Azerbaijan

Flag of Azerbaijan

Language: Azerbaijani

Currency: Manat (AZN)

Calling Code: 994

 

Azerbaijan - officially the Republic of Azerbaijan to differentiate it from Iranian Azerbaijan - is the largest sovereign country in the Caucasus region, located between Western Asia and Eastern Europe, bounded on the east by the Caspian Sea, north with Russia, northwest with Georgia, west with Armenia and south with Iran. The exclave of Nakhichevan borders Armenia to the north and east, with Iran to the south and west and shares a small border with Turkey to the northwest.

Azerbaijan has a historical and ancient cultural heritage. In addition to being the first Muslim-majority country to have operas, theaters and plays, it is one of the Muslim countries with the greatest support for secularism and religious tolerance. In 1918 the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan was established, the first secular and democratic republic in the Islamic world, but it became part of the Soviet Union from 1920 until its independence in 1991. Shortly after, during the Nagorno-Karabakh War, Armenia occupied the Nagorno-Karabakh region as well as other surrounding territories and enclaves previously in Azerbaijani control. The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, which emerged in the region, continues without the diplomatic recognition of any nation and is still considered de jure as part of Azerbaijan, despite being de facto independent since the end of the war.

Azerbaijan is a constitutionalist, secular and unitary republic. It is one of the six independent Turkic states, as well as an active member of the Turkic Council and the Türksoy community. Azerbaijan also has diplomatic relations with 158 countries and is a member of 38 international organizations. Country is one of the founding members of GUAM and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). On May 9, 2006, Azerbaijan was elected to the newly created Human Rights Council by the General Assembly of the United Nations.

After gaining independence, Azerbaijan achieved a high level of human, economic and literacy development, as well as low levels of unemployment and homicide compared to other CIS countries and Eastern Europe. On January 1, 2012, the country began its two-year term as a non-permanent member of the Security Council of the United Nations. In 2015, the country joined the Forum of Gas Exporting Countries (FPEG) as an observer member.

 

Travel Destinations in Azerbaijan

Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, is famous for newly built modern buildings as well as majestic medieval architecture that defines this beautiful city.

Gobustan region of 'edge of the ravine' as it is translate is famous for its prehistoric rock art Gobustan Petroglyphs, numerous caves and ancient burials.

Göygöl National Park is a nature reserve in the Goygol Rayon of Azerbaijan. The reserve covers an area of 12,755 hectares (127.55 km2).

Shirvan National Park is a nature reserve that is located in the Salyan Rayon and Neftçala Rayon of Azerbaijan. Nature reserve covers an area of 544 km2.

Zangezur National Park is situated in Ordubad Rayon of Azerbaijan. It covers an area of 12,131 hectares (121.31 km2).

 

Etymology

The toponym "Azerbaijan" comes from the Parthian and Middle Persian Aturpatakan (Āturpātakān) - the name of the ancient state of Atropatena or Media Atropatena. Media Atropatena (Pers. Mad-i-Aturpatkan), or simply Atropatena, after the Persian campaign of Alexander the Great, they began to call the northern part of Media, where the last Achaemenid satrap of Media Atropat (Aturpatak) created a kingdom for himself. Its other name among ancient authors is Small Mussel. From the name "Aturpatkan" through the Middle Persian "Aderbadgan" (Persian Âzarâbâdagân) comes the modern name Azerbaijan.

Until 1918, Azerbaijan was understood primarily as the territory around Lake Urmia, once occupied by Atropatena, south of the Araks River, although in certain periods of history the name "Azerbaijan" was extended to some territories north of the Araks.

The term "Azerbaijan" as the official name of the state was first used on May 28, 1918, when the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was proclaimed. I. M. Dyakonov and V. F. Minorsky noted that until the 20th century, this term was used only in relation to the Turkic-speaking region of northwestern Iran. V. V. Bartold, I. M. Dyakonov and V. A. Shnirelman believe that the reason for this choice of the name of the state is the claims of the founders of the new state to Iranian Azerbaijan.

 

State symbols

From the Constitution of Azerbaijan:
I. State symbols of the Azerbaijan Republic are the State flag of the Azerbaijan Republic, the State emblem of the Azerbaijan Republic and the State anthem of the Azerbaijan Republic.
II. The national flag of the Republic of Azerbaijan consists of three horizontal stripes of equal width. The upper stripe is blue, the middle stripe is red, the lower stripe is green, in the middle of the red stripe on each side of the flag there is a white crescent with an eight-pointed star. The width of the flag is related to its length as 1:2.
III. The image of the State Flag of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the State Emblem of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the music and text of the State Anthem of the Republic of Azerbaijan are determined by the Constitutional Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

State flag
On November 9, 1918, the government of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic for the first time adopted a resolution on the tricolor national flag. After the fall of the ADR on April 28, 1920 and the establishment of Soviet power in Azerbaijan, this flag was rejected. On November 17, 1990, the tricolor flag was reinstated for the second time by the decision of the Supreme Majlis of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and adopted as the state flag of the autonomous republic. At the same session, the Supreme Majlis of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic requested the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan SSR to recognize the tricolor flag as the state symbol of Azerbaijan.

On February 5, 1991, the Supreme Council of the Republic of Azerbaijan considered the petition of the Supreme Majlis of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and adopted a resolution on recognizing the tricolor flag as the state flag of Azerbaijan. The aspect ratio is 1:2. The flag is a three-color cloth (tricolor). The stripes (blue, green and red) are arranged horizontally. An eight-pointed star and a crescent are placed in the center of the flag on a red stripe. Both images are white. The blue color on the flag is the traditional color of the Turkic peoples and symbolizes Turkism, red - progress, green - Islam. The crescent indicates belonging to the religion of Islam, the eight-pointed star means 8 branches of the Turkic peoples.

National anthem
The anthem of Azerbaijan is called "March of Azerbaijan" (Azerb. "Azərbaycan Marşı"). The melody of the anthem was written by the Azerbaijani composer Uzeyir Gadzhibekov, the lyrics - by the poet Ahmed Javad in 1918. It was the official anthem of pre-Soviet Azerbaijan. The anthem was officially adopted (again after approval in 1918 and canceled in 1920) in 1991 after the restoration of Azerbaijan's independence.

National emblem
In the center of the coat of arms is a fire, which symbolizes the "Land of Fires". The colors used on the coat of arms are the colors of the national flag of Azerbaijan. The eight-pointed star symbolizes the 8 branches of the Turkic people. Below is a wreath of ears of wheat and oak branches. A wreath of ears symbolizes wealth, fertility. Oak branches symbolize the antiquity of the country.

 

Physical and geographical characteristics

Geographical position
Satellite image of Azerbaijan (left) and physical map of Azerbaijan
According to most Soviet, Russian and Western European authoritative sources, the territory of Azerbaijan, like the entire Caucasus, belongs to Western Asia. Some American sources attribute Azerbaijan to the region of the Middle East: they believe that the border between Europe and Asia runs along the Greater Caucasus Range and several regions of Azerbaijan belong to Eastern Europe.

About half of the territory of Azerbaijan is occupied by mountains. In the north - the ridge of the Caucasus, in the middle part - the Kura-Arak lowland, in the southeast - the Talysh mountains and the Lenkoran lowland, in the west - the Armenian highlands.

Azerbaijan is the largest of the republics of Transcaucasia in terms of area (the area within the official borders is about 86.6 thousand km², in fact, controlled is about 83.5 thousand km²). The length of the territory of Azerbaijan from north to south is about 400 km, and from west to east - about 500 km.

Extreme points: northern - Mount Guton (3648 m) (41 ° 54' N), southern - Astara River (38 ° 25' N), eastern - Oil Rocks (50 ° 49' E), the western one is Lake Dzhandargol (44°46' E).

The climatic zones of Azerbaijan are diverse - from the warm and humid subtropics of the Lankaran lowlands and Talysh to the snowy highlands of the Caucasus. Numerous rivers have significant energy resources, which creates favorable conditions for the construction of hydroelectric power stations with reservoirs and artificial irrigation systems. The main river is the Kura. Irrigation canals: Upper Karabakh, Upper Shirvan and others, Mingachevir reservoir is important.

The soils are predominantly sierozem, in the mountains brown and brown mountain-forest and mountain-meadow soils; on the Lankaran lowland - zheltozems. Vegetation of dry steppes, semi-deserts, alpine meadows; broad-leaved forests in the mountains.

Among the natural wealth, a special place belongs to the wonderful climatic and hydrotherapy resorts of Azerbaijan.

 

Climate

According to the Köppen climate classification, 9 out of 11 climate types are observed in Azerbaijan. Average temperatures in July range from +5°C in the highlands to +25...+27°C in the lowlands (maximum - +32...+35°C, but sometimes it reaches +40°C). Average January temperatures are −10°C in the highlands and +4°C in the lowlands. Atmospheric precipitation varies from 200 mm/year in the foothills of the Caucasus to 1200–1700 mm/year in the Lankaran lowland.

Minerals
The bowels of Azerbaijan contain valuable minerals: oil and natural gas, alunites, copper ore, gold, molybdenum and others. The republic also has a variety of raw materials for the finishing industry: marble, kaolin, tuff, dolomite.

Such sectors of the national economy as the oil and fishing industries, maritime transport and ship repair are closely connected with the natural resources of the Caspian Sea.

Flora
The territory of the republic has a rich and rare flora. In a relatively small area, there are many types of plants common in the world. For example: iron tree (damir agach), Iberian oak, chestnut-leaved oak, persimmon, boxwood and hornbeam, maple, pine, willow, hazel, almond, wild pear and apple trees, blackberry and raspberry bushes. In large cities, you can find Japanese Sophora, white and pink oleanders, jasmine bushes, and in Lankaran they grow albicia, an ornamental plant of the legume family. Approximately 450 species of higher plants growing in Azerbaijan belong to 125 orders. The plant species found in the territory of Azerbaijan make up a large part of the total number of plant species growing in the Caucasus. Along with plant species widespread in the Caucasus and other regions, the Azerbaijani flora contains about 240 endemic species that grow only in Azerbaijan and are characteristic of its regions.

