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182-569: Nagorno-Karabakh ( / n ə ˌ ɡ ɔːr n oʊ k ər ə ˈ b ɑː k / , nə- GOR -noh kər-ə- BAHK ; lit.   ' Upper Karabakh ' ) is a region in Azerbaijan , covering the southeastern stretch of the Lesser Caucasus mountain range. Part of the greater region of Karabakh , it spans the area between Lower Karabakh and Syunik . Its terrain mostly consists of mountains and forestland. Most of Nagorno-Karabakh

364-704: A Persian satrap under the Achaemenid Empire who was reinstated as the satrap of Media under Alexander the Great . The original etymology of this name is thought to have its roots in the once-dominant Zoroastrianism . In the Avesta 's Frawardin Yasht ("Hymn to the Guardian Angels"), there is a mention of âterepâtahe ashaonô fravashîm ýazamaide , which translates from Avestan as "we worship

546-518: A vassal state in 252, while King Urnayr officially adopted Christianity as the state religion in the 4th century. Despite Sassanid rule, Caucasian Albania remained an entity in the region until the 9th century, while fully subordinate to Sassanid Iran, and retained its monarchy. Despite being one of the chief vassals of the Sasanian emperor, the Albanian king had only a semblance of authority, and

728-520: A consistent Proto-Indo-European pattern distinct from Iranian, and that the inflectional morphology was different from that of Iranian languages. The hypothesis that Greek is Armenian's closest living relative originates with Holger Pedersen (1924), who noted that the number of Greek-Armenian lexical cognates is greater than that of agreements between Armenian and any other Indo-European language. Antoine Meillet (1925, 1927) further investigated morphological and phonological agreement and postulated that

910-461: A de facto independent principality. In the 15th century, the territory of Karabakh was part of the states ruled subsequently by the Kara Koyunlu and Ak Koyunlu Turkic tribal confederations. According to Abu Bakr Tihrani , during the period of Jahan Shah (1438–1468), the ruler of Kara Koyunlu, Piri bey Karamanli held the governorship of Karabakh. However, according to Robert H. Hewsen ,

1092-717: A decision to make Armenian-language television available in the region was left unimplemented. One result of these policies was a continuing exodus of Armenians from Karabagh in search of greener pastures. Following the Sumgait pogrom and the exodus of Azerbaijanis from Armenia , Azerbaijanis in Stepanakert and Armenians in Shusha were expelled in September 1988. As local Armenian forces gained possession of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts (amounting to 14 percent of

1274-689: A hillside on the Absheron Peninsula on the Caspian Sea near Baku, which itself is known as the "land of fire." Flames jet out into the air from a thin, porous sandstone layer. It is a tourist attraction to visitors to the Baku area. The first reports on the richness and diversity of animal life in Azerbaijan can be found in travel notes of Eastern travelers. Animal carvings on architectural monuments, ancient rocks, and stones survived up to

1456-544: A joint session of the Armenian Supreme Soviet and the National Council, the legislative body of Nagorno-Karabakh, proclaimed the unification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia. On 26 November 1991 Azerbaijan abolished the status of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast , rearranging the administrative division and bringing the territory under direct control of Azerbaijan. On 10 December 1991, in

1638-506: A large number of mercenaries from Ukraine and Russia. Between fifteen and twenty-five hundred Afghan mujahideen , along with fighters from Chechnya , participated in the fighting on Azerbaijan's side. Russia provided Armenia with heavy artillery and tanks. Many survivors from the Azerbaijani side found shelter in 12 emergency camps set up in other parts of Azerbaijan to cope with the growing number of internally displaced people due to

1820-468: A loan from Armenian (compare to Armenian եւ yev , ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi ). Other loans from Armenian into Urartian includes personal names, toponyms, and names of deities. Loan words from Iranian languages , along with the other ancient accounts such as that of Xenophon above, initially led some linguists to erroneously classify Armenian as an Iranian language. Scholars such as Paul de Lagarde and F. Müller believed that

2002-698: A military operation . On 19 September 2023, Azerbaijan launched a military offensive on Nagorno-Karabakh. One day after the offensive started, on 20 September, an agreement on establishing a complete cessation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh was reached at the mediation of the Russian peacekeeping command in Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan held a meeting with representatives of the Artsakh Armenian community on 21 September in Yevlakh to start

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2184-404: A mountain-steppe racing and riding horse endemic to Azerbaijan. The Karabakh horse has a reputation for its good temper, speed, elegance, and intelligence. It is one of the oldest breeds, with ancestry dating to the ancient world, but today the horse is an endangered species. Azerbaijan's flora consists of more than 4,500 species of higher plants. Due to the unique climate in Azerbaijan, the flora

2366-425: A network of schools where modern Armenian was taught, dramatically increased the rate of literacy (in spite of the obstacles by the colonial administrators), even in remote rural areas. The emergence of literary works entirely written in the modern versions increasingly legitimized the language's existence. By the turn of the 20th century both varieties of the one modern Armenian language prevailed over Grabar and opened

2548-523: A population of 147,308, 10,751 (7.3 percent) of whom were urban dwellers, and 136,557 (92.7 percent) of whom were rural residents. On 1 January 1973, the oblast had a population of 153,000. Whilst the region was a part of the Azerbaijan SSR, the Armenian share of the population dropped from 94.7 to 76.9 percent, whilst the Azerbaijani share of the population quadrupled from 5.1 to 21.5 percent as

2730-422: A referendum boycotted by local Azerbaijanis, Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh approved the creation of an independent state. A Soviet proposal for enhanced autonomy for Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan satisfied neither side and a full-scale war subsequently erupted between Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh, with the latter receiving support from Armenia. According to Armenia's former president, Levon Ter-Petrossian ,

2912-512: A result of "migratory influx" — indicative of the socio-economic difficulties local Armenians experienced under Soviet Azerbaijani leadership which led them to emigrate from Karabakh. Emeritus professor of law M. Cherif Bassiouni writes of the stagnation of the Armenian population "due to the discriminatory policies of Azerbaijani authorities that compelled Armenians to emigrate"; also adding that 600,000 Armenians from Karabakh reside in Armenia and

3094-458: A result of the Shusha massacre, 5,000–6,000 Armenians were displaced to the regions of Varanda and Dizak . By 11 April 1920, some thirty villages in Nagorno-Karabakh had been "devastated" by Azerbaijani forces as a result of the uprising, leaving 25,000 homeless (including nearly 6,000 refugees from Shusha). 1923 statistics indicate that the NKAO was 94.8 percent Armenian, numbering 149,600, whilst

3276-652: A year after the Russian Empire collapsed , and became the first secular democratic Muslim-majority state. In 1920, the country was conquered and incorporated into the Soviet Union as the Azerbaijan SSR . The modern Republic of Azerbaijan proclaimed its independence on 30 August 1991, shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union . In September 1991, the ethnic Armenian majority of

3458-416: Is Haut-Karabakh , meaning "Upper Karabakh". The names for the region in the various local languages all translate to "mountainous Karabakh", or "mountainous black garden": Armenians living in the area often call Nagorno-Karabakh Artsakh ( Armenian : Արցախ ), the name of the 10th province of the ancient Kingdom of Armenia . Urartian inscriptions (9th–7th centuries BC) use the name Urtekhini for

3640-581: Is an active member of international coalitions fighting international terrorism, and was one of the first countries to offer support after the September 11 attacks . The country is an active member of NATO 's Partnership for Peace program, contributing to peacekeeping efforts in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. Azerbaijan is also a member of the Council of Europe since 2001 and maintains good relations with

3822-552: Is an independent branch of the Indo-European languages . It is of interest to linguists for its distinctive phonological changes within that family. Armenian exhibits more satemization than centumization , although it is not classified as belonging to either of these subgroups. Some linguists tentatively conclude that Armenian, Greek (and Phrygian ), Albanian and Indo-Iranian were dialectally close to each other; within this hypothetical dialect group, Proto-Armenian

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4004-437: Is around 14.% of the total land area, equivalent to 1,131,770 hectares (ha) of forest in 2020, up from 944,740 hectares (ha) in 1990. In 2020, naturally regenerating forest covered 826,200 hectares (ha) and planted forest covered 305,570 hectares (ha). Of the naturally regenerating forest 0% was reported to be primary forest (consisting of native tree species with no clearly visible indications of human activity) and around 33% of

4186-561: Is clearly the dialect to be most closely related to Armenian. Eric P. Hamp (1976, 91) supports the Graeco-Armenian thesis and even anticipates a time "when we should speak of Helleno-Armenian" (meaning the postulate of a Graeco-Armenian proto-language). Armenian shares the augment and a negator derived from the set phrase in the Proto-Indo-European language * ne h₂oyu kʷid ("never anything" or "always nothing"),

