Where is Azerbaijan? Republic of Azerbaijan: the capital, population, currency and attractions

Azerbaijan is a republic with a presidential form of government. This state is considered the largest in the South Caucasus. Let's consider further features that distinguish the Republic of Azerbaijan.

General information

The capital of the state is Baku. The country is considered secular. The state is located in the Near East. The regions of Azerbaijan are inhabited by more than 9 million people. (for 2013). The area of ​​the country - 86 thousand square meters. km. The official language of the state is Azerbaijani. The country is multi-confessional and multinational. Most of the population professes Islam, the smaller part - Christianity and Judaism. From 1 September 2013 every citizen of Azerbaijan has a biometric passport. It is used for traveling inside the country and traveling abroad. The monetary unit is Azerbaijani manat (1 AZN is about 42 Russian rubles).

Holidays in Azerbaijan

Officially, the country celebrates:

1. New Year (January 1).
2. International Women's Day (March 8).
3. Novruz Bayramy (21.03).

In the holidays of Azerbaijan are also included days:

1. Victory Day (May 9).
2. Republic (28.05).
3. Armed forces (June 26).
4. Independence (October 18).
5. The national flag (November 9).
6. Constitution (November 12).
7. National Revival (November 17).
8. Solidarity of Azerbaijanis around the world (December 31).

March 31 is the Day of Genocide.

The president

He acts as the head of state. The president is elected by popular vote. Duration of stay on the post is 5 years. The powers of the president include the appointment of government officials. If, in the conditions of military operations, elections are not possible to exercise, the term of office continues until they are completed. The decision on this is taken by the Constitutional Court on the application of a state body, whose competence includes ensuring the holding of elections.

Features of the policy of Azerbaijan

The highest representative body is theThe National Unicameral Assembly is the Milli Mejlis. The laws of Azerbaijan are adopted by 125 deputies. A representative body is elected by universal suffrage. The term of office is 5 years. The first elections were held in 1955. There are more than 30 parties and movements in the country. Key associations are:

1. "New Azerbaijan".
2. Musavat.
3. Democratic Party.
4. "People's Front."
5. The Liberal Party.
6. The Social-Democratic movement.

National economic complex

The Republic of Azerbaijan isindustrial-agrarian country. The state is well-developed industry. The country's agriculture is diversified. The key place in the national economic complex is occupied by gas and oil production, chemical, mining, machine building, non-ferrous metallurgy. The food industries are well developed: tea, tobacco, canning, winemaking. Large volumes of production are noted in the light industry (cotton, cotton, wool, silk, carpet). The economy of Azerbaijan is considered the leader in terms of growth rates among the CIS countries. In the period from 2003 to 2008, The country's GDP increased 2.6 times, and the poverty level decreased from 45 to 11%. In 2006, the GDP increased by 36.6%. The economy of Azerbaijan continues to grow continuously since 1996. Over the past 10 years, it has added an average of 13.6% each year.

Geographical position

The Republic of Azerbaijan is washed by the Caspian Sea. On land, the country adjoins Russia, Armenia, Georgia, Iran. The Nakhichevan AR - exclave of Azerbaijan - borders the north-east with Armenia, in the south-west - with Iran, in the north-west - with Turkey.

Relief

More than half of the state's territory is occupied bythe mountains. The northern part of them is included in the system of the Greater, Western and South-Western - Lesser Caucasus. In the highlands there are glaciers. Here, the turbulent rivers of Azerbaijan flow. In the middle reaches there are deep gorges. The ridges of the Greater Caucasus from west to east are first gradually, then sharply reduced. They are replaced by low ridges. In the Lesser Caucasus, mountains do not differ in high altitude. They include numerous ridges and the Garabagh plateau with extinct volcanoes. The extreme southeast is occupied by the Lenkoran mountains. They consist of 3 parallel ridges. The Talysh ridge is considered to be the highest. Its main peak Kemryukey reaches 2477 m.

