Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan (Azerbaijani: Az?rbaycan) is a country in the Caucasus, at the crossroads of Europe and Southwest Asia, with a coast on the Caspian Sea. It has frontiers with Russia in the north, Georgia in the northwest, Armenia in the west and southeast and southwest, and Iran in the south. The Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic (an exclave of Azerbaijan) borders Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and west, and Turkey to the northwest.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Azerbaijan

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According to the CIA World Factbook, about eighty-nine percent of Azerbaijan?s population is ethnic Azerbaijani, or Azeris. Other major ethnicities include local Talysh, Lezgi, Avar and Tat and numerous other minorities, as well as Russians. Some people argue that the number of Talysh is more than officially recorded, as many of them are counted as Azerbaijanis. The country?s large Armenian population mostly fled to Armenia and to other countries with the beginning of the Armenian-Azeri conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. During the same period, Azerbaijan also received a large influx of Azerbaijanis fleeing Armenia and later Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent provinces occupied by the Armenians.

Related Topics:
CIA World Factbook - Azerbaijani - Azeris - Talysh - Lezgi - Avar - Tat - Russians - Armenia - Nagorno-Karabakh

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Most Azerbaijanis, or Azeris, are Shia Muslim. Other religions or philosophical beliefs that are followed by many in the country are the Sunni and Sufi sects of Islam, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Russian Orthodox Church, and various secular beliefs (many of which are left over from the Soviet era of less tolerance for spirituality).

Related Topics:
Shia - Muslim - Religion - Philosophical - Sunni - Sufi - Armenian Apostolic Church - Russian Orthodox Church - Soviet - Spirituality

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