Azerbaijan

D

Language

The official language of Azerbaijan is North Azerbaijani, an Altaic language, spoken by most people. While the Cyrillic script is used widely in Azerbaijan, the Latin alphabet was made official in 2001 and now all newspapers are required to use this script. Thirteen other indigenous languages are spoken (mainly from the Indo-Iranian and North Caucasian language families), including Talysh, Lezgi, and Avar. Immigrant languages such as Russian, Ukrainian, and Turkish are also heard.

E

Education

The education system reflects the former Soviet one, but reforms were instituted in the early 1990s. During the post-independence years the education system was not only affected by the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict but also by the emigration of many academics. A law of 1992 provides for equal opportunity and access to education, and since then a Turkic version of the Latin alphabet has replaced Cyrillic script in Azerbaijani-language schools, which comprise about 85 per cent of the total. In 1998–1999 there were 691,259 pupils attending primary schools and 1,020,131 pupils attending secondary schools; 30,400 students receiving vocational and teacher training; and 121,156 students receiving higher education. Institutes of higher education include the Baku State University Mammadamin E Rasulwade (1919), and the Azerbaijan Technical University (1920). In 2002–2003, 3.4 per cent of gross national product (GNP) was devoted to education.

F

Culture

Azerbaijan has a rich and diverse cultural history, dating from the scientists, poets, philosophers, and mathematicians of the 11th and 12th centuries. The ancient musical traditions, which were predominantly Eastern and Middle Eastern until the late 19th century, have survived in the art of the ashug, who improvise songs while accompanying themselves on the saz, a long-necked lute, and are frequently accompanied by the balaman, a cylindrical double-reed instrument. Music came under a strong Russian influence in the late 19th century, and an opera company, a symphony orchestra, and concert organizations were formed in Baku. Other cultural institutions located in Baku include the State Library of Azerbaijan and the Museum of the History of Azerbaijan, of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences. The Walled City of Baku with the Shirvanshah’s Palace and Maiden Tower was inscribed on the World Heritage site list in 2000. It is important because it shows evidence of Zoroastrian, Sasanian, Arabic, Persian, Shirvani, Ottoman, and Russian influences.

IV

Economy

Azerbaijan has a GNP of US$7,832 million (2004), equivalent to US$1,840 per head. Industry was the leading sector of Azerbaijan’s economy and accounted for 23 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP)—51.2 per cent of net material production—in 1992, but it declined dramatically in 1994 and in 2006 it accounted for 70.1 per cent of GDP. Contracts were signed with a Russian-led consortium in 1995, worth US$1,700 million, and with four US oil companies in 1997, worth US$8,000 million. The oil and gas industry accounted for about 40 per cent of exports in the mid-1990s. Other products include copper, steel, aluminium, chemicals, and textiles.

A

Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing

Agriculture accounts for less than one quarter of GDP (7 per cent in 2006). Cotton, grain, grapes, and tobacco are the leading crops, although the production of cotton and grapes has fallen considerably in recent years. Cotton production has been adversely affected by the scarcity of fertilizers and defoliants, and spare parts for harvesting machinery. The 2006 cotton harvest amounted to some 49,958 tonnes; the potential harvest has been estimated at some 830,000 tonnes. Mountain pastures are used for sheep-grazing. In the subtropical Länkäran Lowland in the south-east, tea, citrus fruits, and olives are grown. Production plummeted in the 1990s, as the economy suffered from mounting costs associated with the war in Nagorno-Karabakh and the disruption of trade ties with other former Soviet republics. Net material production declined by an estimated 30 per cent in 1992 alone.

Agriculture is the largest sector in terms of employment. The agricultural labour force is almost three times that of industry. In 1995 agriculture and forestry accounted for more than one third of total employment (35.6 per cent). The dissolution of collective and state farms became less informal in the mid-1990s when there were more than 17,000 family holdings of around 12 hectares (29 acres). Privately owned farms produced 96 per cent of livestock products, 90 per cent of the fruit crop, 20 per cent of the vegetable crop, and 85 per cent of milk products in 1996. The fish catch from the Caspian Sea, for a given area, is potentially six times greater than the Black Sea, but pollution levels in the Caspian are causing concern. The total catch in 2005 was 9,016 tonnes.