Between the mountains of the Lesser and Greater Caucasus passesKura-Araks lowland. Its northern and north-western part is represented by a system of hills, valleys and low ridges. In the east and in the center lie alluvial plains. Near the sea coast is the low delta of the Kura. In the northeast of the Great Caucasus lies the Kusar Plain. The Caspian Sea includes the Kura spit and the Absheron Peninsula. The main waterway of the country is r. Kura. It crosses the Republic from the north-west in the direction of the southeast, flowing into the Caspian Sea. The main tributary is the Araks. Most of the country's rivers belong to the Kura River basin. In total there are about a thousand streams on the territory, however only 21 has a length of more than one hundred kilometers.

History

The Republic of Azerbaijan was formed during the breakupUSSR in 1991. As the first president, Ayaz Mutalibov spoke. At the end of August 1991, the Supreme Council of the country adopted a declaration. In accordance with it, the Republic of Azerbaijan regained its independence. In the implementation of the declaration, a constitutional act was adopted. It defined the basis of the economic, political and state structure of Azerbaijan. In June of 1992, Abulfaz Elchibey replaced Ayaz Mutalibov. At that time in Azerbaijan he was the head of the Popular Front. Yagub Mamedov and Isa Gambar also acted as temporary acting heads of the country. Both were once the chairmen of the government in Azerbaijan.

The new head of the country

During the military confrontation, a number offailures caused by the incompetence of the Popular Front. All this caused a crisis of power. On June 4, 1993, Suret Huseynov's rebellion began in Ganja. Heydar Aliyev was invited to Baku to prevent the outbreak of civil war. At that time he lived in Nakhichevan. Heydar Aliyev was given the power of the head of the Republic. During the events, a group of Talish officers under the leadership of Colonel Gummatov proclaimed autonomy in Lankaran. Heydar Aliyev did not recognize it, and on August 23 this uprising was suppressed.

Territorial disputes

At the turn of 1991-1992. there were some territorial changes. In particular, the Artsvashen exclave went under the control of the Republic of Azerbaijan. At the same time, there were non-sovereign regions in it, which began to concern Armenia. In particular, such areas of Azerbaijan as Upper Asukarpa, Bahurdaly, and Karki have moved to it.

Ceasefire Agreement

It was signed with the mediation of the CIS countries inMay 1994. During the war, Armenians were ousted by Azerbaijanis from several regions. Previously, the last in these territories were the majority. Primarily, the NKR army and the Armenian forces that supported it regained control over certain regions located outside the territories of Nagorno-Karabakh declared in 1991, in which the Azerbaijanis previously lived. These actions in 1993 were regarded by the UN Security Council as an occupation. After a while, the NKR authorities, which continued to maintain control over these areas, included them in their administrative and territorial structure.

"Contract of the Century"

It was signed in 1994, On September 20, in the Gulustan Palace. This contract has become one of the largest agreements. The contract presupposed a shared distribution of products obtained from the deep-water deposits Chirag, Azeri and Gunashli. This agreement was one of the largest and the volume of hydrocarbon reserves, and the number of proposed investments. The contract took 400 pages and was executed in 4 languages. The agreement involved 13 companies from 8 countries. Preliminary calculations showed that the estimated oil reserves initially amounted to 511 million tons. But later, appraisal drilling was done, and according to the specified information, 730 million tons of raw materials were found. In this regard, the number of investments was increased to 11.5 billion dollars. According to the contract, 80% of the total net profit relied on Azerbaijan, and 20% - to investors. Since the beginning of the implementation of the agreement, there has been a significant change in the national economic complex of the country, a huge amount of work has been launched. In 1995, according to international standards, the reconstruction of the Chigrak-1 platform was carried out under the primary oil production project. For the drilling of wells with greater inclination, the upper module was modernized and re-equipped. Drilling rig of a new type allowed drilling horizontally to the layers of wells. From the most obliquely drilled canals, a large volume of oil began to flow. Since 1997 mining began at the Chirag field.

