A Z E R B A I J A N
There is an estimated 200,000 Kurds (2.8% of population) in the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOURCE: KHRP Report, Kurds in the former Soviet Union - November 1996). Azerbaijan's treament of its Kurdish population is largely affected by its conflict over the disputed enclave of Nagorno Karbagh.
A B O U T A Z E R B A I J A N
The Republic of Azerbaijan is located in Caucasia, on the western shore of the Caspian Sea and south of the Caucasus Mountains. The republic is bounded by Russia on the north, Georgia on the northwest, Armenia on the southwest, Iran on the south, and the Caspian Sea on the east.
The provinces of East and West Azerbaijan in northwestern Iran form the southern part of the historic region of Azerbaijan. The northern portion is the Republic of Azerbaijan. East and West Azerbaijan has an area of 38,850 sq km (15,000 sq mi) and a population of 1,971,677 (1986); its capital is Orumiyeh. The population is Azeri, with a Kurdish minority.
There are two administrative regions of specific interest:
the autonomous Republic of Nakhichevan, separated from the rest of Azerbaijan
by Armenia; and the autonomous district of Nagorno Karabagh, an enclave situated
within Azerbaijan but populated by ethnic Armenians. The capital of the republic
is Baku, a port city on the Caspian Sea.
P E O P L E
Azeris, who speak an Oghuz Turkic language closely related to Turkish, constituted 83 percent of the republic's population in 1989.
The two largest non-Azeri ethnic groups were the Russians and Armenians (between 5 and 6 percent each); the Talysh, an Iranian-speaking people, accounted for 3.5 percent, and the Lezghians, a Caucasian group, for 2.4 percent. Kurds constitute about 2.8% of the population. Since the 1989 census more Azeris have entered the country from Armenia, and many Armenians have emigrated, both movements related to the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Azerbaijanis are mainly Muslim, about 70 percent
of them Shiite, and the remainder Sunnite. Believers among the Russian and
Armenian minorities are mostly Christian.
F U R T H E R I N F O R M A T I O N
LINK: Library
of Congress Federal Reserve Division: Azerbaijan