Fauna
Azerbaijan is located at the junction of several zoogeographic poles. Some species of animals from the neighboring territories of Iran, Central Asia, and the countries of the Mediterranean Sea live on the territory of the country. Due to the diversity of natural conditions, the animal world in the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan consists of about 12 thousand species, including 623 species of vertebrates (more than 90 mammals, about 350 bird species, more than 40 reptile species, more than 80 fish species, the rest are cyclostomes and amphibians). Reptiles, hares, wolves, foxes, goitered gazelle are common on the plains. Wild boars, roe deer, badgers, and jackals are found in the valleys of the Kura and Araks. Red deer, Dagestan tur, chamois, bezoar goat, roe deer, bear, lynx, forest cat, porcupine, mouflon and leopard live in the mountains. Animals such as sika deer, saiga, raccoon dog, raccoon, nutria, skunk have been introduced. The world of birds is very diverse: (pheasants, partridges, black grouse and others). Many of the waterfowl arrive for wintering (ducks, geese, swans, herons, pelicans, flamingos, cormorants and others).

108 species of animals are listed in the Red Book of Azerbaijan, including 14 species of mammals, 36 species of birds, 13 species of amphibians and reptiles, 5 species of fish and 40 species of insects.

Ecological state
Soil and groundwater pollution is caused by the use of DDT and toxic defoliants in cotton cultivation. Air pollution is associated with industrial emissions in Sumgayit, Baku and other cities. A serious source of sea pollution is the oil-producing and oil-refining industry.

The rich flora and fauna of the country is subjected to strong anthropogenic impact. Forests suffer from logging and grazing. Agricultural land is expanding due to deforestation. Work is underway in Azerbaijan to protect the natural environment. In order to preserve some areas of natural forest, relict flora and rare animal species, 9 national parks, 11 reserves and 24 sanctuaries have been created. Red and sika deer, chamois, goitered gazelle, bezoar goat, mouflon, roe deer, saiga are especially protected.

Environmental problems
The result of the rapid development of human activity over the past century in all areas of the economy has been the overexploitation of natural resources. The main environmental problems of the Republic of Azerbaijan:

pollution of water resources by sewage, including transboundary pollution;
low level of quality water supply in settlements, loss of drinking water along the route of delivery to consumers, lack of sewer lines;
atmospheric air pollution by industrial enterprises and vehicles;
degradation of fertile lands (soil erosion, solonchaks);
lack of management of the process of disposal of solid industrial and domestic waste, including hazardous waste;
biodiversity loss;
reduction of forest resources, fauna, including fish resources.
Since 2009, the State Agency for Alternative and Renewable Energy Sources of Azerbaijan has been operating in the country.

 

Protected areas

Monuments of nature
Azerbaijan is included in the subtropical zone, out of 11 types of climate possible in this zone, 9 are found on the territory of Azerbaijan. Also on the territory of Azerbaijan there are about 800 mud volcanoes, which makes Azerbaijan the first in the world in terms of the number of mud volcanoes.

Reserves of Azerbaijan
Reserves of Azerbaijan are territories with the status of scientific research departments, created with the aim of preserving characteristic and rare natural complexes in their original form, studying natural processes and events. The largest reserves: Kyzylagach, Zagatala, Shirvan and others.

National parks
National parks are territories that have the status of nature protection and research departments used for nature protection, on the territory of which special ecological, historical, aesthetic and other significant natural complexes are located.

 

Administrative division

Territorially, Azerbaijan is divided into 66 regions, 11 cities of republican subordination and 1 autonomous republic - the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic.

Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic
The Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic is an autonomous entity (exclave) within the Republic of Azerbaijan. In accordance with the Constitution of Azerbaijan and the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, the latter is an autonomous state within Azerbaijan. The status of autonomy is regulated by the Constitution of Azerbaijan and the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, as well as the Moscow and Kars treaties of 1921.

The exclave borders Turkey, Iran and Armenia. Since the beginning of the Karabakh conflict, the border with Armenia has been closed. Communication with the rest of the territory of Azerbaijan is mainly through the Nakhichevan airport, and road traffic through Iran is also used. According to the ceasefire statement signed by Azerbaijan and Armenia with the mediation of Russia on November 9, 2020, Armenia guarantees the security of transport links between the western regions of Azerbaijan and the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic. Control over transport links will be carried out by the Border Guard Service of the Federal Security Service of Russia. By agreement of the Parties, the construction of new transport communications will be provided connecting the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic with the western regions of Azerbaijan.

 

History

Favorable natural and geographical conditions have allowed people to settle here since ancient times. Thus, the herd society of primitive man encompassed a huge period of the Stone Age, more precisely - more than 1.5 million years. Most of the sites of ancient people were found in Karabakh, Kazakh and Nakhichevan. In Karabakh, valuable finds have been discovered in the caves of Azykh, Taglar and Zar. In the Kazakh region, in the caves of Dashsalahly and Damdzhyly, as well as at the Shishguzey and Kekilli sites, tools and other material remains were discovered. The sites of Stone Age people are also identified in the Talysh zone.

Ancient history
In ancient centuries, Caucasian Albans lived in the greater territory of the present Azerbaijan Republic, spoke the languages ​​of the Lezgi branch and Iranian-speaking Medes in the territory of Nakhichevan. According to anthropological data, the Caucasian Albans belonged to the Caucasian type of the Caucasian race. Azerbaijanis, Kumyks and tsakhurs belong to the Caspian type of the Caucasian race. The Albanian class society apparently did not take shape earlier than the end of the second century BC. Previously, some scholars believe they were subordinate to the Achaemenid satrap of Medes, and with the fall of the Achaemenid state, to the kings of Atropatena (mainly in Iranian Azerbaijan, partly in Azerbaijan). At the beginning of the II century. BC. the entire western part of present-day Azerbaijan, south of the Kura River before it merged with Araks, inhabited by various Albanian tribes, was conquered by Great Armenia. At the end of II century. BC, and according to other opinions in the middle of I in the Albanian tribes created their kingdom. Strabo at the beginning of the 1st century AD reported that the Albanians are divided into 26 tribes, which speak their own dialects and therefore "do not easily enter into relations with each other," and that a single king has appeared in them recently, whereas earlier each tribe was ruled by its own king. According to the prevailing theory, the right bank of the Kura (Artsakh and Utik provinces) moved away from Armenia to the vassal from Persia to Albania as a result of the division of the first in 387 AD.

In the Caspian region, the Middle Meidic language was spread, the ancestor of the modern Talysh language, although according to the evidence of Arab geographers and historians of that era, such as Istakhri, Ibn-Haukal, Mukaddasi and others, the Albanian language continued to be used in the capital, the city of Barda in the X century, but then mentions disappear about him. The same Arab sources report that Armenians lived behind Barda and Shamkur (in Nagorno-Karabakh). The Albanian kingdom was dependent on the Persian Sassanids, who liquidated it in 457, but subsequently the Albanians managed to restore relative independence. In the 7th century, Albania was conquered by the Arabs. Ethnicly motivated population of the left-bank (north of the Kura) Albania at this time is increasingly shifting to the Persian language. This mainly applies to the cities of Arran and Shirvan, as they became in the 9th-10th centuries. Two main areas on the territory of present Azerbaijan are called. As for the rural population, it seems that it basically retained for a long time its old languages, akin to modern Dagestan, primarily Lezgi.

Middle Ages
In the middle of the VII century, the territory of Caucasian Albania was invaded by the army of the Arab Caliphate. During the resistance, the prominent Albanian military leader Javanshire, the head of the feudal estate Gardman, who became the ruler of Albania, became famous. Only at the beginning of the VIII century, having broken the resistance of the masses of the people, did the Arab caliphate conquer the territory of Albania, like the rest of Transcaucasia. In the IX century, an uprising of Iranian Hurramites led by Babek flares up against the Arabs. According to Masudi and Fichrist Ibn al-Nadim, at the peak of his fame Babek’s power extended in the south to Ardabil and Marand, in the east to the Caspian Sea and the city of Shemakha in Shirvan, in the north to the Mugan steppe and the banks of the Araks river, and in the west to the areas of Julfa, Nakhichevan and Maranda.

With the weakening of the Arab caliphate in Transcaucasia in the 9th-10th centuries, a new political upsurge began: the Shirvanshahs were created on the territory of modern Azerbaijan (existed until 1538), later the Sheddadids (970-1075, the Ganja Emirate), partially covered the Armenian kingdom of the Bagratids (885 —1045), as well as the emirates of the Iranian Islamic dynasties of the Salarids (941–981) and the Rabadids (981–1054). After the fall of the united Armenian kingdom, the Armenian Tashir-Dzoragetsky kingdom and the Khachen principality (in Nagorno-Karabakh) retained their independence in the west of modern Azerbaijan.

 

Under the auspices of the Muslim dynasties that ruled in Arran and Shirvan, the process of Islamization of the local population was fairly intensive. However, up to the XI-XII centuries. most of the population of Shirvan and Arran did not accept Islam.

Since the end of the XII century, the troops of the strengthened Georgian kingdom under the leadership of the Armenian princely family of Zakaryans and with the support of the local Armenian population have liberated Eastern Armenia from the power of the Seljuk Turks. The Armenian principality of Zakaryans (including the Kura and Araks interfluve — the west of present-day Azerbaijan), under the sovereignty of Georgia, existed until the Mongol invasion in the middle of the 13th century.

In 1136, with the collapse of the Seljuk empire, the State of Ildehyzids arose, with its capital in Tabriz, Ardabil and Nakhichevan. The Atabeks united under their authority the main part of Iranian Azerbaijan and parts of the present Azerbaijan Republic. Until 1194, they were considered as vassals of the Western Seljuk (Iraqi) sultans. This state fell at the hands of Khorezmshah Jalaleddin in 1225, who himself became a victim of the Mongol invasion of Khorezm, Iran and Transcaucasia.

