### Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan is predominantly Muslim (93.4%) and has a population of 7.5 million. It is relatively small compared to its neighboring Muslim republics across the Caspian, with a territory of only 86,900 square kilometers. It has been a major petroleum-producing area since the nineteenth century. In the former Soviet Union, the country served as a major refining center. However, in the 1950s and 1960s, the Soviets gradually shifted their resources elsewhere. Thus, today, Azerbaijan’s chief exports are cotton and fruit, though the country aspires to rejoin the ranks of the worlds major oil producers -- as it is poor and desperately needs the money.

Yet, such desires are problematic, due to Azerbaijan’s persisting instability. Since 1992, Azeris have seen their government change three times. The last change came in June 1993, when Heidar Aliyev, a former KGB general and Brezhnev Politburo member, co-opted the Azeri parliament and took over the government.

Aliyev, now 75, continues to rule. He controls everything in Azerbaijan, including free speech. His security forces make arrests daily and are holding hundreds of “politicals” in prison. According to one source, Aliyev tolerates no criticism and maintains strict control over the media. It is Aliyev, more than anyone else, who holds the key to the oil. Taking the first steps to develop his country’s rich oil reserves, he has tried to improve Azeri-American relations over the last few years. However, an important piece of American legislation has stood in his way. Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, passed by the United States Congress in 1992, allows only humanitarian relief and assistance to non-governmental groups in Azerbaijan. The Azeris consider Section 907 grossly unfair. Despite this legislation, however, Aliyev remains pro-American, mainly because he counts on the United States to protect him from pressures from Russia to the north and from Iran to the south.

Recently, Azerbaijan has been trying to parlay its oil and gas reserves into political clout abroad, in order to force the Armenians into accepting an agreement in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It has taken great care to ensure that multiple foreign powers and companies gain a stake in the oil boom in the hopes of gaining political advantage. If this strategy fails, Aliyev says that he will revamp his army and renew the war with Armenia.

Azerbaijan has endured sharp declines in living standards since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Two-thirds of Azeris live in poverty. Further, the disparity of wealth is evident everywhere. In contrast with Baku, which is filled with fast cars and people in expensive clothes, much of Azerbaijan is filled with only empty factories and concrete towns with no gas or heating. Azeri doctors and teachers make $20 per month.

Furthermore, there are over one million refugees living in the Azeri countryside. When asked how he feels about the press reports that describe Baku as a boomtown, Dr. Kevin Kelly, an American pediatrician with Relief International who works with the Azeri refugees, said, "I agree, except that if they go 20 minutes outside of Baku, they will see hundreds and hundreds of public buildings that you and I would not put our dog in where these people [the refugees] have no other choice but to live in. When you think Baku is Azerbaijan, you are wearing blinders. It is not."

Azerbaijan Links