Azerbaijan, republic of western Asia. Azerbaijan is the easternmost country of Transcaucasia (the southern portion of the region of Caucasia), which occupies the southern part of the isthmus between the Black and Caspian seas. The country is bordered on the north by Russia, on the east by the Caspian Sea, on the south by Iran, on the west by Armenia, and on the northwest by Georgia. In Azeri, the official state language, it is called Azarbaijchan Respublikasy (Republic of Azerbaijan). The country includes the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly Armenian-inhabited enclave in western Azerbaijan, and the autonomous exclave of Naxçıvan (Nakhichevan�), which is separated from the rest of Azerbaijan by a mountainous strip of Armenian territory. Baku, a large port city on the Caspian Sea, is Azerbaijan�s capital and largest city.

After a mere two years of independence, Azerbaijan was invaded by the Bolshevik Red Army in 1920 and became part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1922. In 1991 it became independent again. The republic�s first years of renewed independence were troubled by political upheaval, economic decline, and a war in Nagorno-Karabakh. Until a cease-fire agreement effectively ended the war in May 1994, Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh fought for secession of the enclave. In 1995 Azerbaijan held its first legislative elections since independence and passed its first post-Soviet constitution.

Azerbaijan covers an area of about 86,600 sq km (about 33,400 sq mi). The borders of Azerbaijan generally correspond to natural geographic features. The western coast of the Caspian Sea forms the country�s entire eastern border, which extends about 800 km (about 500 mi). The main stretch of the Caucasus Mountains, known as the Greater Caucasus, forms part of Azerbaijan�s northern border with Russia and contains the country�s highest peak, Mount Bazardüzü (4,466 m/14,652 ft). The Greater Caucasus extend into northeastern Azerbaijan and run southeast as far as the Abşeron Peninsula, which juts into the Caspian Sea. In western Azerbaijan, the Lesser Caucasus (Malyy Kavkaz) mountains attain heights of about 3,500 m (about 11,500 ft) and form part of the border with Armenia. The Talish Mountains border Azerbaijan in the extreme southeast.

Lower elevations are found along the Caspian coast and in the river basins of the country�s two main waterways, the Kura and Aras (Araks or Arax) rivers. These rivers, which form a continuous lowland through central Azerbaijan, both originate in the mountains of northeastern Turkey. The Kura flows into northwestern Azerbaijan from neighboring Georgia and then follows a southeasterly course to the Caspian Sea. The Aras forms part of Azerbaijan�s southern border with Iran and eventually turns northeast to enter south central Azerbaijan; it then joins with the Kura and also empties into the Caspian. The Kura and Aras are also linked farther upriver by the Upper Karabakh Canal, which channels water from the Mingäçevır Reservoir on the upper Kura in northwestern Azerbaijan, providing irrigation water to farms in the central lowland and supplying the Aras during the dry summer months. The reservoir, which was formed by a dam built in 1953, covers an area of about 605 sq km (234 sq mi). Another canal in the east, the Samur-Abşeron Canal, redirects water from the Samur River on Azerbaijan�s northeastern border to the Abşeron Peninsula, an arid area where Baku, the capital, is located.

Forests of beech, oak, and pine cover 13 percent of the country, with most tree cover on the mountain slopes and in the southeastern Länkäran Lowland. The subalpine forests support a number of mammal species, including bear, deer, lynx, and wild boar. Leopards also inhabit the forests but are rare. Reptiles, such as lizards and poisonous snakes, thrive in the arid and semiarid lowlands, which constitute the majority of the country�s territory. Gazelles, jackals, and hyenas populate the lowlands as well. The Caspian Sea coast provides a mild winter home to populations of pelicans, herons, flamingos, swans, and other migratory birds.

Azerbaijan contains many natural resources, the most important being crude oil. Azerbaijan�s oil reserves are located offshore, beneath the Caspian Sea, with most developed oil fields near the Abşeron Peninsula. Mineral resources include iron ore, aluminum, copper, lead, zinc, limestone, and salt.

