Azerbaijan

This article is about the country. For the region of Iran, see Azerbaijan (Iran). For other uses, see Azerbaijan (disambiguation).

Republic of Azerbaijan
Azərbaycan Respublikası (Azerbaijani)
Anthem: Azərbaycan marşı
"March of Azerbaijan"
Capital
and largest city
Baku
40°23′43″N 49°52′56″E / 40.39528°N 49.88222°E / 40.39528; 49.88222
Official languagesAzerbaijani[1]
Minority languagesSee full list
Ethnic groups
(2019[2])
Religion
Demonym(s)
  • Azerbaijani
  • Azeri
GovernmentUnitary semi-presidential republic[3] under a hereditary dictatorship
• President
Ilham Aliyev
Mehriban Aliyeva
Ali Asadov
LegislatureNational Assembly
Formation
28 May 1918
28 April 1920
• Independence from Soviet Union
  • 18 October 1991 (declared)
  • 26 December 1991 (recognized)
• Constitution adopted
12 November 1995
Area
• Total
86,600 km2 (33,400 sq mi) (112th)
• Water (%)
1.6
Population
• 2022 estimate
10,353,296[4] (90th)
• Density
117/km2 (303.0/sq mi) (99th)
GDP (PPP)2024 estimate
• Total
Increase $199.195 billion[5] (78th)
• Per capita
Increase $19,328[5] (88th)
GDP (nominal)2024 estimate
• Total
Increase 78.749 billion[5] (82nd)
• Per capita
Increase $7,641[5] (90th)
Gini (2008)Negative increase 33.7[6]
medium inequality
HDI (2022)Increase 0.760[7]
high (89th)
CurrencyManat (₼) (AZN)
Time zoneUTC+4 (AZT)
Calling code+994
ISO 3166 codeAZ
Internet TLD.az

Azerbaijan,[a] officially the Republic of Azerbaijan,[b] is a transcontinental country at the boundary of Eastern Europe and West Asia.[9] It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia's republic of Dagestan to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia and Turkey to the west, and Iran to the south. Baku is the capital and largest city.

The territory of what is now Azerbaijan was first ruled by Caucasian Albania and later various Persian empires. Until the 19th century, it remained part of Qajar Iran, but the Russo-Persian wars of 1804–1813 and 1826–1828 forced the Qajar Empire to cede its Caucasian territories to the Russian Empire; the treaties of Gulistan in 1813 and Turkmenchay in 1828 defined the border between Russia and Iran.[10][11] The region north of the Aras was part of Iran until it was conquered by Russia in the 19th century,[12][13] where it was administered as part of the Caucasus Viceroyalty.

By the late 19th century, an Azerbaijani national identity emerged when the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic proclaimed its independence from the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic in 1918, a year after the Russian Empire collapsed, and became the first secular democratic Muslim-majority state. In 1920, the country was conquered and incorporated into the Soviet Union as the Azerbaijan SSR.[12][14] The modern Republic of Azerbaijan proclaimed its independence on 30 August 1991,[15][16] shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In September 1991, the ethnic Armenian majority of the Nagorno-Karabakh region formed the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh,[17] which became de facto independent with the end of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1994, although the region and seven surrounding districts remained internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.[18][19][20][21] Following the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020, the seven districts and parts of Nagorno-Karabakh were returned to Azerbaijani control.[22] An Azerbaijani offensive in 2023 ended the Republic of Artsakh and resulted in the flight of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians.[23]

Azerbaijan is a unitary semi-presidential republic.[3] It is one of six independent Turkic states and an active member of the Organization of Turkic States and the TÜRKSOY community. Azerbaijan has diplomatic relations with 182 countries and holds membership in 38 international organizations,[24] including the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the Non-Aligned Movement, the OSCE, and the NATO PfP program. It is one of the founding members of GUAM, the Commonwealth of Independent States,[25] and the OPCW. Azerbaijan is also an observer state of the World Trade Organization.

The vast majority of the country's population (97%) is nominally[26] Muslim,[27] but the Constitution of Azerbaijan does not declare an official religion, and all major political forces in the country are secular. Azerbaijan is a developing country and ranks 89th on the Human Development Index. The ruling New Azerbaijan Party, in power since 1993, has been accused of authoritarianism under president Heydar Aliyev and his son Ilham Aliyev, and worsening the country's human rights record, including increasing restrictions on civil liberties, particularly on press freedom and political repression.[28]

