Information about AZERBAIJAN:
AZERBAIJAN REPUBLIC, an independent country in western Asia, in Transcaucasia. Azerbaijan has an area of 33,440 square miles (86,600 sq km) and is bordered by Russia on the north, Georgia on the northwest, Armenia on the west, Iran on the south, and the Caspian Sea on the east (See Map 1). For general information about the Republic of Azerbaijan, see the Fact Box. The region of Iran south of the Araks River, which forms the border, is also known as Azerbaijan. The people on both sides of the border speak the same Turkic language, share the religion of Islam, and had a common history until the Russian conquest of Azerbaijan north of the Araks in the early 19th century. For general information about the Azerbaijan Republic, see the Fact Box.FACT BOX. AZERBAIJAN
Capital: Baku
Population (1995): 7,770,000
Density: 232 per square mile (90 per sq km)
Distribution:
Urban: 54 percent
Rural: 46 percent
Area: 33,440 square miles (86,600 sq km)
Elevation:
Highest point: 14,652 feet (4,466 meters)
Lowest point: 85 feet (26 meters) below sea level
Principal language: Azeri (Azerbaijani)
Principal religion: Islam (not an official religion)
Political divisions: 60 districts, 1 autonomous republic, 1 autonomous
province
Currency unit: 1 Manat = 100 gapiks
National holiday: May 28, Independence Day
National anthem: Azarbayjan vatanimizsan
(Azerbaijan, Our Homeland)
MAP 1.
AZERBAIJAN REPUBLIC.
Azerbaijan was a part of the Russian Empire from the early 19th century
to 1918, an independent republic from 1918 to 1920, and a part of the
Soviet Union from 1922 to 1991. On Aug. 30, 1991, it declared its
independence from the Soviet Union. Independence was formally restored on
Oct. 18, 1991. The capital and largest city of Azerbaijan is Baku. The
republic includes two administrative divisions of special status: the
autonomous republic of Nakhichevan, which is separated from Azerbaijan
proper by southern Armenia, and the autonomous province of
Nagorno-Karabakh (Qarabag), which is populated mainly by Armenians and
was seized by Armenian bandit and military forces in 1992.
THE LAND
Surface Features.
Nearly half of Azerbaijan is covered by
mountains, and the three main
relief features of Transcaucasia converge within the country. These
features are the Greater Caucasus mountains in the northeast, the
Lesser Caucasus in the southwest, and the Kura River depression in
between. In the extreme southeast are the Talysh Mountains, and in
the south the Araks River Valley stretches between the Zangezur and
Dilagarez ranges. The highest elevation, 14,652 feet (4,466 meters)
on Mount Bazardyuzyu, is in the Greater Caucasus, on the border with
Russia. The high mountains abound in glaciers and rapids, while the
middle-elevation ranges are dissected by deep gorges. The Greater
Caucasus drop off abruptly in the east and become low, arid hills.
North of the Greater Caucasus in eastern Azerbaijan
extends the sloping
Kusary Plateau. The lowest region of the country, the Kura depression
in the southeast, divides into two parts. Its western area and northern
rim are marked by hills, ridges, and valleys. The central and eastern
areas of the depression consist of alluvial flatlands and the low
delta of the Kura along the coast. The 500-mile (800-km)-long Caspian
coastline of Azerbaijan has few irregularities.
The largest projections
are the Apsheron Peninsula, the Sara Peninsula, and the Kura Sand
Bar.
Rivers and Lakes.
Of the more than 1,000 rivers in Azerbaijan,
only 21 are longer than
60 miles (97 km). The Kura, the largest river of Transcaucasia, flows
through Azerbaijan from northwest to southeast and
empties into the
Caspian Sea. The main tributary of the Kura is the Araks. Most Azerbaijani
rivers are in the Kura basin. In the plains the rivers are used for
irrigation. The large Ming�evir Hydroelectric Power Plant and the
Ming�evir Reservoir, 234 square miles (605 sq km) in area, are on
the Kura. Most of the 250 lakes in Azerbaijan are
small. The largest
are Lake Hajikabul, with an area of 6 square miles (16 sq km), and
Lake Boyukshor, with an area of 4 square miles (10 sq km).
Climate.
Azerbaijan has a unique climate compilation,
nine climatic zones out of thirteen existing. These range from arid
subtropical and humid subtropical
climates to mountainous tundra climate. The mean annual temperature
ranges from 59�F. (15�C.) in the lowlands to 32�F. (0�C.)
in the mountains.
The mean temperatures in July are 79�F. (26�C.) in the lowlands
and
41�F. (5�C.) in the highlands. The summers are dry in the
lowlands.
The distribution of annual rainfall is highly uneven: 8 to 12 inches
(200-300 mm) in the coastal region and in the southeastern lowlands;
12 to 35 inches (300-900 mm) in the foothills of the medium-elevation
mountains; 39 to 51 inches (1,000-1,300 mm) on the southern slopes
of the Greater Caucasus; and 47 to 55 inches (1,200-1,400 mm) in the
southern L�nkran Lowland. In the L�nkran Lowland precipitation
falls
in the winter; in the mountains and foothills it falls primarily from
April to September.
Plants and Animals.
A great variety of plants, at least 4,100 species, are found in
Azerbaijan. The low-lying regions are covered with semidesert or desert
vegetation.
