What’s going on in Azerbaijan?
You may have heard in the news about problems between the United States and Azerbaijan. Where is Azerbaijan, and what is the problem?
Azerbaijan, slightly smaller than Maine, is a republic sandwiched between Iran to the south and Russia and the Caucus Mountains to the north. Armenia and Georgia border Azerbaijan on the west, and the Caspian Sea is on the east. Most of the country is Muslim and of Azeri descent. The country used to be part of the USSR but became independent after the Soviet Union’s collapse. The capital of Azerbaijan is Baku.
Many of the conflicts in Azerbaijan are due to the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. This area, in the southwest of the country, is mostly Christian and ethnically Armenian. Azerbaijan claims this land, but the region has had de factocontrol over its own affairs by getting help from Armenia. Azerbaijan and Armenia have already had two wars1 over the disputed territory.
The relations between Azerbaijan and the United States have been deteriorating for some time. The United States uses Azerbaijan as a launching pad for its military actions in Afghanistan. However, Azerbaijan feels that it is not getting its fair share; the United States has declared that it will not send any aid to Baku until it ends their conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. This angers Azerbaijan; it helps the United States with Afghanistan but cannot receive any aid. However, just recently, the US Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, met with the Azerbaijani President, Ilham Aliyev, easing tensions.
Read on:
ForeignPolicy.com – Bad Blood in Baku
AzeriReport.com – Robert Gates Goes to Baku, Portent of Things to Come?
- the Armenian-Azerbaijani War 90 years ago and the Nagorno-Karabakh War in the 1980s ↩
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