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Azerbaijan - GENERAL INFORMATION
 
Population - Local time - Languages - Religion - Political system - Climate - Tourism - Food



Population



Main Cities Population
Baku   1,900,000  
Gandja   300,000  
Sumgait   300,000  
Nakhichevan   239,000  
Sheki   39,000  



Total population (millions): 8.3
Source: World Bank 2004

Urban population: 50%
Source: World Bank 2004

Average annual population growth: 0.6%
Source: World Bank 2004

Surface area (km²) : 86,600


Population origin

Origin of the population% Of the population
Azerbaijani89,8 %
Daghestani 3.1
Armenian 2.3
Russian 2.2
Lezghian2
Ukrainian 0.6




Local time


It is %T:%M %A in Baku


GMT+4


Languages


Official language: Azerbaidjani
Business Languages: Russian and English.

Free translation tools in Azerbaijan :
Azersoft
Free English-Azeri Dictionary

Systran
Free English-Russian-English translator of texts and web pages



Religion


Religious practises : Shiite Muslims 65%
Sunni Muslims 28%
Christians orthodox 5%
Others 2%.


Political system


Azerbaidjan is a parliamentary democratic Republic which got its independence in 1991. According to the Constitution, the president is elected for five years. The suffrage is universal. The president appoints the Ministers (as well as the Prime Minister and all the appointments must be approved by the Milli Majlis, the parliament), the leaders of the regional districts and the Chiefs of the army. The last election of the members of the Milli Majlis took place in January 2001. The New Azerbaijan Party (YAP) is the Milli Majlis ruling Party.

Head of State : President Ilham Aliev (YAP) (former President Heydar Aliev's son), elected on October, 15th of 2003.


Climate

 


Tourism

Number of visitors in Azerbaijan 2002 2003 2004 World rank
Number of visitors (1000) 834   1014   1349   n.a.
Source : World Tourisme Organization, data available in November 2005

 

Tourist sites


The places of interest of Baku, the capital, are the Taghiyeu Historic museum, the Maiden's tower, the old city centre "Ichari Shahar", the Nizami museum on the Fountain Place and the Palace of the Government.

For more information about tourism in Azerbaijan , check out the following web site(s) :
Azerbaijan Ministry of Tourism


Food


Traditional dishes


The Azerbaidjani food has been influenced by the recipes of Turkey and Central Asia.
Among the specialties of the country, we can list:
Plov: meat-based dish, with rice and pine kernels.
Kebabs: spicy lamb-based grills.
Piti: mutton-based soup with chickpeas cooked in a terracotta jar.
Dogva: spinach-based soup, with rice and beef cuts with a yoghurt sauce on top.
The very famous Azerbaidjani caviar, from the Caspian Sea.
The black tea, very renowned in Azerbaidjan.

Food-related taboos


Muslims cannot eat pork in Azerbaidjan.

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Last modified in October 2005
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