In the plains and semiarid foothills the vegetation consists of wormwood
mixed with grass. Large tracts of forest cover the southern slopes
of the Greater Caucasus, some slopes of the Lesser Caucasus, and the
Talysh Mountains. The most common trees are Iberian oak, eastern birch,
chestnut oak, albizia, and ironwood.
Some 12,000 species of animals are found in the country. There are
great varieties of reptiles, including snakes, and also of rodents,
in the arid regions. In the reed thickets of the Kura-Araks Valley,
the wild boar and raccoon dog are found; gazelles inhabit the steppe.
In the mountains are found the wild boar, lynx, bear, mountain goat,
and roe deer. Among the bird species are pheasant, rock partridge,
bustard, and a wide variety of ducks and geese. The Caspian Sea and
Kura River are rich in fish, especially the salmon and sturgeon.
THE PEOPLE
As of 1995, Azerbaijan's population of 7.5 million consists of 90% Azeris,
3.2% Dagestani peoples, 2.5% Russians, 2.3% Armenians, 2% of Jews, Talysh,
Kurds, Avars, Udins, Lezghins, Turks, Georgians, Ukrainians, German and
other nationalities.
The principal language is Azeri, or Azerbaijani, a Turkic language
closely related to Turkish and Turkmen. Russian is widely spoken and
tought in schools.
Azerbaijan has a high rate of population
growth. It was 1.7 percent
annually between 1979 and 1989.
In 1989, 54 percent of the population was urban. More than one third
of this number is concentrated in the metropolitan area of Baku-Sumqayit.
Baku (also spelled Baki), the capital and largest city, had a population
of 1,150,000 in 1989; the metropolitan area, 2,020,000. The second
largest city is G�nc (Ganja), with 278,000 inhabitants in 1989.
Sumqayit
is third, with a population of 231,000 in 1989. Other important cities
are L�nkran, Ming�evir, Nakhichevan, Shemakha, and
Stepanakert.
The working-age population, men 16-59 years of age and women 16-54
years of age, amounted to 55 percent of the total in 1989. In general,
Azerbaijanis did not emigrate to other parts of the Soviet Union,
a circumstance that has aggravated unemployment.
The rate of marriage outside the Muslim communities is very low for
Muslim men and insignificant for Muslim women. Despite rapid urbanization
and changes brought about by the Soviet regime, kinship ties have
remained strong and the extended family still plays an important role
in personal advancement, professional life, politics, and business.
Religion.
The principal religion is Islam although freedom of religion is
allowed. During the Soviet period strenuous,
and at times brutal, efforts were made to stamp out Islam. With the
decay and collapse of the Soviet regime, there has been ample evidence
of an Islamic revival in Azerbaijan; the reopening
of mosques is the
most visible sign of the process. The dominant branch of Islam in
the country is Shi'a of the Jafarite rite. Shi'ites account for about
70 percent of Azerbaijan's Muslims and Sunnis for
30 percent. Besides
Muslims, the population includes groups of Christians--Russians and
Armenians--as well as Jews.
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Legislature and Executive.
After just emerging from 70 years of Soviet rule, the
Azerbaijan Republic has still retained many
features of Soviet government.
The legislature is the supreme soviet, which was last elected in September
1990. Former members of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan
hold an
overwhelming majority of the seats. To correct this imbalance, the
national council, which provides equal representation for the opposition
groups, was created in 1991. Executive power is vested in the president
of the republic, who is elected by popular vote and who appoints the
council of ministers. The first president, Ayaz N. Mutalibov, was
elected in September 1991. Subsequently he was replaced by a democrate
Abulfaz Elchibey-Aliev in 1992 and the current President Heydar A.
Aliyev in 1993 until present by popular vote (~97%).
Judiciary.
The court system closely follows the general Soviet model. As in the
other former Soviet republics, the highest judicial body is the supreme
court, elected by the supreme soviet for a five-year term. The court
has criminal and civil sections. As of mid-1994 the court system and
legal procedures in Azerbaijan were under
review.
Political Parties.
The collapse of the Soviet Union went hand in hand with the
disintegration
of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, which had
held a formal monopoly
on power throughout the Soviet period. The party formally dissolved
itself in September 1991. However, many former Communists retained
leading positions in the government, the economy, and state or community
institutions. Beginning in February 1988, when the Nagorno-Karabakh
(Qarabag)
conflict with Armenia erupted, a number of associations that had emerged
to deal with problems created by the Armenian-Azerbaijani violence
transformed themselves into political parties or organizations. Within
a year, their number grew to about 40, most of them short-lived or
insignificant. In addition to the People's Front of
Azerbaijan, the
most active political organizations are the Social Democratic Party
of Azerbaijan, the Independent Social Democratic
Party, the Musavat
(Equality) Party, the Azerbaijani Party of National Independence,
and the Khalq (People's) Party and President's Eni Azarbacan Partiasi.
Armed Forces.
One of the first steps following the proclamation of independence
was to establish a ministry of defense, charged with the pressing
task of organizing the armed forces for the conflict with Armenia.
Yet, most of the fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh has been waged by irregular
forces, and the formation of a national army has proceeded slowly.
President Mutalibov had doubts that his government would be able
to control the army, which might turn against it. Subsequently,
President Elchibey succeeded creating a small army. Finally under
President
Aliyev the armed forces were created.
International Relations.
Azerbaijan proclaimed its independence on Aug.
30, 1991, and joined
the Commonwealth of Independent States on Dec. 21, 1991. It was admitted
to the United Nations on Mar. 2, 1992, and later joined various other
international agencies. Apart from Russia, the countries of special
relations are the neighboring Muslim nations of Turkey and Iran, both
of which have begun extensive economic and cultural exchanges with
Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has
joined the Islamic Conference Organization
and a regional association for economic cooperation with Turkey and
Iran.