4368-474: Is derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂r̥ǵipyós , with cognates in Sanskrit (ऋजिप्य, ṛjipyá ), Avestan ( ərəzifiia ), and Greek (αἰγίπιος, aigípios ). Hrach Martirosyan and Armen Petrosyan propose additional borrowed words of Armenian origin loaned into Urartian and vice versa, including grammatical words and parts of speech, such as Urartian eue ("and"), attested in the earliest Urartian texts and likely

4550-576: Is held by the unicameral National Assembly and the Supreme National Assembly in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. The Parliament of Azerbaijan , called Milli Majlis, consists of 125 deputies elected based on majority vote , with a term of five years for each elected member. The elections are held every five years, on the first Sunday of November. The Parliament is not responsible for the formation of

4732-583: Is much richer in the number of species than the flora of the other republics of the South Caucasus. Sixty-six percent of the species growing in the whole Caucasus can be found in Azerbaijan. The country lies within four ecoregions: Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests , Caucasus mixed forests , Eastern Anatolian montane steppe , and Azerbaijan shrub desert and steppe . Azerbaijan had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 6.55/10, ranking it 72nd globally out of 172 countries. Forest cover

4914-415: Is not considered conclusive evidence of a period of common isolated development. There are words used in Armenian that are generally believed to have been borrowed from Anatolian languages, particularly from Luwian , although some researchers have identified possible Hittite loanwords as well. One notable loanword from Anatolian is Armenian xalam , "skull", cognate to Hittite ḫalanta , "head". In 1985,

5096-463: Is over 950 metres (3,120 ft) above sea level . The borders of Nagorno-Karabakh resemble a kidney bean with the indentation on the east side. It has tall mountain ridges along the northern edge and along the west and mountainous south. The part near the indentation of the kidney bean itself is a relatively flat valley, with the two edges of the bean, the districts of Martakert and Martuni , having flatlands as well. Other flatter valleys exist around

5278-560: Is particularly evidenced by remnants of ancient rivers found throughout the country. The water systems are continually changing under the influence of natural forces and human-introduced industrial activities. Artificial rivers (canals) and ponds are a part of Azerbaijan's water systems. In terms of water supply, Azerbaijan is below the average in the world with approximately 100,000 cubic metres (3,531,467 cubic feet) per year of water per square kilometer. All big water reservoirs are built on Kur. The hydrography of Azerbaijan basically belongs to

5460-700: Is the administration in its current formation. The president does not have the right to dissolve the National Assembly but has the right to veto its decisions. To override the presidential veto, the parliament must have a majority of 95 votes. The judicial power is vested in the Constitutional Court , Supreme Court , and the Economic Court. The president nominates the judges in these courts. Azerbaijan's system of governance nominally can be called two-tiered. The top or highest tier of

5642-555: Is the deliberative body under the president, and he organizes it according to the constitution. It was established on 10 April 1997. The administrative department is not a part of the president's office but manages the financial, technical and pecuniary activities of both the president and his office. The short-lived Azerbaijan Democratic Republic succeeded in establishing diplomatic relations with six countries, sending diplomatic representatives to Germany and Finland. The process of international recognition of Azerbaijan's independence from

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5824-566: The fravashi of the holy Atropatene ". The name "Atropates" is the Greek transliteration of an Old Iranian , probably Median , compounded name with the meaning "Protected by the (Holy) Fire" or "The Land of the (Holy) Fire". The Greek name was mentioned by Diodorus Siculus and Strabo . Over the span of millennia, the name evolved to Āturpātākān ( Middle Persian ), then to Ādharbādhagān , Ādhorbāygān , Āzarbāydjān (New Persian) and present-day Azerbaijan . The name Azerbaijan

6006-568: The Aliyev political family and the New Azerbaijan Party ( Yeni Azərbaycan Partiyası , YAP) established by Heydar Aliyev continuously since 1993. It is categorised as "not free" by Freedom House , who ranked it 7/100 on Global Freedom Score in 2024, calling its regime authoritarian. The structural formation of the political system was completed by the adoption of the constitution on 12 November 1995. According to Article 23 of

6188-466: The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (11–14th centuries) resulted in the addition of two more characters to the alphabet (" օ " and " ֆ "), bringing the total number to 38. The Book of Lamentations by Gregory of Narek (951–1003) is an example of the development of a literature and writing style of Old Armenian by the 10th century. In addition to elevating the literary style and vocabulary of

6370-668: The Armenian SSR , started a movement to have the autonomous oblast transferred to the Armenian SSR. In August 1987, Karabakh Armenians sent a petition for union with Armenia with tens of thousands of signatures to Moscow. On 13 February 1988, Karabakh Armenians began demonstrating in Stepanakert , in favour of unification with the Armenian republic. Six days later they were joined by mass marches in Yerevan . On 20 February,

6552-563: The Armenian genocide , mostly in the diaspora ). The differences between them are considerable but they are mutually intelligible after significant exposure. Some subdialects such as Homshetsi are not mutually intelligible with other varieties. Although Armenians were known to history much earlier (for example, they were mentioned in the 6th-century BC Behistun Inscription and in Xenophon 's 4th century BC history, The Anabasis ),

6734-569: The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic on 28 April 1920. Although the bulk of the newly formed Azerbaijani army was engaged in putting down an Armenian revolt that had broken out in Karabakh , Azerbaijanis did not surrender their brief independence of 1918–20 quickly or easily. As many as 20,000 Azerbaijani soldiers died resisting what was effectively a Russian reconquest. Within the ensuing early Soviet period,

6916-546: The Azerbaijanis are nowadays parted between two nations: Iran and Azerbaijan. After the collapse of the Russian Empire during World War I , the short-lived Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic was declared, constituting the present-day republics of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia. It was followed by the March Days massacres that took place between 30 March and 2 April 1918 in Baku and adjacent areas of

7098-719: The Baku Governorate . When the republic dissolved in May 1918, the leading Musavat party declared independence as the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR), adopting the name of "Azerbaijan", a name that prior to the proclamation of the ADR was solely used to refer to the adjacent northwestern region of contemporary Iran . The ADR was the first modern parliamentary republic in the Muslim world. Among

7280-637: The Baku pogrom , the Maraga massacre and the Kirovabad pogrom . Furthermore, an estimated 30,000 people were killed and more than a million people were displaced (more than 800,000 Azerbaijanis and 300,000 Armenians). Four United Nations Security Council resolutions ( 822 , 853 , 874 , and 884 ) demand for "the immediate withdrawal of all Armenian forces from all occupied territories of Azerbaijan." Many Russians and Armenians fled Azerbaijan as refugees during

7462-881: The Council of Europe , the Non-Aligned Movement , the OSCE , and the NATO PfP program. It is one of the founding members of GUAM , the Commonwealth of Independent States , and the OPCW . Azerbaijan is also an observer state of the World Trade Organization . The vast majority of the country's population (97%) is nominally Muslim, but the Constitution of Azerbaijan does not declare an official religion, and all major political forces in

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7644-543: The First Nagorno-Karabakh war with the ethnic Armenian majority of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by Armenia. By the end of the hostilities in 1994, Armenians controlled 14–16 percent of Azerbaijani territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh. During the war many atrocities and pogroms by both sides were committed including the massacres at Malibeyli, Gushchular and Garadaghly and the Khojaly massacre , along with

7826-607: The Greater Caucasus . The 7th-century Armenian linguist and grammarian Stephanos Syunetsi stated in his work that Armenians of Artsakh had their own dialect, and encouraged his readers to learn it. Around the mid 7th century, the region was conquered by the invading Muslim Arabs through the Muslim conquest of Persia . Subsequently, it was ruled by local governors endorsed by the Caliphate . According to some sources, in 821

8008-641: The Greek language , the Armenian language, and the Indo-Iranian languages . Graeco-Aryan unity would have become divided into Proto-Greek and Proto-Indo-Iranian by the mid-3rd millennium BC. Conceivably, Proto-Armenian would have been located between Proto-Greek and Proto-Indo-Iranian, consistent with the fact that Armenian shares certain features only with Indo-Iranian (the satem change) but others only with Greek ( s > h ). Graeco-Aryan has comparatively wide support among Indo-Europeanists who believe

8190-764: The Guruchay culture of Azykh Cave . Early settlements included the Scythians during the 9th century BC. Following the Scythians, Iranian Medes came to dominate the area to the south of the Aras river . The Medes forged a vast empire between 900 and 700 BC, which was integrated into the Achaemenid Empire around 550 BC. The area was conquered by the Achaemenids leading to the spread of Zoroastrianism . The Sasanian Empire turned Caucasian Albania into

