economic information in this book does not reflect the effects of the 2020 global coronavirus pandemic which at this writing remain to be determined All that good news is dampened however by international concerns about corruption The government is accused of growing authoritarianism The country’s leadership has remained in the Aliyev family since Heydar Aliyev became president in 1993 and was succeeded by his son Ilham in 2003 As president Ilham Aliyev is behaving more and more like a dictator He has managed to have the constitution changed to his benefit several times allowing him to rule indefinitely and with ever-increasing power In particular he has quashed political opposition and clamped down on civil liberties Journalists are especially restricted Many have been detained or imprisoned on fabricated charges while others face travel bans Despite that menacing shadow Azerbaijan is a land of striking beauty and variety Its many regions include the snowcapped peaks of the Greater A multitude of rigs drill for oil in a large flat field in Azerbaijan 8 Azerbaijan
Caucasus Mountains fertile river valleys interlaced with irrigation canals subtropical forests and tea plantations in the south In contrast arid patches of semi-desert are found near the Caspian Sea In places Azerbaijan looks like a country forgotten by time Ancient churches and mosques rise above medieval villages or the walled old town areas of cities In other places definite signs of the 21st century emerge in the glass-and-steel office buildings of modern urban centers Each year more tourists flock to the country to discover its wonders a trend that also helps to grow the economy What lies ahead for paradoxical Azerbaijan Like the country itself the answer is a mystery The Philharmonic Fountain Park is located near the ancient walls of the Old City in Baku Azerbaijan Today 9
Azerbaijan is a land of magnificent views such as this one from the tiny mountain village of Khinalug near the Russian border GEOGRAPHY
1 Transcaucasia is a geographical area in the southern Caucasus Mountain region on the border of eastern Europe and western Asia It roughly corresponds to the area of today’s Georgia Armenia and Azerbaijan It extends from the Black Sea in the west to the Caspian Sea in the east To the north of this region is Russia and to the south are Turkey and Iran AZERBAIJAN IS A COUNTRY ON THE dividing line between Europe and Asia Most of it falls in southwestern Asia with a small northern portion resting in Europe The line between Europe and Asia is an imaginary line created by geographers so there is no actual geographical divide With a combined land and water area of 33,436 square miles 86,600 square kilometers the nation is roughly the size of the state of Maine but more irregularly shaped The Greater Caucasus Mountains form Azerbaijan’s northern border with Russia while the Caspian Sea marks the eastern boundary Although the country has coastline on the Caspian it is still considered a landlocked nation That’s because it has no access to the oceans To the west of Azerbaijan lie Armenia and Georgia which were also former republics of the Soviet Union In the south the Aras River or Araks and the Talysh or Talish Mountains separate Azerbaijan from Iran The country is dominated by spectacular mountain ranges yet more than 40 percent of Azerbaijan is low flatlands A large portion of these lowlands is made up of arid semi-desert but irrigation makes nearly half of the total land area suitable for farming The mild climate combined with extensive irrigation has enabled Azerbaijan to be a major food producer Until the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s the republic accounted for about 10 percent of the entire Soviet agricultural output
