Category: Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan located in Eurasia is the largest country of Caucasus region. The country is located between Western Asia and Eastern Europe and is surrounded by Russia, Georgia, Iran, Armenia and Caspian Sea. The human inhabitance of the country is dated back to the late Stone Age. Azerbaijan was occupied by Russian Empire and during WWI, the Russian Empire collapsed and Azerbaijan became a part of Transcaucasia Democratic Federative Republic together with Georgia and Armenia. This republic was dissolved shortly and Azerbaijan declared its independence as Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1918. Azerbaijan became the first modern Muslim parliamentary republic. Azerbaijan also became the first Muslim country that grants equal political rights to women along with men.

Soviet Union invaded the country and established Azerbaijan SSR in the 1920. The country gained independence from Soviet Union in the year 1991. The formation of political system in Azerbaijan completed after adopting the constitution in 1995. The executive power is on the President and the Cabinet is formed by the president. The legislative power of the Azerbaijan is vested on the unicameral National Assembly and Supreme National Assembly in Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. Judicial power is executed by Supreme Court, Economic Court and Constitutional Court.

Azerbaijan is an oil based economy and some of the major industries are petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, chemicals, cotton, foodstuffs, textiles and cement and oilfield equipment. Tourism also plays an important role in Azerbaijan’s economy. The population of Azerbaijan is 8 million and 90.6% of the population is Azeris and others are of the ethnicity of Lezgins, Armenians, Russians, Avars, Turks, Tatars, Tsakhur, Georgians, Tats, Jews, Kurds, Udins and Ukrainians. Major spoken language of the country is Azerbaijani and there are 13 spoken languages in the country other than Azerbaijani. About 99% of the population is following Islam and majority of them are Shias. Other religions are Christianity, Jewish, Hare Krishna, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Baha’i.

Azerbaijan is welcoming the tourists with its history, ancient culture and abundance of natural resources. Tourists can visit the cultural monuments, natural landscapes and over 115 museums of Azerbaijan. Ateshgah is a fire temple built during 17th -18th centuries in which a square pit is used to burning bodies in the sacred fire. Azerbaijan Background Museum located in Baku consist of artifacts such as tools of late stone age, Mesolithic age and Paleolithic age, different carpets, pitchers, vessels, coin minting record, armory collection, wares and monies circulation.

Gobustan which is listed as UNESCO’s historical sites has 6,000 rock carvings made between 5,000 – 40,000 years ago. Palace of Sheki Khans and Mardakan Castles are other historical monuments. There are several national parks in Azerbaijan such as Altyaghach National Park, Shirvan Think Reserve, Hirkan National Park, Absheron Nationwide Park, Ag-Gel Countrywide Playground and Ordubad Countrywide Playground. You can also find golden sandy beaches in the country. The seashores of Lankaran and Absheron are the best places to relax and entertain. Alpinists can enjoy winter sports in Gusar and Shamakhi. Licensed hunting is possible on certain types of birds and animals.