The penetration of the Oghuz Turks into Eastern Transcaucasia led to the Turkization of a significant part of the local population and laid the foundation for the formation of a Turkic-speaking Azerbaijani nation in the 11th – 13th centuries. In the process of ethnogenesis of Azerbaijanis, Iranian peoples participated. The process of the formation of the Azerbaijani ethnos basically ended by the end of the 15th century, however, the ethnic border between the Turks and Azerbaijanis was established only in the 16th century, and even then it has not yet been finally determined. A number of scholars note the adoption of Shiism (XVI century) during the Safavid rule as the final factor in the formation of the Azerbaijani people.

At the beginning of the XIII century, the region was conquered by the Mongols. In the middle of the XIII century, the Mongol empire of the Hulaguids was formed, which had Iranian Azerbaijan with its main base and the capital in Tabriz.

After the fall of the Hulaguids' empire, on its possessions, stretching from Derbent to Baghdad, the Oguz-Turk states of Kara-Koyunlu and Ak-Koyunlu appeared, which fought with each other. These tribal confederations were pushed back from Central Asia to Front Asia by the Mongol invasion. By 1410, Kara-Koyunlu established its authority over most of Transcaucasia, northwestern Iran and most of Arab Iraq.

Throughout the 15th century, the historical region and the state of Shirvan (where the city of Baku is located) remained relatively independent. This area, as well as the small principality of Sheki in the northwest of Shirvan, were rich. In 1461, power in the region passed to Ak-Koyunlu. In the mid-15th century, a war broke out between Ak-Koyunlu and the Ottoman Empire. Attempts were made to create an anti-Ottoman coalition, which would include the Georgian kingdoms, the Trebizond Empire, and even some European states. But in 1461, the Ottomans liquidated the Trebizond Empire, and in 1473 under Terjan defeated the troops of the ruler Ak-Koyunlu Uzun-Hasan.

New time
At the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th centuries a new period began in the history of Azerbaijan. Shah Ismail I of the Safavid dynasty managed to unite under his rule all of Transcaucasia and the Iranian province of Azerbaijan (south of the Araks River) and later all of Iran. Ismail's allies in the fight against the Turks were England and Portugal. However, the defeat at the battle of Chaldyran in 1514 was a powerful blow to his empire. These wars went under the banner of the struggle of Shiism and Sunnism and went down in history under the name Turkish-Persian (Ottoman-Safavid) wars.

In the XVII-XVIII centuries, Armenian meliks of Khamsa existed on the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. They were formed at the direction of the Safavid shahs and were under the control of Armenian feudal clans.

Kyzylbashi and the Ottomans fought intermittently for about four hundred years. At the end of the 16th century, the Safavid empire weakened from permanent wars with the Ottomans, and as a result, the entire territory of modern Azerbaijan was conquered by them. Ottoman rule in Arran and Azerbaijan lasted 20 years. The heir to the Safavids and great-grandson of Shah Ismail I Shah Abbas I decided to free the country from the conquerors. Shah Abbas for a short time formed a regular army, defeated the Turks, having restored almost completely the Safavid empire at the beginning of the 17th century. Although the restored Safavid state took on a Persian appearance, the Azerbaijani language continued to be the language of the court and the army.

 

At the beginning of the XVIII century, the Safavid empire again weakened, and the whole of Azerbaijan with Iran was again conquered by the Turks. The new Ottoman occupation lasted only 6 years. Against the Ottomans, this time came from a Afshar tribe, one of the sub-ethnic groups of Iranian Azerbaijanis, commander Nadir Kuli Khan Afshar, later Nadir Shah, who put an end to the rule of the Safavid dynasty.

Nadir Shah, who came to power after the fall of the Safavid state, drove out the Ottoman Turks and further expanded its subordinate territories, conquering Northern India in 1739, including Delhi. However, after the death of Nadir Shah, the empire he ruled broke up. Even under Nadir Shah, numerous khanates and sultanates were formed in Transcaucasia and Iranian Azerbaijan (mainly led by Azerbaijani Turkic-speaking dynasties), which sought independence. During the time of the weak Zend dynasty, they were practically independent, but by the beginning of the 19th century, Iran was again united by the leader of the Turkic tribe of the Khajars, Aga-Mohammed Khan. The khanates of Iranian Azerbaijan were annexed by Kajar Iran, the khanates of Transcaucasia managed to maintain their independence, two of them, the Cuban and Karabakh, subjugated most of the other khanates. In 1796, Russian troops invaded Eastern Transcaucasia, taking Baku and Talysh, but quickly withdrawn; Baku was again taken in 1806 during the new Russian-Persian war.

According to the Gulistan (1813) and Turkmanchay (1828) treaties that completed the Russian-Persian wars, the Persian shah ceded the territory of present Azerbaijan to Russia. The Russian Empire created a curfew management system. Former khanates and sultanates were transformed into counties and provinces. In this territory, the Baku, Guba, Sheki, Shirvan, Karabakh, and Lankaran provinces, Elizavetpol and Jar-Balaken districts, Kazakh and Shamshadil distances were created. Provincial and city courts were established. In 1829, a committee was established to determine the rights and obligations of the Muslim clergy.

Latest time
Until 1918, Azerbaijanis did not have their own statehood, and unlike neighboring Georgians and Armenians, who considered themselves to be the successors of a centuries-old national tradition, the Muslims of Transcaucasia saw themselves as an integral part of the great Muslim world, the Ummah.

In May 1918, in connection with the revolutionary events in Transcaucasia, three independent states were proclaimed: the Georgian Democratic Republic, the Republic of Armenia and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (mainly on the lands of the Baku and Elizavetpol provinces, Zakatalsky district).

The chairman of the National Council of ADR was Mamed Emin Razulzade. Alimardan-bey Topchibashev was elected head of parliament. Fatali Khan Khoysky was appointed Prime Minister.

However, the Armenian population of Karabakh and Zangezur refused to obey the ADR authorities. Convened in Shusha on July 22, 1918, the First Congress of Karabakh Armenians proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh an independent administrative and political unit and elected its own People’s Government (from September 1918, the Armenian National Council of Karabakh). The confrontation between the Azerbaijani troops and the Armenian armed forces continued in the region until the establishment of Soviet power in Azerbaijan.

In mid-April 1920, units of the 11th Red Army, smashing the remnants of Denikin's troops, approached the northern borders of the ADR. On April 27, units of the 11th Red Army crossed the Azerbaijani border and entered Baku on April 28.

On April 28, 1920, it was announced the creation of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (Azerbaijan SSR) on the territory of the ADR.

In December 1922, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia formed the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (ZSFSR). In 1922, it became part of the USSR, and in 1936 the ZSFSR was abolished, and the Azerbaijan SSR was included in the USSR as an independent republic, which existed until 1991.

In July 1923, the regions of the Azerbaijan SSR with a predominantly Armenian population (Shushinsky, Jabrail and parts of the Djevanshir and Zangezur counties) were united into an autonomous entity (Autonomous Oblast of Nagorno-Karabakh (AONK), since 1937 - the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO).

 

During the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. Azerbaijan produced up to 80% of Soviet fuel. Many Azerbaijanis who went to the front were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.

In the late 1980s, in the wake of democratic reforms in the USSR, accompanied by a weakening of state power and party leadership, among the Armenian majority of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh, support for the idea of ​​re-subordinating the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region of the Armenian SSR increased, which led to an acute interethnic conflict.

On February 20, 1988, an extraordinary session of the People’s Deputies of the NKAR appealed to the Supreme Councils of the Armenian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR and the USSR with a request to consider and positively resolve the issue of transferring the NKAR from Azerbaijan to Armenia. The party and state leadership of the USSR and Azerbaijan rejected this appeal. The Armenian pogroms in Sumgait, Kirovabad and other cities of Azerbaijan led to a sharp aggravation of the situation, which caused a mass exodus of ethnic Armenians from the republic. Mass actions of civil disobedience - rallies, marches, strikes of the Armenian population of NKAR, received significant moral, material and organizational support from Armenia. Social tension and ethnic hatred between the Azerbaijani and Armenian populations increased every day.

The measures taken by the party and state leadership of the USSR and Azerbaijan of a socio-economic and propaganda nature, the change of the top party leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan were unsuccessful, did not contribute to restoring order and the introduction of additional units of the internal troops of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs in the NKAR. In June 1988, the Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR agreed to the inclusion of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region in the Armenian SSR. In the summer and autumn of 1988, cases of violence in the NKAR became more frequent, the mutual flow of refugees increased. In November and December 1988, massacres took place in Azerbaijan and Armenia, accompanied by violence and killings of civilians. This leads to the exodus of hundreds of thousands of refugees from the territory of Azerbaijan and Armenia. By the beginning of 1989, almost all Azerbaijanis were forced to leave Armenia, in turn, almost all Armenians left the rural areas of Azerbaijan (except for the territory of the NKAR). The Armenian community of Baku was reduced fourfold (to 50,000).

On January 12, 1989, direct control was introduced in the NKAR with the formation of the special management committee of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region, chaired by Arkady Volsky. A state of emergency was introduced in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. In April - May 1989, the situation in the region again aggravated as a result of mounting actions of the Karabakh movement, whose leaders switched to tactics of provoking clashes between the Armenian population of NKAR and the internal troops of the USSR and Azerbaijanis. In the areas of compact residence of Armenians in the territory of the Azerbaijan SSR outside the NKAR, self-defense units from local residents began to be created.

In the summer of 1989, the Armenian SSR imposed a blockade on the Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The leadership of Azerbaijan, in response, declared an economic and transport blockade of Armenia.

