143-690: The Azerbaijani Armed Forces ( Azerbaijani : Azərbaycan Silahlı Qüvvələri ) is the military of the Republic of Azerbaijan . It was re-established according to the country's Law of the Armed Forces on 9 October 1991. The original Azerbaijan Democratic Republic 's armed forces were dissolved after Azerbaijan was absorbed into the Soviet Union as the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic from 28 April 1920. After
286-432: A new war erupted in the region, which saw Azerbaijan retake control of most of southern Karabakh ( Fuzuli , Jabrayil , Zangilan , Qubadli , Hadrut districts) and parts of north-eastern Karabakh ( Talish , Madagiz ). A trilateral ceasefire agreement signed on 10 November 2020 ended the war and forced Armenia to return all of the remaining territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh . The earliest concrete numbers about
429-429: A 2011 study, 30 Turkish participants were tested to determine how well they understood written and spoken Azerbaijani. It was found that even though Turkish and Azerbaijani are typologically similar languages, on the part of Turkish speakers the intelligibility is not as high as is estimated. In a 2017 study, Iranian Azerbaijanis scored in average 56% of receptive intelligibility in spoken Turkish. Azerbaijani exhibits
572-449: A degree mutually intelligible, though it is easier for a speaker of Azerbaijani to understand Turkish than the other way around. Turkish soap operas are very popular with Azeris in both Iran and Azerbaijan. Reza Shah Pahlavi of Iran (who spoke South Azerbaijani) met with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk of Turkey (who spoke Turkish) in 1934; the two were filmed speaking their respective languages to each other and communicated effectively. In
715-475: A great number of Armenians left Lowland Karabakh and sought refuge in the mountainous (Highland) heights of the region. From the 11th century onwards, Karabakh became home to numerous Oghuz Turkic tribes , the ancestors of the modern Azeris , who stuck to the nomadic way of life, circulating between the winter pastures in Karabakh lowlands and the summer pastures in Karabakh highlands. These tribes dominated
858-657: A literary language in the 14th century through poetry and other works. One ruler of the Qara Qoyunlu state, Jahanshah , wrote poems in Azerbaijani language with the nickname "Haqiqi". Sultan Yaqub , a ruler of the Aq Qoyunlu state, wrote poems in the Azerbaijani language. The ruler and poet Ismail I wrote under the pen name Khatā'ī (which means "sinner" in Persian ) during the fifteenth century. During
1001-498: A much larger number of Persian and Arabic loanwords, phrases and syntactic elements. Early writings in Azerbaijani also demonstrate linguistic interchangeability between Oghuz and Kypchak elements in many aspects (such as pronouns, case endings, participles, etc.). As Azerbaijani gradually moved from being merely a language of epic and lyric poetry to being also a language of journalism and scientific research , its literary version has become more or less unified and simplified with
1144-535: A non-syllabic / v / can also be pronounced after the aforementioned diphthongs, to form / ou̯v / and / œy̯v / , the rules of which are as follows: Modern linguists who have examined Azerbaijani's vowel system almost unanimously have recognised that diphthongs are phonetically produced in speech. Before 1929, Azerbaijani was written only in the Perso-Arabic alphabet , an impure abjad that does not represent all vowels (without diacritical marks ). In Iran,
1287-607: A part of the Caucasian Albanian satrapy of Sassanian Persia , while Syunik remained in Armenia. The Arab invasions later led to the rise of several Armenian princes who came to establish their dominance in the region. Centuries of constant warfare on the Armenian Plateau forced many Armenians, including those in the Karabakh region, to emigrate and settle elsewhere. During the period of Mongol domination,
1430-516: A similar stress pattern to Turkish but simpler in some respects. Azerbaijani is a strongly stressed and partially stress-timed language, unlike Turkish which is weakly stressed and syllable-timed . Below are some cognates with different spelling in Azerbaijani and Turkish: The 1st person personal pronoun is mən in Azerbaijani just as men in Turkmen , whereas it is ben in Turkish. The same
1573-501: A symbolic toponymic landscape that belonged to one of the ethnic groups on the disputed territory, in the process destroying the ‘enemy’ toponyms and thus denying any legitimacy to the opponent's territorial claim". The Armenian population of the region speaks the Karabakh dialect of Armenian which has been heavily influenced by the Persian, Russian, and Turkish languages. It was the most extensively spoken of all Armenian dialects until
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#17327726263351716-773: A total of 150 troops. The unit secured the hydroelectric power station and reservoir in Al Haditha from August 2003. In December 2008, Azerbaijan withdrew the unit from Iraq. Reportedly in December 2014 Azerbaijan created the Separate Combined Arms Army in Nakhchivan. Karam Mustafayev became commander of the corps. The army was created based on the Nakhchivan 5th Army Corps to strengthen defense capability of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, increase of combat capability of military units and formations of
1859-883: Is a Turkic language from the Oghuz sub-branch. It is spoken primarily by the Azerbaijani people , who live mainly in the Republic of Azerbaijan , where the North Azerbaijani variety is spoken, while Iranian Azerbaijanis in the Azerbaijan region of Iran , speak the South Azerbaijani variety . Azerbaijani has official status in the Republic of Azerbaijan and Dagestan (a federal subject of Russia ), but it does not have official status in Iran, where
2002-673: Is a geographic region in southwestern Azerbaijan and eastern Armenia , extending from the highlands of the Lesser Caucasus down to the lowlands between the rivers Kura and Aras . It is divided into three regions: Highland Karabakh , Lowland Karabakh (the steppes between the Kura and Aras rivers), and the eastern slopes of the Zangezur Mountains (roughly Syunik and Kalbajar–Lachin ). The Russian name Карабах , transliterated Karabakh , derives from
2145-527: Is also attributed with 5 landing craft , 3 Polnochny and 2 Vydra (IISS 2007), plus three research ships, 1 Project 10470, A 671, ex Svyaga, 1 Balerian Uryvayev class survey vessel (AG) and one Vadim Popov class survey vessel (AG). The U.S. Navy has helped train the Azerbaijani Navy. There is also an agreement to provide US support to refurbish Azerbaijani warships in the Caspian Sea . In 2006,
2288-477: Is as follows: The modern Azerbaijani Latin alphabet contains the digraphs ov and öv to represent diphthongs present in the language, and the pronunciation of diphthongs is today accepted as the norm in the orthophony of Azerbaijani. Despite this, the number and even the existence of diphthongs in Azerbaijani has been disputed, with some linguists, such as Abdulazal Damirchizade [ az ] , arguing that they are non-phonemic. Damirchizade's view
2431-574: Is because there is a strong tu-vous distinction in Turkic languages like Azerbaijani and Turkish (as well as in many other languages). The informal "you" is used when talking to close friends, relatives, animals or children. The formal "you" is used when talking to someone who is older than the speaker or to show respect (to a professor, for example). Karabakh Karabakh ( Azerbaijani : Qarabağ [ɡɑɾɑˈbɑɣ] ; Armenian : Ղարաբաղ , romanized : Ġarabaġ [ʁɑɾɑˈbɑʁ] )
2574-641: Is certain that Russian and Iranian words (sic), respectively, have entered the vocabulary on either side of the Araxes river, but this has not occurred to an extent that it could pose difficulties for communication". There are numerous dialects, with 21 North Azerbaijani dialects and 11 South Azerbaijani dialects identified by Ethnologue. Three varieties have been accorded ISO 639-3 language codes: North Azerbaijani, South Azerbaijani and Qashqai . The Glottolog 4.1 database classifies North Azerbaijani, with 20 dialects, and South Azerbaijani, with 13 dialects, under
