Republic of Azerbaijan Azərbaycan Respublikası
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: Azərbaycan Respublikasının Dövlət Himni (March of Azerbaijan)
Capital (and largest city)		Baku 40°22′N 49°53′E / 40.367, 49.883
Official languages		Azerbaijani
Demonym		Azerbaijani
Government		Presidential republic
-	President	Ilham Aliyev
-	Prime Minister	Artur Rasizade
Independence from the Soviet Union
-	Declared	30 August 1991
-	Completed	18 October 1991
Area
-	Total	86,600 km² (113th) 33,436 sq mi
-	Water (%)	1.6%
Population
-	July 2008 estimate	8,676,000 [2] (91st)
-	2002 census	8,265,000
-	Density	97/km² (100th) 251/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2007 estimate
-	Total	$65.523 billion[1] (77th)
-	Per capita	$7,618[1] (96th)
GDP (nominal)		2007 estimate
-	Total	$31.240 billion[1] (77th)
-	Per capita	$3,632[1] (88th)
Gini (2006)		36.5 (58th)
HDI (2007)		▲ 0.746 (medium) (98th)
Currency		Manat (AZN)
Time zone		(UTC+4)
-	Summer (DST)	(UTC+5)
Drives on the		right
Internet TLD		.az
Calling code		994

Azerbaijan (English: [ˌæzərbaɪˈdʒɑːn] (help·info); Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan Respublikası), is the largest and most populous country in the South Caucasus, located partially in Eastern Europe and partially in Western Asia. It is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the west and northwest, Armenia to the southwest, and Iran to the south. The Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan is bordered by Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and southwest, and Turkey to the west. The country's territory also encompasses several islands in the Caspian Sea.

Azerbaijan, a nation with an ethnic Azeri and Shi‘ite Muslim majority population,^[2][3] is a secular and unitary republic. The country has been a co-founder of GUAM and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, and has been a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States since September 1993.^[4] A Special Envoy of the European Commission is present in the country, and it is also a member of the United Nations, OSCE, Council of Europe, and the NATO Partnership for Peace (PfP) program.

Etymology of the name

Main articles: History of the name Azerbaijan and Atropates

The name of Azerbaijan derives from Atropates,^[5][6] a satrap of Persia under the Achaemenid Empire, who was later reinstated as the satrap of Media under Alexander of Macedonia.^[7][8] The original etymology of this name is thought to have its roots in the ancient Zoroastrianism, namely, in Avestan Frawardin Yasht ("Hymn to the Guardian Angels"), there is a mentioning of: âterepâtahe ashaonô fravashîm ýazamaide, which literally translates from Old Persian as "we worship the Fravashi of the holy Atare-pata".^[9] Atropates ruled over the region of 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 is continued as ādurbādagān in the Pahlavi geographical text Shahrestānihā i Erānshahr.^[10]

History

Main articles: History of Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan Democratic Republic

Rock engravings in Gobustan dating back to 10,000 BC.

The earliest evidence of human settlement in the territory of Azerbaijan dates to the late Stone Age and is related to the Quruçay culture of Azykh Cave. 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., leading to the spread of Zoroastrianism, while later become part of the Alexander the Great's Empire, and its successor Seleucid Empire. Caucasian Albanians, the original inhabitants of the area established an independent kingdom around 4th century B.C but circa 95-67 B.C. parts of it were subjugated by Tigranes the Great.

In 252 A.D. the Sassanids turned it into a vassal state while King Urnayr officially adopted Christianity as the state religion in the 4th century A.D.. Despite numerous conquests by the Sassanids and Byzantines, Caucasian Albania remained an entity in the region until the 9th century A.D.. The territory of modern Azerbaijan roughly corresponds to that of the ancient kingdom.^[11] The Islamic Umayyad Caliphate repulsed both Sassanids and Byzantines from the region and turned Caucasian Albania to a vassal state after the Christian resistance, led by Prince Javanshir, was suppressed in 667 A.D. 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 11th century, the territory was gradually seized by waves of Turkic Oghuz tribes from Central Asia. The first of these Turkic dynasties were the Ghaznavids, who took over the area now known as Azerbaijan by 1030.

The Maiden Tower, XI-XII centuries, in old Baku.

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,^{[citation needed]} as it was battling against the Sunni Ottoman Empire.

Mausoleum of Shirvanshahs in old Baku.

After Safavids, the area was ruled by the Iranian dynasties of Afshar and Zand and briefly by Qajars. However, while nominally under Persian rule^[12] de facto independent khanates^{[13][14][15][16][17]} emerged in the area, especially following collapse of Zand dynasty and in early Qajar era. Engaged in constant warfare, these khanates were eventually incorporated to the Russian Empire in 1813, following two Russo-Persian Wars. Under the Treaty of Turkmenchay, the Persian Empire recognized Russian sovereignty over the Erivan khanate, the Nakhchivan khanate and the remainder of the Talysh Khanate.

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, but lasted only 23 months until the Bolshevik XIth Red Army invaded it in April 1920, establishing the Azerbaijan SSR on 28 April 1920. In 1922, Azerbaijan became part of the Transcaucasian SFSR (TSFSR), which itself became a constituent member of the newly-established Soviet Union. In 1936, TSFSR was dissolved and Azerbaijan SSR became one of the constituent member states of the Soviet Union. During World War II, Azerbaijan supplied much of the Soviet Union's oil on the Eastern Front while close to 600,000 Azerbaijanis fought against Nazi Germany. Operation Edelweiss carried out by the German Wehrmacht targeted Baku because of its importance as the energy (petroleum) dynamo of the USSR.^[18]

A painting by Enver Aliyev depicting Azerbaijani citizens digging entrenchments and antitank obstacles near Baku to prevent a possible Nazi invasion.

Museum of History in Azerbaijan.

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, which 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 as president in nationwide elections in which he was the only candidate running.

On 18 October 1991, 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.^[19][20] 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".^[21] 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 military police, Rovshan Javadov, was averted, resulting in the killing of the latter and disbanding of Azerbaijan's military police.

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, wide-spread 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

Main article: Geography of Azerbaijan

See also: Extreme points of Azerbaijan

Khinalug has a history of 5.000 years and is amongst the most ancient places in the world.

Mountains of Tingalty near Quba.

Five Finger Mountain is located in Absheron, Azerbaijan.

The total length of Azerbaijani land borders is 2,648 km, of which Armenia constitutes 1007, Iran 756, Georgia 480, Russia - 390 and Turkey - 15.^[22] The coastline stretches for 800 km and the length of the widest area of the Azerbaijani section of Caspian Sea is 456 km.^[22] The territory of Azerbaijan extends 400 km from north to south, and 500 km 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.^[23] 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 100 km in length.^[23] All the rivers drain into the Caspian Sea in the east of the country.^[23] The largest lake is Sarısu (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.

Climate

Main article: Climate of Azerbaijan

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.^[24] Regarding landscape diversity, air masses have different ways to enter the country.^[24] 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 Azerb