On November 28, 1989, the NKAR special management committee was replaced by the so-called republican organizing committee for the NKAR. In the future, it was this body that was developed and carried out by the police, riot police and internal troops to deport (evict) the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh and neighboring areas. The session of the Council of People’s Deputies of the NKAR did not recognize the republican organizing committee, which led to the creation of two centers of power in the NKAR. On December 1, 1989, the Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR and the National Council of the NKAR adopted a joint resolution on the inclusion of Nagorno-Karabakh in Armenia. This led to new armed clashes.

In early January 1990, the first mutual artillery shelling on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border was noted. A state of emergency was introduced in the NKAR, in the border regions of the Azerbaijan SSR, in the Goris district of the Armenian SSR, as well as in the border zone along the state border of the USSR on the territory of the Azerbaijan SSR. On January 13-18, as a result of the Armenian pogroms in Baku, where by the beginning of the year there were already only about 35 thousand Armenians, up to 90 people were killed.

 

On January 20, troops were sent to Baku to prevent the anti-communist Popular Front of Azerbaijan from seizing power, which led to numerous casualties among the civilian population of the city (Black January).

On May 18, 1990, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, Ayaz Mutalibov, was elected President of Azerbaijan.

On July 25, 1990, as a counteraction to the creation of illegal armed groups in the region, a decree of the President of the USSR “On the prohibition of the creation of illegal groups not provided for by the legislation of the USSR and the seizure of weapons in cases of their illegal storage” was issued. From the end of April to the beginning of June 1991, the so-called “Ring” operation was carried out by forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR and the Soviet Army in the NKAO and adjacent regions of Azerbaijan, with the official goal of disarming the Armenian illegal armed groups and checking the passport regime in Karabakh. It led to armed clashes and casualties among the population. During the operation, a full deportation of the population of 24 Armenian villages was carried out.

On August 30, 1991, the Supreme Council of Azerbaijan adopted a declaration “On the restoration of state independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan”, on September 2, 1991 at a joint session of the Nagorno-Karabakh regional and Shaumyan district councils of people's deputies in the Nagorno-Karabakh autonomous region and the adjacent Shaumyan region of the Azerbaijan SSR Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

During the autumn of 1991, Armenian combat units launched offensive operations to restore control over the Armenian villages of the NKAR and the former Shaumyan district of Azerbaijan, whose population had previously been deported. Leaving these villages, Azerbaijani formations in some cases set fire to them. According to the Memorial human rights center, at the same time, as a result of attacks by Armenian armed groups, several thousand residents of Azerbaijani villages had to leave their homes in the former Shaumyan district of Azerbaijan, Gadrut, Mardakert, Askeran, Martuni districts of NKAO. Since the end of autumn, when the Azerbaijani side launched a counterattack, the Armenian troops began targeted actions against the Azerbaijani villages. Both sides have charged that the villages of the enemy have been turned into fortified areas covering artillery positions.

On December 19, the withdrawal of internal troops of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs from Nagorno-Karabakh began, which ended by December 27. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the withdrawal of internal troops from Nagorno-Karabakh, the situation in the conflict zone became uncontrollable. The transition to a full-scale war for Nagorno-Karabakh began.

Modernity
Modern Azerbaijan was formed as a result of the collapse of the USSR (1991). Ayaz Mutalibov, a representative of the Soviet nomenklatura, became the first president. On August 30, 1991, the Supreme Council of Azerbaijan adopted a declaration "On the restoration of the state independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan", and on October 18, a constitutional act "On the state independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan" was adopted, which laid the foundations for the state, political and economic structure of independent Azerbaijan.

After the failures of the Azerbaijani army in Nagorno-Karabakh and under pressure from the opposition, President Ayaz Mutalibov resigned on March 6, 1992, and about. Yakub Mammadov became president. In May 1992, Isa Gambar became the interim president of Azerbaijan.

On June 7, 1992, presidential elections were held, which were won by the head of the nationalist Popular Front of Azerbaijan, Abulfaz Elchibey, with 59.4% of the vote. Failures during the military confrontation and the incompetence of the government formed by the PFA caused a crisis of power, as a result of which, on June 4, 1993, a rebellion broke out in Ganja by Colonel Suret Huseynov.

To avoid a civil war, Elchibey invited Heydar Aliyev to Baku, who at that time lived in Nakhichevan. Thus, Heydar Aliyev came to power.

During these events, a group of Talysh officers led by Colonel Alakram Gummatov proclaimed the Talysh-Mugan Autonomous Republic in Lankaran as part of Azerbaijan. Aliyev did not recognize the Talysh autonomy, on August 23 the rebellion was suppressed.

In late 1991 - early 1992, an armed conflict began between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic for control of Nagorno-Karabakh and some adjacent regions. At the same time, part of the territory of Armenia (the Artsvashen exclave) came under the control of Azerbaijan, and part of the territory of Azerbaijan (the exclaves of Kyarki, Barkhudarly, Upper Askipara) came under the control of Armenia.

In May 1994, through the mediation of a group of CIS states, Azerbaijan, Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic signed a ceasefire agreement. During the Karabakh war, the Azerbaijanis ousted the Armenians from a number of territories of the former Azerbaijan SSR, where they previously constituted the majority. The predominantly Armenian armed forces of the NKR, as well as the armed forces of Armenia that supported them, in turn, established control over a number of areas located outside the territory of the NKR declared in 1991 and previously had a predominantly Azerbaijani population. The occupation of some of these territories was qualified in 1993 by the UN Security Council as the occupation of the territory of Azerbaijan by Armenian forces. Subsequently, the authorities of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic included them in the administrative-territorial structure of the NKR.

 

Refugees and internally displaced persons in Azerbaijan, according to the official data of the Azerbaijani authorities, have become one million people, and in Armenia, according to the official data of the Armenian authorities, 376 thousand people.

On September 20, 1994, an agreement was signed in the Gulustan Palace in Baku, which, due to its great significance, was called the “Contract of the Century”. The contract of the century was included in the list of the largest agreements, both in terms of the amount of hydrocarbon reserves and in terms of the total volume of proposed investments. The agreement on the share distribution of products from the Azeri, Chirag and Gunashli deep-water deposits was reflected on 400 pages and 4 languages.

13 companies (Amoco, BP, McDermott, Unikal, SOCAR, Lukoil, Statoil, Exxon, Turkish Petroleum, Pennzoil, Itochu, Remco, Delta-Nimir (DNKL)) from 8 countries of the world (Azerbaijan, Turkey, USA) were represented in the Contract of the Century , Japan, UK, Norway, Russia and Saudi Arabia).

According to preliminary calculations, the estimated oil reserves initially amounted to 511 million tons, however, subsequent appraisal drilling and updated data showed the presence of 730 million tons of oil, and in connection with this, the volume of investments required for field development was set at $ 11.5 billion Under the Contract of the Century, 80% of the total net profit goes to Azerbaijan, and the remaining 20% ​​goes to investment companies.

Since the implementation of the Contract of the Century, a turning point has occurred in the economy of Azerbaijan, and huge work has begun to be carried out. First of all, in 1995, within the framework of the primary oil production project, the Chirag-1 platform was restored in accordance with international standards, and in order to drill more inclined wells, the upper module of the platform was modernized and equipped with new equipment. The new drilling rig made it possible to drill wells horizontal to the layers. The most obliquely drilled A-18 (inclination-5500 m), A-19 (inclination-6300 m) and other wells began to produce a large amount of oil. In 1997, oil production began from the Chirag field.

In 2003, the deceased Heydar Aliyev was replaced as President of Azerbaijan by his son, Ilham Aliyev.

In 2010, 2 villages of the Magaramkent region of Dagestan, together with 600 Lezgins, citizens of the Russian Federation, went to the Khachmaz region of Azerbaijan. In addition, the flow of the Samur River was divided. In May 2013, 3 plots of pasture land in the Dokuzparinsky district of Dagestan were transferred to Azerbaijan.

On September 27, 2020, large-scale hostilities began in Nagorno-Karabakh between the armed forces of Azerbaijan and the armed formations of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) and Armenia. During these hostilities, Azerbaijan returned 5 cities, 4 towns and about 240 villages under its control. The hostilities ended on November 10, a few hours after the signing of a ceasefire statement by the heads of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia. According to this document, Azerbaijan and Armenia stopped at their positions, Armenia undertook to return to Azerbaijan 3 regions adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh, and Russian peacekeeping forces were introduced into Nagorno-Karabakh.

 

Political structure

President of Azerbaijan
The head of state is the president. Azerbaijan is a presidential republic. The President is elected by popular vote for a term of 7 years and appoints all government officials.

If the conduct of military operations in the conditions of war does not allow holding elections of the President of Azerbaijan, then his term of office is extended until the end of military operations. The decision on this is made by the Constitutional Court on the basis of the appeal of the state body that ensures the holding of elections (referendum).

Domestic politics
The highest legislative body of Azerbaijan is the unicameral National Assembly (Milli Mejlis of Azerbaijan (125 deputies), elected by popular vote for 5 years in single-mandate constituencies.

The first parliamentary elections in the history of independent Azerbaijan were held in 1995. The current composition of Parliament was elected on November 1, 2015. Most deputies are non-partisan or represent the pro-presidential New Azerbaijan Party.

In total, over 30 political parties and movements operate in the republic. The main ones are: New Azerbaijan Party, Azerbaijan National Independence Party, Musavat Party, Azerbaijan Popular Front Party, Azerbaijan Liberal Party, Azerbaijan Social Democratic Party, Azerbaijan Democratic Party.

The highest body of executive power is the Cabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan. The governing body over the ministries and other main executive bodies of Azerbaijan.

Foreign policy of Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan maintains diplomatic relations with many countries. The main partner countries are: Italy, Russia, Germany, USA, Turkey, Israel. There are no diplomatic relations with Armenia due to its participation in the Karabakh war.