The lowlands of central and eastern Azerbaijan have a dry subtropical climate, with relatively mild winters and long hot summers. The average temperature in the lowlands in July is 27� C (80� F), although summer temperatures can enter the upper 30�s C (lower 100�s F); the average temperature in January is 1� C (34� F). Summers are typically dry, with most precipitation falling during the winter months. Humidity is high in the Länkäran Lowland, which receives significantly more precipitation than other areas of the country. Temperatures are colder in the mountains, and snowfall is heavy at elevations of more than 3,000 m (10,000 ft) during winter.

Severe pollution from heavy industries and agriculture has damaged the environment of Azerbaijan. The contamination of the Caspian Sea from oil drilling in Baku has been a problem since the 19th century, when the Russian Empire took control of the region and began to rapidly exploit its oil reserves. Although oil production waned during the Soviet period, petroleum waste was routinely dumped into the Caspian, and dilapidated and leaky pumps added to the problem. With the prospect of increased oil drilling in coming years, the industry may continue to pose an environmental hazard. The Caspian also suffers from the discharge of untreated sewage, and pollution has depleted the sea�s stocks of sturgeon. Severe air pollution is a problem in the major cities due to unregulated emissions from petroleum and chemical industries. During the Soviet period, dangerously high concentrations of pesticides and fertilizers were used to increase Azerbaijan�s agricultural output. In the late 1980s, when environmental awareness began to surface in the USSR, Azerbaijan�s high infant mortality rate and high rates of infectious diseases were linked to the chemicals used in cotton growing. Although the people of Azerbaijan are generally aware of the need to protect their environment, the republic�s environmental issues have not yet received significant attention from the government.

Azerbaijan is more populated than the other Transcaucasian states, Georgia and Armenia. Its population was an estimated 7,771,092 in 2001, giving it an average population density of 90 persons per sq km (232 per sq mi). The most densely populated area is the Abşeron Peninsula in the east, where Azerbaijan�s major cities are located. Despite its larger population, Azerbaijan is the least urbanized country of Transcaucasia, as only 57 percent of its population lives in urban areas. The largest city is Baku, the capital. Other important cities include Gäncä, the industrial center of western Azerbaijan, and Sumgait, located on the Caspian coast and the second most important industrial center after Baku.

Azerbaijan, including the autonomous exclave of Naxçıvan, is populated mostly by ethnic Azerbaijanis, or Azeris. The Azerbaijani majority has increased dramatically as a result of recent population shifts; by the mid-1990s the proportion of Azerbaijanis in the republic had reached about 90 percent of the total population, an increase of nearly 10 percent since the 1989 census. The increase is due mostly to the armed conflict that broke out in 1988 between the government of Azerbaijan and Armenian secessionists in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. During the ensuing war, which continued until 1994, nearly the entire Azerbaijani population in Armenia fled to Azerbaijan and northern Iran, while many Armenians in Azerbaijan fled to Armenia. The Armenian community, which comprised slightly less than 6 percent of Azerbaijan�s population before the war, dropped to about 2 percent of the total; Armenians now reside almost exclusively in the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, where they constitute a majority. Meanwhile, many Russians and other Slavs in Azerbaijan emigrated to Russia and elsewhere after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, adding to the homogeneity of Azerbaijan�s population.

Dagestanis and Russians are the largest minority groups in Azerbaijan, followed by Armenians. In the mid-1990s people from Dagestan, a Russian republic on Azerbaijan�s northern border, represented an estimated 3.2 percent of the population. Russians constituted 2.5 percent of the population, a reduction of about 3 percent since the 1989 census. Other ethnic groups include Lezgins, Kurds, and Talysh, who are geographically concentrated in the north, east, and south of the republic, respectively. There are also small communities of Georgians, Ukrainians, and Avars. Most of the republic�s ethnic groups have resided in the area for centuries, although Russians arrived in large numbers in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The official language of Azerbaijan is Azeri, a Turkic language of the Altaic family that is closely related to the Turkish and Turkmen languages (see Altaic Languages). Azeri originally developed in the Arabic script, but in the 1920s a Latin (or Roman) alphabet was introduced. In 1939 the Soviet regime mandated the use of the Cyrillic alphabet, the script of the Russian language. After Azerbaijan gained independence, the government abandoned the Cyrillic alphabet and adopted a Turkish version of the Latin script. Russians and Armenians primarily use their own native languages.