  1. ^ "The Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan" (PDF). President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The Official Website of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 31 August 2020. I. The official language of the Republic of Azerbaijan is Azerbaijani Language. The Republic of Azerbaijan guarantees the development of Azerbaijani Language.
  2. ^ "National (ethnic) composition of population". State Statistics Committee. 2019. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
  3. ^ a b LaPorte, Jody (2016). "Semi-presidentialism in Azerbaijan". In Elgie, Robert; Moestrup, Sophia (eds.). Semi-Presidentialism in the Caucasus and Central Asia. London: Palgrave Macmillan (published 15 May 2016). pp. 91–117. doi:10.1057/978-1-137-38781-3_4. ISBN 978-1-137-38780-6. LCCN 2016939393. OCLC 6039791976. LaPorte examines the dynamics of semi-presidentialism in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan's regime is a curious hybrid, in which semi-presidential institutions operate in the larger context of authoritarianism. The author compares formal Constitutional provisions with the practice of politics in the country, suggesting that formal and informal sources of authority come together to enhance the effective powers of the presidency. In addition to the considerable formal powers laid out in the Constitution, Azerbaijan's president also benefits from the support of the ruling party and informal family and patronage networks. LaPorte concludes by discussing the theoretical implications of this symbiosis between formal and informal institutions in Azerbaijan's semi-presidential regime.
  4. ^ "Azerbaijan". The World Factbook (2024 ed.). Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 24 September 2022. (Archived 2022 edition.)
  5. ^ a b c d "World Economic Outlook Database, April 2024 Edition. (Azerbaijan)". International Monetary Fund. April 2024. Retrieved 21 April 2024.
  6. ^ "Gini Index coefficient". CIA World Factbook. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  7. ^ "Human Development Report 2023/24" (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 13 March 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  8. ^ Wells, John C. (2008). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.). Longman. ISBN 978-1-4058-8118-0.; Roach, Peter (2011). Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (18th ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-15253-2.
  9. ^ 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 Nations classification of world regions places Azerbaijan in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook places it mostly in Southwest Asia [1] and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary places it in both; NationalGeographic.com, and Encyclopædia Britannica also place Georgia in Asia. Conversely, some sources place Azerbaijan in Europe such as Worldatlas.com.
  10. ^ Harcave, Sidney (1968). Russia: A History: Sixth Edition. Lippincott. p. 267.
  11. ^ 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. ISBN 978-1-58112-933-5.
  12. ^ a b Swietochowski, Tadeusz (1995). Russia and Azerbaijan: A Borderland in Transition. Columbia University Press. pp. 69, 133. ISBN 978-0-231-07068-3.
  13. ^ L. Batalden, Sandra (1997). The newly independent states of Eurasia: handbook of former Soviet republics. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-89774-940-4.
  14. ^ 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. ISBN 978-0-674-30951-7.
  15. ^ "Азербайджан. Восстановлена государственная независимость". Ельцин Центр (in Russian). Archived from the original on 24 September 2021. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  16. ^ King, David C. (2006). Azerbaijan. Marshall Cavendish. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-7614-2011-8.
  17. ^ Zürcher, Christoph (2007). The Post-Soviet Wars: Rebellion, Ethnic Conflict, and Nationhood in the Caucasus ([Online-Ausg.]. ed.). New York: New York University Press. p. 168. ISBN 978-0-8147-9709-9.
  18. ^ Резолюция СБ ООН № 822 от 30 April 1993 года (in Russian). United Nations. Archived from the original on 3 May 2011. Retrieved 4 January 2011.
  19. ^ Резолюция СБ ООН № 853 от 29 июля 1993 года (in Russian). United Nations. Retrieved 4 January 2011.
  20. ^ Резолюция СБ ООН № 874 14 октября 1993 года (in Russian). United Nations. Archived from the original on 3 May 2011. Retrieved 4 January 2011.
  21. ^ Резолюция СБ ООН № 884 от 12 ноября 1993 года (in Russian). United Nations. Archived from the original on 3 May 2011. Retrieved 4 January 2011.
  22. ^ Kramer, Andrew E. (10 November 2020). "Facing Military Debacle, Armenia Accepts a Deal in Nagorno-Karabakh War". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 10 November 2020.
  23. ^ Ebel, Francesca (28 September 2023). "Defeated by force, Nagorno-Karabakh government declares it will dissolve". The Washington Post. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  24. ^ "Azerbaijan: Membership of international groupings/organisations". British Foreign & Commonwealth Office. Archived from the original on 9 June 2007. Retrieved 26 May 2007.
  25. ^ Europa Publications Limited (1998). Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Routledge. p. 154. ISBN 978-1-85743-058-5.
  26. ^ Cite error: The named reference cia was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  27. ^ 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.
  28. ^ "Human Rights Watch: Azerbaijan". Human Rights Watch. Retrieved 6 March 2014.


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