2717-557: Is close to present-day Azeri- Türki . ), Afshari (often considered a separate language ), Shahsavani (sometimes considered its own dialect, distinct from other Turkic languages of northwestern Iran ), Baharlu (Kamesh), Moqaddam, Nafar, Qaragozlu, Pishagchi, Bayat, Qajar, Tabriz ". Russian comparatist Oleg Mudrak [ ru ] calls the Turkmen language the closest relative of Azerbaijani. Speakers of Turkish and Azerbaijani can, to an extent, communicate with each other as both languages have substantial variation and are to
2860-651: Is common throughout former USSR countries). The Shirvan dialect as spoken in Baku is the basis of standard Azerbaijani. Since 1992, it has been officially written with a Latin script in the Republic of Azerbaijan, but the older Cyrillic script was still widely used in the late 1990s. Ethnologue lists 21 North Azerbaijani dialects: "Quba, Derbend, Baku, Shamakhi, Salyan, Lenkaran, Qazakh, Airym, Borcala, Terekeme , Qyzylbash , Nukha, Zaqatala (Mugaly), Qabala, Nakhchivan, Ordubad, Ganja, Shusha (Karabakh), Karapapak , Kutkashen, Kuba". South Azerbaijani, or Iranian Azerbaijani,
3003-796: Is encountered in many dialects of the Turkmen language and may be observed in such words as: boyun > moyın in Yomut – Gunbatar dialect, büdüremek > müdüremek in Ersari and Stavropol Turkmens' dialects, bol > mol in Karakalpak Turkmens' dialects, buzav > mizov in Kirac dialects. Here are some words from the Swadesh list to compare Azerbaijani with Turkmen: Azerbaijani dialects share paradigms of verbs in some tenses with
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#17327726263353146-722: Is from Turkish Azeri which is used for the people ( azerice being used for the language in Turkish), itself from Persian آذری, Āzarī. The term is also used for Old Azeri , the ancient Iranian language spoken in the region until the 17th century. Azerbaijani evolved from the Eastern branch of Oghuz Turkic ("Western Turkic") which spread to the Caucasus, in Eastern Europe , and northern Iran, in Western Asia , during
3289-561: Is probable that the Armenians formed the majority of the population of Eastern Armenia at the turn of the seventeenth century, but following Shah Abbas I 's massive relocation of Armenians in 1604-05 their numbers decreased markedly, as they eventually became a minority among their Muslim neighbors. According to the statistics of the initial survey carried out by the Russians in 1823 and an official one published in 1836, Highland Karabakh
3432-501: Is spelled Buş and Schröder becomes Şröder . Hyphenation across lines directly corresponds to spoken syllables, except for geminated consonants which are hyphenated as two separate consonants as morphonology considers them two separate consonants back to back but enunciated in the onset of the latter syllable as a single long consonant, as in other Turkic languages . Some samples include: Secular: Invoking deity: Azerbaijani has informal and formal ways of saying things. This
3575-634: Is still written in Cyrillic script. The Azerbaijani Latin alphabet is based on the Turkish Latin alphabet. In turn, the Turkish Latin alphabet was based on former Azerbaijani Latin alphabet because of their linguistic connections and mutual intelligibility. The letters Әə , Xx , and Qq are available only in Azerbaijani for sounds which do not exist as separate phonemes in Turkish. Northern Azerbaijani, unlike Turkish, respells foreign names to conform with Latin Azerbaijani spelling, e.g. Bush
3718-527: Is the official language of the Republic of Azerbaijan . It is closely related to modern-day Istanbul Turkish, the official language of Turkey. It is also spoken in southern Dagestan , along the Caspian coast in the southern Caucasus Mountains and in scattered regions throughout Central Asia . As of 2011 , there are some 9.23 million speakers of North Azerbaijani including 4 million monolingual speakers (many North Azerbaijani speakers also speak Russian, as
3861-402: Is true for demonstrative pronouns bu , where sound b is replaced with sound m . For example: bunun > munun / mının , muna / mına , munu / munı , munda / mında , mundan / mından . This is observed in the Turkmen literary language as well, where the demonstrative pronoun bu undergoes some changes just as in: munuñ , munı , muña , munda , mundan , munça . b > m replacement
4004-717: Is widely spoken in Iranian Azerbaijan and, to a lesser extent, in neighboring regions of Turkey and Iraq , with smaller communities in Syria . In Iran , the Persian word for Azerbaijani is borrowed as Torki "Turkic". In Iran, it is spoken mainly in East Azerbaijan , West Azerbaijan , Ardabil and Zanjan . It is also spoken in Tehran and across the Tehran Province , as Azerbaijanis form by far
4147-684: The Abbasid Caliphate , Bagratid Armenia , the Mongol Ilkhanate and Jalayirid Sultanates , the Turkic Kara Koyunlu , Ak Koyunlu , and Safavid Iran (the province of Karabakh ). Armenian princes of the times ruled as vassal territories by the Armenian House of Khachen and its several lines, the latter Melikdoms of Karabakh . The Safavid Shah ("King") Tahmasp I ( r. 1524–1576) appointed
4290-803: The Azerbaijani Qarabağ , which is generally believed to be a compound of the Turkic word kara (black) and the Iranian word bagh (garden), literally meaning "black garden." However, there are some other hypotheses. Russian Orientalist Vladimir Minorsky believed that the name possibly connected to an extinct Turkic tribe of the same name. By comparison, there are similar toponyms in Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkey and Afghanistan. According to Iranian linguist Abdolali Karang, kara could have derived from kaleh or kala , which means "large" in
4433-553: The Caspian Guard Initiative , focused mostly on enhancing Azerbaijani and Kazakh maritime border security. In May 2011, the president of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic Rovnag Abdullayev stated that Azerbaijan would start production of national warships after 2013. The Naval Intelligence of Azerbaijan maintains the 641st Special Warfare Naval Unit . The special forces were trained by
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4576-679: The Chuvash language , on which linguists also rely in the study and reconstruction of the Khazar language . Azerbaijani phonotactics is similar to that of other Oghuz Turkic languages, except: Works on Azerbaijani dialectology use the following notations for dialectal consonants: Examples: The vowels of the Azerbaijani are, in alphabetical order, a /ɑ/ , e /e/ , ə /æ/ , ı /ɯ/ , i /i/ , o /o/ , ö /œ/ , u /u/ , ü /y/ . The typical phonetic quality of South Azerbaijani vowels
4719-544: The Eastern Anatolia Region and all over Iran from the 16th to the early 20th centuries, alongside cultural, administrative, court literature, and most importantly official language (along with Azerbaijani) of all these regions, namely Persian . From the early 16th century up to the course of the 19th century, these regions and territories were all ruled by the Safavids , Afsharids , and Qajars until
4862-514: The First Nagorno-Karabakh War , as a way to, as Saparov explains "to reinstate the symbolic authority of Azerbaijan over this disputed secessionist territory and as a result targeted what they perceived as Armenian place-names". Out of 208 toponyms recorded by the Azerbaijani authorities in the territory of Karabakh, 81 were renamed and 127 remained unchanged. The main goal was to remove toponyms that could, in any way, support
5005-513: The Harzani dialect of the extinct Iranian Old Azeri language . The Iranian-Azerbaijani historian Ahmad Kasravi also speaks of the translation of kara as "large" and not "black." The kara prefix has also been used for other nearby regions and landmarks, such as Karadagh ( dagh "mountain") referring to a mountain range, and Karakilise ( kilise "church") referring to the largest church complex in its area, built mainly with white stone,
5148-606: The Javanshir clan , seized control of the region after the death of the Persian ruler Nader Shah , and both Lower Karabakh and Highland Karabakh comprised the new Karabakh Khanate . Qajar Iran reestablished rule over the region several years later. In 1813, under the terms of the Treaty of Gulistan , the region of Karabakh was lost by Iran to the Russian Empire . Under Russian rule, Karabakh (both Lowland and Highland)