Azerbaijanis are traditionally Muslim. Islam was introduced in the area of present-day Azerbaijan during the 7th century ad, and Shia Islam was established as the official religion of the Azerbaijanis in the 16th century (see Shiites). During the Soviet period, religious leaders were persecuted, mosques were closed or destroyed, and religious practice was officially condemned. Islam has experienced a revival in Azerbaijan since the late 1980s, when political reforms allowed most of the Soviet restrictions on religion to be lifted. Nearly all Azerbaijanis now identify as Muslim, although few actively practice their religion. About 70 percent of Azerbaijani Muslims are Shiites, and about 30 percent are Sunnites. Christianity is practiced to varying degrees among the Georgian, Armenian, and Slavic minorities.

Most adults in Azerbaijan can read and write. The country�s high adult literacy rate was achieved during the Soviet period, when an extensive, state-funded education system was developed. The first eight years of education are compulsory, but most students complete the full ten-year program of basic education, and many choose to continue their education at secondary or vocational schools. Baku is the seat of most of the country�s institutes of higher education, including Baku State University (founded in 1919 during Azerbaijan�s brief initial period of independence), Azerbaijan Technical University (1950), and Azerbaijan State Petroleum Academy (1920).

Azerbaijan�s cultural institutions, located primarily in Baku, include the State Museum of Shirvan-Shakh, which houses weapons and decorations from palaces of the khans (rulers), and the State Museum of Azerbaijan Literature. The culture of the peoples inhabiting eastern Transcaucasia developed during the ancient and medieval periods under a predominantly Persian influence, although Turkic influences also were present. Azerbaijanis contributed several notable literary and scientific works during the medieval period. After Azerbaijan became part of the Russian Empire in the early 19th century, Azerbaijani intellectuals such as scholar and poet Abbas Qoli Agha Bakikhanov began the study of the Azeri language and attempted to set up schools that would teach literacy. At times during the Soviet period, artistic expression that conveyed any hint of Azerbaijani nationalism was brutally suppressed.

Music has long been an important aspect of Azerbaijani life. The ancient Azerbaijani musical tradition has been kept alive by musicians known as ashugs, who improvise songs while playing a stringed instrument called a kobuz. Other vocal and instrumental compositions called mugams are also part of the oral folk tradition. Modern Azerbaijani composer Uzeir Hajjibekov is known internationally for his classical operas.

Azerbaijan is one of the world�s oldest oil exporters, and development of the country�s extensive petroleum reserves remains central to its economic future. Agriculture is also important, with the country benefiting from fertile farmland and a diverse climate that allows the raising of a wide range of crops.

Two years of political instability following independence, warfare with Armenia, and fighting in other neighboring countries, which blocked trade routes, led to the collapse of Azerbaijan�s economy in the early 1990s. The gross domestic product (GDP), which measures the value of goods and services produced, fell to $3.5 billion in 1995�about one-third of its former size. The country was burdened by a flood of refugees from neighboring states and those displaced internally by separatist movements. Inflation was rampant, with the price of goods increasing 16 fold in 1994 alone. By 1995, however, the gradual return of political stability and a cease-fire with Armenia ended the general economic decline. The GDP showed a modest growth (the first since 1988) and inflation was contained to less than 7 percent. In 1999 GDP was $4 billion.

Agriculture produced 23 percent of GDP in 1999. Cotton is the leading cash crop, followed by wine grapes, fruits, vegetables, and tobacco. Wheat and barley are the principal grains harvested. Mountain pastures are used for sheep grazing. Tea, citrus fruits, and olives are grown in the subtropical Länkäran Lowland in the southeast. However, the country�s ability to bring its agricultural products to market is limited by disrupted transportation routes and outdated packaging methods. In 1994, agriculture, including forestry and fishing, employed 38 percent of the workforce.