8372-591: The Indo-European homeland to be located in the Armenian Highlands , the " Armenian hypothesis ". Early and strong evidence was given by Euler's 1979 examination on shared features in Greek and Sanskrit nominal flection. Used in tandem with the Graeco-Armenian hypothesis, the Armenian language would also be included under the label Aryano-Greco-Armenic , splitting into Proto-Greek/Phrygian and "Armeno-Aryan" (ancestor of Armenian and Indo-Iranian ). Classical Armenian (Arm: grabar ), attested from

8554-684: The Lachin corridor , the sole road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia and the outside world. On 23 April 2023, Azerbaijani forces installed a checkpoint on the Lachin corridor. The blockade led to a humanitarian crisis for the population in Artsakh and imports of essential goods were blocked, as well as humanitarian convoys of the Red Cross and the Russian peacekeepers, trapping the 120,000 residents of

8736-542: The Mekhitarists . The first Armenian periodical, Azdarar , was published in grabar in 1794. The classical form borrowed numerous words from Middle Iranian languages , primarily Parthian , and contains smaller inventories of loanwords from Greek, Syriac, Aramaic, Arabic, Mongol, Persian, and indigenous languages such as Urartian . An effort to modernize the language in Bagratid Armenia and

8918-699: The Nagorno-Karabakh region formed the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh , which became de facto independent with the end of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1994, although the region and seven surrounding districts remained internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan. Following the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020, the seven districts and parts of Nagorno-Karabakh were returned to Azerbaijani control. An Azerbaijani offensive in 2023 ended

9100-660: The Non-Aligned Movement and World Trade Organization and is a correspondent at the International Telecommunication Union . On 9 May 2006 Azerbaijan was elected to membership in the newly established Human Rights Council by the United Nations General Assembly . The term of office began on 19 June 2006. Azerbaijan was first elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2011 with

9282-435: The October Revolution , Karabakh became part of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic , but this soon dissolved into separate Armenian , Azerbaijani , and Georgian states. Over the next two years (1918–1920), there were a series of short wars between Armenia and Azerbaijan over several regions, including Nagorno-Karabakh. Between 1918 and 1920, Nagorno-Karabakh's de jure affiliation with Armenia or Azerbaijan

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9464-408: The Safavid dynasty of Iran subdued the Shirvanshahs and gained its possessions. In the course of the next century, the Safavids converted the formerly Sunni population to Shia Islam , as they did with the population in what is modern-day Iran. The Safavids allowed the Shirvanshahs to remain in power under Safavid suzerainty until 1538, when Safavid King Tahmasp I completely deposed them and made

9646-420: The Sarsang reservoir , Hadrut , and the south. The entire region lies, on average, 1,100 metres (3,600 ft) above sea level . Notable peaks include the border mountain Murovdag and the Great Kirs mountain chain in the junction of Shusha and Hadrut districts. The territory of modern Nagorno-Karabakh forms a portion of the historic region of Karabakh, which lies between the rivers Kura and Araxes , and

9828-400: The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War broke out with an Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding territories. Azerbaijan made significant gains during the war, regaining all of the occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh and capturing one-third of Nagorno-Karabakh, including Shusha and Hadrut . The war ended on 10 November 2020 when a trilateral ceasefire agreement

10010-415: The Turkoman lord Jahan Shah (1437–67) assigned the governorship of upper Karabakh to local Armenian princes, allowing a native Armenian leadership to emerge consisting of five noble families led by princes who held the titles of meliks . These dynasties represented the branches of the earlier House of Khachen and were the descendants of the medieval kings of Artsakh. Their lands were often referred to as

10192-595: The flight of nearly all ethnic Armenians from the region . Azerbaijan is located in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia , straddling West Asia and Eastern Europe . It lies between latitudes 38° and 42° N , and longitudes 44° and 51° E . The perimeter of Azerbaijan's land borders is 2,648 km (1,645 mi), of which 1,007 km (626 mi) are with Armenia, 756 km (470 mi) with Iran, 480 kilometers with Georgia, 390 km (242 mi) with Russia and 15 km (9 mi) with Turkey. The coastline stretches for 800 km (497 mi), and

10374-471: The "historical Nagorno-Karabakh" region had a population of 300,000–330,000 in 1918–1920, rising to 700,000–800,000 by 1988. As a result of " Turkish - Azerbaijani aggression", the region's population declined by 20 percent in 1918–1920. In this period, Azerbaijani forces carried out massacres against Armenians in Ghaibalishen, Jamilli, Karkijahan, and Pahlul (600–700 dead), Stepanakert (several hundred dead), and Shusha (several hundred to 12,000 dead). As

10556-464: The 1990s. According to the 1970 census, there were 510,000 ethnic Russians and 484,000 Armenians in Azerbaijan. In 1993, democratically elected President Abulfaz Elchibey was overthrown by a military insurrection led by Colonel Surat Huseynov , which resulted in the rise to power of the former leader of Soviet Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev . In 1994, Huseynov, by that time the prime minister, attempted another military coup against Heydar Aliyev, but he

10738-413: The 34th session of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Organization of Islamic Conference adopted resolution No. 7/34-P, considering the occupation of Azerbaijani territory as the aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan and recognizing the actions against Azerbaijani civilians as a crime against humanity , and condemning the destruction of archaeological, cultural and religious monuments in

10920-408: The 5th century to the 19th century as the literary standard (up to the 11th century also as a spoken language with different varieties), was partially superseded by Middle Armenian , attested from the 12th century to the 18th century. Specialized literature prefers "Old Armenian" for grabar as a whole, and designates as "Classical" the language used in the 5th century literature, "Post-Classical" from

11102-404: The 5th century, the first-ever Armenian school was opened on the territory of modern Nagorno-Karabakh at Amaras Monastery through the efforts of St. Mesrop Mashtots , the inventor of the Armenian alphabet . St. Mesrop was very active in preaching the Gospel in Artsakh and Utik. Overall, Mesrop Mashtots made three trips to Artsakh and Utik, ultimately reaching pagan territories at the foothills of

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11284-409: The 8,350 stream are greater than 100 km (62 mi) in length. All the streams drain into the Caspian Sea. The largest lake is Sarysu at 67 km (26 sq mi), and the longest river is Kur at 1,515 km (941 mi), which is transboundary with Armenia. Azerbaijan has several islands along the Caspian sea, mostly located in the Baku Archipelago . Since independence in 1991,

11466-481: The Armenian language by adding well above a thousand new words, through his other hymns and poems Gregory paved the way for his successors to include secular themes and vernacular language in their writings. The thematic shift from mainly religious texts to writings with secular outlooks further enhanced and enriched the vocabulary. "A Word of Wisdom", a poem by Hovhannes Sargavak devoted to a starling, legitimizes poetry devoted to nature, love, or female beauty. Gradually,

11648-419: The Armenian prince Sahl Smbatian revolted in Artsakh and established the House of Khachen , which ruled Artsakh as a principality until the early 19th century. According to other sources, Sahl Smbatian "was of the Zamirhakan family of kings," and in the year 837–838 he acquired sovereignty over Armenia, Georgia, and Albania. The name "Khachen" originated from Armenian word "khach," which means "cross". By 1000

11830-527: The Armenians began to come back to Karabagh, and they accounted for the majority of its population by the mid-19th century". Edmund Herzig and Marina Kurkchiyan present an alternative view that "Armenians had already been a majority in some areas such as mountainous Karabagh", compared to the Yerevan province which had "regained an Armenian majority for the first time in several hundred years." According to an 1823 Russian survey published in Tiflis (present-day Tbilisi ) in 1866, Armenians made up 97 percent of

12012-419: The Azerbaijan SSR. The disturbances in Azerbaijan, in response to Moscow's indifference to an already heated conflict, resulted in calls for independence and secession, which culminated in the Black January events in Baku. Later in 1990, the Supreme Council of the Azerbaijan SSR dropped the words "Soviet Socialist" from the title, adopted the "Declaration of Sovereignty of the Azerbaijan Republic" and restored

12194-403: The Azerbaijani government) as the governor-general of Karabakh and Zangezur , pending a final decision by the Paris Peace Conference . The decision was opposed by Karabakh Armenians. In February 1920, the Karabakh National Council preliminarily agreed to Azerbaijani jurisdiction, while Armenians elsewhere in Karabakh continued guerrilla fighting, never accepting the agreement. The agreement itself

12376-402: The Azerbaijani national identity was forged. On 13 October 1921, the Soviet republics of Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia signed an agreement with Turkey known as the Treaty of Kars . The previously independent Republic of Aras would also become the Nakhchivan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic within the Azerbaijan SSR by the treaty of Kars. On the other hand, Armenia was awarded