5291-693: The Kingdom of Syunik (in Baghk , the -k suffix is a plural nominative case marker also used to form names of countries and regions in Classical Armenian ). In this sense, Karabakh would translate to "Greater Baghk." The placename is first mentioned in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in The Georgian Chronicles ( Georgian : ქართლის ცხოვრება "Life of Kartli"), and in Persian sources. The name became common after
5434-958: The Kipchak-Turkic language of the same name), the dialect of the Ayrïm (Āyrom) tribe (which, however, resembles Turkish ), and the dialect spoken in the region of the Borchala river ; (3) northern group: Zakataly , Nukha , and Kutkashen ; (4) southern group: Yerevan (Īravān), Nakhichevan (Naḵjavān), and Ordubad (Ordūbād); (5) central group: Ganja (Kirovabad) and Shusha ; (6) North Iraqi dialects ; (7) Northwest Iranian dialects: Tabrīz , Reżāʾīya ( Urmia ), etc., extended east to about Qazvīn ; (8) Southeast Caspian dialect ( Galūgāh ). Optionally, we may adjoin as Azeri (or "Azeroid") dialects: (9) East Anatolian , (10) Qašqāʾī , (11) Aynallū, (12) Sonqorī , (13) dialects south of Qom , (14) Kabul Afšārī . North Azerbaijani, or Northern Azerbaijani,
5577-509: The Monastery of Saint Thaddeus . In the sense of "large," Karakilise would translate to "large church," and Karabakh would translate to "large garden." Another theory, proposed by Armenian historian Bagrat Ulubabyan , is that, along with the "large" translation of kara , the bagh component was derived from the nearby canton called Baghk , which at some point was part of Melikdoms of Karabakh within modern-day Karabakh — Dizak and
5720-698: The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non- nuclear weapons state . Azerbaijan participates in NATO 's Partnership for Peace . Azerbaijan joined the multi-national force in 2003. It sent 150 troops to Iraq, and later troops to Kosovo. Azerbaijani troops also served in Afghanistan. Despite the rise in Azerbaijan's defence budget, the armed forces were assessed in 2008 as not having a high state of battle readiness and being ill-prepared for wide scale combat operations. Azeri victory in
5863-479: The SA-5 Gammon (S-200) are in static installations. These may be around Baku and the central part to cover the whole Azerbaijani aerospace. However, August 2011 investigations shows that after purchase of S-300 surface-to-air missiles , the largest apparent gap in Azerbaijan's air defense system may have been filled. Also in Azerbaijan there was a former Soviet early warning radar. The Gabala Radar Station
Azerbaijani Armed Forces - Misplaced Pages Continue
6006-583: The Second Karabakh War in late 2020 demonstrated how significantly Azerbaijan's military capabilities had grown. The history of the modern Azerbaijan army dates back to Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR) in 1918, when the Armed Forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan were created on 26 June 1918. First de facto Minister of Defense of ADR was Dr. Khosrov bey Sultanov . When the Ministry was formally established Gen. Samedbey Mehmandarov became
6149-551: The Soviet Union , toponyms that were deemed ideologically unacceptable to the Soviet doctrine and leadership, such as those that showed social, monarchic, or religious affiliations, were changed en masse as in the rest of the Soviet realm. Specifically, in relation to Karabakh, these include names that bore names of local lords, religious holidays or personalities. The Soviets replaced such toponyms with commemorative names from
6292-415: The U.S. Navy SEALs Unit 641 has several midget submarines such as Triton-1M and Triton 2 at their disposal as well as underwater tool motion for individual divers. The special unit is composed of 3 reconnaissance groups, 2 groups for mountainous warfare, and one diving group. Obligatory training includes parachute jumping day and night, on land and on water. The Special Forces of Azerbaijan are part of
6435-522: The 1230s when the region was conquered by the Mongols . The first time the name was mentioned in an Armenian source was in the fifteenth century, in Thomas of Metsoph 's History of Tamerlane and His Successors . Karabakh is a landlocked region located in the south of Armenia and the west of Azerbaijan . There is currently no official designation for what constitutes the whole of Karabakh. Historically,
6578-527: The 135th and 139th Motor Rifle Regiments of the 295th Motor Rifle Division . In July 1992, Azerbaijan ratified the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), which establishes comprehensive limits on key categories of conventional military equipment. The transfer of the property of the 4th Army (except for part of the property of the 366th Motor Rifle Regiment of the 23rd Guards Motor Rifle Division captured by Armenian armed formations in 1992 during
6721-425: The 16th century, the poet, writer and thinker Fuzûlî wrote mainly in Azerbaijani but also translated his poems into Arabic and Persian . Starting in the 1830s, several newspapers were published in Iran during the reign of the Azerbaijani speaking Qajar dynasty , but it is unknown whether any of these newspapers were written in Azerbaijani. In 1875, Akinchi ( Əkinçi / اکينچی ) ("The Ploughman") became
6864-536: The Armed Forces, improve central control, reports quoting the Defence Ministry said. The Azerbaijani Air and Air Defence Force is a single unified service branch. Some 8,000 men serve in the air force and air defence force. The Air and Air Defence Force has around 106 aircraft and 35 helicopters. The country has four major airbases. Nasosnaya (air base) has fighters, Kyurdamir Air Base a bomber regiment, Ganja Air Base transports, and Baku Kala Air Base
7007-548: The Armenian and Azerbaijani sides is because the Armenians used less detailed maps than the Soviet and Azerbaijani maps and also excluded a number of smaller settlements. Furthermore, the 2009 data also omits a number of Azerbaijani settlements that were destroyed during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and were never rebuilt afterwards. According to Saparov, both sides followed the same logic of "imposing
7150-641: The Armenian term for " gorge "), or Meshadishen (combining the Turkic first name Meshadi with the Armenian term shen , i.e. village), and Sardarashen (combination of the Persian word sardar and the Armenian term for village, shen ). Some place names derive from the names of historic figures, including local lords. Most of these lords were Armenian or Turkic in origin. However, as the Armenian notables of Karabakh often borrowed their personal names from their immediate Muslim overlords, these anthroponyms such as Kherkhan, Farukh and Seiti are usually, as Saparov narrates (citing Gaziyan and Mkrtchyan), assigned "to
7293-496: The Armenian toponymic landscape, bringing it to status of legitimacy, and replacing the previously dominant Turkic one that had become favoured under the Russian Empire. This situation remained in place, Saparov narrates, "largely unaffected until the end of the Soviet era". During the ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict , both Armenia and Azerbaijan have changed the names of numerous settlements in Karabakh order to support
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#17327726263357436-724: The Armenian-inhabited parts of Mountainous Karabakh were made a part of the newly established Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO), an administrative entity within the Azerbaijan SSR . According to the first census of this administrative unit the population was 94% Armenian, however, this census did not count a considerable Azeri nomadic population. The NKAO consisted of the Armenian-dominated part of historical Mountainous Karabakh and many Azeri villages of this region were administratively excluded from
7579-497: The Azerbaijani macrolanguage with "significant differences in phonology, lexicon, morphology, syntax, and loanwords" between the two. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) considers Northern and Southern Azerbaijani to be distinct languages. Linguists Mohammad Salehi and Aydin Neysani write that "there is a high degree of mutual intelligibility" between North and South Azerbaijani. Svante Cornell wrote in his 2001 book Small Nations and Great Powers that "it
7722-448: The Azerbaijani media sources, the military expenditures of Azerbaijan for 2009 were set at US$ 2.46 billion, however according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute , only $ 1.473 billion was spent that year. IISS also suggests that the defence budget in 2009 was $ 1.5 billion. The Ministry of Defence Industry of Azerbaijan supervises the design, manufacturing, regulation and maintenance of military equipment. In
