III.

The People of Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan is more populated than the other South Caucasus states, Georgia and Armenia. Its population was an estimated 8,120,247 in 2007, giving it an average population density of 94 persons per sq km (244 per sq mi). The most densely populated area is the Abşeron Peninsula in the east, where Azerbaijan’s major cities are located. Despite its larger population, Azerbaijan is the least urbanized country of the South Caucasus, as only 50 percent of its population lives in urban areas. The largest city is Baku, the capital. Other important cities include Gäncä, the industrial center of western Azerbaijan, and Sumgayıt, located on the Caspian coast and the second most important industrial center after Baku.

A.

Ethnic Groups

Azerbaijan, including the autonomous exclave of Naxçivan, is populated mostly by ethnic Azerbaijanis, who are also known as Azeris. The ethnic composition of the country changed due to a civil war between the government of Azerbaijan and Armenian secessionists in the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. Beginning in 1988, when the people of Nagorno-Karabakh unilaterally decided to secede from Azerbaijan, nearly the entire Azerbaijani population in Armenia fled to Azerbaijan and northern Iran, while many ethnic Armenians in Azerbaijan fled to Armenia. The number of Armenians in Azerbaijan decreased from slightly less than 6 percent of the total population to about 2 percent. Armenians now reside almost exclusively in the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, where they constitute a majority. In the 1990s the proportion of Azerbaijanis in Azerbaijan increased from about 80 percent of the total population to about 90 percent. This change was largely due to the civil war, but the emigration of many Russians and other Slavs after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 also contributed.

Dagestanis and Russians are the largest minority groups in Azerbaijan, followed by Armenians. Dagestanis, a people whose traditional homeland is Dagestan, a republic of Russia on Azerbaijan’s northern border, make up about 3 percent of the population. Russians constitute about 2.5 percent of the total (a reduction of about 3 percent since the 1989 census). Other ethnic groups include Lezgins, Kurds, and Talysh, who are geographically concentrated in the north, east, and south of the republic, respectively. There are also small communities of Georgians, Ukrainians, and Avars. Most of the republic’s ethnic groups have resided in the area for centuries, although Russians arrived in large numbers in the 19th and 20th centuries.

B.

Languages

The official language of Azerbaijan is Azeri, a Turkic language of the Altaic family that is closely related to the Turkish and Turkmen languages (see Altaic Languages). Other languages spoken in Azerbaijan include Russian and Armenian. Azeri originally developed in the Arabic script, but in the 1920s a Latin (Roman) alphabet was introduced. In 1939 the Soviet regime mandated the use of the Cyrillic alphabet, the script of the Russian language. After Azerbaijan gained independence, the government decided to introduce a Turkish version of the Latin script. In 2001 a presidential decree abolishing the Cyrillic script for official and business purposes came into force.

C.

Religion

Azerbaijanis are traditionally Muslim. Islam was introduced in the area of present-day Azerbaijan during the 7th century ad, and Shia Islam was established as the official religion of the Azerbaijanis in the 16th century. During the Soviet period, religious leaders were persecuted, mosques were closed or destroyed, and religious practice was officially condemned. Islam has experienced a revival in Azerbaijan since the late 1980s, when political reforms allowed most of the Soviet restrictions on religion to be lifted. Nearly all Azerbaijanis now identify as Muslim, although few actively practice their religion. About 70 percent of Azerbaijani Muslims are Shias, and about 30 percent are Sunnis. Christianity is practiced to varying degrees among the Georgian, Armenian, and Slavic minorities.

D.

Education

Most adults in Azerbaijan can read and write. The country’s high adult literacy rate was achieved during the Soviet period, when an extensive, state-funded education system was developed. The first eight years of education are compulsory, but most students complete the full ten-year program of basic education, and many choose to continue their education at secondary or vocational schools. Baku is the seat of most of the country’s institutes of higher education, including Baku State University (founded in 1919 during Azerbaijan’s brief initial period of independence), Azerbaijan Technical University (1950), and Azerbaijan State Petroleum Academy (1920).

E.

Culture

Azerbaijan’s cultural institutions, located primarily in Baku, include the State Museum of Shirvan-Shakh, which houses weapons and decorations from palaces of the khans (rulers), and the State Museum of Azerbaijan Literature. The culture of the peoples inhabiting eastern part of the South Caucasus developed during the ancient and medieval periods under a predominantly Persian influence, although Turkic influences also were present. Azerbaijanis contributed several notable literary and scientific works during the medieval period. After Azerbaijan became part of the Russian Empire in the early 19th century, Azerbaijani intellectuals such as scholar and poet Abbas Qoli Agha Bakikhanov began the study of the Azeri language and attempted to set up schools that would teach literacy. At times during the Soviet period, artistic expression that conveyed any hint of Azerbaijani nationalism was brutally suppressed.

Music has long been an important aspect of Azerbaijani life. The ancient Azerbaijani musical tradition has been kept alive by musicians known as ashugs, who improvise songs while playing a stringed instrument called a kobuz. Other vocal and instrumental compositions called mugams are also part of the oral folk tradition. Modern Azerbaijani composer Uzeir Hajjibekov is known internationally for his classical operas.