Azerbaijan.

Capital: Baku

Leader: Heydar Aliev

Population: 7,700,000

Ethnic Groups. Azeri (90%), Dagestan peoples (3%), Russian (3%), Armenian (2%), other (2%)

BACKGROUND

Starting in the 17th century, Azerbaijan was controlled by the Ottoman Empire. The country entered the Soviet Union in 1922, as part of the Transcaucasian Soviet Federal Republic, and be came a separate Soviet republic in 1956. After a referendum in 1991, it became independent from the disintegrating Soviet Union.

As is common with many former Soviet republics leadership did not change when the status of the country changed. In 1999, President Heydar Aliev celebrated 30 years of' almost uninterrupted rule since becoming Azerbaijan's Communist Party leader in 1969. In February 2002, President Aliev underwent prostate surgery at a clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. In February 2005, he made a return visit to the clinic prompting rumours that all is not well with his health. Mr. Aliev denies he is ill and says he plans to run in the 2003 presidential election.

Mr. Aliev does not appear to be a big fan of democracy. The 1995 constitution gives the president control over the government, legislature, and judiciary. According to international observers, the 1995 and 1998 presidential and 1995 and 2000 parliamentary elections were neither free nor fair. Opposition political party members face frequent harassment and arrest by the authorities.

International monitors have seen serious irregularities, including the stuffing of ballot boxes, a flawed counting process, falsified election results, a strong pro-government bias in state-run media, intimidation of voters by local officials, and denial of access to polling stations to international observers. Nevertheless, the Council of Europe approved Azerbaijan's application for membership after the November 2000 elections. Human rights groups have criticized this decision because of the country's poor progress on human rights and the irregularities in the parliamentary poll.

Although the constitution guarantees freedom of speech and the press, journalists who publish articles critical of the government are routinely prosecuted, so self-censorship is common. A new media law, which came into effect in February 2000, gives the executive branch the power to distribute broadcast licenses and shut down broadcasters charged with violating broadcast regulations. Broadcasters don't have the right to appeal through the court system.

There is a fair amount of religious freedom in Azerbaijan. Muslims, Russian Orthodox Christians, and Jews are considered members of "traditional" religions and can worship freely. Since 1999, more freedom has been given to those practising other faiths, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, and abuses against foreigners and converts to "non-traditional" faiths have decreased; but, they are restricted by tedious registration requirements and interference in distributing printed materials.

There are restrictions on freedom of assembly and association, particularly by groups critical of the government. In October 2000, for example, members of the Civil Unity Party were beaten and injured, according to Human Rights Watch, when they attempted to demonstrate in Baku to protest the government's refusal to register their party.

Some foreign-funded domestic organizations (depending on the amount of foreign funding) are not allowed to monitor elections. Most trade unions belong to the state-run Azerbaijani Labour Federation, and there is no effective collective bargaining system.

Freedom House says the judiciary is inefficient and corrupt. Detainees are often held for long periods before trials, and have limited access to evidence and lawyers. According to reports, police abuse of suspects during arrest and interrogation is common, with torture often used to extract confessions. Although presidential decrees in June and October 2000 granted amnesty to dozens of political prisoners, opposition and human rights groups say hundreds remain in custody.

CURRENT ISSUES

They've been pumping oil out of the ground around Baku since the 1870s. There are still large reserves there and new oil and gas finds are showing up under the Caspian Sea. In a big boost for Azerbaijan, the partners in a group to develop the Caspian Sea's largest gas field have agreed to launch the $3.2 billion U.S. Shah Deniz project. This is scheduled to start pumping gas through Georgia to Turkey in 2006.

This and other projects are going ahead despite the fact that the countries with Caspian Sea shorelines still have not agreed on a way of sharing the energy wealth.

Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Iran have been haggling over a treaty for years. No one wants to give up their claim to a square centimetre of the Caspian Sea; it could be worth a fortune in oil or gas revenue.