7865-419: The Azerbaijanis did not surrender their brief independence of 1918–20 quickly or easily. As many as 20,000 of the total 30,000 soldiers died resisting what was effectively a Russian reconquest. The national Army of Azerbaijan was abolished by the Bolshevik government, 15 of the 21 army generals were executed by the Bolsheviks. After the Sovietisation of Azerbaijan, the newly formed Azerbaijani Red Army replaced
8008-404: The CFE flank agreement in May 1997. A number of Azerbaijani human rights groups have been tracking non-combat deaths and have noted an upward trend in early 2010s. Based on Defense Ministry statistics that had not been released to the public, the Group of Monitoring Compliance with Human Rights in the Army (GMCHRA) has recorded the deaths of 76 soldiers to date in non-combat incidents for 2011, and
8151-464: The Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed deep concern regarding "severe and grave human rights violations committed during 2020 hostilities and beyond by the Azerbaijani military forces against prisoners of war and other protected persons of Armenian ethnic or national origin, including extrajudicial killings, torture and other ill-treatment and arbitrary detention as well as the destruction of houses, schools, and other civilian facilities." Since
8294-608: The IISS give figures which agree with only a single aircraft's difference. Recently, end of 2010 Russian Rosvertol announced that Azerbaijan armed forces signed a deal for 24 pieces of Mi-35M (Hind-E) gunships what would further enhance the Azerbaijani ground attack formations. The Air Force has L-39 advanced training aircraft in store. The Azerbaijan Border Guard and Voluntary Society of Defense, Patriotism and Sport have Yakovlev light training aircraft. Azerbaijan has missile and radar systems intended to defend Azerbaijani airspace. There are at least 2 divisions of S-300 PMU2. Thereby
8437-445: The Indian Ocean. In December 2012 Russia announced that negotiations had been unsuccessful and that they had stopped using the radar station. The site was given back to Azerbaijan and all the equipment dismantled and transported to Russia . Nowadays, Russia covers the area from the Armavir Radar Station . The main naval base of the Soviet Union in the Caspian Sea was based in Baku. When the Soviet Union collapsed, Azerbaijan inherited
8580-600: The Iranian languages in what is now northwestern Iran, and a variety of languages of the Caucasus and Iranian languages spoken in the Caucasus , particularly Udi and Old Azeri . By the beginning of the 16th century, it had become the dominant language of the region. It was one of the spoken languages in the court of the Safavids , Afsharids and Qajars . The historical development of Azerbaijani can be divided into two major periods: early ( c. 14th to 18th century) and modern (18th century to present). Early Azerbaijani differs from its descendant in that it contained
8723-457: The Kaspijskaya oblast, and subsequently, in 1846, made a part of Shemakha Governorate . In 1876 it was made a part of the Elisabethpol Governorate , an administrative arrangement which remained in place until the Russian Empire collapsed in 1917. After the dissolution of Russian Empire Karabakh, Zangezur and Nakhchivan were disputed between newly established republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan . Fighting between two republics broke out. Following
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#17327726263358866-421: The Latin script and not South Azerbaijani written in the Perso-Arabic script. Modern literature in the Republic of Azerbaijan is primarily based on the Shirvani dialect, while in the Iranian Azerbaijan region (historic Azerbaijan) it is based on the Tabrizi one. An Azerbaijani koine served as a lingua franca throughout most parts of Transcaucasia except the Black Sea coast, in southern Dagestan ,
9009-1068: The Military Science Center, each of which was formerly a separate agency within the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry. The defense industry has emerged as an autonomous entity with a growing production capability. The ministry is cooperating with the defense sectors of Ukraine, Belarus and Pakistan. Along with other contracts, Azerbaijani defence industries and Turkish companies, Azerbaijan will produce 40mm revolver grenade launchers, 107mm and 122mm MLRS systems, Cobra 4×4 vehicles and joint modernization of BTR vehicles in Baku. The major military companies of Azerbaijan are: In early 2008, reports indicated that an agreement with Turkey had been signed which would lead to Azerbaijan producing armoured personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles, and small calibre artillery pieces. Azerbaijani language Azerbaijani ( / ˌ æ z ər b aɪ ˈ dʒ æ n i , - ɑː n i / AZ -ər-by- JAN -ee ) or Azeri ( / æ ˈ z ɛər i , ɑː -, ə -/ az- AIR -ee, ah-, ə- ), also referred to as Azeri Turkic or Azeri Turkish ,
9152-439: The Ministry of Defence. It was established in April 1999 with officers and warrant officers who had participated in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War of 1991–1994. The Turkish Special Forces Command played a role in the formation of the unit. During the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, personnel of the Special Forces reclaimed the city of Jebrayil and nine surrounding villages from the Armenian Army . On November 8, Aliyev congratulated
9295-446: The Modern Azeric family, a branch of Central Oghuz. In the northern dialects of the Azerbaijani language, linguists find traces of the influence of the Khazar language . According to Encyclopedia Iranica : We may distinguish the following Azeri dialects: (1) eastern group: Derbent (Darband), Kuba , Shemakha (Šamāḵī), Baku , Salyani (Salyānī), and Lenkoran (Lankarān), (2) western group: Kazakh (not to be confounded with
9438-427: The NKAO were under blockade by Azerbaijan as a response to Armenia's blockade against Nakhchivan , cutting road and rail links to the outside world. On July 12 the Nagorno-Karabakh AO Supreme Soviet voted to secede from Azerbaijan, which was rejected unanimously by the Supreme Soviet of USSR , declaring NKAO had no right to secede from Azerbaijan SSR under Soviet Constitution. Soviet authorities in Moscow then placed
9581-468: The Nakhchivan authorities. Azerbaijan also hosted the 49th Arsenal of the Soviet Main Agency of Missiles and Artillery , which contained over 7,000 train-car loads of ammunition to the excess of one billion units. The first president of Azerbaijan, Ayaz Mutallibov , did not wish to build an independent army, wanting to rely instead largely on Soviet troops. Even when the Parliament decided that an army should be formed in September 1991, disagreements between
9724-467: The National Guard are also part of the ground forces. In addition, there are 300,000 former service personnel who have had military service in the last 15 years. Other paramilitary agencies consist of Interior Ministry Internal Troops of Azerbaijan , 12,000 strong, and the land component of the State Border Service , 5,000 strong. Azerbaijan has signed numerous contracts to strengthen its armed forces and to train its military with Turkey's assistance. Over
9867-540: The Republic of Azerbaijan and Russia) is based on the Shirvani dialect, while South Azerbaijani uses variety of regional dialects. Since the Republic of Azerbaijan's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Northern Azerbaijani has used the Latin script. On the other hand, South Azerbaijani has always used and continues to use the Perso-Arabic script . Azerbaijani is closely related to Turkmen , Turkish , Gagauz , and Qashqai , being mutually intelligible with each of these languages to varying degrees. Historically,
10010-430: The Russian Empire, the entire Karabakh region (mountainous and flatland) was divided into four counties ( uezds ) within the Elizavetpol Governorate : Jevanshir , Zangezur , Jebrail , and Shusha . Their ethnic composition in 1897 and 1916 was as follows: The historian Arsène Saparov explains that due to Karabakh's location as a peripheral borderland within the region in relation to local historical empires, as well