The importance of the industrial sector to Azerbaijan�s economy is due to the country�s extensive mineral wealth, particularly petroleum. Most of the oil is found offshore below the Caspian Sea, with the largest field located about 100 km (about 60 mi) from the coast. Associated industries include refining, the manufacture of petroleum-related equipment, and chemical processing. Azerbaijan has opened its oil industry to foreign participation as a way to fund its development and, through agreements with nearby countries, to promote regional stability. A pipeline from Baku to Supsa, Georgia (on the coast of the Black Sea), built to transport oil from Azerbaijan westward to Turkey and Europe, opened in 1999. Azerbaijan is also a producer of iron ore, aluminum, copper, and zinc; industrial minerals, such as iodine and bromine; precious and semi-precious gems; and marble.

Azerbaijan�s system for generating electricity suffers from lack of money for repairs and new investment. In 1998 some 91 percent of the electricity came from thermal plants fueled by by-products of the country�s refineries and natural gas. Hydroelectric facilities produced the remaining 9 percent of the country�s electricity.

Republics of the former Soviet Union are Azerbaijan�s main trading partners. Russia, Ukraine, and Turkmenistan purchase the bulk of exports as well as supply most imported goods. Azerbaijan also has developing trading relationships with Iraq, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. In 1994 the leading exports were machinery, food products, and metals. Until 1994 Azerbaijan used the Russian ruble as its currency. That year, the Azerbaijani manat became the sole legal tender (4,120 > manats equal U.S.$1; 1999 average).

The transportation system in Azerbaijan is considered inadequate for the country�s long-term needs. Paved roads extend along the Caspian Sea north to Russia and South to Iran. Other paved roads connect Baku with Tbilisi in Georgia. During the Soviet era, a rail line extending north was the country�s principal route for transporting goods; regional disputes have since occasionally closed the railroad. Azerbaijan now depends on a railroad through Georgia to ports on the Black Sea for much of its imports.

Azerbaijan is a presidential republic, governed under a constitution adopted by referendum in 1995. The new constitution replaced the 1978 constitution, which had been amended to reflect Azerbaijan�s new status after the republic gained independence in 1991.

The head of state is the president, who is directly elected for a term of five years. The president appoints a prime minister and a cabinet of ministers, who carry out the day-to-day operations of government. Legislative power is vested in the Milli Majlis, or National Assembly, a unicameral (single-chamber) body composed of 125 members who serve five-year terms. Under the country�s electoral law, 25 seats in the Milli Majlis are awarded to candidates according to the proportion of the vote their parties draw in elections. The remaining 100 seats are filled by the winners of district elections.

Political parties with representation in the Milli Majlis include the New Azerbaijan Party, the Popular Front of Azerbaijan, and the National Independence Party. Legislative elections were last held in 1995. All citizens of Azerbaijan age 18 and older are eligible to vote. The judiciary consists of a Supreme Court, which is the country�s highest court, and the Constitutional Court, which acts as the guarantor of the 1995 constitution. Members of both courts are nominated by the president and approved by the Milli Majlis.

For purposes of local government, Azerbaijan is divided into 71 administrative regions, consisting of 59 districts, 11 cities, and the autonomous republic of Naxçıvan. The local government of Naxçıvan adheres to the republic�s constitution and cooperates with the central government. The enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh has no official designation at this time. It was established as an autonomous region in 1923, but this status was officially abolished in 1991 due to the conflict in the region. In December 1991 Nagorno-Karabakh declared itself an independent republic, but neither Azerbaijan nor any other country, including Armenia, formally recognized its independence.

The formation of Azerbaijan�s national armed forces began after the republic gained independence from the Soviet Union. By 1999 Azerbaijan had developed an army of about 61,800 troops, a navy of 2,200, and an air force of 8,100. Military service is compulsory for at least 17 months for all males, beginning at age 18.