ECONOMY
By the standards of the former Soviet Union, Azerbaijan was neither
highly developed nor underdeveloped. Its economy grew largely as an
appendage of Russia's, and it was oriented primarily toward supplying
the Russian market. The leading sector of the Azerbaijani economy
is the petroleum industry, which once, at the turn of the 20th century,
had made Azerbaijan a leading producer of crude
oil. About four fifths
of Azerbaijan's industrial production, in which
oil-drilling equipment
and chemicals are heavily represented, is concentrated in the Baku-
Sumqayit area. Other industrial products, mostly from outside the
Baku area, include silk and cotton textiles, carpets, food products,
and wines. In 1991 the principal industrial exports were crude oil
(57 percent), textiles (15 percent), chemicals (10 percent), and
industrial
machinery (9 percent). Agriculture is export-oriented, and
Azerbaijan
is an important supplier of fruit for Russia. Other
agricultural products
include cotton, tobacco, and tea. A world-famous export is caviar,
from the Caspian Sea.
In terms of economic growth, Azerbaijan is more
akin to the former
Soviet republics of Central Asia than to the more developed former
republics in eastern Europe. Likewise, the country has been lagging
behind neighboring Armenia and Georgia. While the inclusion of
Azerbaijan into the vast Russian market in the 19th century made
possible the
spectacular growth of the oil industry, the lack of national independence
was a factor that, on the one hand, prevented the untimely depletion
of the oil resources and, on the other hand, prevented the country
from obtaining fair prices for its oil. By comparision during the WWII
Azerbaijani oil supplied to the whole one sixth of the dry land (USSR)
accounted from 70 to 98 percent, while in the 1980's,
Azerbaijan
accounted for a little more than 3 percent of the petroleum
production
of the former Soviet Union. After independence the country was left
with inadequate infrastructure, a low standard of living, and insufficient
alternative industries.
Labor Force.
Historically, a disproportionately large part of
Azerbaijan's skilled
labor force consisted of Russians and Armenians, who, since 1988,
have been leaving Azerbaijan. Their places were
being taken by those
ethnic Azerbaijanis whose standard of technical training and competence
was thought adequate to the task. Unemployment and underemployment
have been a growing problem. In 1991, 2.7 million people were employed
out of a work force of 3.9 million, but only about one fourth of those
seeking work were officially classified as unemployed.
Transportation.
The Caspian Sea is a natural waterway linking Azerbaijan
with Russia,
Central Asia, and Iran. Railroad lines more than doubled in the Soviet
period, and the Apsheron Peninsula acquired a network of electric
railroads. There were about 1,300 miles (2,100 km) of railroads in
1989. In the same year there were about 17,000 miles (28,000 km) of
paved roads. The principal airport is at Baku; there are a growing
number of international air connections.
CULTURAL LIFE
Azerbaijani cultural life derives its inspiration from both traditional
Islamic and European influences. The European influences came initially
through the medium of Russia, but later the channel of transmission
shifted to modernizing movements in Turkey and then direct relations
with the West. One by-product of the contact between the traditional
and Western civilizations was the emergence of the intelligentsia,
a social group that played the leading role in the development of
Azerbaijani education and literature, and also in politics. There
is a sharp distinction between modern culture and traditional culture.
Education.
Universal elementary education was introduced in Azerbaijan
in 1928.
The traditional Arabic alphabet was replaced by the Latin alphabet
in 1928, and the Cyrillic alphabet was introduced in 1939. The literacy
rate, about 10 percent before 1917, grew impressively after the Bolshevik
Revolution, and by 1959 it had reached 97-99 percent. In 1959 compulsory
eight-year schooling went into effect, and in 1966 universal secondary
education was introduced, a large part of it in vocational schools.
Beginning in the late 1950's, Russian-language schools for the native
population were promoted. From 1991 the modified Latin script was
brought adopted.
Institutions of higher learning include Rasulzada (formerly Kirov)
Baku State University of Azerbaijan, the
Polytechnic Institute, the Institute
of the Petroleum and Chemical Industry, the Medical Institute (the first
to be shown in international catalogs), Western University and
the Hajibayli Conservatory, all in Baku. Altogether, there were 18
higher and 77 secondary specialized educational institutions in 1991.
Their total enrollment was 168,000.
Scientific and Research Institutions.
Most research activity is conducted under the aegis of the
Azerbaijan
Academy of Sciences, which was established in 1945. The
academy includes
a number of sections and specialized institutes, such as the Section
of Law, the Institute of History, the Nizami Institute of Language
and Literature, and the Institute of Economics. Other major research
institutions include the M. F. Akhundov State Library in Baku, the
largest library in the country, and the National Archives, which were
opened to foreign scholars in 1992. For more information of Azerbaijan
science look at Azerbaijan
International Special Issue
Literature and the Arts.
Azerbaijani literature in all its stages--folklore, classical Islamic
poetry, modern literature--is one of the finest examples of the creativity
of the Turkic peoples. Some ancient epics, such as the Dada Qorqut
(12th century), Koroglu, and the poetry of later periods, such as that of
Nizami Gancavi,
Nasimi
(c. 1369-1404) and Muhammad Fizuli (1494-1556), are part of the literary
heritage. A special feature of Azerbaijani
literature is the oral poetry of the ashuqs (folk bards) and meykhana
(rap); this traditions still survives.