10153-496: The Soviet Union dissolved in 1991–92, Azerbaijan's armed forces were reformed based on Soviet bases and equipment left on Azerbaijani soil. The armed forces have three branches: the Azerbaijani Land Forces , the Azerbaijani Air and Air Defence Force , and the Azerbaijani Navy . Associated forces include the Azerbaijani National Guard , the Internal Troops of Azerbaijan , and the State Border Service , which can be involved in state defense under certain circumstances. According to
10296-492: The Soviets, a partial reversal of Tsarist policies took place, and Armenian place names therefore reappeared on official Soviet maps. Simultaneously, Turkic place names that violated Bolshevik doctrines (e.g. settlements named after lords, landowners or religious names), were removed. By the early 1920s, the Armenian leaders of the newly established Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast had succeeded in—although partially—restoring
10439-452: The Turkic suffix "-lu"), and the town of Shosh (Armenian) became known in Turkic as Shushikend (by adding the Turkic suffix, -kend , i.e. "village"). Other place names are toponymically unrelated in relation to their respective substitution, such as the town known as Susalykh (in Turkic) with its Armenian equivalent Mokhranes. The two toponymic systems coexisted and served both groups until
10582-400: The Turkic toponymic landscape". Due to Karabakh's specific economic conditions, with its lowland nomads crossing into the mountains during summer across agricultural settlements, two overlapping toponymic landscapes were created over time; Armenian and Turkic. Until the arrival of the Russian Empire , these two toponymic landscapes were used concurrently by the Armenian group on one hand and
10725-470: The US Government donated 3 motorboats to the Azerbaijani Navy. In 2007, an agreement between the Azerbaijani Navy and a US military company was concluded, which stated that a part of the Azerbaijani Navy would be equipped with advanced laser marksmanship systems. The US company specialists were also to give training on the use of the new equipment. A number of separate U.S. programmes are underway under
10868-779: The Zangezur Mountains through the Murov Mountains . However, when not referring to the territory covered by the Karabakh Khanate, the northern regions are often excluded (modern-day Goranboy and Yevlakh ). During the Russian Empire , the eastern lowlands where the Kura and Aras rivers meet (mostly modern-day Imishli ) were also excluded, but most pre- Elisabethpol maps include that region in Karabakh. [REDACTED] Azerbaijan: Lachin , Qubadli , Zangilan The region today referred to as Karabakh, which
11011-846: The army in the battlefield. (IISS 2007, p. 157) The peacekeeping forces of Azerbaijan are mostly supplied from the Land Forces, though the Internal Troops of Azerbaijan do also supply some. As of March 2011, 94 peacekeepers were deployed with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. In the past, it also actively supported the peacekeeping operation in Kosovo and Iraq. The Azerbaijani peacekeeping unit deployed in Iraq consisted of 14 officers, 16 sergeants and 120 privates,
11154-535: The arrival of the Russian Empire. The Russians introduced the administrative system of a centralized European Empire, which brought about a standardization of the bureaucracy. Therefore, toponymc started to be recorded in Russian gazetteers and maps in the second half of the 19th century. As two toponymic systems were deemed impractical, only one toponymic landscape was recorded by the Tsarist officials, even though
11297-426: The authorities and human rights defenders, more than 400 people were subjected to torture in the course of the case. The Azerbaijani authorities claimed one person was killed as a result, while human rights defenders say the number is about 13, and many were wrongfully convicted and given hefty prison sentences. The Second Karabakh War (also known in Azerbaijan as "The Patriotic War" or "Operation Iron Fist") began on
11440-419: The cession of Transcaucasia proper and Dagestan by Qajar Iran to the Russian Empire per the 1813 Treaty of Gulistan and the 1828 Treaty of Turkmenchay . Per the 1829 Caucasus School Statute, Azerbaijani was to be taught in all district schools of Ganja , Shusha , Nukha (present-day Shaki ), Shamakhi , Quba , Baku , Derbent , Yerevan , Nakhchivan , Akhaltsikhe , and Lankaran . Beginning in 1834, it
11583-536: The commander of the Special Forces on their "liberation of Shusha". The war was considered to be first time Azerbaijan has actively used all of its special forces units. The Ministry of Defence Industry of Azerbaijan directs domestic military supplies for Azerbaijan. It was established in 2005. The Defence Industries Ministry subsumed the State Department for Military Industry and for Armaments and
11726-555: The control of Armenian forces following the First Nagorno-Karabakh war . The region's Azerbaijani inhabitants were expelled from the territories that came under Armenian control. While Nagorno-Karabakh remained an internationally recognised territory of Azerbaijan, the four UN Security Council resolutions , adopted in 1993 and demanding immediate withdrawal of the Armenian occupying forces from all occupied regions of Azerbaijan, remained unfulfilled until 2020. In 2020,
11869-471: The country has one of the most capable SAM surface-to-air missile system in the region. Azerbaijan also operates two S-200 (SA-5 GAMMON) batteries near Baku and Mingachevir; the S-300PMU-2 represents a logical replacement for these systems offering coverage of the majority of the nation. The country also has about 100 NATO designated SA-2 Guideline (original name S-75), SA-3 Goa (S-125 Pechora-2M), and
12012-488: The creation of a national army in Azerbaijan began only in November 1993, when the ..situation.. began to stabilize.” Articles for draft evasion and desertion were introduced. The Azerbaijani armed forces took a series of devastating defeats by Armenian forces during the 1992–1994 Nagorno-Karabakh War , which resulted in the loss of control of Nagorno-Karabakh proper and seven surrounding rayons , comprising roughly 20% of
12155-798: The defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I , British troops occupied the South Caucasus . The British command affirmed Khosrov bey Sultanov (an appointee of the Azerbaijani government) as provisional governor-general of Karabakh and Zangezur, pending a final decision at the Paris Peace Conference . The local council representing the Karabakh Armenian community consented to this decision until, in August 1919,
12298-472: The double toponymic landscape remained visible in maps and gazetteers due to the occasional printing of double names. The Tsarist officials preferred the Turkic toponyms over the Armenian ones, as they, in the words of Saparov (citing the historian George Bournoutian ), likely relied on the existing Persian tax records kept by the administration of the Karabakh Khanate . During the existence of
12441-837: The fall of the Soviet Union, there have been attempts in the defence ministry to reform the military to be more in line with the Turkish/NATO model, resulting in Soviet-legacy officers such as Rovshan Akbarov and Najmeddin Sadikov being removed from power. Azerbaijan periodically holds drills to improve interaction and combat coordination between the servicemen during operations, its military personnel's combat readiness, as well as to develop commanders' military decision-making and unit management skills. The Azerbaijani Land Forces number 85,000 strong, according to UK Advanced Research and Assessment Group estimates. The 2,500 men of
12584-593: The family of Shahverdi Sultan , who hailed from the Ziad-oglu branch of the Qajar tribe , as governors of Karabakh. It was also invaded and ruled by Ottoman Empire between 1578-1605 and again between 1723 and 1736, as they briefly conquered it during the Ottoman-Safavid War of 1578-1590 and during the disintegration of Safavid Iran, respectively. In 1747, Panah Ali Khan , a local Turkic chieftain from
12727-440: The first Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan , from 5 September to 11 December 1991. Later from May to 4 September 1992 he served as Chief of General Staff of Azerbaijani Armed Forces . In summer 1992, the nascent Defense Ministry received a resolution by the Azerbaijani president on the takeover of units and formations in Azerbaijani territory. It then forwarded an ultimatum to Moscow demanding control over vehicles and armaments of