Nowadays

Today Azerbaijan is quite developed inthe economic plan of the country. In 2003 Heydar Aliyev died. He was replaced by his son Ilham. In 2010, two villages of the Magaramkent district of Dagestan with 600 Lezgins, citizens of the Russian Federation, moved to the Khachmaz region of Azerbaijan. In addition, the stock of the river was divided. Samur. In May 2013, 3 pasture sites of Dokuzparinsky district of Dagestan also moved to Azerbaijan.

sights

70 km to the south of Baku, the largest ofExisting in the CIS countries a cluster of rock carvings of Kobystan. There are also more than 4 thousand unique sites, fortresses, caves and cemeteries. All of them have an age of more than 10 thousand years. Monuments present on the territory constitute a historical and cultural reserve. 30 km to the northeast from Baku lies the village of Surakhani. In it there is a temple complex "Ateshgyah". The original construction of the monument dates back to the 2nd century. BC. e. On all Absheron peninsula there are fortresses. They are built by shirvan shahs. Castles in the Mardakan, the sunken ruins of the Bail castle, the Tuba-Shahi mosque, various fortifications in Buzovna, Shuvelyan, Kishla, Sabunchi, Amirjanjani, Mashtagi, Kala, on. Pirallahi, etc. In the north-eastern part of Azerbaijan is located Shabran. He was part of the Derbent defense system in the Middle Ages. In the same direction is the capital of the Cuban ancient Khanate of Cuba.

One of the most interesting and ancient citiesOf the city of Shemakha is considered. It is located 130 km to the west of the country's capital. The city of Sheki is 380 km away from the border with Georgia. Archaeological evidence indicates that it can be one of the oldest settlements in the Caucasus. A large number of historical and cultural monuments are located in the suburbs of Sheki. For example, they include the Kumbazi towers in Kutkashen, Sumug fortresses, Gelsen-Geresen, Kish, the Orta-Zeyzit tower and temple, the Ilisu mosque, the mausoleum in Babaratma, etc. The region itself is remarkably beautiful. It is whimsically dotted with narrow and deep valleys with a huge number of springs, waterfalls, clean rivers, mineral springs. All this splendor is surrounded by alpine meadows and dense forests. The city of Lenkoran was formerly the capital of the Talish Khanate. It is located in the south-eastern part of the country, at the border with Iran.

North of 100 km is one of the mostbeautiful medieval towns of Hanége. It still contains the walls of the fortress, the mosque, the burial vault of Pir Hussein and other structures. Near the confluence of the river. Chickens in the sea is the old town of Neftechala. It preserved the fortress of Goltuk, the ruins of defensive structures, the shrine of Piratavan, the Khylly mosque. To the north-west of the city archeologists continue to find new historical monuments. In particular, the city of Orenkala was opened, the barrows of Garatepe, Gyzyltepe, Goshatepe, Muhurtepe and others. Along the border with Nagorno-Karabakh are fortified towers, mausoleums, castles, monasteries of the Middle Ages.

On the Caspian coast are numerousreserves, fishing and resort towns. Areas near the mouth of the river. Chickens are considered to be traditional sturgeon fishing grounds. Along the border with Iran lie the ridges of the Talysh Mountains. This area is considered the most exotic in the country. In the subtropical zone there are mixed and broad-leaved forests. Here lives a lot of representatives of Hyrkan flora. This territory is known as one of the best resorts in Azerbaijan. Another of the most ancient cities is Kabala. It is considered to be the religious and political center of the Caucasian Albania. In Arab sources it is known as Khazar. Until now, the mosque, the mausoleums of Mansur and Badreddin, the castles of Sary-Tepe and Aginne-Tepe have survived here. The city of Nakhichevan is also ancient. South of the city of Ordubad. It is known since the 12th century. Here are located the mosques of Dilber and Juma, the khan's courtyards, madrassas, as well as a huge number of medieval buildings that are united in the state historical architectural reserve.