12558-528: The Azerbaijani population numbered 7,700. Historian Cory Welt writes of a "discrepancy" of the Armenian population jumping by over 25,000 individuals between the 1921 and 1923 censuses, also pointing out that the Armenian population declined to 111,700 in 1926, thus indicating an "unexplained drop" of 38,000 individuals. In the 1920s, the NKAO had a population of 131,500 people, 94.4 percent (124,136) of whom were ethnic Armenians and only 5.6 percent (7,364) of whom were ethnic Azerbaijanis. In 1933, Nagorno-Karabakh had

12740-556: The Bolsheviks. After the Sovietization of Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Kavbiuro (Caucasian Bureau of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik) ) decided that Karabakh would remain within Azerbaijan SSR with broad regional autonomy, with the administrative centre in the city of Shusha (the administrative center was later moved to Stepanakert ). The oblast's borders were drawn to include Armenian villages and to exclude as much as possible Azerbaijani villages. The resulting district ensured an Armenian majority. With

12922-420: The Caspian Sea basin. The Kura and Aras are the major rivers in Azerbaijan. They run through the Kura-Aras lowland . The rivers that directly flow into the Caspian Sea originate mainly from the north-eastern slope of the Major Caucasus and Talysh Mountains and run along the Samur–Devechi and Lankaran lowlands. Yanar Dag , translated as "burning mountain", is a natural gas fire which blazes continuously on

13104-470: The Caucasus region vary from about −28 meters at the Caspian Sea shoreline up to 4,466 meters ( Bazardüzü peak). The climate is influenced particularly by cold arctic air masses of Scandinavian anticyclone , temperate air masses of Siberian anticyclone, and Central Asian anticyclone. Azerbaijan's diverse landscape affects the ways air masses enter the country. The Greater Caucasus protects

13286-756: The Country of Khamsa ( five in Arabic). In a Charter (2 June 1799) of the Emperor Paul I titled "About their admission to Russian suzerainty, land allocation, rights and privileges", it was noted that the Christian heritage of the Karabakh region and all their people were admitted to the Russian suzerainty. However, according to Robert Hewsen , the Russian Empire recognized the sovereign status of

13468-736: The Empire in 1828 by the Treaty of Turkmenchay , which came as an outcome of the Russo-Persian War (1826-1828) . In 1822, 9 years after it passed from Iranian to Russian control, the Karabakh Khanate was dissolved and the area became part of the Elizavetpol Governorate within the Russian Empire. In 1823 the five districts corresponding roughly to modern-day Nagorno-Karabakh were 90.8% Armenian-populated. After

13650-872: The European Union. The country may eventually apply for EU membership. On 1 July 2021, the US Congress advanced legislation that will have an impact on the military aid that Washington has sent to Azerbaijan since 2012. This was because the packages to Armenia, instead, are significantly smaller. Armenian language Pontic Steppe Caucasus East Asia Eastern Europe Northern Europe Pontic Steppe Northern/Eastern Steppe Europe South Asia Steppe Europe Caucasus India Indo-Aryans Iranians East Asia Europe East Asia Europe Indo-Aryan Iranian Indo-Aryan Iranian Others European Armenian

13832-567: The Ganja khans in punishment for their support of the Safavids , and placed it under his own control In the mid-18th century, as internal conflicts between the meliks led to their weakening, the Karabakh Khanate was formed. The Karabakh khanate , one of the largest khanates under Iranian suzerainty, was headed by Panah-Ali khan Javanshir . For the reinforcement of the power of Karabakh khanate, Khan of Karabakh, Panah-Ali khan Javanshir, built up “

14014-637: The Greater and Lesser Caucasus , and the Talysh Mountains , together covering approximately 40% of the country. The highest peak is Mount Bazardüzü 4,466 m (14,652 ft), while the lowest point lies in the Caspian Sea −28 m (−92 ft) . Nearly half of all the mud volcanoes on Earth are concentrated in Azerbaijan, these volcanoes were among nominees for the New 7 Wonders of Nature . The main water sources are surface waters. Only 24 of

14196-595: The House of Khachen proclaimed the Kingdom of Artsakh with John Senecherib as its first ruler. Initially Dizak in southern Artsakh also formed a kingdom ruled by the ancient House of Aranshahik , descended from the earliest Kings of Caucasian Albania. In 1261, after the daughter of the last king of Dizak married the king of Artsakh, Armenian prince Hasan Jalal Dola , the two states merged into one Armenian Principality of Khachen . Subsequently, Artsakh continued to exist as

14378-467: The Hurro-Urartian and Northeast Caucasian origins for these words and instead suggest native Armenian etymologies, leaving the possibility that these words may have been loaned into Hurro-Urartian and Caucasian languages from Armenian, and not vice versa. A notable example is arciv , meaning "eagle", believed to have been the origin of Urartian Arṣibi and Northeast Caucasian arzu . This word

14560-682: The Iranian Zands and Qajars . From the late 18th century, Imperial Russia switched to a more aggressive geo-political stance towards Iran and the Ottoman Empire . Russia actively tried to gain possession of the Caucasus region which was, for the most part, in the hands of Iran. In 1804, the Russians invaded and sacked the Iranian town of Ganja , sparking the Russo-Persian War of 1804–1813 . The militarily superior Russians ended

14742-533: The Karabakh authorities. As a result, a ceasefire was reached on 12 May 1994 through Russian mediation. Despite the ceasefire, fatalities due to armed conflicts between Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers continued. On 25 January 2005, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted PACE Resolution 1416 , which condemned ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijanis. On 15–17 May 2007

14924-418: The Karabakh leadership approach was maximalist and "they thought they could get more." The struggle over Nagorno-Karabakh escalated after both Armenia and Azerbaijan attained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. In the post-Soviet power vacuum , military action between Azerbaijan and Armenia was heavily influenced by the Russian military . Furthermore, both the Armenian and Azerbaijani military employed

15106-635: The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region with the main part of Azerbaijan. After the Nagorno-Karabakh war and the abandonment of Ağdam, the line's service was cut back to service only between Yevlax and Kətəlparaq , without any present section at the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. The former railway line between Kətəlparaq and Stepanakert has been almost completely destroyed. The ( Tbilisi – Gyumri –) Yerevan – Nakhchivan – Horadiz – Shirvan (– Baku ) main railway

15288-651: The Republic of Artsakh and resulted in the flight of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians . Azerbaijan is a unitary semi-presidential republic. It is one of six independent Turkic states and an active member of the Organization of Turkic States and the TÜRKSOY community. Azerbaijan has diplomatic relations with 182 countries and holds membership in 38 international organizations, including the United Nations,

15470-577: The Republic of Azerbaijan, like those spoken by the Tats , are descended from Old Azeri. Locally, the possessions of the subsequent Seljuk Empire were ruled by Eldiguzids , technically vassals of the Seljuk sultans, but sometimes de facto rulers themselves. Under the Seljuks, local poets such as Nizami Ganjavi and Khaqani gave rise to a blossoming of Persian literature in the region. Shirvanshahs ,

15652-527: The Roman Empire and Sassanid Persia , two Armenian provinces — Artsakh and Utik — became part of the Sassanid satrapy of Caucasian Albania , which in turn came under strong Armenian religious and cultural influence. At the time the population of Artsakh and Utik consisted of Armenians and several Armenized tribes. Armenian culture and civilization flourished in the early medieval Nagorno-Karabakh. In

15834-669: The Russian Empire), removed almost all of their Turkish lexical influences in the 20th century, primarily following the Armenian genocide . In addition to Armenia and Turkey, where it is indigenous , Armenian is spoken among the diaspora . According to Ethnologue , globally there are 1.6 million Western Armenian speakers and 3.7 million Eastern Armenian speakers, totalling 5.3 million Armenian speakers. In Georgia, Armenian speakers are concentrated in Ninotsminda and Akhalkalaki districts where they represent over 90% of

16016-404: The Russian and Ottoman empires led to creation of two separate and different environments under which Armenians lived. Halfway through the 19th century, two important concentrations of Armenian communities were further consolidated. Because of persecutions or the search for better economic opportunities, many Armenians living under Ottoman rule gradually moved to Istanbul , whereas Tbilisi became

16198-401: The Russian monarch recognized Ibrahim Khalil Khan and his descendants as the sole hereditary rulers of the region. However, its new status was only confirmed following the outcome of the Russo-Persian War (1804-1813) , when through the loss in the war, Persia formally ceded Karabakh to the Russian Empire per the Treaty of Gulistan (1813), before the rest of Transcaucasia was incorporated into

