Azerbaijan

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    Nagorno-Karabakh: A Limbo with No End
    It could be viewed as a success. According to the UN's refugee agency, the UNHCR, 21 percent of refugees in Armenia have gained Armenian citizenship since 1995. That, says the UNHCR, is one of the highest rates of voluntary naturalization anywhere in the world in recent decades.... More
    Border crossing
    There nothing like a border crossing to get a travel geek's heart racing.... More
    Fears Of Separatism Arise After UN Ruling
    The World Court’s opinion that Kosovo’s unilateral secession from Serbia was not illegal will send a chill through other countries that have restive minorities keen to follow Kosovo’s example.... More
    Turkey Steps Up Support for Strategic Azerbaijani Exclave of Nakhchivan
    Longtime Azerbaijani ally Turkey appears to be taking on a larger role in supporting the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, an Azerbaijani exclave sandwiched between Armenia and Iran. The first steps in this intensified cooperation are taking shape just months after plans for rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia went into cold storage.... More
    Countering Turkey’s Strategic Drift
    Abstract: For decades, Turkey and the United States cooperated in the Mediterranean, the Persian Gulf, Central Asia, and even Korea. However, Turkish and U.S. interests in the Balkans, Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Middle East, and the Persian Gulf have recently diverged.... More
    Azerbaijan Map

    Latitude: 40.14311 Longtitude: 47.57693

    Location:
    Southwestern Asia, bordering the Caspian Sea, between Iran and Russia, with a small European portion north of the Caucasus range

    Border Countries:
    Armenia (with Azerbaijan-proper) 566 km, Armenia (with Azerbaijan-Naxcivan exclave) 221 km, Georgia 322 km, Iran (with Azerbaijan-proper) 432 km, Iran (with Azerbaijan-Naxcivan exclave) 179 km, Russia 284 km, Turkey 9 km

    Terrain:
    large, flat Kur-Araz Ovaligi (Kura-Araks Lowland) (much of it below sea level) with Great Caucasus Mountains to the north, Qarabag Yaylasi (Karabakh Upland) in west; Baku lies on Abseron Yasaqligi (Apsheron Peninsula) that juts into Caspian Sea

    Geography:
    both the main area of the country and the Naxcivan exclave are landlocked

    Capital:
    Baku (Baki, Baky)

    About Azerbaijan
    Azerbaijan - a nation with a majority-Turkic and majority-Muslim population - was briefly independent from 1918 to 1920; it regained its independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Despite a 1994 cease-fire, Azerbaijan has yet to resolve its conflict with Armenia over the Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh enclave (largely Armenian populated). Azerbaijan has lost 16% of its territory and must support some 600,000 internally displaced persons as a result of the conflict. Corruption is ubiquitous, and the government has been accused of authoritarianism. Although the poverty rate has been reduced in recent years, the promise of widespread wealth from development of Azerbaijan's energy sector remains largely unfulfilled.

    Population:
    8,177,717 (July 2008 est.)

    Language:
    Azerbaijani (Azeri) 90.3%, Lezgi 2.2%, Russian 1.8%, Armenian 1.5%, other 3.3%, unspecified 1% (1999 census)

    Religion:
    Muslim 93.4%, Russian Orthodox 2.5%, Armenian Orthodox 2.3%, other 1.8% (1995 est.)

    Phone Service:
    inadequate; requires considerable expansion and modernization; teledensity of 15 main lines per 100 persons is low; mobile-cellular penetration is increasing and is currently about 40 telephones per 100 persons

    Currency:
    Azerbaijani manat (AZN)

    Climate:
    dry, semiarid steppe

    Natural Hazards:
    droughts