Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan , is a country in the Transcaucasian region, situated at the crossroads of Southwest Asia and Southeastern Europe. It is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west and Iran to the south. The exclave of Nakhchivan is bounded by Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and west, while having a short border with Turkey in the north west.

The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic proclaimed its independence in 1918 and became the first Muslim-majority democratic and secular republic. It was also the first Muslim-majority country to have operas, theaters and modern universities. The country was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1920 as the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. The modern Republic of Azerbaijan proclaimed its independence on 30 August 1991, before the official dissolution of the USSR. In September 1991, the disputed Armenian-majority Nagorno-Karabakh region re-affirmed its willingness to create a separate state as the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. The region and seven adjacent districts outside it became de facto independent since the ending of the Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1994, are internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan until a final solution to status of the Nagorno-Karabakh is found through negotiations facilitated by the OSCE.

Azerbaijan is a unitary semi-presidential republic. The country is a member state of the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the NATO Partnership for Peace (PfP) program. It is one of the six independent Turkic states, being an active member of the Turkic Council and the TÜRKSOY community.

The Constitution of Azerbaijan does not declare an official religion, and all major political forces in the country are secularist, but the majority of people and some opposition movements adhere to Shia Islam. Azerbaijan has a high level of human development which ranks on par with most Eastern European countries. It has a high rate of economic development and literacy, as well as a low rate of unemployment. However, corruption in Azerbaijan is widespread, especially in the public service. The ruling party, New Azerbaijan Party, has been accused of authoritarianism and human rights abuses.

Source: Wikipedia 

Thank you to Liubov for the swap and amazing  Zodiac Monkey stamps!

Sent: 14 March 2016   Received: 17 May 2016  Travelled: 64 days