12870-520: The first Azerbaijani newspaper to be published in the Russian Empire . It was started by Hasan bey Zardabi , a journalist and education advocate. Mohammad-Hossein Shahriar is an important figure in Azerbaijani poetry. His most important work is Heydar Babaya Salam and it is considered to be a pinnacle of Azerbaijani literature and gained popularity in the Turkic-speaking world. It
13013-711: The former. During the Soviet period, several attempts were made by the authorities of the Armenian SSR to unite it with the NKAO but these proposals never found any support in Moscow. In February 1988, within the context of Mikhail Gorbachev 's glasnost and perestroika policies, the Supreme Soviet of the NKAO voted to unite itself with Armenia. By the summer of 1989 the Armenian-populated areas of
13156-400: The founder of Varlıq , Javad Heyat , in 2001 where a document outlining the standard orthography and writing conventions were published for the public. This standard of writing is today canonized by a Persian–Azeri Turkic dictionary in Iran titled Loghatnāme-ye Torki-ye Āzarbāyjāni . Between 1929 and 1938, a Latin alphabet was in use for North Azerbaijani, although it was different from
13299-509: The future, Azerbaijan hopes to start building tanks, armored vehicles, military planes and military helicopters. Since the fall of the Soviet Union , Azerbaijan has been trying to further develop its armed forces into a professional, well trained, and mobile military. Azerbaijan has been undergoing extensive modernization and capacity expanding programs, with the military budget increasing from around $ 300 million in 2005 to $ 2.46 billion in 2009. The total armed forces number 56,840 men in
13442-543: The government and the opposition Azerbaijani Popular Front Party impeded creation of a unified force. Around this time, the first unit of the new army was formed on the basis of the 18–110 military unit of mechanized infantry of the Soviet Ground Forces (probably part of the 4th Army ) located in Shikhov , south of Baku. At the time of the parliamentary decision, Lieutenant-General Valeh Barshadli became
13585-451: The helicopter unit. There are also four other airbases which do not appear to have aircraft based there. These are Dollyar Air Base , Nakhchivan Airport , Sanqacal Air Base, and Sitalcay Air Base. The Azerbaijani Air Force using MiG-21 , Su-24 and Su-25 aircraft, as well as the MiG-29 purchased from Ukraine in 2006 and Il-76 transport aircraft. The MiG-29 have been designated as
13728-795: The injury of 91 others. In comparison, there were 62 non-combat deaths and 71 cases of injury in 2010. The string of non-combat deaths raises questions about the reform progress of the military. Factors behind the deaths include bullying, hazing, and the systemic corruption within the Azerbaijani Armed Forces (see Corruption in Azerbaijan ). In 2017, Azerbaijani authorities used large scale torture (the Tartar Case ) on Azerbaijani military personnel accused of treason. Generals Nacmeddin Sadikhov and Hikmet Hasanov were accused of torturing Azerbaijani officers and soldiers and according to
13871-635: The land forces, 7,900 men in the air force and air defence force, and 2,200 men in the navy. There are also 19,500 personnel in the National Guard, State Border Service, and Internal Troops. In addition, there are 300,000 former service personnel who have had military service in the last 15 years. The military hardware of Azerbaijan consists of 220 main battle tanks, an additional 162 T-80s were acquired between 2005 and 2010, 595 armored combat vehicles and 270 artillery systems. The air force has about 106 aircraft and 35 helicopters. Azerbaijan has acceded to
14014-515: The language was referred to by its native speakers as türk dili or türkcə , meaning either "Turkish" or "Turkic". In the early years following the establishment of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic , the language was still referred to as "Turkic" in official documents. However, in the 1930s, its name was officially changed to "Azerbaijani". The language is often still referred to as Turki or Torki in Iranian Azerbaijan . The term "Azeri", generally interchangeable with "Azerbaijani",
14157-464: The largest minority in the city and the wider province, comprising about 1 ⁄ 6 of its total population. The CIA World Factbook reports that in 2010, the percentage of Iranian Azerbaijani speakers was at around 16 percent of the Iranian population, or approximately 13 million people worldwide, and ethnic Azeris form by far the second largest ethnic group of Iran, thus making the language also
14300-559: The last 15 years, Azerbaijan has been preparing its military for possible action against Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh . The Land Forces consist of five army corps: The Land Forces include 23 motor rifle brigades, an artillery brigade, a multiple rocket launcher brigade, and an anti-tank regiment. The IISS Military Balance reported in 2007 that the Land Forces had an estimated 40 SA-13 Gopher, SA-4 Ganef, and SA-8 Gecko air defence missile systems, with '80–240 eff.' to support
14443-505: The legitimacy of their respective territorial claims. Azerbaijani authorities have targeted historical Armenian place names in Karabakh, whereas the Armenians have removed Turkic place names. Both sides use the place names that were historically used within the two toponymic landscapes that co-existed before the arrival of the Russians during the Russo-Persian Wars . Most renamings by the Azerbaijani government occurred during
14586-524: The loss of many archaic Turkic elements, stilted Iranisms and Ottomanisms, and other words, expressions, and rules that failed to gain popularity among the Azerbaijani masses. The Russian annexation of Iran 's territories in the Caucasus through the Russo-Iranian wars of 1804–1813 and 1826–1828 split the language community across two states. Afterwards, the Tsarist administration encouraged
14729-562: The main centers of Karabakh (Shusha, Khankendi, Askeran), although fighting in the countryside of Mountainous Karabakh continued. In April 1920, the Red Army occupied Azerbaijan and in December, Armenia. The issue of Karabakh's status was taken up by the Soviet authorities. In 1921 after the heavy trilateral negotiations, the Bolsheviks decided that Karabakh would remain within the borders of the new Soviet republic of Azerbaijan. In 1923,
14872-490: The majority of Iranian Azerbaijani people live. Azerbaijani is also spoken to lesser varying degrees in Azerbaijani communities of Georgia and Turkey and by diaspora communities, primarily in Europe and North America. Although there is a high degree of mutual intelligibility between both forms of Azerbaijani, there are significant differences in phonology , lexicon , morphology , syntax , and sources of loanwords . The standardized form of North Azerbaijani (spoken in
15015-602: The maximum extent of what could be considered Karabakh was during the existence of the Karabakh Khanate in the 18th century, which extended from the Zangezur Mountains in the west, following eastwards along the Aras river to the point where it meets with the Kura river in the Kur-Araz Lowland . Following the Kura river north, it stretched as far as what is today the Mingachevir reservoir before turning back to
15158-435: The medieval Turkic migrations . Persian and Arabic influenced the language, but Arabic words were mainly transmitted through the intermediary of literary Persian. Azerbaijani is, perhaps after Uzbek , the Turkic language upon which Persian and other Iranian languages have exerted the strongest impact—mainly in phonology, syntax, and vocabulary, less in morphology. The Turkic language of Azerbaijan gradually supplanted
15301-481: The minister, and then Lt-Gen. Ali-Agha Shikhlinski his deputy. Chiefs of Staff of ADR Army were Lt-Gen. Maciej Sulkiewicz (March 1919 – 10 December 1919) and Maj-Gen. Abdulhamid bey Gaitabashi (10 December 1919 – April 1920). The Red Army invaded Azerbaijan on 28 April 1920. Although the bulk of the newly formed Azerbaijani army was engaged in putting down an Armenian revolt that had just broken out in Karabakh ,