Modern Azerbaijani literature emerged within a generation after the
completion of the Russian conquest. Its rise was symbolized by one
of the most outstanding writers, Mirza Fath Ali Akhundzada (1812-1878).
A defining characteristic of the modern literature is a concern with
spreading the ideas of enlightenment, rationalism, and education.
This concern led to the formation of a literary language, based on
spoken Azerbaijani, and the new literary language gradually replaced
Persian as the written idiom. Along with the new content came new
literary forms. Drama was introduced by Akhundzada, and was further
developed by Najaf bay Vazirov and Abdurrahman Haqverdiev (1870-1933).
Newspaper publishing was started in 1875 by Hasan bay Zardabi (1837-
1907) with his newspaper Akinchi (The Plowman). Modern Azerbaijani
literature was disposed toward secularism, which was seen as a means
of blunting Shi'a-Sunni sectarian antagonism--a precondition for building
a cohesive community.
Azerbaijani literature received a powerful stimulus during the ``age
of the three revolutions,'' which began with the Russian revolution
of 1905 and included the Constitutional Revolution of 1905-1907 in
Persia and the Young Turk revolution of 1908-1909 in Turkey. The hopes
of the ``age of the three revolutions'' found their artistic expression
in the poetry of Alakpar Sabir (1862-1911). Among other prominent
writers of this period were Jalal Mammadquluzada (1866-1932), who
published the satirical magazine Mollah Nasraddin; the playwright
Huseyn Javid; and the poet Mammad Hadi (1879-1902). The last two
represented
a new trend, romanticism. The post-1905 literary revival put into
focus the issue of further purification of language, this time from
Ottoman Turkish influences. These came along with the ideas of Pan-
Turkism, which called for the unity of all Turkic-speaking peoples.
The most eloquent spokesman for Pan-Turkism was Ali bay Huseynzada,
the publisher of the literary review Fuyuzat (Bliss).
The Soviet period brought an expansion of the reading public as
illiteracy
was reduced. However, in the 1930's the Union of Azerbaijani Writers
became a special target of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's purges.
Among the victims of the purges were leading literary figures like
Javid, Salman Mumtaz, Qurban Musayev, Taqi Shahbazi, Ali Nazim, and
Mikail Mushfiq. Socialist Realism became the norm, and political
conformism
led to a general decline in artistic qualities, despite the evidence
of strong literary talents in many writers, including Samad Vurgun
(1906-1956), Jafar Jabarly (1899-1934), and Ilyas Efendiev. One of
the more significant schools after 1945 was the ``literature of longing,
'' which dealt with the theme of the unity or closeness of Soviet
and Iranian Azerbaijan. Its most prominent
representatives were the
novelists Memet Said Ordubadi (1872-1950) and Mirza Ibrahimov (b.
1911) and the poets Suleiman Rustam and Bakhtiar Vahabzada. A new
period came with glasnost in the later 1980's. One of its earliest
manifestations was the rehabilitation of formerly banned writers and
their works. A proliferation of newspapers, literary magazines, and
works by young authors was also part of the great intellectual revival
stimulated by glasnost and also by increasing contacts with the outside
world.
Publishing.
The origins of the Azerbaijani-language press go back to Zardabi's
publication of the newspaper Akinchi (The Plowman) in 1875. After
this newspaper was closed by the Russian authorities in 1877, the
Azerbaijani press was continued in the small-circulation magazines
Ziya (Dawn, 1879-1881), Ziya-i Kafkasiyya (Dawn of the Caucasus, 1881-
1884), and the literary review Kashkul (1884-1891). After Kashkul
was closed by the government, the Azerbaijani-language press was not
revived until the eve of the Russian Revolution of 1905. The new period
of relaxed government controls made Baku the leading center of Muslim
journalism in the Russian Empire. Between 1905 and 1917, 63 newspapers
and periodicals were in circulation at one time or another, some
representing
high journalistic or intellectual standards, such as the dailies Hayat
(Life) and Irshad (Guidance), the literary magazine Fuyuzat (Bliss),
and--most widely circulated--the satirical magazine Mollah Nasraddin.
The Soviet period brought the demise of the independent press, but
with the expansion of the reading public, book publication in various
fields began on a large scale. The main daily newspaper was the Russian-
language Bakinskii Rabochii (Baku Worker), the press organ of the
Communist Party of Azerbaijan. Of the literary
magazines in Azerbaijani,
the most widely read was Adabiyyat ve Inja Sanati (Literature and
Arts). The pent-up intellectual, artistic, and political energies
of the Azerbaijanis were released with the coming of glasnost, and
publishing in Azerbaijan experienced a new
efflorescence. The newspapers-
-legal, semilegal, and underground--published in the later 1980's
multiplied, though many turned out to be short-lived. Among the best
known are Azadlyq (Freedom), the newspaper of the Popular Front; Istiqlal
(Independence), the newspaper of the Social Democrats; Azarbayjan
(Azerbaijan); Novruz (New Day), Otlar yurdu (The
Land of Fire), Zerkalo-Ajna (weekly digest), Gun-Ay (multi-language
newspaper), Panorama, and Elm (Knowledge). The magazines include Azerbaijan
International. The book publishing industry also benefited from
the lifting of censorship, but it has faced financial hardships.
Popular Arts.
All radio and television broadcasting systems have been state-owned.