Azerbaijan participates in many world and regional international organizations:
UN;
OSCE;
Council of Europe;
CIS;
Non-Aligned Movement;
GUAM;
ECO;
Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation;
Organization of the Islamic Conference;
Turkish council.

Azerbaijan participates in the NATO Partnership for Peace program.

 

Population

Number, settlement, age and gender structure
According to the results of the national census conducted in 2009, the population was 8,922,447 people. As of January 15, 2010, the population reached 9 million people.

As of January 1, 2019, the State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan estimated the population of the country at 9,981,457 people, the population density is 115 people/km². The urban population amounted to 52.8% of the population, rural - 47.2%. Men made up 49.9% of the total population, women - 50.1%. The gender composition of the population is almost even, with 1,039 women per 1,000 men.

On April 6, 2019, according to the State Statistics Committee, the 10 millionth inhabitant of the country was born.

According to data as of February 1, 2020, the population in the country was 10,073,200 people.
As of December 1, 2021, the population density was 117 people/km².

As of June 1, 2022, the population was 10,179,147. 52.9% were urban population, 47.1% - rural.

In 1987-1994, 200,000 refugees from Armenia arrived in Azerbaijan, including 170,000 Azerbaijanis and about 20,000 Kurds and other peoples. Almost 40 thousand Ahiska Turks (Meskhetian Turks) immigrated to the country from Central Asia, where they were exiled from Georgia in the 1940s by order of Stalin. There were also Azerbaijani internal (forced) migrants (refugees) from the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region and seven adjacent regions that came under the control of Armenian forces, with a total number of 500 thousand people. According to Rasim Musabekov, there are just over 10% of the total population of refugees in Azerbaijan. Subsequently, the country received about 10,000 Chechen refugees. The country is also home to a small group of Afghan refugees.

 

Languages

The official language is Azerbaijani (Turkic group of languages). It belongs to the Oghuz subgroup (together with the Gagauz, southern coast dialect of the Crimean Tatar, Turkish and Turkmen) of the southwestern branch of the Turkic languages, but has features characteristic of the languages ​​of the Kypchak area. Azerbaijani is the state language of Azerbaijan. By the decree of President Heydar Aliyev dated August 9, 2001, the Day of the Azerbaijani Alphabet and Language was established.

 

Religious composition

Most believing Azerbaijanis are Shia Muslims, but there are also Sunni Muslims (Azerbaijanis in the northern part of the country, as well as Lezgins, Avars, Tsakhurs, Rutuls, Tatars and others), Orthodox (Russians, Georgians, Ukrainians) and Jews (Jews). There are Protestants of various denominations.

According to the current Constitution, Azerbaijan is a secular state. In the Republic of Azerbaijan, religion is separated from the state and is represented by a combination of various religious movements and confessions, common among the ethnic groups inhabiting the country and living throughout the territory of Azerbaijan.

Islam is the main religion in Azerbaijan; About 97% of the population of the country are Muslims. The absolute majority (approximately 65-85%) of the population of Azerbaijan belongs to the Shia branch of Islam (Jafarite madhhab), a minority (15-35%) - to the Sunni (mainly Hanafi madhhab).

There are synagogues in Azerbaijan, Jewish communities are one of the most active and influential religious associations in Azerbaijan. The village of Krasnaya Sloboda, located in the Guba region of Azerbaijan, is the only place where Jews live compactly in the entire post-Soviet space.

Orthodoxy is poorly spread in the republic, at the moment there are 6 Orthodox churches in the country, 3 of which are located in Baku.

Catholicism began to spread in the territory of present-day Azerbaijan at the beginning of the 14th century. By the beginning of the 17th century, 19 thousand Armenians converted to Catholicism lived in 12 villages and three cities of Nakhichevan. In May 2002, a significant event took place in the life of the Catholic Church in Azerbaijan - Pope John Paul II paid an official visit to Baku. Today, the only Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Azerbaijan is located in Baku.

The first Protestants appeared in Azerbaijan at the beginning of the 19th century - they were German colonists professing Lutheranism. Currently, up to 20,000 Protestants live in Azerbaijan. The largest denominations are Baptists (3 thousand church members) and Pentecostals (4.4 thousand parishioners). The country also has Adventists, Lutherans, Evangelical Christians, followers of the New Apostolic Church, and others.

 

Economy

Azerbaijan is a moderately developed industrial-agrarian state with a developed industry and diversified agriculture. The most important place in the economy of Azerbaijan is occupied by oil and gas production, oil refining, chemical (mineral fertilizers, synthetic rubber, car tires, etc.), machine-building, mining (iron ore and alunite mining) and non-ferrous metallurgy, various food industries (canning, tea , tobacco, wine-making) and light (cotton-cleaning, cotton, silk, wool, carpet) industries.

Azerbaijan has been leading among the CIS countries in recent years in terms of economic growth. In 2003-2008 Azerbaijan's GDP grew 2.6 times; the poverty rate in the state, since 2003, has decreased from 45% to 11%. In 2006, the country's GDP grew by 36.6% to $20.4 billion. Economic growth has been uninterrupted since 1996; for ten years, the economy of Azerbaijan has grown on average by 13.6% annually (in comparison with 1995, the size of GDP increased by 8.4 times).

The country is gradually switching to alternative forms of energy. From 2005-2015, 987.4 million manats were invested in the development of this industry. At the moment, the share of alternative energy is 16%, by 2020 it is planned to raise this figure to 38.6%, which will save 1.1 billion m³ of gas, which in turn will serve to increase GDP by 7.9%.

According to the Doing Business Report published on October 31, 2018, Azerbaijan ranked 25th (57th in 2018) in the Ease of Doing Business Index, the highest ranking among countries in the Europe and Central Asia region after Georgia (6th place) and Macedonia (10th place).

Currency
Manat is the official monetary unit of the Republic of Azerbaijan, equal to 100 qapiks. Currency code according to ISO 4217 AZN.

The Azerbaijani manat was twice denominated - in 1992 and 2006.

Industry
Azerbaijan supplies other countries with products of the chemical and fuel industries, non-ferrous and ferrous metallurgy, mechanical engineering and metalworking (mobile drilling rigs, lifting units, mobile towers, Christmas trees, deep-well pumps, electric motors, geophysical instruments), light industry, etc. From In other countries, mainly finished products are imported to Azerbaijan: machine tools, various agricultural machines, cars, clothing, food products. Azerbaijan's GDP growth is largely ensured by increasing the production and export of hydrocarbons (due, in particular, to the launch of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline in 2005 and the start of gas production at the Shah Deniz field at the end of 2006), as well as an increase in world oil prices. According to the results of the first three quarters of 2006, crude oil accounted for 60.7% of Azerbaijan's exports, and oil products for another 24.5%. Part of the income from oil exports is accumulated in the State Oil Fund (in December 2006 it amounted to $1.6 billion). Investments are mainly made in the fuel and energy complex. Recently, gold has been mined in the country.

Agriculture
Agriculture specializes mainly in viticulture, horticulture, tobacco growing, vegetable growing, animal husbandry and sericulture. The main industrial crops are cotton, tobacco, and tea. Early vegetable growing, subtropical fruit growing are developed. The area of ​​irrigated land is 140 thousand hectares (1990). The main branches of animal husbandry are sheep breeding, dairy and meat cattle breeding (including buffalo breeding and zebu breeding), poultry farming, sericulture, and pig breeding.

 

Communications

Azerbaijan was one of the first countries of the former USSR to enter the Internet community (in 1991, the provider is Intrans). Since 2007, a new stage in the development of the Internet in Azerbaijan has been the appearance on the market of satellite Internet services under the PeykDSL brand. Azerbaijani users have the opportunity to connect to high-speed Internet (up to 24,000 kbps) throughout the country.

The largest mobile operators are Bakcell, Azercell and Azerfon.

On the night of February 7-8, 2013, the first national space satellite AzerSat-1 was launched, which was produced by the American company Orbital Sciences Corporation. The launch of the second Azerspace-2 satellite is scheduled for 2017. In addition, Azercosmos OJSC has launched a project to put into operation the CanSat student nanosatellite.

On May 12, 2017, the domain addresses of several independent opposition news websites were blocked in Azerbaijan. In terms of Internet freedom, Azerbaijan lags far behind its neighbors Armenia and Georgia. As of 2019, according to a Freedom House report, Azerbaijan is listed among countries with non-free internet.

 

Tourism

An industry that has grown rapidly in recent years. Medical tourism is developing especially intensively. Every year about 1.5 million people come to Azerbaijan as tourists. This is primarily due to the fact that the country is located between Europe and Asia. This is also due to the fact that, out of 11 existing climatic zones of the planet, 9 are represented on the territory of the country, ranging from subtropics to high-mountain alpine meadows.

For tourists visiting Azerbaijan, excursion tours are organized with visits to historical sights of Shamakhi, Ismayilli, Baku, Sheki, Gakh, Guba, beach tours in Baku, Nabran, Khudat, Khachmaz, Lenkoran, Astara and medical tours and rest on thermal waters in Massaly, Naftalan . Rest on mineral waters in Ganja is also popular.

For the development of mountain tourism, an infrastructure was created with a network of five-star hotels in the Gabala region, and in 2011 a modern international-class ski resort was put into operation at the foot of Shahdag Mountain in the Qusar region. There are over 130 museums in the country.

According to a report prepared by the World Travel and Tourism Council, Azerbaijan is among the top ten countries that experienced the strongest growth in visitor traffic in 2010-2016. In addition, Azerbaijan ranked first (46.1%) among the fastest growing countries in the field of tourism.

According to the British magazine Wanderlust, Azerbaijan ranks first in the top 5 countries in terms of the simplified system for obtaining electronic visas.

