Background:Azerbaijan - a nation of Turkic Muslims - has been an independent republic since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Despite a 1`994 cease-fire, Azerbaijan has yet to resolve its conflict with Armenia over the Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh enclave (largely Armenian populated). Azerbaijan has lost almost 20% of its territory and must support some 750,000 refugees and 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.
Location:Southwestern Asia, bordering the Caspian Sea, between Iran and Russia
Geographic coordinates:40 30 N, 47 30 E
Area:86,600 sq km
Coastline:0 km (landlocked)
Climate:dry, semiarid steppe
Languages:Azerbaijani (Azeri) , Russian , Armenian
Population:8,167,000 (July 2002 est.)
Ethnic groups:Azeri 90%, Dagestani 3.2%, Russian 2.5%, Armenian 2%, other 2.3% (1998 est.)
conventional long form: Republic of Azerbaijan
Government type: Republic
Capital:Baku(Baki)
Independence:30 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)
Economy: Azerbaijan's number one export is oil. Azerbaijan's oil production declined through 1997 but has registered an increase every year since. Oil production under the first of these PSAs, with the Azerbaijan International Operating Company, began in November 1997.Azerbaijan shares all the formidable problems of the former Soviet republics in making the transition from a command to a market economy, but its considerable energy resources brighten its long-term prospects. An obstacle to economic progress, including stepped up foreign investment in the non-energy sector, is the continuing conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Trade with Russia and the other former Soviet republics is declining in importance while trade is building with Turkey and the nations of Europe.
Religions: Muslim 93.4%, Russian Orthodox 2.5%, Armenian Orthodox 2.3%, other 1.8%
Natural resources:petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, nonferrous metals, and alumina.