15444-538: The morning of 27 September 2020 when Azerbaijan launched an offensive along the Line of Contact. On the seventh day of the war, a major offensive was launched by the ground forces, advancing in the north, making some territorial gains while the fighting gradually shifted to the south. Following the capture of Shusha , the second-largest settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh, by Azerbaijani forces, a ceasefire agreement
15587-695: The naval base and parts of the Caspian Sea Flotilla . The Azerbaijan Navy has about 2,200 personnel. In 2010, the navy had a Petya class light frigate, Qusar (G 121), and a number of patrol craft , including one Turk class, Araz, P 223, one Brya (Project 722) class, P 218, one Shelon (Project 1388M) class, P 212, one Poluchat class (Project 368), P 219, one Luga class (Project 888), T 710, and four Petrushka (Polish UK-3 class), P 213, P 214, P 215, and P 216. There are four minesweepers consisting of 2 Sonya class minesweeper and 2 Yevgenya class minesweepers . (Jane's Fighting Ships 2010) The Navy
15730-409: The nomads consisting of Turkics (later known as Azerbaijanis) and Kurds on the other. An example in this regard is the place of Karintak in Armenian, known in Turkic as Dashalty (both versions translate as "village under the rock"). There are also place names from one language that were linguistically altered by another. For example, the place of Vank, became known in Turkic as Vanklu (by adding
15873-491: The oldest Russian toponyms in Karabakh date to the 19th century, assigned to hamlets that were originally settlements of Russian colonists or Cossack outposts on the border with Iran . Some examples are Kuropatkino , Sunzhinka, Lisagorskoe, Skobolevka, and Kotliarovka. Turkic toponyms include Dashbulag, Agbulag, Karabulag and Chailu . Armenian toponyms include Tkhkot , Mokhratakh, Vank and Kolatak . Mixed toponyms include Mamedazor (Islamic first name Mamed combined with
16016-545: The one used now. From 1938 to 1991, the Cyrillic script was used. Lastly, in 1991, the current Latin alphabet was introduced, although the transition to it has been rather slow. For instance, until an Aliyev decree on the matter in 2001, newspapers would routinely write headlines in the Latin script, leaving the stories in Cyrillic. The transition has also resulted in some misrendering of İ as Ì . In Dagestan, Azerbaijani
16159-431: The overuse of Persian, Arabic, and European elements in both colloquial and literary language and called for a simpler and more popular style. The Soviet Union promoted the development of the language but set it back considerably with two successive script changes – from the Persian to Latin and then to the Cyrillic script – while Iranian Azerbaijanis continued to use the Persian script as they always had. Despite
16302-405: The pantheon of Soviet leaders and figures, often locals of the area in question. For instance, Stepanakert , named after Armenian Bolshevik leader Stepan Shaumian , replaced the local Armenian (Vararakn) and Turkic (Khankendi) names as the town's sole official name. The town of Kolkhozashen reflected the Soviet practise of creating collective farm villages, i.e., a kolkhoz in Russian. Under
16445-514: The population of Karabakh is from a survey prepared by the Russian imperial authorities in 1823. According to the census, 91% of the villages were registered as "Muslims", while 9% were "Armenians". Almost all of the Armenians compactly resided in its mountainous parts (on the territory of the five traditional Armenian principalities ) where they constituted an absolute demographic majority, such that 90.8% of recorded villages were Armenians, whilst 9.2% were Tatar (later known as Azerbaijani). During
16588-724: The previous army, taking part in the Russian Civil War , and the invasion of Georgia . During World War II , Azerbaijan played a crucial role in the strategic energy policy of Soviet Union. Much of the Soviet Union's oil on the Eastern Front was supplied by Baku. By a decree of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in February 1942, the commitment of more than 500 workers and employees of the oil industry of Azerbaijan
16731-419: The process of standardization of orthography started with the publication of Azerbaijani magazines and newspapers such as Varlıq ( وارلیق — Existence ) from 1979. Azerbaijani-speaking scholars and literarians showed great interest in involvement in such ventures and in working towards the development of a standard writing system. These effort culminated in language seminars being held in Tehran , chaired by
16874-522: The regiment's withdrawal from Stepanakert) and the 49th arsenal was completed in 1992. Thus, by the end of 1992, Azerbaijan received arms and military hardware sufficient for approximately four motor rifle divisions with prescribed army units. It also inherited naval ships. There are also reports that 50 combat aircraft from the disbanded 19th Army of the Soviet Air Defence Forces came under Azerbaijani control. “Full-fledged work on
17017-605: The region under its direct rule, installing a special commission to govern the region. In November 1989 the Kremlin returned the oblast to Azerbaijani control. The local government in the region of Shahumian also declared its independence from the Azerbaijan SSR in 1991. In late 1991, the Armenian representatives in the local government of the NKAO proclaimed the region a republic, independent from Azerbaijan. Most of upper Karabakh and portions of lowland Karabakh came under
17160-567: The region was made subject to Azerbaijan military jurisdiction in advance of Azerbaijan's prospective annexation of Karabakh. Karabakh Armenians accused Azerbaijan of violating the letter of the 1919 agreement and, with the support of emissaries from Armenia, in March 1920 launched an ill-fated rebellion in Shusha. The Azerbaijani forces quickly suppressed the uprising, massacring and expelling the Armenian population of Shusha and establishing control over
17303-523: The region, and were key allies of the Safavid Empire, which ruled over Karabakh from the 16th to early 18th century. In the fifteenth century, the German traveler Johann Schiltberger visited Lowland Karabakh and described it as a large and beautiful plain in Armenia, ruled by Muslims. Highland Karabakh from 821 until the early 19th century passed under the hands of a number of states, including
17446-402: The same territory, but are used concurrently by two groups. One toponymic landscape was used by the sedentary Armenians of Karabakh, whereas the Turkic (later known as Azerbaijanis ) and Kurdish nomads of the area used the other toponymic system for the same territory. Iranian toponyms are attested in places such as Chldran , Charektar , Khojavend and Hadrut . Saparov explains that
17589-526: The second most spoken language in the nation. Ethnologue reports 10.9 million Iranian Azerbaijani in Iran in 2016 and 13,823,350 worldwide. Dialects of South Azerbaijani include: "Aynallu (often considered a separate language ), Karapapakh (often considered a separate language. The second edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam mentions that it is close to both "Āzerī and the Turkish of Turkey". The historian George Bournoutian only mentions that it
17732-569: The specific economic relations between its peoples, "an extremely complex palimpsest-type toponymic landscape in Karabakh" was formed. There are four main toponymic layers in Karabakh; Turkic , Armenian , Iranian and Russian . In addition, there are a large number of mixed toponyms which contain elements from more than one language. Lastly, there has been a complexicity of simultaneous existence of two overlapping toponymic landscapes belonging to different languages. These two toponymic systems overlap, as Saparov explains, in space and time, and cover
17875-641: The spread of Azerbaijani in eastern Transcaucasia as a replacement for Persian spoken by the upper classes, and as a measure against Persian influence in the region. Between c. 1900 and 1930, there were several competing approaches to the unification of the national language in what is now the Azerbaijan Republic, popularized by scholars such as Hasan bey Zardabi and Mammad agha Shahtakhtinski . Despite major differences, they all aimed primarily at making it easy for semi-literate masses to read and understand literature . They all criticized