 

Culture

The culture of Azerbaijan in the course of its development was influenced by both Islam and European cultural traditions. In the XIV-XV centuries, with the beginning of the formation of the Azerbaijani Turkic-speaking ethnos - the main people inhabiting Azerbaijan, its culture arose, which did not initially have its own stable centers, and it is rather difficult for this time to separate it from the Ottoman culture. In the 15th century, 2 centers of Azerbaijani culture were formed - South Azerbaijan and Plain Karabakh, which finally took shape later, in the 16th-18th centuries. Speaking about the emergence of Azerbaijani culture in the 14th-15th centuries, one should bear in mind, first of all, literature and other parts of culture that are organically connected with the language. As for the material culture, it remained traditional even after the Turkization of the local population. Having become independent, Azerbaijani culture retained close ties with Iranian and Arabic. They were held together by a common religion and common cultural and historical traditions. The peculiarity of Azerbaijani culture lies in the interweaving of Persian influence, common Caucasian features and Turkic heritage. Two centuries of being a part of the Russian Empire had a great influence. At present, one can also talk about the strengthening of Western influence, which is facilitated by the globalization of consumer culture.

Architecture
The earliest surviving structures in Azerbaijan include the temples in the Tsakhur villages of Kum and Lekit and the foundations of the Maiden's Tower in Baku. The architecture of the early feudal period on the territory of Azerbaijan is characterized by huge defensive structures: Beshbermak, Gilgilchay (see also Chirag-gala), Shamakhi (see also Gulistan) and Zakatala. The oldest Islamic buildings are the mosques of the 8th century in Akhsu and the Juma mosque in Shamakhi.

After the annexation of Azerbaijan to Russia (XIX century), the influence of Russian building culture also affects Azerbaijani architecture. In Baku, for example, elements of Russian and Western European classicism are combined with traditional methods of planning and composition, national architectural forms and decor motifs. A type of city house with glazed galleries began to spread - "shushebend".

Of the architects who contributed to the creation of the modern look of Baku, we should mention Ziver-bek Akhmedbekov, Gavriil Ter-Mikelov, Joseph Goslavsky, Kassym-bek Hajibababekov, Joseph Ploshko and others.

Buildings built by such architects and engineers as M. G. Hajinsky, K. Ismailov and Kerbalai Sefikhan Karabagi combine traditional and romantic elements. This trend is especially noticeable in the work of Karabagy, who designed many buildings in Aghdam, Fuzuli and Shusha. For his projects (for example, for the mosque in Aghdam and Barda), simple devices based on Azerbaijani architectural traditions were used.

The most outstanding contribution to the creation of the modern image of the city of Baku was made by the People's Architect of the USSR Mikael Useynov, according to whose designs many buildings were built, which are the hallmark of the city. Among the architects of the Soviet era, one can name the Honored Art Worker of the Azerbaijan SSR Sadykh Dadashev, the Honored Architect of Azerbaijan Talaat Khanlarov.

Painting and sculpture
On the territory of Azerbaijan in the Middle Ages, artists were mainly engaged in calligraphy. The traditional illustration of books continued into the following centuries. From the 17th to the 19th centuries, many Azerbaijani artists, using oil paints, took part in the paintings of residential buildings, palaces, and baths. At the same time, they painted not only decorative motifs, but also historical ones - portraits, scenes of hunting and battles. As an example, we can cite the murals of the Khan's palace in Sheki, made by Gambar, the palaces of Hussein-Kuli-khan in Baku, the murals of the rooms of the Sardar Palace in Erivan, made by Navvab.

In the 19th century, the new progressive fine arts in Azerbaijan, in comparison with literature, showed a certain lag in development. Easel realistic art developed extremely slowly. In the second half of the 19th century, in painting (wall paintings, portrait), along with traditional flatness and decorativeness, realistic features are tangible, attempts at three-dimensional plastic modeling of forms, the desire to convey portrait similarity (decorative style artists Mirza Kadym Erivani, Mir Mohsun Navvab, Usta Gambar Karabagi) .

In the 1920s, artists of the realistic democratic trend came forward - the graphic artist A. A. Azimzade and the painter B. Sh. Kangerli, Alibek Huseynzade (1864-1940). Of the artists of the second half of the 20th century, the most famous are Tahir Salakhov, Sattar Bahlulzade, Mikail Abdullaev, Vidadi Narimanbekov, Rasim Babaev, Sanan Kurbanov and Togrul Narimanbekov.

 

In the Middle Ages, on the territory of various settlements, stone figures of ancestors, known as a woman (meaning "forefather" in Azerbaijani), were placed. Everywhere in Azerbaijan, in the valleys, forests and mountains, there were stone figures of rams (symbols of wealth) and saddled horses. Tombstones and walls were often decorated with relief carvings, which reached their peak in the design of the buildings of the Absheron Peninsula.

In the second half of the 19th century, due to the rapid growth of Baku and the need to decorate new buildings in the "historical" style and sculptures, there was also a revival of stone carving. In the early 1920s, monumental compositions appeared in sculpture. Since 1920, several Russian sculptors lived in Baku. The first sculpture workshop was organized by S. Gorodetsky. In the 1920s, many squares were decorated with sculptures of historical figures. The role of sculpture intensified in the 1930s-1950s. An example is the monument to M.F. Akhundov (P.V. Sabsay, 1930), Nizami Ganjavi (F.G. Abdurakhmanov, 1949), Khurshidban Natavan (O.G. Eldarov, 1960).

Since 1970, sculptors have been creating their works of wood, marble and granite. Restrained plastic forms are observed in the works of G. G. Abdullaev. The works of F. E. Salaev show the canons of classical sculpture.

Folklore
Among the works of folk art, one can single out labor, historical, lyrical, ritual songs (“Hey, lalla” - wedding, etc.), comic (“Eri, yori” - “Go, go”, etc.), etc., legendary, love and historical-heroic epic works (dastans), fairy tales, humoresques (latifa), proverbs and sayings, riddles.

The first monument in the Turkic language is considered to be "The Book of My Grandfather Korkut" - the epic of the Oguz tribes, which later became part of the Turkmen, Azerbaijani and Turkish peoples. The epic originated in Central Asia, but was finally formed on the territory of present-day Azerbaijan, where the Oguzes lived more compactly.

The main place in Azerbaijani folklore is occupied by the dastans of the 16th-17th centuries, Koro-oglu (Koroglu), Asli and Kerem, Ashik-Gharib, Shah Ismail and others, many of which reflect real events. Starting from the 16th-17th centuries, verses of folk singers - ashugs were recorded. The works of Gurbani, Sary-ashug, Alesker ashug, Abbas Tufarganly ashug, Valeh ashug and others are known.

Azerbaijani fairy tales are conditionally divided into three types according to their essence and content: “tales about animals”, “tales about ordinary people” and “fairy tales”. Among the heroes of folk tales, Jirtdan, Tyk-tyk Khanym, Melik-Mammad, Ovchi-Pirim, Gokchek Fatma, etc. are popular.

Literature
The founder of poetry in the Azerbaijani language and the first poet in Azerbaijani literature is the author of the turn of the 13th-14th centuries Hasanoglu Izzeddin. Imadeddin Nasimi played an outstanding role in the development of Azerbaijani poetry. In the 15th century, lyric poems in Azerbaijani under the pseudonym Khagigi were written by the Sultan of the State of Kara-Koyunlu Jahanshah, as well as the ruler of the State of Ak-Koyunlu, Sultan Yagub. The poet Kishveri was close to the court of Sultan Yagub.

Among the Azerbaijani authors of the 16th century, one can note Shah Ismail I, who wrote under the poetic pseudonym Khatai, the author of the poem "Dahnameh" ("Ten Letters"). Habibi, who was called the “king of poets”, lived at his court. In the same period, the poet Fizuli created, writing equally elegantly in his native Azerbaijani, Persian and Arabic languages. Saib Tabrizi, Govsi Tabrizi, Mohammed Amani, Tarzi Afshar and Tasir Tabrizi wrote in Iranian Azerbaijan in the 17th-18th centuries. The poem "Varga and Gulsha" came from the poet Mesikha.

In the 18th century, the poets of the Shirvan school - Shakir, Nishat and Makhjur - wrote. During this period, the impact on literature of oral folk literature, ashug poetry increased. The founder of realism in Azerbaijani literature was the poet and vizier at the court of the Karabakh Khan Molla Panah Vagif. The poet Molla Veli Vidadi sang of honesty, courage, the power of wisdom and reason.

After the territory of the current Azerbaijan Republic became part of the Russian Empire in the 19th century, the local population was cut off from the Persian tradition and joined the Russian-European one. Qasim-bey Zakir, Seyid Abulgasim Nebati, Seyid Azim Shirvani, Khurshidbanu Natavan, Abbasgulu aga Bakikhanov, Mirza Shafi Vazeh, Ismail-bek Gutkashinly, Jalil Mammadquluzadeh created during this period. In the middle of the century, Azerbaijani dramaturgy was born, among the prominent representatives of which one can single out the founder of Azerbaijani literary criticism Mirza Fatali Akhundov, who wrote six comedies and one story in the period from 1850 to 1857, Najaf-bek Vezirov, who in 1896 created the first Azerbaijani tragedy "Woe Fakhreddin. In Iranian Azerbaijan, such poets as Seyid Abdulgasem Nabati and the poetess Kheyran-khanum create. In the Azerbaijani literature of that period, ashug poetry also occupied a large place.

 

At the beginning of the 20th century, Muhammad Hadi, who became the founder of progressive romanticism in Azerbaijani literature, as well as Hussein Javid, Mikayil Mushfig, Abbas Sikhhat, began their work. Among the prominent literary figures of Soviet Azerbaijan, one can name the first national poet of Azerbaijan, Samed Vurgun, Suleyman Rustam, Rasul Rzu, Mamed Said Ordubadi, Mirza Ibrahimov, Bakhtiyar Vahabzade, and others. At that time, Muhammad Hussein Shahriyar, Samad Behrangi, and others worked in Iranian Azerbaijan.

