Short History Of Azerbaijan and Culture

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Short History Of Azerbaijan and Culture
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Over the centuries, Azerbaijan has enjoyed only brief periods of independent statehood, in between the longer periods spent incorporated into the major regional empires. This process began with the Arabs in the 7th century, during which period Islam was established as the predominant religion. In the 11th century, the Seljuk Turks established a Turkish dialect as the main language in the territory. Thereafter, Azerbaijan was influenced by both the Ottoman Turks, lying on the border of their empire, and the Iranians, from whom they acquired an adherence to the Shia branch of Islam. In 1828, the Russians, in the course of their drive southwards, took over the northern part of Azerbaijan, which now comprises the modern republic; the southern part remained a province of Iran. The oil boom of the late-19th century transformed the capital, Baku, into an industrial centre. The Bolsheviks eventually prevailed, and the Red Army entered Azerbaijan in 1920. In 1922, the territory joined the USSR, assuming the status of the full Soviet republic in 1936. From 1945, Azerbaijan spent the next 40 years as a minor Soviet republic. The most prominent politician who emerged during this period was Geidar Aliyev, successively head of the Azerbaijan KGB, leader of the Republic itself, and then a full member of the Soviet Politburo. As the Soviet Union started to break up towards the end of the 1980s, it was the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh - an autonomous enclave inside Azeri territory with an overwhelming Armenian majority - which proved critical to Azerbaijan's political development. Serious internal problems and a failure to make any progress on Karabakh led to a military coup and paved the way for the return of Geidar Aliyev. He succeeded in tackling the two most pressing issues: stabilising the political situation in the country and negotiating a truce in the Nagorno-Karabakh war. The 1994 settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh did not favour the Azeris and, although they have too much to lose by going back to war, they continue to make vigorous diplomatic efforts to address the status of the territory. Aliyev was twice re-elected by huge majorities. Elections in November 2000 gave the party two-thirds of the parliamentary seats. Ilham Aliyev inherited his father's office in 2003, albeit through an election the international community widely believed to be unfair. Despite managing to unify and stabilise the country, Azerbaijan is still mired in corruption, and continues to be a dictatorship in all but name with widespread human rights abuses.