AZERBAIJAN, FLAG OF

horizontally striped light blue, red, and green national flag with a central crescent and star. Its width-to-length proportion is 1 to 2. Prior to the Russian Revolution, when Azerbaijan was part of the tsar's domain, the leading Azerbaijani nationalist, 'Ali bay Huseynzada, exhorted his followers to Turkify, Islamicize, Europeanize in order to emphasize ethnic pride, religious devotion, and modernization. The colours associated with those principles were light blue (a traditional Turkish flag colour), green (the colour of the Islamic faith in Turkey), and red (also a traditional Turkish and Islamic colour). A flag with the three colours in horizontal stripes was used from 1917 by his Musavat Party. The Russian Revolution allowed for the temporary independence of Azerbaijan between May 28, 1918, and April 27, 1920. The national flag of that era was the blue-red-green tricolour with a white crescent and white eight-pointed star in the centre. The star points were said to stand for eight traditional Turkic peoplesthe Azerbaijanis (Azeris), Ottomans, Jagatais, Tatars, Kazakhs, Kipchaks, Seljuqs (Seljuks), and Turkmen. The old Azerbaijan flag was revived in early 1989, when Azeris began to protest the failure of the Soviet government to protect them from Armenian attacks on their territory. The flag was officially readopted on February 5, 1991, and it continued in use after independence was established on August 30, 1991. Both the first and second Azerbaijan republics also briefly used the Turkish national flag. Whitney Smith History In ancient and early medieval times eastern Transcaucasia was populated by Iranian speakers, nomadic Turkic tribes, Kurds, and the Caucasian Albanians, who converted to Christianity in the 4th century and came under the cultural influence of the Armenians. After Arab incursions in the 7th century, Islamic polities were established under local rulers called shahanshah. The Seljuq invasions in the 11th century changed the composition of the local population and resulted in the linguistic dominance of Oguz Turkic dialects. But, unlike the Ottoman Turks who came to dominate Anatolia, the Caucasian Muslims of Azerbaijan in the early 16th century became Shi'ite, rather than Sunnite, Muslims, and they continued to develop under Persian social and cultural influence. Persian-ruled khanates in Shirvan (Samaxi), Baku, Ganja (Gnc), Karabakh, and Yerevan dominated this frontier of Safavid Iran. Russian suzerainty After a series of wars between the Russian Empire and Iran, the treaties of Gulistan (1813) and Turkmenchai (1828) established a new border between the empires. Russia acquired Baku, Shirvan, Ganja, Nakhichevan (Naxivan), and Yerevan. Henceforth the Azerbaijani Turks of Caucasia were separated from the majority of their linguistic and religious compatriots, who remained in Iran. Azerbaijanis on both sides of the border remained largely rural, though a small merchant class and working class appeared in the second half of the 19th century. As Baku became the major source of oil for Russia, tens of thousands of Iranian, Armenian, and Russian workers streamed to the Abseron Peninsula in search of employment, and Russian economic and political influence could be felt in both parts of Azerbaijan. As the source of employment and the home of the nascent Azerbaijani intelligentsia and revolutionary movement, Baku radiated its influence in Iranian Azerbaijan as well as north of the Aras (Araz) River. No specifically Azerbaijani state existed before 1918, and, rather than seeing themselves as part of a continuous national tradition, like the Georgians and Armenians, the Muslims of Transcaucasia saw themselves as part of the larger Muslim world, the ummah. They were referred to as Tatars by the Russians; the ethnonym Azerbaijani (azarbayjanli) came into use in the prerevolutionary decades at first among urban nationalist intellectuals. Only in the Soviet period did it become the official and widely accepted name for this people. Incorporation into the Russian Empire provided a new outlet for educated Azerbaijanis, some of whom turned from their religious upbringing to a more secular outlook. Prominent among the early scholars and publicists who began the study of the Azerbaijani language were Abbas Qoli Agha Bakikhanov, who wrote poetry as well as histories of the region, and Mirza Fath 'Ali Akhundzada (called Akhundov in Russian), author of the first Azerbaijani plays. Though eventually these figures would be incorporated into a national narrative as predecessors of the Turkic revival, a variety of conflicting impulses stimulated early Azerbaijani intellectualsloyalty to the tsarist empire, Persian culture, and a longing for Western learning. Although no single, coherent ideology or movement characterized the Azerbaijani intelligentsia, by 1905 a growing number of writers and journalists adopted the program of the nationalist intellectual 'Ali bay Huseynzada: Turkify, Islamicize, Europeanize (Turklashtirmak, Islamlashtirmak, Avrupalashtirmak). The town of Baku, which by 1901 produced more than half of the world's output of petroleum, was complexly segregated, with Russians and Armenians in the central part of the town and Muslims clustered in distinct districts. As social resentments festered, particularly in times of political uncertainty, ethnic and religious differences defined the battle lines; bloody clashes between Azerbaijanis and local Armenians took place in 1905 and 1918. A hierarchy of skills, education, and wages placed Muslims on the bottom and Christians at the top. By virtue of a quota on non-Christian representation and a system of suffrage based on property holdings, the Baku city duma (legislative council) remained in the hands of wealthy Armenians and Russians. Azerbaijanis remained on the fringe of the labour movement and were indifferent to or ignorant of the aspirations of both their socialist and nationalist intellectuals. None of the small parties and political groups that arose after 1905 commanded much of a following beyond the intelligentsia, though Musavat (Equality), founded in 1911 and led by Mehmed Emin Rasulzada, proved most enduring. Anxiety about the Armenian threat, a perception of their own distance from and hostility to this privileged element within their midst, and a feeling that Azerbaijanis were connected in important ways to other Muslims, particularly Turks, became part of an Azerbaijani sense