Of the writers of modern Azerbaijan, the most famous among Russian-speaking readers were screenwriter Rustam Ibragimbekov and author of detective novels Chingiz Abdullayev, who wrote exclusively in Russian. Poetry is represented by such poets as Nariman Hasanzade, Khalil Rza, Sabir Novruz, Vagif Samadoglu, Nusrat Kesemenli, Ramiz Rovshan, Hamlet Isakhanly, Zalimkhan Yagub and others.

After Azerbaijan gained state independence, culture, including Azerbaijani literature, needed state support. The large-scale activities carried out in this regard are at the same time a serious guarantee of the development and achievement of new successes in Azerbaijani literature and the science of literary criticism. On the personal initiative and under the direct leadership of Heydar Aliyev, the alleged 1300th anniversary of the Turkic epic Kitabi Dede Gorgud, the 500th anniversary of the poet Muhammad Fuzuli were widely celebrated.

Of great importance in revitalizing the literary process, the arrival of new talented authors in the world of creativity was a special decree of the Azerbaijani government on regular financing from the state budget of the country of such literary bodies as the magazines "Azerbaijan", "Literary Azerbaijan", "Ulduz", "Gobustan" and the newspaper "Edebiyyat gazeti" (Literary newspaper).

In accordance with the orders of the President of Azerbaijan dated January 12, 2004 "On the implementation of mass publications in the Azerbaijani language in Latin script" and on December 27, 2004 "On the approval of the list of works to be published in the Azerbaijani language in Latin script in 2005-2006" were published in mass works of outstanding representatives of Azerbaijani and world literature were donated and donated to the entire library network of the country. Under both orders, books from the cycle of Azerbaijani and world literature, as well as dictionaries and encyclopedias with a total circulation of more than 9 million copies have already been sent to libraries and made available to readers.

Music
Over the centuries, Azerbaijani music has developed within the framework of folklore art. There was a folk song art that multifacetedly reflected various aspects of national life. Dance music is an independent area in Azerbaijani musical folklore. Tar, saz, canon, ud, kemancha, tyutek, balaban, zurna, nagara, gosha-nagara, def, etc. are distinguished among folk musical instruments. And the Azerbaijani art of playing the tar is included in the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage.

Folk art is also represented by the art of ashugs, subject to certain stylistic rules. Ashugs perform dastans (tales) - heroic (“Kor-ogly”), lyrical (“Asli and Kerem”, “Ashug Garib”), songs-dialogues - deyishme (musical and poetic competitions of 2 ashugs), accompanying themselves on the saz. In 2009, Azerbaijani ashug art was included in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO. Among the outstanding ashugs of the past, one can name Gurbani, Heste Kasum, Abbas Tufarganli, Alesker.

The emergence of mughams is associated with the development of urban culture in the Middle Ages. Mugham performers are professional musicians who make up vocal and instrumental ensembles consisting of: khanende (singer), tarist, kemanchist. The texts of mughams are mainly verses of classical poets. There are such mugham players as Jabbar Karyaghdioglu, Mejid Beybutov, Seyid Shushinsky, Zyulfugar Adygozalov, Khan Shushinsky, Shovket Alekperova, Alim Qasimov, tar players Sadykh Asad ogly, or Sadykhdzhan (a tar reenactor and founder of the modern school of playing this instrument), Kurban Pirimov and others. Most of the mugham players come from Karabakh. Mughams were explored by Mir Mohsun Navvab. In 2008, UNESCO declared Azerbaijani mugham one of the masterpieces of the oral and intangible cultural heritage of mankind.

 

The foundation of modern musical culture was laid by Uzeyir Gadzhibekov, who created the first Azerbaijani opera “Leyli and Majnun” based on the poem of the same name by Fizuli (1908), the operetta “Arshin mal alan” (1913) and others. M. Bagirov, G. Hajibababekov, M. Aliyev, Ahmed Agdamsky.

In 1940, the composer Afrasiyab Badalbeyli composed the first Azerbaijani ballet and the first ballet in the Muslim East, The Maiden Tower.

Among the Azerbaijani composers, one can single out Kara Karaev, Fikret Amirov, Arif Melikov, Eldar Mansurov, the founder of Azerbaijani jazz Vagif Mustafa-zade, who created a new musical genre - jazz-mugham, mixing elements of jazz with Azerbaijani folk music. Such singers as Muslim Magomayev, Rashid Behbudov, Lutfiyar Imanov, Frangiz Akhmedova, Shovket Mammadova, Bulbul, his son Polad Bul-Bul Ogly were popular. For a long time, the Azerbaijani symphony orchestra was led by conductor Niyazi. In 2009, Azerbaijani Aysel Teymurzade and singer Arash with Azerbaijani roots took 3rd place at the Eurovision Song Contest, and 2 years later, the duet Ell & Nikki took 1st.

The musical culture of the Talysh living in Azerbaijan is close to the Azerbaijani one, and they also have their own features, for example, Talysh labor songs performed while working in the rice fields, wedding songs. The Talysh folklore ensemble "Grandmothers" is popular in the country. Among the Kurds of Azerbaijan, such musical instruments as belur (a type of flute), daf (drum, which was struck with two sticks), shevebi (wind instrument like an oboe), etc., were also common. In 1996, the Lezgi instrumental ensemble "Suvar" was created whose repertoire includes folk songs and dances.

Every year, Azerbaijan hosts such international music festivals as the World of Mugham, the Gabala Classical Music Festival, the festival dedicated to Uzeyir Gadzhibekov, and the Baku Jazz Festival. And in 2012, the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was held in Baku.

 

Cuisine

Azerbaijani national food is very diverse, numbering dozens of different dishes: dairy, meat, flour, vegetables, etc. The methods of cooking and eating food themselves are different and diverse. In the past, food also differed depending on geographical conditions and the social status of people.

In the diet of Azerbaijanis, a significant place is occupied by bread, which is baked on an iron slightly convex sheet of saj, in tendirs, where churek and lavash are mainly baked. In spring and autumn, they cook gutab - a kind of pies stuffed with meat and herbs. Various meat dishes. Basdirma is prepared from fresh lamb and beef, from which barbecue is then made. The most common dish is piti and bozbash (thick mutton soups). Chopped lamb seasoned with rice and spices is wrapped in cabbage leaves (this dish is called dolmasy's kelem), in salted and fresh grape leaves (dolmasyyarpag), eggplants and tomatoes are stuffed. Lule kabab is prepared from finely chopped lamb mixed with onions and spices. Rice dishes are widespread in Azerbaijan, which is mainly used for cooking pilaf, numbering up to 50 types. The most common bird meat dish is chygartma.

Sweets in the form of peculiar sweets are common - nogul, alarm, as well as gata, baklava and shekerbura. There are up to dozens of types of halva - such as jam, from sesame seeds, from various nuts, etc. Tea, which accompanies or even precedes meals, plays an important role in the diet of Azerbaijanis. Tea is considered in Azerbaijan the best way to quench thirst in hot weather (for more details, see the article Azerbaijan tea culture). Water sweetened with honey - sherbet - is also used as a drink.

Carpet weaving
One of the types of decorative and applied art of Azerbaijan is the Azerbaijani carpet. Carpet weaving was the most common classical type of craft in Azerbaijan. The main centers of carpet weaving were Guba, Shirvan, Ganja, Gazakh, Karabakh, Baku with suburban villages. They are distinguished by rich color, built on a combination of local intense tones. In Karabakh, for example, silk carpets were woven, which were highly valued in the markets of Western Europe and America.

One-sided carpets with pile were made - chaly, gebe and one-sided lint-free carpets - sumakh and return, lint-free double-sided carpets - zili, palas and kilim. Saddlecloths (chul) for horses and camels, bags (chuval), saddlebags (khurjin) were made from lint-free fabric. Carpets are woven on vertical looms - khana. One or two, or even 3 women or more work on the carpet loom. The ornament of Azerbaijani carpets is decorative, consisting of geometric (rhombuses, squares, meanders), plant motifs, among which the stylized image of the almond fruit (buta) predominates, there are images of animals and birds.

At the end of the 20th century, carpet weaving in Azerbaijan becomes one of the important sectors of the economy. Today, carpet weaving is successfully developing in many regions of Azerbaijan, in total there are over 20 large and medium-sized carpet weaving factories in Azerbaijan. In particular, in Quba, Qusar, Kurdamir, Ganja, Shamakhi, Shabran, Kazakh, Tovuz, Sheki and Baku, carpet weaving production continues to develop the ancient traditions of the art of carpet weaving. A famous carpet weaver was Latif Karimov, whose name is the Carpet Museum in Baku.

In November 2010, "The traditional art of carpet weaving in Azerbaijan" was included in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The Azerbaijan Carpet Museum was founded in 1967, becoming the world's first specialized museum for the collection, preservation and study of carpet, and in 2014 a new exposition was opened in the new building of the museum in the form of a rolled carpet.

 

Holidays and memorable days

The following holidays and memorable dates are officially celebrated in Azerbaijan:
January 1 New Year
January 20 Black January
February 26 Khojaly genocide
March 8 International Women's Day
March 21 Novruz Bayramy
March 31 - Day of the Genocide of Azerbaijanis
May 9 Victory Day
May 28 Republic Day
June 15 National Salvation Day
June 26 Day of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan
October 18 Independence Day
November 8 Victory Day in the Patriotic War 2020
November 9 Day of the State Flag of the Republic of Azerbaijan
November 12 Constitution Day
November 17 National Revival Day
December 31 Day of Solidarity of Azerbaijanis around the World

 

Education

In the period 2004-2008, significant progress was made in the field of education in Azerbaijan. The state pays great attention to the field of education. Large funds are allocated in the expenditures of the state budget of Azerbaijan for the purpose of education. Spending on education is in second place after spending on the army. In 2009, they amounted to approximately 1 billion manats ($0.58 billion), which made it possible to strengthen the material and technical base of education, as well as bring curricula in line with the highest world standards.

