Azerbaijan flag Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Quick Facts
Region:
Europe
Full Name:
Republic of Azerbaijan
Capital City:
Baku (Baki, Baky)
Language Spoken:
Azerbaijani (Azeri) 89%,
Russian 3%,
Armenian 2%,
other 6% (1995 est.)
Personnel risk: MODERATE
Evacuation risk: MODERATE
Azerbaijan - a nation with a Turkic and majority-Muslim population - was briefly independent from 1918 to 1920; it regained its independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Despite a 1994 cease-fire, Azerbaijan has yet to resolve its conflict with Armenia over the Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh enclave (largely Armenian populated). Azerbaijan has lost 16% of its territory and must support some 528,000 internally displaced persons as a result of the conflict. Corruption is ubiquitous, and the promise of widespread wealth from Azerbaijan's undeveloped petroleum resources remains largely unfulfilled.