The other issue in need of settlement is what to do about Nagorno-Karabakh. This is an area in southwestern Azerbaijan where the majority of the population is of Armenian origin. It is about 100 kilometres long and about 60 kilometres wide. But, the Azeris, who form a majority in Azerbaijan, say the region belongs to their nation. So, Azeris and Armenians have battled over Nagorno-Karabakh for generations. It took the evil genius of Joseph Stalin to stir things up in the 20th century.

Stalin was the dictator who led the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1953. As he remade the map of the Soviet Union he placed Nagorno-Karabakh wholly within the borders of the Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan. He did this because he knew the two would forever be at each other's throats and that would ensure Moscow's position as power broker (a divide-and-rule policy behind many border decisions in that region in the 1920s).

When the Soviet Union started to fall apart in the late 1980s, the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh saw their chance to exploit the weakness in Moscow. They appealed to have the region join Armenia. Azerbaijan rejected the appeal out of hand. Violence was unleashed, with each side claiming that the other started the hostilities. Hundreds of thousands of refugees were created as both Armenians and Azeris fled to avoid the fighting or were expelled or forced out. In 1989, the Supreme Soviet of Armenia passed a resolution proclaiming the unification of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia which, to date, has not been cancelled.

In the spring of 1991, even more serious fighting broke out involving Soviet troops, in addition to Armenian and Azeri forces. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the region of Nagorno-Karabakh rejected unification with Armenia and declared complete independence in early 1992. The disintegration of the Soviet Union also resulted in a steep upgrade in the level of armaments and munitions available for use by both sides. The body count rose alarmingly.

By mid- 1992, the Armenians largely controlled Nagorno-Karabakh; the 20% to 25% of the area's population that was Azeri had fled; and the Lachin corridor, a land bridge from the region to Armenia, was established. The Armenians managed to go still further in 1993, when their forces occupied almost 20% of Azerbaijani territory outside of Nagorno-Karabakh. They have since refused to retreat from this land until the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh is recognized and its security guaranteed. There the situation has been stalemated since 1994. Most of the fighting ended in the wake of a ceasefire in May of that year, by which time more than 15,000 people had been killed.

In addition, thousands of refugees and displaced persons live a desperate existence, unable to return home, and complicating the prospects for a comprehensive peace settlement.

Then, there are players from outside the immediate region that are meddling and stirring up trouble.

Russia and Turkey, traditional rivals in this area of the Caucasus, back opposing sides in the dispute. Turkey is keen to establish trade and political links with Azerbaijan and the other Turkic-speaking nations of Central Asia. And, there's a long history of bad feelings between Turks and Armenians. The United States wants access to the energy reserves of the Caspian Basin so that puts it onside with Azerbaijan. But, there's a further twist. There is a large and influential community of Armenians living in the United States and its members are pushing Washington to support their cousins in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Organization for Se curity and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has been trying to untangle this knot since the early 1990s. A committee from OSCE, called the Minsk Group, has put forward several peace plans. Plan A is rejected by Nagorno-Karabakh; Plan B is trashed by Azerbaijan; everybody hates Plan C. And, so it goes.

BOTH SIDES

Azerbaijan has strengthened relations with Russia, an opponent of armed intervention against Iraq. At the same time, it has been expressing support for the aggressive U.S. stance against Iraq. This apparent contradiction in policies illustrates the difficulties many Central Asian states are having with their foreign policies. Azerbaijan desperately needs American investment and support for the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which will carry its natural gas exports to markets in the rest of the world. However, Azerbaijan shares a border with Russia and can't afford to provoke its powerful neighbour.

Websites

Azerbaijan Links - http://www.diplomaticnet.com/uk/act/act14.html

Government of Azerbaijan - http://www.president.az/

Nagorno-Karabakh http://www.nkr.am/eng/

FACT FILE

The Baku region was the world's leading producer of crude oil at the beginning of the 20th century.

The members of the Minsk Group are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, the Russian Federation, Sweden, Turkey, and the United States.

About one-seventh of Azerbaijan's territory remains occupied, while 800,000 refugees and internally displaced persons are scattered around the country.