Azerbaijan became a member of the United Nations (UN) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 1992. In September 1993 the republic was admitted as a full member of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a loose alliance of most of the former Soviet republics. In May 1994 Azerbaijan became a member of the Partnership for Peace program, which provides for limited military cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

The area of present-day Azerbaijan was settled beginning in about the 8th century bc by the Medes, an ancient Aryan tribe. It became part of the Persian Empire in the 6th century bc, and the ancient Persian religion of Zoroastrianism was introduced. From the 4th century bc until the 9th century ad the state of Caucasian Albania (Aghvan) existed in eastern Transcaucasia. In the 4th century ad, that state adopted Christianity. A much-disputed area, eastern Transcaucasia was conquered in the late 7th century ad by Arabs, and Islam predominated thereafter. In the mid-11th century Seljuk Turks under Togrul Beg conquered present-day Azerbaijan as well as most of Iran and Iraq. Turkic tribes migrated to the area from the east and came to influence the linguistic and cultural development of the Azerbaijanis. With the Mongol invasions of the 13th century, the area fell under the domain of Mongol khans. In the 16th century Azerbaijan again came under the control of Iran (formerly known as Persia), which was ruled by the Safavid dynasty, and the Shiite doctrine of Islam was established as the official religion. The Ottomans, who were Sunnites, went to war with Iran and held Azerbaijan from 1578 to 1603, but the Safavids continued to reign over the area until their dynasty fell in the early 18th century. Turkic Muslim khanates were then established in Baku, Naxçıvan, and other areas.

Imperial Russia conquered the Caspian coast in the early 18th century, but soon relinquished the territory to the Muslim khans. In the early 19th century Russia again sought control of the area. In 1801 some western territory of present-day Azerbaijan was annexed to the Russian Empire along with adjacent territory in Georgia. Russia and Iran then engaged in war between 1804 and 1813 and again between 1826 to 1828. The treaties of 1813 and 1828 ceded Iranian territory north of the Aras River (present-day Azerbaijan) to Russia.

During the latter half of the 19th century, oil was discovered in Azerbaijan, and by the turn of the century the Abşeron Peninsula supplied most of Russia�s oil. Baku experienced rapid industrialization and population growth as the center of Russia�s oil industry. The influx of Russians and Armenians resulted in a highly segregated city, and violent clashes erupted in 1905 between the city�s Azerbaijani and Armenian communities. Azerbaijanis were edged out of the highest-paying positions in the oil industry, and wealthy Russians and Armenians gained control of local government.

The Russian Empire collapsed in the Russian Revolution of 1917, and militant socialist revolutionaries called Bolsheviks (later called Communists) seized power in Russia. This upheaval gave Azerbaijani nationalists the opportunity to assert control over local government, and in May 1918 they declared Azerbaijan an independent republic. Bolshevik supporters (mainly Russians) resisted the nationalists in Baku, and armed conflicts took place in the city in March and September 1918, resulting in thousands of deaths. In 1920 the Bolshevik Red Army invaded Azerbaijan and the rest of Transcaucasia, establishing Bolshevik control in the region. In December 1922 Azerbaijan was incorporated into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) as part of the Transcaucasian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (SFSR), which also included Georgia and Armenia. When the Transcaucasian SFSR was dissolved in 1936, Azerbaijan became the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) within the USSR.

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s the Soviet government created a Soviet Azerbaijan culture, fought illiteracy, and promoted local people into state and party positions. At the same time the Soviets persecuted those Azerbaijani nationalists and intellectuals whom the government considered a threat to Communist rule. Many of these Azerbaijanis were deported to gulags (Soviet concentration camps) or simply executed. Religious leaders also suffered severe persecution, and many mosques and religious centers were closed and in some instances destroyed. During the early 1930s the Soviet regime began the forced collectivization of agriculture, combining private holdings into large state-operated farms. Azerbaijani farmers rose up in protest, but they were brutally suppressed by Soviet troops. In the mid to late 1930s, Communist Party officials throughout the Soviet Union were purged and executed as part of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin�s campaign to wipe out all opposition to his rule (Great Purge). The Stalinist purges also came to include rank-and-file citizens, and by 1940 an estimated 120,000 Azerbaijanis had died from Soviet acts of repression. The purges were directed in Azerbaijan by first secretary of the Azerbaijan Communist Party Mir Jafar Bagirov, who was arrested and executed after Stalin�s death in 1953.

