REPUBLIC OF AZERBAIJAN Official name: Azarbaycan Respublikasi (Republic of Azerbaijan) Location: West Asia International organisations: Commonwealth of Independent States, Council of Europe, Organisation of Islamic Conference, Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, United Nations. Borders: Armenia, Georgia, Iran, Russia, Turkey Coastline: None (Azerbaijan has a coast on the Caspian Sea, but this does not give access to the sea.) Land area: 86,600 Km2 (includes Nagorny-Karabakh)

Population: 7,800,000 (includes Nagorny-Karabakh)
Ethnicity: 90% of the population are Azeris, a Turkic people. Minorities include Dagestani 3.2%, Russian 2.5% and (in Nagorny-Karabakh) Armenian 2%
Languages: Azeri is the official language and is spoken by 90% of the population. Russian is widely used. 2% speak Armenian.
Religion: Most Azeris are nominal Moslems but religious practice is low. There is a 5% Orthodox Christian minority.
Form of government: Presidential republic. Azerbaijan is divided into 59 districts and 11 cities.
Capital: Baku
Constitution: The Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan came into effect on 12 November 1995.
Head of state: The President, elected by direct universal suffrage for a five-year term.
Head of government: The Prime Minister, appointed by the President and in practice accountable to him.
Legislature: Azerbaijan has a unicameral legislature, the National Assembly (Milli Meclisi), which has 125 members: 100 elected for five-year terms from single-member constituencies and 25 elected by proportional representation. (From the next election all members will be elected from single-member constituents.)
Electoral authority: The Azerbaijan Central Election Commission administers national elections. For a discussion of the Commission's role, see New Election Laws in Azerbaijan.
Freedom House 2005 rating: Political Rights 6, Civil Liberties 5

Political history

The Azeri-speaking lands were under the control of the Persian Empire until the early 19th century, when Russia penetrated the area and in 1828 annexed the territory of the present republic, leaving the majority of Azeris inside Persia. The area assumed great importance with the discovery of oil at Baku in the 1890s. When the Russian Empire collapsed in 1917 Baku was occupied by the Turks, and there was a short-lived Azerbaijan Republic in 1918-20.

The Russian Communists gained control of the area in 1921 and Azerbaijan was incorporated into the Transcaucasian Federated Soviet Socialist Republic. Azerbaijan became a separate republic within the USSR in 1936. The Nakhichevan enclave was also added to Azerbaijan, but the Nagorny-Karabakh region, inhabited mainly by Armenians, was made an autonomous region within Azerbaijan.

When Soviet power collapsed in 1991, Azerbaijan declared its independence. Azerbaijani independence was complicated by a war with Armenia over Nagorny-Karabakh, in which Azerbaijan lost not only Nagorny-Karabakh but also the territory lying between it and Armenia proper. About 20% of Azerbaijan's territory is now occupied by Armenia.

Ilham Aliyev

Azerbaijan has had a chaotic history as an independent country, with presidents forced from office by mob violence and bitter ethnic conflict. In 1993 Haidar Aliyev, who had been the local Communist Party chief from 1969 to 1987, came to power and established a regime which became increasingly authoritarian, although opposition to the government remained possible. In October 2003 Aliyev was succeeded by his son Ilham Aliyev, who easily won presidential elections. Most observers agree that elections in Azerbaijan have involved rigging and fraud by the government and the ruling party. Azeri politics is dominated by Aliyev's New Azerbaijan Party, a personal vehicle for the president. The main opposition parties are the Equality Party and the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party, which led the fight for independence. Human Rights Watch's 2002 Report on Azerbaijan noted:

"The government resumed its practice of attempting to suppress public expression of social discontent without alienating the Council of Europe and other international partners. International criticism of Azerbaijan peaked in September, after the government staged a referendum that was clearly aimed at ensuring that eighty-year-old President Heidar Aliyev could appoint his son as acting president should he step down.

"The government moved forward in adopting reform legislation, such as that introducing an ombudsman institution and ratifying the European Convention on Human Rights. But its continued poor human rights practices - the continued detention of political prisoners, harassment of independent media, and repression of social and political movements - drew criticism, particularly from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). A September PACE resolution stated that it was "disturbed and shocked" by violations of basic freedoms."