The first radio broadcasts were made in Baku in 1926. A television
station went on the air in 1956. Since independance the mass media shifts
toward private owned programming in TV, radio and newspapers.
Apart from programs originating
in the republic, stations located in Iranian Azerbaijan
and Turkey have large audiences.
Filmmaking has a tradition going back to the early 1920's. In the
Soviet period most motion pictures presented Communist Party propaganda.
However, Azerbaijani filmmakers also produced feature films based
on literary themes, adaptations of plays, or events of daily life.
A strong point of Azerbaijani filmmaking is documentaries.
Of the forms of mass entertainment, the most popular are still folk
dances and public performances of folk-song groups, especially those
performing mugams, vocal and instrumental cyclical songs with texts
based on classical poetry and mejkhanas.
Theater and Performing Arts.
Theater in a European sense appeared in Azerbaijan
only with the rise
of modern literature in the mid-19th century. Drama was the favorite
literary form of Mirza Fath Ali Akhundzada, the founder of modern
Azerbaijani literature. In the view of the modernizers, theater was
an especially suitable medium of communication for spreading the ideas
of enlightenment to a broad public that was largely illiterate.
Azerbaijan
gained the distinction of being a pioneer of the theater in
the Turkic
world. While Akhundzada wrote comedies satirizing what he perceived
as social ills, Vazirov and Haqverdiev introduced the genre of tragedy.
The years from 1905 to 1917 saw a consolidation of theatrical life
around educational or charitable associations and a transition toward
professionalism on the part of actors and directors. The same period
of cultural upsurge witnessed the first Azerbaijani opera, Layla and
Majnun (1908), based on the 16th-century poem of the same name by
Fizuli and set to the music of Uzeir Hajibayli (1885-1948).
With the advent of Soviet power, all theaters were nationalized and
their repertories were supervised by the authorities. Yet, the performing
arts benefited from the steady financial support of the state. In
1924 the Theater of Opera and Ballet was founded in Baku. Plays remained
a favorite literary form, despite the increasing pressure of official
guidance and controls, which reached its peak under Stalin.
Architecture and Art.
The rich architectural heritage of Azerbaijan
reflects the multilayered
history of the country as well as diverse outside influences. While
there is a wealth of artifacts and fragments from the prehistoric
past, the era of Caucasian Albania, and the Zoroastrian period, it
was the Islamic epoch that left the most important imprint on Azerbaijani
architecture. The Islamic monuments include, above all, mosques, minarets,
mausoleums, karavan-sarays (inns), and madrasses (Islamic colleges),
but they also include fortresses, including the unique, oval-based,
12th-century Maiden Tower, a landmark of Baku. There are also princely
residences: the Shirvan-Shahs' Palace in Baku and the palace of the
khans of Sheki. A well-preserved historical residential area is the
old town of Baku. The 19th-century architecture of the oil-boom period
is amply represented but in poor repair. The third major architectural
style is Soviet, with its Stalinist-type grandiose public buildings
and monotonous residential blocks.
Classical Azerbaijani art used Persian and Islamic styles and
techniques.
It included pottery, ceramics, metalwork, carpet-making, calligraphy,
and manuscript illumination, especially the miniatures of the famous
Tabriz school. Azerbaijani decorative arts were marked by exquisite
craftsmanship and rich ornamentation. The art of the modern period
had not fully emancipated itself from the domination of classical
influences when it was faced with the constraints of Soviet controls
and Socialist Realism. Only after the end of the Stalin era did
Azerbaijani
artists strive to make up for lost time and catch up with developments
in the contemporary arts of the world.
HISTORY
What is now the Azerbaijan Republic was
known as Caucasian Albania
in the pre-Islamic period, and later as Arran. From the time of ancient
Media (ninth to seventh centuries b.c.) and the Persian Empire (sixth
to fourth centuries b.c.), Azerbaijan usually
shared the history of
what is now Iran. According to the most widely accepted etymology,
the name ``Azerbaijan'' is derived from
Atropates, the name of a
Persian satrap of the late fourth century b.c. Another theory traces
the origin of the name to the Persian word azar (``fire'')--hence
Azerbaijan, ``the Land of Fire,'' because of
Zoroastrian temples,
with their fires fueled by plentiful supplies of oil.
Azerbaijan maintained its national character
after its conquest by
the Arabs in the mid-seventh century a.d. and its subsequent conversion
to Islam. At this time it became a province in the early Muslim empire.
Only in the 11th century, when Oghuz Turkic tribes under the Seljuk
dynasty entered the country, did Azerbaijan
acquire a significant
number of Turkic inhabitants. The original Persian population became
fused with the Turks, and gradually the Persian language was supplanted
by a Turkic dialect that evolved into the distinct Azerbaijani language.
The process of Turkification was long and complex, sustained by
successive
waves of incoming nomads from Central Asia. After the Mongol invasions
in the 13th century, Azerbaijan became a part of
the empire of Hulagu
and his successors, the Il-Khans. In the 15th century it passed under
the rule of the Turkmens who founded the rival Qara Qoyunlu (Black
Sheep) and Aq Qoyunlu (White Sheep) confederations. Concurrently,
the native Azerbaijani state of the Shirvan-Shahs flourished. At the
end of the 15th century, Azerbaijan became the
power base of another
native dynasty, the Safavids, who through a series of conquests and
a vigorous centralization policy built a new Persian kingdom. Shah
Ismail I (r. 1502-1524), whose capital was at Tabriz, made the Shi'
a branch of Islam the official religion of his domain, thus setting
the Azerbaijanis firmly apart from the Ottoman Turks. Under the Safavids,
Azerbaijan was frequently a battleground in the
wars between Persia
and Sunni Muslim Turkey. Because of the threat from Ottoman incursions,
the Safavid capital was moved from Tabriz to Qazvin and then to Isfahan.