16380-566: The Sasanian marzban (military governor) held most civil, religious, and military authority. In the first half of the 7th century, Caucasian Albania, as a vassal of the Sasanians, came under nominal Muslim rule with the Muslim conquest of Persia . The Umayyad Caliphate repulsed both the Sasanians and Byzantines from the South Caucasus and turned Caucasian Albania into a vassal state after Christian resistance led by King Juansher

16562-486: The Soviet Union firmly in control of the region, the conflict over the region died down for several decades until the beginning of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the question of Nagorno-Karabakh re-emerged. Accusing the Azerbaijani SSR government of conducting forced Azerification of the region, the majority Armenian population, with ideological and material support from

16744-833: The Soviet linguist Igor M. Diakonoff noted the presence in Classical Armenian of what he calls a "Caucasian substratum" identified by earlier scholars, consisting of loans from the Kartvelian and Northeast Caucasian languages . Noting that Hurro-Urartian-speaking peoples inhabited the Armenian homeland in the second millennium BC, Diakonoff identifies in Armenian a Hurro-Urartian substratum of social, cultural, and animal and plant terms such as ałaxin "slave girl" ( ← Hurr. al(l)a(e)ḫḫenne ), cov "sea" ( ← Urart. ṣûǝ "(inland) sea"), ułt "camel" ( ← Hurr. uḷtu ), and xnjor "apple (tree)" ( ← Hurr. ḫinzuri ). Some of

16926-548: The Soviet of People's Deputies in Karabakh voted 110 to 17 to request the transfer of the region to Armenia. This unprecedented action by a regional Soviet brought out tens of thousands of demonstrations both in Stepanakert and Yerevan, but Moscow rejected the Armenians' demands. On 20 February 1988, 2 Azeri girls were raped in Stepanakert. This caused widespread outrage in the Azeri town of Aghdam . The first direct confrontation of

17108-636: The absolute maximum temperature were observed in Julfa and Ordubad —regions of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic . The maximum annual precipitation falls in Lankaran (1,600 to 1,800 mm or 63 to 71 in) and the minimum in Absheron (200 to 350 mm or 7.9 to 13.8 in). Rivers and lakes form the principal part of the water systems of Azerbaijan, they were formed over a long geological timeframe and changed significantly throughout that period. This

17290-529: The aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan, recognizing the actions against Azerbaijani civilians as a crime against humanity and condemning the destruction of archaeological, cultural, and religious monuments in occupied territories. On 20 May of the same year, the European Parliament in Strasbourg adopted the resolution on "The need for an EU Strategy for the South Caucasus" on the basis of

17472-569: The area into the Safavid province of Shirvan . The Sunni Ottomans briefly managed to occupy present-day Azerbaijan as a result of the Ottoman–Safavid War of 1578–1590 ; by the early 17th century, they were ousted by Safavid Iranian ruler Abbas I . In the wake of the demise of the Safavid dynasty, Baku and its environs were briefly occupied by the Russians as a consequence of the Russo-Persian War of 1722–1723 . Remainder of present Azerbaijan

17654-588: The border between Russia and Iran. The region north of the Aras was part of Iran until it was conquered by Russia in the 19th century, where it was administered as part of the Caucasus Viceroyalty . By the late 19th century, an Azerbaijani national identity emerged when the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic proclaimed its independence from the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic in 1918,

17836-434: The center of Armenians living under Russian rule. These two cosmopolitan cities very soon became the primary poles of Armenian intellectual and cultural life. The introduction of new literary forms and styles, as well as many new ideas sweeping Europe, reached Armenians living in both regions. This created an ever-growing need to elevate the vernacular, Ashkharhabar, to the dignity of a modern literary language, in contrast to

18018-498: The citizens of Azerbaijan, condemned ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijanis and Assembly requested immediate withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from the region concerned. Several world leaders have met with the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan over the years, but efforts to maintain the ceasefire have failed. On 2 April 2016 Azerbaijani and Armenian forces again clashed in the region. The Armenian Defense Ministry alleged that Azerbaijan launched an offensive to seize territory in

18200-588: The collapsing Soviet Union lasted roughly one year. The most recent country to recognize Azerbaijan was Bahrain, on 6 November 1996. Full diplomatic relations, including mutual exchanges of missions, were first established with Turkey, Pakistan, the United States, Iran and Israel. Azerbaijan has placed a particular emphasis on its " special relationship " with Turkey. Azerbaijan has diplomatic relations with 158 countries so far and holds membership in 38 international organizations. It holds observer status in

18382-523: The conflict and called on both sides to deescalate tensions and resume meaningful negotiations without delay. The war ended on 10 November 2020, when a trilateral ceasefire agreement was signed among Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Russia. According to the ceasefire agreement, Azerbaijan regained all of the occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh and capturing one-third of Nagorno-Karabakh proper, including Shusha and Hadrut . In December 2022, Azerbaijanis claiming to be environmental activists blocked

18564-578: The conflict occurred as a large group of Azeris marched from Agdam to the Armenian populated town of Askeran. The confrontation between the Azeris and the police near Askeran degenerated into the Askeran clash , which left two Azeris dead, one of them allegedly killed by an Azeri police officer. Fifty Armenian villagers and an unknown number of Azeris and police officers were injured. Large numbers of refugees left Armenia and Azerbaijan as violence began against

18746-412: The constitution, the state symbols are the flag , the coat of arms , and the national anthem . The state power is limited only by law for internal issues, but international affairs are also limited by international agreements' provisions. The Constitution of Azerbaijan states that it is a presidential republic with three branches of power – executive, legislative, and judicial. The legislative power

18928-564: The countries of the CIS . According to historian Deon Geldenhuys, "[t]his was due to Baku's deliberate promotion of Azerbaijani settlement in Karabagh as part of a policy of 'cultural de-Armenization' of the region"; further adding that Azerbaijan "neglected the economic needs of the territory". Stuart J. Kaufman, a professor of political science and international relations, writes of the difficulties of Karabakh Armenians: … Armenian-language education

19110-554: The country are secular. Azerbaijan is a developing country and ranks 89th on the Human Development Index . The ruling New Azerbaijan Party , in power since 1993, has been accused of authoritarianism under president Heydar Aliyev and his son Ilham Aliyev , and worsening the country's human rights record , including increasing restrictions on civil liberties, particularly on press freedom and political repression. The term Azerbaijan derives from Atropates ,

19292-408: The country from direct influences of cold air masses coming from the north. That leads to the formation of subtropical climate on most foothills and plains of the country. Meanwhile, plains and foothills are characterized by high solar radiation rates. Nine out of eleven existing climate zones are present in Azerbaijan. Both the absolute minimum temperature ( −33 °C or −27.4 °F ) and

19474-462: The dissolution of the Republic of Artsakh, the exodus of almost the entire Armenian population from the region and the entry of Azerbaijani security forces into the former Artsakh capital of Stepanakert , known as Khankendi by Azerbaijan. On 1 January 2024, the Republic of Artsakh was formally dissolved. The prefix Nagorno- derives from the Russian attributive adjective nagorny ( нагорный ), which means "highland". The Azerbaijani names of

19656-465: The entire 19th century, preoccupation with Iranian culture , literature , and language remained widespread among Shia and Sunni intellectuals in the Russian-held cities of Baku, Ganja and Tiflis ( Tbilisi , now Georgia). Within the same century, in post-Iranian Russian-held East Caucasia, an Azerbaijani national identity emerged at the end of the 19th century. As a result of the Russian conquest,

19838-454: The eruption of instability. Numerous khanates with various forms of autonomy emerged. The rulers of these khanates were directly related to the ruling dynasties of Iran and were vassals and subjects of the Iranian shah. The khanates exercised control over their affairs via international trade routes between Central Asia and the West. Thereafter, the area was under the successive rule of

20020-580: The existence of the two modern versions of the same language was sanctioned even more clearly. The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (1920–1990) used Eastern Armenian as its official language, whereas the diaspora created after the Armenian genocide preserved the Western Armenian dialect. The two modern literary dialects, Western (originally associated with writers in the Ottoman Empire) and Eastern (originally associated with writers in

20202-532: The exploitation of the Azeri–Chirag–Guneshli oil field and Shah Deniz gas field , the Aliyev family rule has been criticized with election fraud, high levels of economic inequality and domestic corruption . In September 2023, Azerbaijan launched an offensive against the breakaway Republic of Artsakh in Nagorno-Karabakh that resulted in the dissolution and reintegration of Artsakh on 1 January 2024 and

