Azerbaijan

Country in western Asia, bounded south by Iran, east by the Caspian Sea, west by Armenia and Georgia, and north by Russia.

Government
There is (since 1991) an interim 50‐seat national assembly, the Milli Majlis, to which deputies are elected for a four‐year term by a majority system, with a second‐ballot run‐off race in contests in which there is no clear first‐round majority. The state president is directly elected, also for a four‐year term. From the majority grouping within the national assembly, a prime minister (chair of the cabinet of ministers) is drawn.

History
Azerbaijan shares a common language and culture with Turkey; however, before its conquest by tsarist Russia in the early 19th century, it was a province of Persia, and today 20 million Shiite Azeris live across the border in Iran. In the late 19th century, Baku became the centre of a growing oil industry. A member of the Transcaucasian Federation in 1917, Azerbaijan became an independent republic 1918, but was occupied by the Red Army two years later. The republic was secularized under Soviet rule.

Growth of nationalism
There was a growth in Azeri nationalism from the later 1980s, spearheaded by the Azeri Popular Front, founded in 1989, and fanned by the dispute with neighbouring Armenia over Nagorno‐Karabakh and Nakhichevan. This dispute, which reawakened centuries‐old enmities, flared up into full civil war from December 1989, prompting Azeri calls for secession from the USSR. In January 1990 Soviet troops were sent to Baku to restore order, and a state of emergency was imposed. The Azerbaijan Communist Party (ACP), led by Ayaz Mutalibov, allied itself with the nationalist cause and rejected compromise in the Nagorno‐Karabakh dispute.

Backlash
In the September 1990 supreme soviet elections the Popular Front, having been on the verge of power before the January 1990 crackdown, was convincingly defeated by the ACP. A new state flag was adopted in December 1990 and the words ‘Soviet Socialist’ were dropped from the republic's name. In the March 1991 USSR constitutional referendum, the Azerbaijan population voted overwhelmingly in favour of preserving the Union and the August 1991 attempted anti‐Gorbachev coup in Moscow was warmly welcomed by President Mutalibov, who ordered the military suppression of demonstrations organized by the Popular Front.

Independence declared
After the failure of the Moscow coup, Mutalibov resigned from the ACP, which was soon disbanded, and in August 1991 independence was declared. The state of emergency, still in force in Baku, was lifted. In September 1991 Mutalibov was directly elected state president as the sole candidate in a contest boycotted by the opposition. In December 1991 Azerbaijan joined the new Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which superseded the USSR. After independence, the state began to form its own armed forces and in February 1992 the Cyrillic alphabet, imposed by Moscow in 1937, was replaced by the Latin alphabet. In March 1992 Azerbaijan was admitted into the United Nations.

Ex‐communists regain power
After Azeri defeats in Nagorno‐Karabakh in March 1992, Mutalibov was forced to resign and various factions competed for power. Albufaz Elchibey, leader of the Popular Front, was elected president in June 1992, pledging withdrawal from the CIS and a renewed campaign against Armenia over Nagorno‐Karabakh. By August Azerbaijan had reclaimed much of its lost territory in the disputed enclave, but public disillusionment followed renewed Armenian gains in April 1993. In June Elchibey fled the capital as rebel forces, led by Surat Huseynov, advanced towards the city. In his absence, parliamentary speaker and former Communist Party leader, Geidar Aliyev, assumed the presidency. Huseynov agreed to support Aliyev and accepted the post of prime minister. By July 1993, Armenian forces had overrun Nagorno‐Karabakh and reputedly controlled as much as one fifth of Azeri territory.

Coup attempts foiled
In October 1993 Aliyev was popularly elected president with 98.8% of the vote in a contest boycotted by opposition parties. Huseynov was dismissed as premier the same month, accused of siding with opposition forces and attempting to launch a coup. A state of emergency was declared, and Fuad Kuliyev was chosen as the new prime minister. In May 1994 a ceasefire was agreed with Armenia, bringing hopes of an end to the conflict over Nagorno‐Karabakh. A further attempt to overthrow Aliyev was foiled in March 1995. Parliamentary elections were held in August 1995, from which 15 opposition parties were barred from participating. A pro‐Aliyev legislature was returned. Aliyev's grip on power was strengthened with the arrest in Moscow of two of his most serious political rivals, Mutalibov and military strongman, Rahim Haziev, in connection with alleged coup attempts.

In 1996, accused of economic mismanagement by Aliyev, Prime Minister Kuliyev resigned on health grounds and was replaced by his deputy, Artur Rasizade.

In October 1997 the ruling New Azerbaijan Party and eight other pro‐government parties formed a new pro‐government parliamentary bloc: Democratic Azerbaijan. Former president Abulfaz Elchibey returned from exile to lead an opposition coalition. In October 1998 Aliyev was re‐elected president, with 75% of the vote, but the opposition, and some foreign observers, said the poll was marred by fraud. Aliyev was again re‐elected in November 2000, but once more foreign observers denounced the election as unfair.

In November 1998 Azerbaijan rejected a new OSCE peace plan to resolve the Nagorno‐Karabakh dispute with Armenia. The plan also sought to create a ‘common state’ embracing Azerbaijan and the breakaway republic. Azerbaijan preferred a 1997 OSCE proposal of ‘broad autonomy’ for Nagorno‐Karabakh.

Economy
In the first five years after independence, GDP declined at an average rate of more than 10% per annum and inflation spiralled. A market‐centred economic reform programme, involving price liberalization and privatization, was gradually implemented and joint ventures negotiated with Western companies to develop oilfields in the Caspian Sea. In 1994 the Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC), a consortium including 11 international oil companies, signed an agreement with the Azerbaijan government with a view to consider opening new multiple pipelines from the Caspian Sea. Oil extraction commenced in November 1997; production was expected to reach a peak of 800,000 barrels per day in 2010.

International cooperation
In January 2001, Azerbaijan was admitted to the Council of Europe. It also formed an agreement with Russia on the two countries's Caspian Sea borders, and on a ten‐year framework for political, economic, and military cooperation.