Government den politics
Administrative divisions
Der be 14 economic regions; 66 rayons (rayonlar, singularrayon) den 11 cities (şəhərlər, singularşəhər) under de direct authority of de republic.[21] Moreover, Azerbaijan dey include de Autonomous Republic (muxtar respublika) of Nakhchivan.[18] De Presido of Azerbaijan dey appoint de governors of dese units, while dem dey elect de government of Nakhchivan wey de parliament of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic dey approve am.
De ethnic composition of de population according to de 2009 population census: 91.6% Azerbaijanis, 2.0% Lezgins, 1.4% Armenians (almost all Armenians dey live insyd de break-away region of Nagorno-Karabakh), 1.3% Russians, 1.3% Talysh, 0.6% Avars, 0.4% Turkish people, 0.3% Tatars, 0.3% Tats, 0.2% Ukrainians, 0.1% Tsakhurs, 0.1% Georgians, 0.1% Jews, 0.1% Kurds, oda 0.2%.[22]
References
↑While often politically aligned with Europe, Azerbaijan is generally considered to be at least mostly in Southwest Asia geographically with its northern part bisected by the standard Asia–Europe divide, the Greater Caucasus. The United Nationsclassification of world regionsArchived 17 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine places Azerbaijan in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook places it mostly in Southwest Asia[1]Archived 27 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine andMerriam-Webster's Collegiate DictionaryArchived 9 April 2023 at the Wayback Machine places it in both;NationalGeographic.comArchived 24 November 2023 at the Wayback Machine, andEncyclopædia BritannicaArchived 29 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine also place Georgia in Asia. Conversely, some sources place Azerbaijan in Europe such asWorldatlas.comArchived 15 August 2010 at the Wayback Machine.
↑Harcave, Sidney (1968).Russia: A History (6th ed.). Lippincott. p. 267.
↑Mojtahed-Zadeh, Pirouz (2007).Boundary Politics and International Boundaries of Iran: A Study of the Origin, Evolution, and Implications of the Boundaries of Modern Iran with Its 15 Neighbors in the Middle East by a Number of Renowned Experts in the Field. Universal. p. 372.ISBN978-1-58112-933-5.
↑Pipes, Richard (1997).The Formation of the Soviet Union: Communism and Nationalism 1917–1923 (2nd ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp. 218–220, 229.ISBN978-0-674-30951-7.
↑Europa Publications Limited (1998).Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Routledge. p. 154.ISBN978-1-85743-058-5.
↑18.018.1"Azerbaijan".The World Factbook (2025 ed.). Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 8 May 2022. (Archived 2022 edition.)
↑Cornell, Svante E. (2010).Azerbaijan Since Independence. M.E. Sharpe. pp. 165, 284.Indicative of general regional trends and a natural reemergence of previously oppressed religious identity, an increasingly popular ideological basis for the pursuit of political objectives has been Islam.... The government, for its part, has shown an official commitment to Islam by building mosques and respecting Islamic values... Unofficial Islamic groups sought to use aspects of Islam to mobilize the population and establish the foundations for a future political struggle.... Unlike Turkey, Azerbaijan does not have the powerful ideological legacy of secularism... the conflict with Armenia has bred frustration that is increasingly being answered by a combined Islamic and nationalist sentiment, especially among younger people... All major political forces are committed to secularism and are based, if anything, on a nationalist agenda.
Altstadt, Audrey.Frustrated Democracy in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan (2018)
Broers, Broers Laurence.Armenia and Azerbaijan: Anatomy of a rivalry (Edinburgh University Press, 2019).
Cornell, Svante E.Azerbaijan since independence (Routledge, 2015).
Dragadze, Tamara. "Islam in Azerbaijan: The Position of Women" inMuslim Women's Choices (Routledge, 2020) pp. 152–163.
Elliott, Mark.Azerbaijan with Georgia (Trailblazers Publications, 1999).
Ergun, Ayça. "Citizenship, National Identity, and Nation-Building in Azerbaijan: Between the Legacy of the Past and the Spirit of Independence."Nationalities Papers (2021): 1–18.online
Goltz, Thomas.Azerbaijan Diary : A Rogue Reporter's Adventures in an Oil-Rich, War-Torn, Post-Soviet Republic. M E Sharpe (1998).ISBN978-0-7656-0244-2
Habibov, Nazim, Betty Jo Barrett, and Elena Chernyak. "Understanding women's empowerment and its determinants in post-communist countries: Results of Azerbaijan national survey."Women's Studies International Forum. Vol. 62. Pergamon, 2017.
Olukbasi, Suha.Azerbaijan: A Political History. I.B. Tauris (2011). Focus on post-Soviet era.
