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Azerbaijan
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Official statistics on HIV/AIDS in Azerbaijan claims that over 700 people were infected and 60 died by early 2005. However, experts say the figures are woefully under-reported. And it may be true: the CIA World Factbook listed 1,400 HIV/AIDS infected people in Azerbaijan back in 2003. Half of them, according to the United Nations Development Program’s data, are drug addicts; ¼ have been infected through sexual intercourse. Men constitute 70% of this relatively young group, predominantly ages 30 to 39.
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Azerbaijan is an active member of international coalitions fighting international terrorism. The country is contributing to peacekeeping efforts in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. Azerbaijan is an active member of NATO's “Partnership for Peace” program. It ... maintains good relations with the European Union, and could potentially one day apply for membership. see Azerbaijan and the European Union.
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Azerbaijan has 9 of the world's 13 climatic zones, from Alpine meadows to subtropics. The climate in Baku is dry and subtropical, of a Mediterranean type. The average annual rainfall is between 110 and 250 mm, and falls mainly in the early spring and late autumn. The temperature in winter is 3-5 degrees C and in Summer reaches 30 degrees C or more and occasionally as high as 40-45 degrees C.
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Located on the southern edge of the Caucusus, and bordered by Russia, Armenia, Georgia, Iran, and the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan has a population of 7.5 million. The majority of its inhabitants are Turkish speaking Shiite Muslims, as well as Armenians and Christian Lezgins. Approximately 25,000 Jews live in the country.
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After a decade of civil unrest and a disastrous war over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan recovered and stabilized under the strong hand of former President Heidar Aliev (elected in 1993). Since that time, political development in the country has remained dominated by the presidential apparatus. In 2003 Heidar Aliev was succeeded by his son Ilham Aliev, in elections whose fairness was questioned by some observers.1 The first President Aliev strongly promoted information technology (IT) as a pillar for national development, enacting a national ICT strategy in 2003 that set ambitious targets for the development of Internet in government and education, and the industrial sector.2 On a popular level, the Internet plays an increasingly important role in daily life, including politics. Opposition groups as well as individuals voicing discontent are now using the Internet as a communication platform, which has prompted a mild crackdown by authorities. Thus far these control measures have been reversed through legal challenges, although the government’s concern for maintaining social and political stability suggests that more restrictive measures may be on the way. Azerbaijani hackers are ... involved in a longstanding “cyber war” with Armenian hackers over the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
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Azerbaijan maintained its national character after its conquest by the Arabs in the mid-seventh century a.d. and its subsequent conversion to Islam. At this time it became a province in the early Muslim empire. Only in the 11th century, when Oghuz Turkic tribes under the Seljuk dynasty entered the country, did Azerbaijan acquire a significant number of Turkic inhabitants. The original Persian population became fused with the Turks, and gradually the Persian language was supplanted by a Turkic dialect that evolved into the distinct Azerbaijani language. The process of Turkification was long and complex, sustained by successive waves of incoming nomads from Central Asia. After the Mongol invasions in the 13th century, Azerbaijan became a part of the empire of Hulagu and his successors, the Il-Khans.
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