Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, was the first successful attempt to establish a secular republic in the Muslim world. A nation with a majority Turkic and Shi'ite Muslim population, it is a democratic, unitary republic Coupled with these innovations is an ancient cultural heritage

.It is one of six independent nations with majorities drawn from the Turkic language family. However, the name of the country is pre-Turkic. it is derived ultimately from as Old-Iranian phrase "Land of the Holy Fire" reflecting the Zoroastrian religion that obtained in the region in ancient times.

NB This lens does NOT deal with the Iranian province of Azerbaijan, that will be the subject of a separate lens.

The Azerbaijani language currently spoken is closely related to Turkish, Qashqai and Turkmen and served as a lingua franca throughout most parts of Transcaucasia (except the Black Sea coast) from the 16th century to the early 20th century. Russian played a similar role in the cosmopolitan areas for most of the 20th century but it has been displaced by an aggressive promotion of the national language since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Azerbaijan was the first place in the world to have an oil industry. The Zoroastrian religion practiced here since pre-biblical times* probably derived some o its inspiration to burning springs in the oil-rich landscape. And now since independence, Azerbaijan's location on the Western shore of the Caspian Sea has made it a crucial player in the development of the "new silk road" - the international oil pipeline network.

*Zoroastrianism still is actively practiced but in Azerbaijan Islam is predominant over all other religions, and there is only a small of adherents to Zoroastrianism, at one time the state religion of the Persian empire.