18018-601: The standard aircraft for the AzAF. Azerbaijan is holding talks with either the People's Republic of China or Pakistan to purchase JF-17 Thunder aircraft. MiG-25s previously in service have been retired seemingly in the 2007–09 period. Azerbaijan's helicopter force is concentrated at Baku Kala Air Base and according to the IISS consists of a single regiment with around 14–15 Mi-24, 12–13 Mi-8 and 7 Mi-2. Jane's Information Group and
18161-476: The summer pastures in Mountainous Karabakh during the warmer months. Seasonal demographic changes were significant, as e.g. in 1845 in historic Karabakh the population included 30,000 Armenians and 62,000 Moslems (Azeris), of whom approximately 50,000 were nomads, who circulated between Lowland and Mountainous Karabakh. In 1828 the Karabakh khanate was dissolved and in 1840 it was absorbed into
18304-550: The territorial claims of the Armenians. Following the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War , the Azerbaijani government successfully petitioned Google to remove Armenian place names from maps of Karabakh. The Armenian side has also initiated a renaming campaign, targeting Turkic place names. According to 2009 data from the de facto Republic of Artsakh , of a total of 151 place names, 54 were renamed and 97 remained unchanged. The difference in place names between
18447-479: The territory of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani sources insist that Armenian victory was largely due to military help from Russia and the wealthy Armenian diaspora . Armenians partially deny the allegation, claiming that Russian side was equally supplying Armenian and Azerbaijani sides with weapons and mercenaries. During the war, the Azerbaijani armed forces were also aided by Turkish military advisers, and Russian, Ukrainian, Chechen and Afghan mercenaries. Azerbaijan approved
18590-543: The use of cluster munitions . In addition, videos of Azerbaijani soldiers mistreating or executing captive Armenians were circulated online and received widespread condemnation. On 10 December, a victory parade was held in honor of the Azerbaijani Army on Azadliq Square , with 3,000 soldiers marching alongside military equipment, unmanned aerial vehicles and aircraft. In August 2022, the UN Committee on
18733-629: The villages of Ghapan and Meghri in Syunik. Though some of the returning Armenians wished to settle in Karabakh, they were told by Russian authorities that there was no room for them. This took place at the same time as many of the region's Muslims departed for the Ottoman Empire and Qajar Iran. The population of Karabakh, according to the official returns of 1832, consisted of 13,965 Muslim and 1,491 Armenian families, besides some Nestorian Christians and Romani people . The limited population
18876-571: The wide use of Azerbaijani in the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic , it became the official language of Azerbaijan only in 1956. After independence, the Republic of Azerbaijan decided to switch back to a modified Latin script. The development of Azerbaijani literature is closely associated with Anatolian Turkish, written in Perso-Arabic script . Examples of its detachment date to the 14th century or earlier. Kadi Burhan al-Din , Hasanoghlu , and Imadaddin Nasimi helped to establish Azerbaiijani as
19019-487: Was a bistatic phased-array installation, operated by the Russian Space Forces . The contract was signed in 2002 and was due to expire in 2012 where it was to be given back to the Azerbaijani government. The contract costed Russia $ 7 million per year. The radar station had a range of up to 6,000 kilometres (3,700 miles), and was designed to detect intercontinental ballistic missile launches as far as from
19162-447: Was a region with an area of 13,600 km (5,250 sq mi), with Shusha (Shushi) as its most prominent city. Its population consisted of Armenians and Muslims (mainly of Tatars, later known as Azerbaijanis , but also Kurds ). The Russians conducted a census in 1823 and had tallied the number of villages (though not the number of people) and assessed the tax basis of the entire Karabakh khanate, which also included Lowland Karabakh. It
19305-431: Was ascribed to the frequent wars and emigration of many Muslim families to Iran since the region's subjection to Russia, although many Armenians were induced by the Russian government, after the Treaty of Turkmenchay , to emigrate from Iran to Karabakh. Censuses and surveys, which were conducted in winter, did not count tens of thousands Azeri nomads, who stayed in the lowlands during winter and were migrating en masse to
19448-671: Was awarded a second Hero of the Soviet Union after a long post-war fight for recognition of his accomplishments. During the Cold War, Azerbaijan had been the deployment area of units of the Soviet 4th Army whose principal formations in 1988 included four motor rifle divisions ( 23rd Guards , 60th , 75th, and 295th ). The 75th Motor Rifle Division was isolated in Nakhchivan . The 4th Army also included missile and air defense brigades and artillery and rocket regiments. The 75th Division's stores and equipment were apparently transferred to
19591-458: Was challenged by others, such as Aghamusa Akhundov [ az ] , who argued that Damirchizade was taking orthography as the basis of his judgement, rather than its phonetic value. According to Akhundov, Azerbaijani contains two diphthongs, / ou̯ / and / œy̯ / , represented by ov and öv in the alphabet, both of which are phonemic due to their contrast with / o / and / œ / , represented by o and ö . In some cases,
19734-582: Was found almost overwhelmingly Armenian in population (96.7%). In contrast, the population of the Karabakh khanate, taken as a whole, was largely made up of Muslims (91% Muslim versus 9% Armenian). A decade after the Russian annexation of the region, many Armenians who had fled Karabakh during the reign of Ibrahim Khalil Khan (1730-1806) and settled in Yerevan, Ganja , and parts of Georgia were repatriated to their villages, many of which had been left derelict. An additional 279 Armenian families were settled in
19877-604: Was introduced as a language of study in Kutaisi instead of Armenian. In 1853, Azerbaijani became a compulsory language for students of all backgrounds in all of Transcaucasia with the exception of the Tiflis Governorate . Azerbaijani is one of the Oghuz languages within the Turkic language family . Ethnologue lists North Azerbaijani (spoken mainly in the Republic of Azerbaijan and Russia) and South Azerbaijani (spoken in Iran, Iraq, and Syria) as two groups within
20020-634: Was populated with various Caucasian tribes, is believed to have been conquered by the Kingdom of Armenia in the 2nd century BC and organized as parts of the Artsakh , Utik and the southern regions of Syunik provinces. However, it is possible that the region had earlier been part of the Satrapy of Armenia under the Orontid dynasty from as early as the 4th century BC. After the partition of Armenia by Rome and Persia in 387 AD, Artsakh and Utik became
20163-613: Was recognised with orders and medals. Operation Edelweiss carried out by the German Wehrmacht targeted Baku because of the importance of its oil fields to the USSR. Some 800,000 Azerbaijanis fought within the ranks of the Soviet Army of which 400,000 died. Azerbaijani national formations of the Red Army included the 223rd , 227th , 396th , 402nd , and 416th Rifle Divisions . Azerbaijani Major-General Hazi Aslanov
20306-548: Was signed between Azerbaijan, and Armenia, ending all hostilities in the area. Under the agreement, Armenia returned the surrounding territories it occupied in 1994 to Azerbaijan while Azerbaijan gained land access to its Nakhchivan exclave. Total casualties were in the low thousands. During the war, the Azerbaijani army was widely accused of committing war crimes against Armenian soldiers and civilians. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International both condemned Azerbaijan's “indiscriminate” shelling of Armenian civilians, including
20449-750: Was translated into more than 30 languages. In the mid-19th century, Azerbaijani literature was taught at schools in Baku , Ganja , Shaki , Tbilisi , and Yerevan . Since 1845, it has also been taught in the Saint Petersburg State University in Russia . In 2018, Azerbaijani language and literature programs are offered in the United States at several universities, including Indiana University , UCLA , and University of Texas at Austin . The vast majority, if not all Azerbaijani language courses teach North Azerbaijani written in
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