The leading universities in Azerbaijan are:
Baku State University;
Azerbaijan State University of Oil and Industry;
Azerbaijan Medical University;
Azerbaijan State Economic University;
Khazar University;
Ganja State University.

Social politics
As of July 01, 2020, the number of pensioners in Azerbaijan amounted to 1 million 257.4 thousand people.
As of July 01, 2021, the number of pensioners amounted to 1 million 214.1 thousand people. As of September 2021, the number of pensioners by age amounted to 709 thousand people.
The average monthly pension in 2021 was 358 manats.

Taxation
As of June 2022, the amount of personal income tax is 14% for taxes up to AZN 2,500 per month inclusive. For taxes over AZN 2,500 - AZN 350 + 25% on income over AZN 2,500.

Corporate income tax is 20%.

Sport
Some sports in the country have ancient roots and are traditional, for example, the game of chovgan. Many types of wrestling are traditionally considered national sports in Azerbaijan. Currently, the most popular sports in Azerbaijan are boxing, wrestling, karate, weightlifting, football and chess.

Gymnastics
In 1994, the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation became part of the International Gymnastics Federation, and in 2003, the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup was held in Baku. In September of the same year, an Olympic license was won at the 26th World Championships. In 2014, the National Gymnastics Arena was built.

Football
Football is one of the key areas of sports activity in the republic. Football has been considered one of the most beloved sports in Azerbaijan for many decades. Azerbaijan has given the football world a lot of bright names, including representatives of many nationalities - Tofig Bakhramov, Sergey Kramarenko, Nazim Suleymanov, Anatoly Banishevsky, Alekper Mammadov, Yuri Kuznetsov, Eduard Markarov, Vyacheslav Semiglazov, Kazbek Tuaev, Ahmed Aleskerov, Alexander Zhidkov, Veli Kasumov, Dmitry Kramarenko, Lev Mayorov, Igor Ponomarev and others.

AFFA is an organization that controls and manages football in the country. The headquarters is in Baku. There are also regional offices. He is engaged in the organization of the national championship, the country's cup, the super cup, games of the national teams, support, development and popularization of all football in general. In 1994, AFFA was admitted to UEFA and FIFA.

Chess
Chess is one of the most popular sports in the country. Managed by the Azerbaijan Chess Federation. The game of chess appeared on the territory of modern Azerbaijan presumably in the 5th-6th centuries. Mentions of chess are found in the works of Khagani, Nizami, Fizuli and others. The writer and philosopher Mirza Fatali Akhundov in the poem "The Game of Shatranj" (1864) outlined the rules of the chess game by means of poetry.

The strongest grandmasters of independent Azerbaijan are Vugar Gashimov, Teymur Rajabov and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who are part of the world chess elite.

Sports events 2005—2020 in Azerbaijan
World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship 2005;
World Wrestling Championship 2007;
European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship 2009;
European Wrestling Championship 2010;
World Boxing Championship 2011;
FIFA World Cup 2012 (girls under 17);
Tour of Azerbaijan 2013;
European Olympic Games 2015;
Formula 1 - European Grand Prix;
Chess Olympiad 2016;
Islamic Solidarity Games 2017;
UEFA Europa League Final 2019;
European Football Championship 2020.

 

Science

At present, there are 145 scientific institutions in the republic, including 96 scientific institutes. The main scientific association of the republic is the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan (ANAS) - the successor of the Academy of Sciences of the Azerbaijan SSR, established in the city of Baku in 1945, on the basis of the Azerbaijan branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

In 1995, a network of academic institutions was created in Azerbaijan, which united the main scientific institutions and academic institutions, including organizations of state structures. Through fiber-optic and leased channels, the academic network connected all the main buildings of the academy. In August 2000, ANAS and the leading universities of the Republic established the Association of Research and Educational Networks of Azerbaijan AzRENA, which is a non-governmental organization.

Sea transport
Since 1962, a ferry service has been operating from the Baku International Port to the Turkmen port of Turkmenbashi. In recent years, tanker transportation of oil from Kazakhstan has increased dramatically.

The main port is Baku, connected by railway ferries with the ports of the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea (Turkmenbashi, Aktau, Garabogaz). The largest Azerbaijani shipping company is the Caspian Shipping Company - Kaspar, which is also the largest shipping company in the Caspian basin. Kaspar is engaged in the transportation of all types of cargo, but oil and oil products account for a significant share in transportation, the company also carries out passenger transportation, and is the operator of the Baku-Turkmenbashi, Baku-Aktau railway ferry crossing. Kaspar also owns a number of shipyards.

In total, 8 ferry crossings operate in Azerbaijan, 4 of them belong to Baku. One of them is Baku-Turkmenbashi, established in 1962, the Baku-Aktau and Baku-Karabogaz crossings, opened in the mid-1970s. Also in the early 90s of the 20th century, the Baku-Astrakhan ferry service began to operate with full rights. In addition to Baku ports, there are also crossings from other coastal cities of Azerbaijan: Sumgayit - Turkmenbashi, Lankaran - Atyrau, Neftchala - Rasht, Astara - Derbent. These crossings opened in 1998.

The fleet of Kaspar consists of 86 vessels with a total deadweight of 483,782 tons, of which 41 are tankers, 35 dry cargo ships, 10 auxiliary vessels. There are also 3 Ro-Ro type 3 vessels (railway-road), 7 ferries (railway-passenger), passenger ships and boats.

Railway transport
Railways are one of the main modes of transport in Azerbaijan, they account for about 40% of freight traffic (2007) and up to 25% of passenger traffic. The length of railways is 2195 km. A railway line connecting Russia and Iran passes through Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan Railways is the national operator of the Azerbaijani railway network with 100% state capital. The company was established in the summer of 2009 on the basis of the Azerbaijan State Railway, functionally replacing it.

The Baku Metro was opened on November 6, 1967. It consists of three lines: red, green and purple, the total length is 36.7 km, it has 25 stations.

Air transport
Airports
The largest cities of Azerbaijan are connected by air with Baku and among themselves. The largest airport is located in Baku, from where regular international flights are made. In addition to Baku, regular international flights are also made from Ganja, Lankaran, Nakhichevan, Zagatala and Gabala. The state organization in the field of management and regulation in the civil aviation of Azerbaijan is the State Administration for Aviation Transport.

The country has 32 airports, 6 of which are international.

Airlines
The largest airline in the country is AZAL. The airline operates domestic flights, flights from Moscow to the cities of Azerbaijan, flights from Baku to the countries of the CIS, EU, Asia. After purchasing a new batch of long-range Boeing aircraft, it is planned to open permanent routes to the countries of North America and Southeast Asia.

 

Armed Forces of Azerbaijan

The Armed Forces of Azerbaijan is a state military organization designed for the armed defense of the freedom, independence and territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Consists of ground forces, air force, air defense forces and naval forces. The number of armed forces of Azerbaijan in 2011 was 66,940 people, of which 56,840 were in the ground forces, 2,200 in the country's naval forces, and 7,900 military personnel were employed in the air force.

June 26, 1918 is considered the day of the Azerbaijan Army, however, modern armed forces appeared during the years of the Karabakh war on the basis of the unification of local city militias, self-defense units. On October 9, 1991, a decree was issued on the creation of an army within a three-month period, but in reality the army was created only by the end of 1993.

Since its inception, the Azerbaijani army has been closely cooperating with the Turkish Armed Forces in the field of arms supplies. The NAA also cooperates with the Armed Forces of Russia, Israel, Ukraine, the USA, and Pakistan.

Air Force
The Air Force of Azerbaijan is a branch of the armed forces designed to conduct combat operations in the air and strike at ground targets. The number is 7900 people.

Ground troops
The ground forces of Azerbaijan are a type of armed forces designed to conduct combat operations mainly on land. They consist of motorized rifle, tank, artillery and engineering troops. The number is 74,000 people.

Peacekeeping contingent
Since September 1999, Azerbaijani military personnel have been carrying out peacekeeping activities as part of the international peacekeeping forces in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. The peacekeeping detachment as part of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces was created in 1997, later it was reorganized into a peacekeeping battalion.

Kosovo
A platoon of 34 Azerbaijani peacekeepers, consisting of one officer, one sergeant and 32 privates, has been serving in Kosovo since September 1999 as part of a Turkish battalion. On March 4, 2008, the Milli Mejlis adopted a draft on the withdrawal of troops. On April 15, 2008, the platoon returned to Azerbaijan.

Iraq
Azerbaijani servicemen have been in Iraq since 2003 by the decision of the UN Security Council. Azerbaijani servicemen, consisting of 14 officers, 16 sergeants and 120 privates, guarded a hydroelectric power station and a reservoir in the Iraqi city of Al-Khadita. In accordance with the decision of the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan dated November 11, 2008, a peacekeeping contingent of 150 servicemen of the Azerbaijani armed forces completed their mission in Iraq and returned home, where they were solemnly welcomed by representatives of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic, the ambassadors of the United States and Iraq in Azerbaijan, as well as relatives and friends military personnel.

Afghanistan
90 Azerbaijani peacekeepers serve in the structure of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. These soldiers are on post-patrol duty in Kabul.

Special units
There are: Special forces of the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan and special forces of the Navy (battalion of marines of the Azerbaijani Navy). The personnel of the special forces units are being trained by instructors from the Navy SEALs of the US Navy and the Turkish Armed Forces.

Ministry of Defense Industry of Azerbaijan
The Ministry of Defense Industry of Azerbaijan was established by the Decree of the President of Azerbaijan dated December 16, 2005. The Ministry includes 19 enterprises. For 4 years, the ministry has achieved great success. At the moment, Azerbaijan is negotiating the export of 27 types of defense products. The main products are the IST Istiglal large-caliber sniper rifle, as well as APCMatador, Marauder armored vehicles developed jointly with the South African company Paramount Group. In addition to them, the ministry produces more than 400 types of products.