A landlocked republic in southwestern Asia; formerly an Asian Soviet; Also called: Azerbajdzhan, Azerbaijani Republic.
Country in W Asia, bounded S by Iran, E by the Caspian Sea, W by Armenia and Georgia, and N by Russia.
government
There is a popularly elected 360-seat legislature, the supreme soviet, and a 50-seat national assembly, the Milli Majlis, to which deputies are elected by a majority system, with a second-ballot run-off race in contests in which there is no clear first-round majority. From the majority grouping within the national assembly, a prime minister (chair of the cabinet of ministers) is drawn. The state president is directly elected.
history
Azerbaijan shares a common language and culture with Turkey; however, before its conquest by tsarist Russia in the early 19th century, it was a province of Persia, and today 20 million Shiite Azeris live across the border in Iran. In the late 19th century, Baku became the center of a growing oil industry. A member of the Transcaucasian Federation in 1917, Azerbaijan became an independent republic 1918, but was occupied by the Red Army two years later. The republic was secularized under Soviet rule.
growth of nationalism
There was a growth in Azeri nationalism from the later 1980s, spearheaded by the Azeri Popular Front, founded in 1989, and fanned by the dispute with neighboring Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh and Nakhichevan. This dispute, which reawakened centuries-old enmities, flared up into full civil war from Dec 1989, prompting Azeri calls for secession from the USSR. In Jan 1990 Soviet troops were sent to Baku to restore order, and a state of emergency was imposed. The Azerbaijan Communist Party (ACP), led by Ayaz Mutalibov, allied itself with the nationalist cause and rejected compromise in the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute.
backlash
In the Sept 1990 supreme soviet elections the Popular Front, having been on the verge of power before the Jan 1990 crackdown, was convincingly defeated by the ACP. A new state flag was adopted in Dec 1990 and the words “Soviet Socialist” were dropped from the republic’s name. In the March 1991 USSR constitutional referendum, the Azerbaijan population voted overwhelmingly in favor of preserving the Union and the Aug 1991 attempted anti-Gorbachev coup in Moscow was warmly welcomed by President Mutalibov, who ordered the military suppression of demonstrations organized by the Popular Front.
independence declared
After the failure of the Moscow coup, Mutalibov resigned from the ACP, which was soon disbanded, and on 30 Aug 1991 independence was declared. The state of emergency, still in force in Baku, was lifted. On 8 Sept 1991 Mutalibov was directly elected state president as the sole candidate in a contest boycotted by the opposition. In Dec 1991 Azerbaijan joined the new Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which superseded the Soviet Union. In Jan 1992 it was admitted into the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and in March into the United Nations. In Feb 1992 the republic joined the Economic Cooperation Organization, founded by Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey 1975. After independence, the state began to form its own armed forces and in Feb 1992 the Cyrillic alphabet, imposed by Moscow 1937, was replaced by the Latin alphabet.
ex-communists regain power
After Azeri defeats in Nagorno-Karabakh March 1992, Mutalibov was forced to resign and various factions competed for power. Albufaz Elchibey, leader of the Popular Front, was elected president June 1992, pledging withdrawal from the CIS and a renewed campaign against Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh. By Aug Azerbaijan had reclaimed much of its lost territory in the disputed enclave, but public disillusionment followed renewed Armenian gains April 1993. In June Elchibey fled the capital as rebel forces, led by Surat Huseynov, advanced toward the city. In his absence, parliamentary speaker and former Communist Party leader, Geidar Aliyev, assumed the presidency. Huseynov agreed to support Aliyev and accepted the post of prime minister on condition that he was given control of external and internal security. By July 1993, Armenian forces had overrun Nagorno-Karabakh and reputedly controlled as much as one fifth of Azeri territory.
In Oct 1993 Aliyev was popularly elected president with 98.8% of the vote. Huseynov was dismissed as premier the same month, accused of siding with opposition forces and attempting to launch a coup. He was replaced by Fuad Kuliyev. During 1994 President Aliyev signed an $8 billion oil investment deal with a Western consortium, led by British Petroleum, to develop three Caspian Sea oil fields.
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
Iranian; Two provinces of NW Iran, Eastern Azerbaijan (capital Tabriz), and Western Azerbaijan (capital Orúmiyeh), Azerbaijanis in Iran, as in the Republic of Azerbaijan, are mainly Shiite Muslim ethnic Turks, descendants of followers of the Khans from the Mongol Empire.
There are about 5 million in Azerbaijan, and 3 million distributed in the rest of the country, where they form a strong middle class. In 1946, with Soviet backing, they briefly established their own republic. Denied autonomy under the Shah, they rose 1979–80 against the supremacy of Ayatollah Khomeini and were forcibly repressed, although a degree of autonomy was promised.

1. A native or inhabitant of Azerbaijan.
2. The Turkic language spoken by the Azerbaijani people.