Azerbaijan developed economically and became more industrialized under the Soviet planned economy, especially after World War II (1939-1945). It remained one of the least urbanized republics of the USSR, however, and agriculture continued to be an important part of the local economy. The further development of local oil reserves was put on hold in the 1960s, when larger deposits were discovered in the Russian region of Siberia.

In 1969 Heydar Aliyev, chief of the Soviet secret police in Naxçıvan, was appointed first secretary of the Azerbaijan Communist Party. He became the most influential of the republic�s Communist leaders in the period after World War II. However, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev dismissed Aliyev in 1987 following an investigation into charges of widespread corruption in Aliyev�s administration.

In February 1988 a conflict surfaced in Azerbaijan�s autonomous region of Nagorno-Karabakh, where ethnic Armenians had long constituted a majority of the population. The Armenian-dominated regional council requested that the territory be transferred to Armenia, but the Soviet authorities in Moscow ultimately rejected the request. Armenians staged massive demonstrations in the region and in the Armenian capital of Yerevan. In Sumgait, an industrial city in eastern Azerbaijan, organized attacks against Armenians took place. Armed conflicts between Armenians and Azerbaijanis in Nagorno-Karabakh triggered a large-scale exodus of Azerbaijanis from Armenia and Armenians from Azerbaijan. In early 1989 some 5,000 Soviet troops were sent into Nagorno-Karabakh, and the Soviet government assumed direct control of the region through most of the year; nevertheless, the situation remained highly volatile. Later that year Azerbaijan imposed a rail blockade of Armenia, followed by a full economic blockade in 1990.

Beginning in the late 1980s, meanwhile, the Soviet government allowed political groups other than the Communist Party to function openly for the first time. The Communist Party leadership in Azerbaijan was reluctant to observe this political liberalization. The Communist-controlled Azerbaijan Supreme Soviet (national legislature) conceded official recognition to the newly formed nationalist group called the Popular Front of Azerbaijan (PFA) only after the PFA organized a national strike in September 1989.

The PFA sought to maintain Azerbaijan�s territorial integrity, which made the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh even more bitter. Interethnic tensions continued to increase, and violent riots targeting ethnic Armenians erupted in Baku in January 1990. The PFA effectively took control of the city, leading the government to declare a state of emergency. The city�s Armenian inhabitants were hastily evacuated. The Soviet government immediately dispatched troops to Baku in an attempt to reestablish government control. During the intervention of Soviet troops, more than 100 people were killed and more than 700 injured, according to official reports. To enforce the state of emergency, the government banned all public demonstrations, outlawed radical nationalist organizations, and arrested leading PFA members. Because of the Azerbaijan Communist Party�s failure to maintain stability, the Soviet government dismissed the head of the party, Abdul Vezirov, and appointed Ayaz Mutalibov in his place.

Relative order was restored in Azerbaijan by the end of January. Elections to the Supreme Soviet, originally scheduled for February, were postponed until September. Although they were the republic�s first multiparty elections, the continued state of emergency limited campaigning by opposition groups, and Communist Party candidates won a majority of seats.

In August 1991 Communist hard-liners attempted to seize control of the Soviet government in Moscow. Although the coup attempt failed, it instigated large demonstrations in Azerbaijan calling for the republic�s independence. Demonstrators also called for an end to the state of emergency, the resignation of Mutalibov, and the postponement of presidential elections scheduled for September. The elections were held as scheduled, however, and Mutalibov won as the only candidate because the PFA and other opposition groups boycotted the elections.