A strategically vital province, Azerbaijan
remained under the authority
of a governor who usually combined his position with the highest military
rank, that of sepahsalar. Safavid rule, which gradually lost its
Azerbaijani
character, lasted for more than two centuries, finally ending in 1722.
In 1747 Nadir Shah, a strong ruler of Persia, was assassinated in
a palace coup and his kingdom disintegrated. Local centers of power
north of the Araks emerged in the form of khanates, such as Garabagh,
Sheki, Shirvan, Baku, G�nc, Quba, Nakhichevan, Derbent, and Erivan.
The period of the independent khanates, the second half of the 18th
century, was marked by political fragmentation and internecine conflicts,
circumstances that facilitated the Russian penetration of Transcaucasia.
The preferred method of Russian conquest was to use treaties of
submission,
by which local rulers were turned into vassals of Russia. This process
was challenged by a reinvigorated Persia under the Qajar dynasty.
Two Russo-Persian wars followed, one in 1804-1813 and the second in
1826-1828. The first was ended by the Treaty of Gulistan (1813), by
which Russia obtained the khanates of Karabagh, G�nc, Sheki, Shirvan,
Quba, Derbent, Baku, and Talysh, as well as western Georgia (Imeretia
and Abkhazia) and Dagestan. The second war, in which Russia was again
victorious, was ended by the Treaty of Turkmanchai (1828), by which
Persia ceded the two large khanates of Nakhichevan and Erivan. The
Treaty of Turkmanchai completed the division of Azerbaijan
along the
Araks River.
With the conquest of Transcaucasia, Russia became the first European
power to extend its rule over a part of the Middle East (See Map 2). Within
the Russian Empire, a part of the Azerbaijani people was ushered on a
road of historical development that was different from the road traveled
by the Azerbaijanis in Persia. For some 50 years the changes made
in the wake of the Russian conquest were limited to administrative
restructuring. By the 1860's there were two Azerbaijani-populated
provinces in the Russian Empire: Baku and Elizavetpol (G�nc), jointly
called Eastern Transcaucasia. Only with the coming of the industrial
age in the Baku oil belt did some elements of modern economy and social
structure begin to emerge. These were urbanization (Baku was the fastest-
growing city in the Russian Empire), the rise of native entrepreneurial
and working classes, and the emergence of a native intelligentsia.
Still, as is typical in a colonial country, the transformations were
limited to one region and were centered on extracting industries rather
than manufacturing industries. The oil-boom city of Baku was a multiethnic
urban agglomeration in which Azerbaijanis accounted for less than
half of the population; for the most part they were poor and virtually
uneducated.
The Russian Revolution of 1905 brought a political awakening in
Azerbaijan,
with the rise of political associations and a relatively
free press.
But among the population at large the greatest impact was an outbreak
of ethnic violence between Azerbaijanis and Armenians. The antagonism
was rooted in social and economic differences, with the Armenians
having the far reaching thoughts about "The Greater Armenia" in the
expense of Azerbaijani teritory and as having enjoyed more favors from the
tsarist government. Large-scale mutual massacres occurred in the years
1905-1907 by Armenian bandit Andronik, a phenomenon that would reappear
whenever the Russian state
was in a condition of crisis or overhaul, notably in 1918 and in 1988-
1992.
Of the political associations that emerged after the revolution of
1905, the longest-lived and the one to gain the largest following
was the Musavat (Equality) Party. Founded clandestinely in 1912, it
expanded rapidly in 1917, after the overthrow of tsarism in Russia.
The most essential components of the Musavat ideology were secular
nationalism and federalism, or autonomy within a broader political
structure. The party's right wing and left wing differed on few issues,
most notably land distribution. The leader of the party was the left-
leaning Mammad Amin Rasulzada.
The First Independent Republic.
After the Bolshevik Revolution in November 1917, Russia was plunged
into the chaos of civil war. A Soviet government was established at
Baku on Nov. 15, 1917. However, on May 28, 1918, an anti-Soviet
Azerbaijani
National Council proclaimed the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic at
a meeting in G�nc, its provisional capital. The hitherto rarely used
geographical term ``Azerbaijan'' became the name
of the state of a
people who had previously been called Caucasian Tatars, Transcaucasian
Muslims, or Caucasian Turks. The republic existed for 23 months, but
it was under Turkish occupation from May to October 1918 and under
British occupation from November 1918 to August 1919. The Turkish
occupation authorities tended to regard Azerbaijan
as a territory
to be absorbed by Turkey. However, Turkey, which had joined the Central
Powers in World War I in 1914, surrendered to the Allies at the end
of October 1918. The Turkish occupation forces were replaced by British
forces, which had occupied Baku in August and had ousted the Baku
Soviet in September, killing its leaders, the so-called 26 Baku
commissars.
The British military occupation provided anti-Communist Azerbaijanis
with temporary security from the conflagration of the Russian Civil
War; indirectly, it encouraged the political development of
Azerbaijan
along the lines of a parliamentary regime. The republic was
governed
by five cabinets, all formed by coalition of the Musavat and other
parties, including the Socialist bloc, the Independents, the Liberals,
the social-democratic Himmat (Endeavor) Party and--in one case--the
conservative Ittihad (Union) Party. The premier in the first three
cabinets was Fath Ali Khan Khoiski; in the last two, Nasib Yusufbayli.