20384-682: The final bout of hostilities between the two, the Russo-Persian War of 1826–1828 . The resulting Treaty of Turkmenchay forced Qajar Iran to cede sovereignty over the Erivan Khanate, the Nakhchivan Khanate and the remainder of the Talysh Khanate . After the incorporation of all Caucasian territories from Iran into Russia, the border between the two was set at the Aras River. Despite the Russian conquest, throughout

20566-419: The first Nagorno-Karabakh war. By the end of 1993, the conflict had caused about 30,000 casualties and created hundreds of thousands of refugees on both sides. By May 1994, the Armenians were in control of 14% of the territory of Azerbaijan. At that stage, for the first time during the conflict, the Azerbaijani government recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as a third party in the war and started direct negotiations with

20748-416: The five princes in their domains by the charter of Emperor Paul I dated 2 June 1799. The Armenian meliks were granted supreme command over neighbouring Armenian principalities and Muslim khans in the Caucasus by the Iranian king Nader Shah , in return for the meliks' victories over the invading Ottoman Turks in the 1720s. These five principalities in Karabakh were ruled by Armenian families who had received

20930-746: The flag of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic as the state flag. As a consequence of the failed 1991 Soviet coup attempt in Moscow, the Supreme Council of Azerbaijan adopted a Declaration of Independence on 18 October 1991 which was affirmed by a nationwide referendum in December, while the Soviet Union officially ceased to exist on 26 December. The country celebrates its Day of Restoration of Independence on 18 October. The early years of independence were overshadowed by

21112-438: The forest area was found within protected areas. In 2015, 100% of the forest area was reported to be under public ownership , 0% private ownership and 0% with ownership listed as other or unknown. Azerbaijan's government functions as an authoritarian regime in practice; although it regularly holds elections , these are marred by electoral fraud and other unfair election practices. The government has been ruled by

21294-511: The fortress of Panahabad (today Shusha)” in 1751. During that time, Otuziki, Javanshir , Kebirli, and other Turkic tribes constituted the majority of the overall population. Karabakh (including modern-day Nagorno-Karabakh), became a protectorate of the Russian Empire by the Kurekchay Treaty , signed between Ibrahim Khalil Khan of Karabakh and general Pavel Tsitsianov on behalf of Tsar Alexander I in 1805, according to which

21476-476: The government has taken measures to preserve the environment of Azerbaijan . National protection of the environment accelerated after 2001 when the state budget increased through revenues provided by the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline . Within four years, protected areas doubled and now make up eight percent of the country's territory. Since 2001 the government has set up seven large reserves and almost doubled

21658-474: The government is the executive power headed by president. The local executive authority is merely a continuation of executive power. The provision determines the legal status of local state administration on local executive authority ( Yerli Icra Hakimiyati ), adopted 16 June 1999. In June 2012, the president approved a regulation which granted additional powers to local executive authorities, strengthening their dominant position in local affairs The Security Council

21840-548: The government, but the constitution requires the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers by Milli Majlis. The New Azerbaijan Party, and independents loyal to the ruling government, currently hold almost all of the Parliament's 125 seats. During the 2010 Parliamentary election , the opposition parties, Musavat and Azerbaijani Popular Front Party , failed to win a single seat. European observers found numerous irregularities in

22022-425: The hypothetical Mushki language may have been a (now extinct) Armenic language. W. M. Austin (1942) concluded that there was early contact between Armenian and Anatolian languages , based on what he considered common archaisms, such as the lack of a feminine gender and the absence of inherited long vowels. Unlike shared innovations (or synapomorphies ), the common retention of archaisms (or symplesiomorphy )

22204-518: The important accomplishments of the Parliament was the extension of suffrage to women, making ADR the first Muslim nation to grant women equal political rights with men. Baku State University , first modern university founded in the Muslim East, was established during this period. Independent Azerbaijan lasted only 23 months until the Bolshevik 11th Soviet Red Army invaded it, establishing

22386-485: The inhabitants of Nagorno-Karabakh — then part of the province of Artsakh — were confirmed by Ancient Greek and Roman sources "long before our era" to be Armenian. In the early 15th century, German traveller Johann Schiltberger after visiting the region stated that "although the Muslims had taken possession of Karabagh, there were still Armenian villages in the region". Historian Victor Schnirelmann writes that "In

22568-470: The interests of the population at large were reflected in other literary works as well. Konsdantin Yerzinkatsi and several others took the unusual step of criticizing the ecclesiastic establishment and addressing the social issues of the Armenian homeland. These changes represented the nature of the literary style and syntax, but they did not constitute immense changes to the fundamentals of the grammar or

22750-445: The internationally recognised territory of Azerbaijan) during the First Nagorno-Karabakh war , hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis were expelled from their lands. During the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War , Azerbaijan regained control over the surrounding districts and southern parts of the former NKAO, thus displacing approximately 70,000 Armenians. During the rule of the Soviet Union, the Yevlakh – Aghdam – Stepanakert line connected

22932-434: The late 5th to 8th centuries, and "Late Grabar" that of the period covering the 8th to 11th centuries. Later, it was used mainly in religious and specialized literature, with the exception of a revival during the early modern period, when attempts were made to establish it as the language of a literary renaissance, with neoclassical inclinations, through the creation and dissemination of literature in varied genres, especially by

23114-586: The length of the widest area of the Azerbaijani section of the Caspian Sea is 456 km (283 mi). The country has a landlocked exclave , the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic . Three physical features dominate Azerbaijan: the Caspian Sea, whose shoreline forms a natural boundary to the east; the Greater Caucasus mountain range to the north; and the extensive flatlands at the country's center. There are three mountain ranges:

23296-539: The local dynasty of Arabic origin that was later Persianized, became a vassal state of Timurid Empire of Timur and assisted him in his war with the ruler of the Golden Horde Tokhtamysh . Following Timur's death, two independent and rival Turkoman states emerged: Qara Qoyunlu and Aq Qoyunlu . The Shirvanshahs returned, maintaining for numerous centuries to come a high degree of autonomy as local rulers and vassals as they had done since 861. In 1501,

23478-474: The main Azerbaijani lines, and only has a connection to Iran . Azerbaijan Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan , is a transcontinental country at the boundary of Eastern Europe and West Asia. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia's republic of Dagestan to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia and Turkey to

23660-464: The mid-18th century, … Turkic tribes … gained access to the highland territories [of Karabakh] and began to settle in Shusha … by the end of the 18th century, a substantial number of its former Armenian inhabitants had left Nagorny Karabagh. Just at the turn of the 19th century, the Turkic population significantly outnumbered the local Armenians, but this only lasted … [until the] end of the 1820s, [when]

23842-596: The minority populations of the respective republics. On 7 July 1988, the European Parliament passed a resolution that condemned the violence employed against Armenian demonstrators in Azerbaijan, and supported the demand of the Armenians for reunification with the Soviet Republic of Armenia. On 29 November 1989, direct rule in Nagorno-Karabakh was ended and the region was returned to Azerbaijani administration. The Soviet policy backfired, however, when

24024-413: The modern Armenia-Azerbaijan border. Nagorno-Karabakh in its modern borders is part of the larger region of Upper Karabakh. Nagorno-Karabakh does not directly border Armenia but is connected to the latter through the Lachin corridor , a mountain pass under the control of the Russian peacekeeping forces in Nagorno-Karabakh . The major cities of the region are Stepanakert , which serves as the capital of

24206-504: The morphology of the language. Often, when writers codify a spoken dialect, other language users are then encouraged to imitate that structure through the literary device known as parallelism . In the 19th century, the traditional Armenian homeland was once again divided. This time Eastern Armenia was conquered from Qajar Iran by the Russian Empire , while Western Armenia , containing two thirds of historical Armenia, remained under Ottoman control. The antagonistic relationship between

24388-513: The newly adopted country name. During Soviet rule, the country was also spelled in Latin from the Russian transliteration as Azerbaydzhan (Russian: Азербайджа́н ). The country's name was also spelled in Cyrillic script from 1940 to 1991 as Азәрбајҹан . The earliest evidence of human settlement in the territory of Azerbaijan dates back to the late Stone Age and is related to

24570-403: The now-anachronistic Grabar. Numerous dialects existed in the traditional Armenian regions, which, different as they were, had certain morphological and phonetic features in common. On the basis of these features two major standards emerged: Both centers vigorously pursued the promotion of Ashkharhabar. The proliferation of newspapers in both versions (Eastern & Western) and the development of

24752-641: The occupied Azerbaijani territories". On 14 March of the same year the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution No. 62/243 which "demands the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of all Armenian forces from all occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan". On 18–20 May 2010, the 37th session of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Organization of Islamic Conference in Dushanbe adopted another resolution condemning

