About Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan’s nearly ten million citizens include a wide variety of ethnicities and religions. Azerbaijan was first conquered by the Achaemenids around 550 B.C.E. and later became part of Alexander the Great's Empire.  

Much of Azerbaijan’s language and culture is the result of influence by the Turkic Oghuz tribes who took of the region in the 11th century. A period of Timurid rule ensued in the 14th century, followed by a succession of Azerbaijani principalities, which were consolidated in 1501 into the Safavid Kingdom. 

After the Russo-Persian Wars in the 1800s, Azerbaijan was divided between the Russian and Iranian Empires. When the Russian Empire collapsed in 1918, Azerbaijan joined Georgia and Armenia in forming the short-lived Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic, followed by a brief period of independence as the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic before becoming part of the Soviet Union in 1921. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan declared independence in 1991. 

Azerbaijan’s capital city of Baku, a booming metropolitan center situated on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, located on the Caspian Sea, offers students a unique glimpse into the country’s rich history, culture, and natural beauty. It is the economic, scientific, and cultural center of Azerbaijan, and traces of human settlement in the region date back to the Stone Age.  Beyond being an educational, cultural, and political hub, Baku has additional advantages that make it an ideal immersive setting for TURFLI overseas.   

With a natural harbor providing access to the Caspian Sea, Baku has invested heavily in beautification and improvements to the tourism sector since 1991. Baku’s world-class services and facilities cater to visitors, students, and businesses from all over the world. The climate is characterized by long, warm summers and relatively mild winters. Known for its broad promenades and parks, Baku displays its thousand-year history proudly in a series of architecturally-designed streets that radiate out from “the Walled City of Baku,” a UNESCO-protected site.    

Students of Turkish and Turkic languages will find traces of several imperial legacies shaping Azerbaijan—from Persian and Ottoman Turkish to Russian—all which can enhance the students’ understanding of the broader Caspian and Caucasus region while providing everyday interactions with Turkish and Azerbaijani speakers alike. Because of Azerbaijan’s strong cultural, commercial, and educational links with Turkey, Turkish is commonly spoken in Baku.