The president of the parliament, Ali bay Mardan Topchbashi, was
recognized
as the head of state. In this capacity he represented
Azerbaijan at
the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919.
The period of full independence, following the British withdrawal
in August 1919, was clouded by a growing sense of weakness and insecurity.
The survival of Azerbaijani independence hinged on a stalemate in
the Russian Civil War that might keep both the Red and the White armies
preoccupied elsewhere. By the spring of 1920, the Red Army had achieved
victory, and its troops stood menacingly at the northern frontier
of the republic. Aided by dissension in the Azerbaijani government,
the Red Army invaded Azerbaijan on Apr. 28, 1920.
It met with almost
no resistance since the bulk of the Azerbaijani army was engaged in
putting down an Armenian bandit uprising that had just broken out in
Garabagh.
The same day a Soviet government was formed under Nariman Narimanov.
Before the year was over, the same fate had befallen Armenia, and
in 1921 came the turn of Georgia.
The Soviet Period.
The history of Soviet Azerbaijan began with the suppression of armed
uprisings in various parts of the country. In December 1922, Azerbaijan,
Georgia, and Armenia were joined together in a loose regional grouping,
the Transcaucasian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic (T.S.F.S.R. ),
which became part of the Soviet Union on December 30. The problem of
territories disputed between Armenia and Azerbaijan was dealt with in
1923, when Nagorno-Karabakh (Qarabag) was made an autonomous region within
Azerbaijan and the region of Nakhichevan, which is separated from
Azerbaijan by a strip of Armenian territory, Zangezur, given from the
Azerbaijani land in 1920, was made an autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
under Azerbaijani jurisdiction. The effect of the territorial arrangements
was to create a checkerboard pattern, a condition that boded ill for the
prospects of intercommunal harmony.
Under the official Soviet policy of indigenization (korenizatsia)
in the 1920's, ethnic Azerbaijanis were given preference in appointments
to positions in the government of Azerbaijan and the national
intelligentsia was given the opportunity to pursue its favorite programs
of enlightenment and education. However, the Center, Moscow, was always
watching every step of the local government and always had the second
important person in Azerbaijan being Russian. Armenians also occupied high
positions, especially in Garabagh. With the cooperation of the
intelligentsia the process of Azerbaijani national consolidation
continued. By the late 1920's, intolerant atheism had become a state
policy, leading to such measures as the closing of mosques, a ban on
religious education, and the imprisonment of clerics. While Islam was
greatly weakened as a religion, it remained strong as a way of life--a
system of traditions, customs, and prohibitions. The brutal campaign
against Islam was but a prelude to an even more violent upheaval, the
Great Terror of the 1930's.
The Great Terror.
Of all the Soviet republics, only Georgia suffered losses
proportionately comparable to those of Azerbaijan in terms of
deportations, imprisonments, and mass killings during the purges of the
1930's. Directing the purges in Azerbaijan was Mir Jafar Baghirov, the
first secretary of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, who was as ruthless
a dictator as Stalin. His special target was the intelligentsia, but he
also purged Communist leaders who had sympathized with the opposition or
who might have once leaned toward Pan-Turkism or had contacts with the
revolutionary movements in Iran or Turkey. In 1936, in the midst of the
purges, the T.S.F.S.R. was dissolved and the Azerbaijan S.S.R. was made a
separate constituent republic of the Soviet Union. The period of the
purges also marked the beginning of a vigorous assimilation to the Russian
language and culture, in an effort to strengthen Soviet unity in face of
the coming World War II.
World War II.
The German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 reached the
Greater Caucasus in July 1942, but the Germans never crossed into the
territory of Azerbaijan. While many Azerbaijanis fought well in the ranks
of the Soviet Army (about 600-800,000), at least 35,000 prisoners of war
joined (not all voluntarily) the German forces and were used both in
combat and in the rear. About 400,000 Azeris died in WWII, number equal to
the loses of USA in WWII. The Germans made a vain effort to enlist the
cooperation of emigre political figures, most notably Rasulzada.
An event that shook Azerbaijan from its inward-looking nationalism was
the Soviet occupation of Iranian Azerbaijan in the summer of 1941. The
Soviet military presence south of the Araks led to a revival of
Pan-Azerbaijani sentiments. During the Soviet occupation a revival of the
Azerbaijani literary language, which had largely been supplanted by
Persian, was promoted with the help of writers, journalists, and teachers
from Soviet Azerbaijan. In November 1945, with Soviet backing, an
autonomous ``Azerbaijan People's Government'' was set up at Tabriz under
Sayyid Jafar Pishevari, the leader of the Azerbaijani Democratic Party.
Cultural institutions and education in Azerbaijani blossomed throughout
Iranian Azerbaijan, and speculation grew rife about a possible unification
of the two Azerbaijans, under the Soviet aegis. As it turned out, the
issue of Iranian Azerbaijan became one of the first conflicts of the Cold
War, and under pressure by the Western powers, the Soviet army was
withdrawn. The Iranian government regained control over Iranian Azerbaijan
by the end of 1946, and Democratic Party leaders took refuge in Soviet
Azerbaijan. Pishevari, who was never fully trusted by Stalin, soon died
under mysterious circumstances.
After the War.