24934-557: The occupied territories. The 11th session of the summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference held on 13–14 March 2008 in Dakar adopted resolution No. 10/11-P (IS). In the resolution, OIC member states condemned the occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armenian forces and Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan, ethnic cleansing against the Azeri population, and charged Armenia with the "destruction of cultural monuments in

25116-411: The official status of the Armenian language. Eastern Armenian is the official variant used, making it the prestige variety while other variants have been excluded from national institutions. Indeed, Western Armenian is perceived by some as a mere dialect. Armenian was also official in the Republic of Artsakh . It is recognized as an official language of the Eurasian Economic Union although Russian

25298-402: The oil industry of Azerbaijan were awarded orders and medals. Operation Edelweiss carried out by the German Wehrmacht targeted Baku because of its importance as the energy (petroleum) dynamo of the USSR. A fifth of all Azerbaijanis fought in the Second World War from 1941 to 1945. Approximately 681,000 people (with over 100,000 women) went to the front, while the total population of Azerbaijan

25480-453: The oldest surviving Armenian-language writing is etched in stone on Armenian temples and is called Mehenagir . The Armenian alphabet was created by Mesrop Mashtots in 405, at which time it had 36 letters. He is also credited by some with the creation of the Georgian alphabet and the Caucasian Albanian alphabet . While Armenian constitutes the sole member of the Armenian branch of the Indo-European family, Aram Kossian has suggested that

25662-412: The parent languages of Greek and Armenian were dialects in immediate geographical proximity during the Proto-Indo-European period. Meillet's hypothesis became popular in the wake of his book Esquisse d'une histoire de la langue latine (1936). Georg Renatus Solta (1960) does not go as far as postulating a Proto-Graeco-Armenian stage, but he concludes that considering both the lexicon and morphology, Greek

25844-407: The path to a new and simplified grammatical structure of the language in the two different cultural spheres. Apart from several morphological, phonetic, and grammatical differences, the largely common vocabulary and generally analogous rules of grammatical fundamentals allows users of one variant to understand the other as long as they are fluent in one of the literary standards. After World War I ,

26026-448: The population in the five districts ( mahals ) of Nagorno-Karabakh, thus proving, contrary to claims in Azerbaijani historiography , that Armenians formed an overwhelming majority of Nagorno-Karabakh prior to 1828. Historian George Bournoutian writes that Russian statistics from 1810 show that Armenians made up 21 percent of the Karabakh region's population; In 1823, the Armenian population of Karabakh had increased by 30 percent "after

26208-429: The population. The short-lived First Republic of Armenia declared Armenian its official language. Eastern Armenian was then dominating in institutions and among the population. When Armenia was incorporated into the USSR, the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic made Eastern Armenian the language of the courts, government institutions and schools. Armenia was also russified . The current Republic of Armenia upholds

26390-402: The present times. The first information on flora and fauna of Azerbaijan was collected during the visits of naturalists to Azerbaijan in the 17th century. There are 106 species of mammals, 97 species of fish, 363 species of birds, 10 species of amphibians, and 52 species of reptiles which have been recorded and classified in Azerbaijan. The national animal of Azerbaijan is the Karabakh horse ,

26572-499: The process of re-integrating the region into Azerbaijan. Ceasefire violations by Azerbaijan were nonetheless reported by both Artsakh and local residents in Stepanakert on 21 September. In the aftermath of the offensive, an exodus of Armenians from the region started. On 28 September 2023, the Republic of Artsakh agreed to dissolve itself by 1 January 2024. Nagorno-Karabakh has a total area of 4,400 square kilometres (1,699 sq mi). Approximately half of Nagorno-Karabakh terrain

26754-503: The region after its inclusion into Armenia in the 2nd (or possibly earlier, the 4th) century BC. Other scholars suggest that the Armenians settled in the region as early as the 7th century BC. Around 180 BC, Artsakh became one of the 15 provinces of the Armenian Kingdom and remained so until the 4th century. While formally having the status of a province ( nahang ), Artsakh possibly formed a principality on its own — like Armenia's province of Syunik. Other theories suggest that Artsakh

26936-412: The region include the similar adjectives dağlıq (mountainous) or yuxarı (upper). Such words are not used in the Armenian name, but appeared in the region's official name during the Soviet era as Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast . Other languages apply their own wording for mountainous , upper , or highland ; for example, the official name used for the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic in French

27118-422: The region of Zangezur and Turkey agreed to return Gyumri (then known as Alexandropol). During World War II , Azerbaijan played a crucial role in the strategic energy policy of the Soviet Union , with 80 percent of the Soviet Union's oil on the Eastern Front being supplied by Baku. By decree of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union in February 1942, the commitment of more than 500 workers and employees of

27300-501: The region's disputed status, with its majority-Armenian population over time variously advocating either for Artsakh's independence from both states or for its integration into Armenia. The region is usually equated with the administrative borders of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast , comprising 4,400 square kilometres (1,700 sq mi); however, the region's historical extent encompasses approximately 8,223 square kilometres (3,175 sq mi). On 27 September 2020,

27482-479: The region. Ancient Greek sources called the area Orkhistene . Nagorno-Karabakh falls within the lands occupied by peoples known to modern archaeologists as the Kura-Araxes culture who lived between the two rivers Kura and Araxes . The ancient population of the region consisted of various autochthonous local and migrant tribes who were mostly non-Indo-Europeans. According to the prevailing western theory, these natives intermarried with Armenians who came to

27664-442: The region. At least 30 soldiers were killed during the fighting and a Mil Mi-24 helicopter and tank were also destroyed, with 12 of the fallen soldiers belonging to the Azerbaijani forces and the other 18 belonging to the Armenian forces, as well as an additional 35 Armenian soldiers reportedly wounded. On 27 September 2020, a new war erupted in Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding territories. The United Nations strongly condemned

27846-438: The region. Limited traffic had been conducted by Russian peacekeepers and the International Committee of the Red Cross to transport patients in need of medical care and provide humanitarian supplies. However, starting on 15 June 2023, Azerbaijan intensified the blockade, blocking all passage of food, fuel, and medicine from the Red Cross and the Russian peacekeepers through the Lachin corridor. On 19 September, Azerbaijan launched

28028-482: The report by Evgeni Kirilov , the Bulgarian member of the Parliament. The resolution states in particular that "the occupied Azerbaijani regions around Nagorno-Karabakh must be cleared as soon as possible". On 26 January 2016, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted Resolution 2085 , which deplored the fact that the occupation by Armenia of Nagorno-Karabakh and other adjacent areas of Azerbaijan creates humanitarian and environmental problems for

28210-436: The representation of word-initial laryngeals by prothetic vowels, and other phonological and morphological peculiarities with Greek. Nevertheless, as Fortson (2004) comments, "by the time we reach our earliest Armenian records in the 5th century AD, the evidence of any such early kinship has been reduced to a few tantalizing pieces". Graeco-(Armeno)-Aryan is a hypothetical clade within the Indo-European family , ancestral to

28392-404: The return of those who had fled the region", and by 1832, the Armenian population had increased to one-third of Karabakh. Moreover, the "one-third" of the population of Karabakh composed of Armenians resided in one-third of the territory of Karabakh, the mountainous territory (i.e. Nagorno-Karabakh), where they "constituted an overwhelming majority of the population." According to Armenian sources,

28574-440: The run-up to the election and on election day. The executive power is held by the president , who is elected for a seven-year term by direct elections, and the prime minister . The president is authorized to form the Cabinet , a collective executive body accountable to both the president and the National Assembly. The Cabinet consists primarily of the prime minister, his deputies, and ministers. The 8th Government of Azerbaijan

28756-542: The sector of the budget earmarked for environmental protection. Azerbaijan is home to a wide variety of landscapes. Over half of the land consists of mountain ridges, crests, highlands, and plateaus which rise up to levels of 400–1,000 meters (including the middle and lower lowlands), in some places (Talis, Jeyranchol-Ajinohur and Langabiz-Alat foreranges) up to 100–120 meters, and others from 0–50 meters and up ( Qobustan, Absheron ). The rest of Azerbaijan's terrain consists of plains and lowlands. Elevations within

28938-414: The similarities between the two languages meant that Armenian belonged to the Iranian language family . The distinctness of Armenian was recognized when philologist Heinrich Hübschmann (1875) used the comparative method to distinguish two layers of Iranian words from the older Armenian vocabulary . He showed that Armenian often had two morphemes for one concept, that the non-Iranian components yielded