of self. The economy Azerbaijan is a developed industrial and agrarian country. The emphasis on heavy industry has considerably expanded two traditional industriespetroleum and natural gasbut engineering, light industry, and food production are also of growing importance. In the early 1990s Azerbaijan began a transition to a market economy. Prices of most goods were liberalized, and some state-owned enterprises were privatized. Land privatization, however, proceeded slowly. Resources At the beginning of the 20th century Azerbaijan was the world's leading petroleum producer, and it was also the birthplace of the oil-refining industry. In 1901, for example, Azerbaijan produced 11.4 million tons of oil, more than the United States; it accounted for more than half of world production. As the 20th century progressed, however, Azerbaijan's role in oil production decreased as the industry developed in other regions of the U.S.S.R. and elsewhere in the world. During the 1990s exploitation of the vast oil fields under the Caspian Sea was complicated by political instability in Azerbaijan, ethnic conflict throughout the region, Russian claims on the Caspian fields, and disputes over the location of new pipelines. Azerbaijan has other natural resources, including natural gas, iodobromide waters, lead, zinc, iron, and copper ores, nepheline syenites utilized in the production of aluminum, common salt, and a great variety of building materials, including marl, limestone, and marble. The land Relief, drainage, and soils As a result of its broken relief, drainage patterns, climatic differences, and sharply defined altitudinal zoning of vegetation, Azerbaijan is characterized by a wide variety of landscapes. More than two-fifths of its territory is taken up by lowlands, about half lies at 1,300 to 4,900 feet (400 to 1,500 metres), and areas above 4,900 feet occupy a little more than one-tenth of the total area. The highest peaks are Bazardyuzyu (Bazardz; 14,652 feet [4,466 metres]), Shakhdag, and Tufan, all part of the Greater Caucasus range, the crest of which forms part of Azerbaijan's northern boundary. Magnificent spurs and ridges, cut into by the deep gorges of mountain streams, make this part of Azerbaijan a region of great natural beauty. At the same time, it lies within a region characterized by a high degree of seismic activity. The spurs of the Lesser Caucasus, in southwestern Azerbaijan, form the second important mountain system, which includes the Shakhdag, Murovdag, and Zangezur ranges, their summits rising to nearly 13,000 feet, and also the Karabakh Upland. The large and scenic Lake Geygyol lies at an altitude of 5,138 feet. The southeastern part of Azerbaijan is bordered by the Talish (Talysh) Mountains, consisting of three longitudinal ranges, with Mount Kyumyurkyoy as the highest peak (8,176 feet), and the Lnkran Lowland, along the Caspian coast. This lowland, an extension of the Kura-Aras Lowland, reaches the Iranian border near Astara. The Kura-Aras Lowland is named for the main river, the Kura (Kr), and its tributary the Aras (Araz). The Shirvan, Milskaya, and Mugan plains are part of this lowland and have similar soils and climate. Gray soils and saline solonchaks (aridisols) and, in higher regions, gray alkaline solonetz and chestnut soils (mollisols) prevail. A well-developed network of canals between the Kura and Aras rivers makes it possible to irrigate a major part of the lowland. The Upper Karabakh Canal, 107 miles (172 kilometres) long, provides a vital link between the Aras River and the Mingevir Reservoir on the Kura River. The reservoir has a surface area of 234 square miles and a maximum depth of 246 feet. The Upper Karabakh Canal alone irrigates more than 250,000 acres (100,000 hectares) of fertile land and in addition supplies the Aras River with water during dry summer periods. The Upper Shirvan Canal, the second most important canal, is 76 miles in length and also irrigates about 250,000 acres. Climate The dry subtropical climate of central and eastern Azerbaijan is characterized by a mild winter and a long (four to five months) and very hot summer, with temperatures averaging about 81 F (27 C) and maximum temperatures reaching 109 F (43 C). Southeastern Azerbaijan is characterized by a humid subtropical climate with the highest precipitation in the country, some 47 to 55 inches (1,200 to 1,400 millimetres) a year, most of it falling in the cold months. A dry continental climate, with a cold winter and a dry, hot summer, prevails in Naxivan at altitudes of 2,300 to 3,300 feet. Moderately warm, dry, or humid types of climate are to be found in other parts of Azerbaijan. The mountain forest zone has a moderately cold climate, while an upland tundra climate characterizes elevations of 10,000 feet and above. Frosts and heavy snowfalls make the passes at such altitudes inaccessible for three or four months of the year. The people Azerbaijan has a growing and youthful population. The Turkic-speaking Azerbaijanis (Azeris), who make up more than four-fifths of the country's population, are predominantly Shi'ite Muslims. They combine in themselves the dominant Turkic strain, which flooded Azerbaijan especially during the Oguz Seljuq migrations of the 11th century, with mixtures of older inhabitantsIranians and otherswho had lived in Transcaucasia since ancient times. About 13 million Azerbaijanis live abroad, most of them in Iran. The Azerbaijani language belongs to the southwestern (Oguz or Turkmen) group of the Turkic languages. There are four main dialect divisions. The literary tradition dates to the 14th century. The Arabic script was used until the 20th century; the Cyrillic alphabet was introduced in 1939. In 1992 the Azerbaijani government switched from the Cyrillic to the Roman alphabet as its official orthography. Russians and Armenians make up sizable minorities in Azerbaijan, but militant nationalism, political uncertainty, and the growing strength of Islam is forcing many of these minorities to become refugees and return to their homelands. In detached Naxivan almost all the inhabitants are Azerbaijanis, whereas the population of the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, lying wholly within Azerbaijan, is predominantly Armenian. The subunits of Naxivan and Nagorno-Karabakh were established by the Soviet Union to minimize friction between the two nationalities, but Christian Armenians and Muslim Azerbaijanis each claim both areas.