On August 30, meanwhile, the Azerbaijan Supreme Soviet voted in favor of independence, and Azerbaijan�s status as an independent republic was formalized in October. A new 50-member legislature, the Milli Majlis (National Assembly), subsequently replaced the Supreme Soviet. In December the USSR officially collapsed.

After Azerbaijan gained independence, the government abolished Nagorno-Karabakh�s autonomous status. The Armenian leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh responded by declaring the region�s independence. The conflict continued to plague Azerbaijan during its first years of independence. President Mutalibov was forced to resign in March 1992 after he was held directly responsible for the death of several hundred Azerbaijanis killed by Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh. The interim president, Yagub Mamedov, was unable to control the political situation, and Mutalibov was reinstated in May. He was immediately deposed, however, when the PFA seized control in a nearly bloodless coup with the support of military units.

The leader of the PFA, Aliyev Abul�faz Elchibey, was elected president in June. Elchibey soon lost popularity, however, because of his inability to end the war in Nagorno-Karabakh or improve Azerbaijan�s war-ravaged economy. Pressure on Elchibey increased when he attempted to disarm a disobedient military garrison based in Gäncä in June 1993. The garrison, led by Colonel Surat Huseinov, marched on Baku and seized control, and Elchibey fled to Naxçıvan. The Milli Majlis voted to transfer Elchibey�s powers to former Communist official Heydar Aliyev, who had been elected chairperson of the assembly earlier that month. A republic-wide referendum supported Elchibey�s removal, and in October 1993 Aliyev was elected president in a virtually uncontested election. The Milli Majlis appointed Huseinov as prime minister, and he took over the coordination of the military effort in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Meanwhile, the government of Armenia continued publicly to support the Armenian secessionists in Nagorno-Karabakh. By August 1993 Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, with reinforcements from Armenia, gained control of the enclave as well as some 20 percent of adjacent territory in western Azerbaijan, including a corridor linking the enclave with Armenia. Azerbaijanis fled the Armenian-controlled territory to other parts of Azerbaijan, resulting in 100,000 new refugees in the country. In December 1993 Azerbaijani forces began a renewed offensive in the region, recapturing some areas while suffering heavy casualties. By early 1994 an estimated 18,000 people had been killed and 25,000 wounded since the conflict began in 1988. The massive relocation of population had produced an estimated 1 million refugees and displaced persons (primarily Azerbaijanis and Armenians) in Azerbaijan alone. Initial cease-fire agreements failed to hold, and fighting continued in Nagorno-Karabakh until May 1994, when both sides agreed again to cease hostilities. Although this cease-fire has remained in effect, ongoing negotiations had failed to achieve a final peace settlement as of early 1999.

In other internal affairs, the Aliyev government faced mutinies among certain military troops (particularly the special militia attached to the Ministry of Internal Affairs) in October 1994 and March 1995. Forces loyal to Aliyev quickly crushed the revolts and reestablished government control. After the October revolt, Aliyev dismissed Prime Minister Huseinov as well as several high-level government and military officials, charging they had supported the mutinous forces. Aliyev declared a state of emergency and banned demonstrations. After the March revolt, which Aliyev described as part of another plot to oust him, the PFA was accused of involvement and banned by the government.

In November 1995 Azerbaijan held its first legislative elections since independence, for a new 125-seat Milli Majlis. The New Azerbaijan Party (NAP), which is aligned with Aliyev, won a majority of seats in the elections. Only two opposition parties were allowed to participate�the PFA, which had been officially reinstated, and the National Independence Party (NIP). Both parties won seats in the new legislature. International observers from the United Nations (UN) and the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) reported serious electoral violations, such as the exclusion of a number of opposition parties and hundreds of independent candidates as well as the restriction of the media. At the same time as the legislative elections, voters approved a new constitution that granted wide-ranging powers to the president, including appointment of the prime minister and other ministers, the procurator general, and the judges of the Supreme Court and Constitutional Court.