29120-835: The support of 155 countries. Foreign policy priorities include, first of all, the restoration of its territorial integrity; elimination of the consequences of occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven other regions of Azerbaijan surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh; integration into European and Euro-Atlantic structure; contribution to international security; cooperation with international organizations; regional cooperation and bilateral relations; strengthening of defense capability; promotion of security by domestic policy means; strengthening of democracy; preservation of ethnic and religious tolerance; scientific, educational, and cultural policy and preservation of moral values; economic and social development; enhancing internal and border security; and migration, energy, and transportation security policy. Azerbaijan

29302-456: The terms he gives admittedly have an Akkadian or Sumerian provenance, but he suggests they were borrowed through Hurrian or Urartian. Given that these borrowings do not undergo sound changes characteristic of the development of Armenian from Proto-Indo-European , he dates their borrowing to a time before the written record but after the Proto-Armenian language stage. Contemporary linguists, such as Hrach Martirosyan , have rejected many of

29484-408: The title Melik (prince) and were the following: From 1501 to 1736, during the existence of the Safavid Empire , the province of Karabakh was governed by the Ziyadoghlu Qajar dynasty, until Nader Shah took over Karabakh from their rule. The Armenian meliks maintained full control over the region until the mid-18th century. In the early 18th century, Iran's Nader Shah took Karabakh out of control of

29666-516: The unrecognised Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, and Shusha , which lies partially in ruins. Vineyards, orchards, and mulberry groves for silkworms are developed in the valleys. Nagorno-Karabakh's environment vary from steppe on the Kura lowland through dense forests of oak , hornbeam , and beech on the lower mountain slopes to birchwood and alpine meadows higher up. The region possesses numerous mineral springs and deposits of zinc , coal , lead , gold , marble , and limestone . Historically,

29848-432: The unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resumed along the Nagorno-Karabakh Line of Contact . Both the armed forces of Azerbaijan and Armenia reported military and civilian casualties. The Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement and the end of the six-week war between Azerbaijan and Armenia was widely celebrated in Azerbaijan, as they made significant territorial gains. Despite the much improved economy, particularly with

30030-438: The war with a victory. Following Qajar Iran's loss, it was forced to concede suzerainty over most of the khanates, along with Georgia and Dagestan to the Russian Empire, per the Treaty of Gulistan . The area to the north of the Aras River was Iranian territory until Russia occupied it in the 19th century. About a decade later, in violation of the Gulistan treaty, the Russians invaded Iran's Erivan Khanate . This sparked

30212-460: The west, and Iran to the south. Baku is the capital and largest city. The territory of what is now Azerbaijan was first ruled by Caucasian Albania and later various Persian empires . Until the 19th century, it remained part of Qajar Iran , but the Russo-Persian wars of 1804–1813 and 1826–1828 forced the Qajar Empire to cede its Caucasian territories to the Russian Empire ; the treaties of Gulistan in 1813 and Turkmenchay in 1828 defined

30394-408: Was occupied by the Ottomans from 1722 to 1736. Despite brief intermissions such as these by Safavid Iran's neighboring rivals, the land remained under Iranian rule from the earliest advent of the Safavids up to the course of the 19th century. After the Safavids, the area was ruled by the Iranian Afsharid dynasty . After the death of Nader Shah in 1747, many of his former subjects capitalized on

30576-459: Was 3.4 million at the time. Some 250,000 people from Azerbaijan were killed on the front. More than 130 Azerbaijanis were named heroes of the Soviet Union . Azerbaijani Major-General Azi Aslanov was twice awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union. Following the politics of glasnost initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev , civil unrest and ethnic strife grew in various regions of the Soviet Union, including Nagorno-Karabakh , an autonomous region of

30758-408: Was a royal land , belonging directly to the king of Armenia. King Tigran the Great of Armenia (who ruled from 95 to 55 BC) founded in Artsakh one of four cities named "Tigranakert" after himself. The ruins of the ancient Tigranakert , located 50 km (30 mi) north-east of Stepanakert , are being studied by a group of international scholars. In 387 AD, after the partition of Armenia between

30940-407: Was also dismantled from the NKR between Ordubad and Horadiz , as well as a by-line from Mincivan to the Armenian city of Kapan . Currently, the Azerbaijani trains only travel to Horadiz. The Ordubad–Horadiz section has been demolished, leaving the NKR with no intact, active railway line in their territory. The railway at the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic still operates, but it is separated from

31122-401: Was arrested and charged with treason. In 1995 another coup was attempted against Aliyev, this time by the commander of the Russian OMON special police unit, Rovshan Javadov . The coup was averted, resulting in the death of Javadov and disbanding of Azerbaijan's OMON units. At the same time, the country was tainted by rampant corruption in the governing bureaucracy. In October 1998, Aliyev

31304-458: Was disputed and not adjudicated by the League of Nations . In July 1918, the First Armenian Assembly of Nagorno-Karabakh declared the region self-governing and created a National Council and government. Later, Ottoman troops entered Karabakh, meeting armed resistance by Armenians. After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, British troops occupied Karabakh. The British command provisionally affirmed Khosrov bey Sultanov (appointed by

31486-437: Was first adopted by the government of Musavat in 1918 after the collapse of the Russian Empire , when the independent Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was established. Until then, the designation had been used exclusively to identify the adjacent region of contemporary northwestern Iran , while the area of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was formerly referred to as Arran and Shirvan . On that basis Iran protested

31668-413: Was governed by ethnic Armenians under the breakaway Republic of Artsakh — also known as the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) — from the end of the first Nagorno-Karabakh War between Armenia and Azerbaijan in 1994 to the announcement of the dissolution of the republic in September 2023. Representatives from the two sides held numerous inconclusive peace talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group regarding

31850-435: Was not easily available, Armenian history was not taught at all, and those who went to Armenia for training were discriminated against in competing for jobs in the province, … Underinvestment in the region—also blamed on Baku—meant less economic development and poor infrastructure even by Soviet standards, and therefore fewer jobs overall, especially for Armenians. Cultural ties with Armenia were strangled in red tape in Baku, and

32032-427: Was re-elected for a second term. Ilham Aliyev , Heydar Aliyev's son, became chairman of the New Azerbaijan Party as well as President of Azerbaijan when his father died in 2003. He was re-elected to a third term as president in October 2013. In April 2018, Aliyev secured his fourth consecutive term in the election that was boycotted by the main opposition parties as fraudulent. On 27 September 2020, clashes in

32214-530: Was signed between Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Russia, under which all the remaining occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh were formally returned to Azerbaijani control. The Republic of Artsakh became an isolated rump state connected with Armenia only by a narrow Russian-controlled corridor . On 19 September 2023, after a blockade lasting several months, Azerbaijan launched a fresh large-scale military offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Artsakh forces collapsed rapidly, resulting in an Azerbaijani victory,

32396-405: Was situated between Proto-Greek ( centum subgroup) and Proto-Indo-Iranian ( satem subgroup). Ronald I. Kim has noted unique morphological developments connecting Armenian to Balto-Slavic languages . The Armenian language has a long literary history, with a 5th-century Bible translation as its oldest surviving text. Another text translated into Armenian early on, and also in the 5th-century,

32578-474: Was soon annulled by the Ninth Karabagh Assembly, which declared union with Armenia in April. In April 1920, while the Azerbaijani army was locked in Karabakh fighting local Armenian forces, Azerbaijan was taken over by Bolsheviks . On 10 August 1920, Armenia signed a preliminary agreement with the Bolsheviks, agreeing to a temporary Bolshevik occupation of these areas until final settlement would be reached. In 1921, Armenia and Georgia were also taken over by

32760-408: Was suppressed in 667. The power vacuum left by the decline of the Abbasid Caliphate was filled by numerous local dynasties such as the Sallarids , Sajids , and Shaddadids . At the beginning of the 11th century, the territory was gradually seized by the waves of migrating Oghuz Turks from Central Asia, who adopted a Turkoman ethnonym at the time. The first of these Turkic dynasties established

32942-549: Was the Armenian Alexander Romance . The vocabulary of the language has historically been influenced by Western Middle Iranian languages , particularly Parthian ; its derivational morphology and syntax were also affected by language contact with Parthian, but to a lesser extent. Contact with Greek, Persian , and Syriac also resulted in a number of loanwords. There are two standardized modern literary forms, Eastern Armenian (spoken mainly in Armenia) and Western Armenian (spoken originally mainly in modern-day Turkey and, since

33124-406: Was the Seljuk Empire , which entered the area by 1067. The pre-Turkic population spoke several Indo-European and Caucasian languages, among them Armenian and an Iranian language , Old Azeri , which was gradually replaced by a Turkic language , the early precursor of the Azerbaijani language of today. Some linguists have also stated that the Tati dialects of Iranian Azerbaijan and

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