The postwar era saw first a continuation of Stalin's brutal policies,
then a ``thaw'' under Soviet leader Nikita S. Khrushchev. The
``Khrushchev
Thaw'' (1955-1964) was a period of relaxation of controls over literature,
the press, and scholarship. At the same time the ``thaw'' brought
a new anti-Islamic drive and a return of Russification under the policy
of Sblizhenie (``Rapprochment''), which was supposed to lead to the
eventual merger of all the peoples of the U.S.S.R. into a new Soviet
nation.
In the 1960's, signs of a structural crisis in the Soviet colonial
system began to emerge. Azerbaijan's crucial oil
industry lost its
relative weight in the Soviet economy, partly because of a shift of
oil production to other regions of the Soviet Union and partly because
of depletion of the oil resources. The decline of the oil industry
led to reduced investments in Azerbaijan by
Moscow. In the 1960's,
Azerbaijan had the lowest rate of growth in
productivity and economic
output among the Soviet republics, and it also had a high rate of
population growth. White-collar workers had high expectations that
could not be fulfilled. Ethnic tensions, particularly between Armenians
and ethnic Azerbaijanis, began to grow, but violence was still suppressed.
In an attempt to end the growing structural crisis the government
in Moscow appointed Heidar Aliyev as the first secretary of the Communist
Party of Azerbaijan in 1969. Aliyev temporarily
improved economic
conditions and promoted alternative industries to the declining oil
industry. He also consolidated the republic's ruling elite, which
now consisted almost entirely of ethnic Azerbaijanis. In 1982 Aliyev
was made a member of the Communist Party's Politburo in Moscow, the
highest position ever attained by an Azerbaijani in the Soviet Union.
In 1987 he was forced to retire by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev,
whose reform policies he opposed.
The Islamic revolution in neighboring Iran in 1978 stimulated a
religious revival, to which the Soviet answer was the slogan ``One
Azerbaijan'
'--promoted in literature and scholarship rather than in
political
action. Azerbaijan lagged behind other Soviet
republics in the development
of a dissident movement. A political awakening, comparable to that
of the 1905-1907 period, came in February 1988 with the renewal of
the ethnic conflict, which centered on Armenia's demands for the
unification
of Nagorno-Karabakh (Qarabag) with Armenia. The ethnic strife revealed the
weakness
of the Communist Party as a champion of national interests, and, in
the spirit of glasnost, independent publications and political
organizations
began to emerge. Of these organizations, by far the strongest was
the People's Front of Azerbaijan (PFA), which by
the fall of 1989
seemed to be poised to take power from the Communist Party. The PFA
soon experienced a split between a conservative-Islamic wing and a
moderate wing. The split was followed by an outbreak of anti-Armenian
violence in Baku and intervention by Soviet troops in January 1990.
(More information on this subject is to be included).
The January Days deepened the disarray within the PFA, especially
after many of its leaders were arrested. The Communist Party seemed
to be reviving; in elections held in September 1990 the Communists
won close to 90 percent of the votes in some contests, leading to
accusations of rigged elections. After the failed conservative coup
of Aug. 19-21, 1991, in Moscow, the Communist-dominated supreme soviet
proclaimed Azerbaijan an independent republic on
Aug. 30, 1991. The
declaration of independence was followed by the dissolution of the
Communist Party, although its members usually retained their positions
in the government or the economy. The last party chief, Ayaz N. Mutalibov,
was elected president of the republic in September 1991, and the
supreme soviet formally implemented the declaration of independence
on October 18. Meanwhile, the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh
(Garabagh) continued
despite efforts to negotiate a settlement. Early in 1992 the region'
s Armenian leaders proclaimed an independent republic. In what was
now a war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the
Armenians gained the
upper hand because of their better training from the Soviet Army,
which had used Azerbaijanis mostly in construction battalions. Mutalibov'
s failure to build up an adequate army, over which he feared he would
not have had enough control, brought about his downfall. In March
1992 the supreme court forced him to resign. New presidential elections
were held in June 1992. The former Communist power elite failed to
present a viable candidate, and Abulfaz Elchibay, the leader of the
PFA and a former dissident and political prisoner, was elected president
with more than 60 percent of the vote. His program included opposition
to Azerbaijan's membership in the Commonwealth of
Independent States,
close relations with Turkey, and a desire for extended links with
the Azerbaijanis in Iran.
Heydar Aliyev, who had been prevented from running for president by
an age limit of 65, was doing well in
Nakhichevan. He had to contend with an Armenian blockade of Nakhichevan.
In turn, Armenia suffered when Azerbaijan halted
all rail traffic
into and out of Armenia, cutting most of its land links with the outside
world. The economic effects of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict have
confirmed the interdependence of the Transcaucasian nations.
Within a year after his election, President Elchibay came to face the same situation that had led to the downfall of Mutalibov. The fighting in and around Nagorno-Karabakh (Qarabag) turned steadily to the advantage of the Armenians, who seized around one fifth of Azerbaijan's territory, creating more than a million refugees. A military rebellion against Elchibay broke out in early June 1993 in G�nc under the leadership of Colonel Surat Huseynov. Elchibay, who found himself without political support in the face of the setbacks in the war, a steadily deteriorating economy, and opposition from groups outside the PFA, took refuge in his native village. However, he refused to resign. In Baku, Aliyev seized the reigns of power and quickly consolidated his position. A referendum in August deprived Elchibay of his post. In October a presidential election was held, and Aliyev won overwhelmingly. !Copyright � 1996 P.F. Collier, A Division of Newfield Publications, Inc.
