1.
Azerbaijan
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Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a country in the South Caucasus region, situated at the crossroads of Southwest Asia and Southeastern Europe. It is bound by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west and Iran to the south. The exclave of Nakhchivan is bound by Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and west, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic proclaimed its independence in 1918 and became the first democratic state in the Muslim orient world. The country was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1920 as the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, the modern Republic of Azerbaijan proclaimed its independence on 30 August 1991, prior to the official dissolution of the USSR in December 1991. In September 1991, the Armenian majority of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region seceded to form the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, the region and seven adjacent districts outside it became de facto independent with the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1994. These regions are recognized as part of Azerbaijan pending a solution to the status of the Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan is a unitary semi-presidential republic, the country is a member state of the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the NATO Partnership for Peace program. It is one of six independent Turkic states, a member of the Turkic Council. Azerbaijan has diplomatic relations with 158 countries and holds membership in 38 international organizations and it is one of the founding members of GUAM, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Its term of office began on 19 June 2006, Azerbaijan is also a member state of the Non-Aligned Movement, holds observer status in World Trade Organization and is a correspondent at the International Telecommunication Union. The Constitution of Azerbaijan does not declare an official religion and all political forces in the country are secularist. However, the majority of the population are of a Shiite Muslim background, Azerbaijan has a high level of human development which ranks on par with most Eastern European countries. It has a rate of economic development and literacy, as well as a low rate of unemployment. According to the Davos World Economic Forum, Azerbaijans economy has scored 37th place within 138 countries in 2016, Global Competitiveness Index 2015 indicates that Azerbaijan scores highest in its region. ASAN services, established with Presidential Decree, are known for eliminating bribery. ASAN Service has been awarded with United Nations Public Service Award 2015, the ruling party, the New Azerbaijan Party, has been accused of authoritarianism and human rights abuses. The original etymology of name is thought to have its roots in the once-dominant Zoroastrianism. In the Avesta, Frawardin Yasht, there is a mention of âterepâtahe ashaonô fravashîm ýazamaide, the name Atropates itself is the Greek transliteration of an Old Iranian, probably Median, compounded name with the meaning Protected by the Fire or The Land of the Fire
2.
President of Azerbaijan
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The country of Azerbaijan is a semi-presidential republic, with the President of Azerbaijan as the head of state, and the Prime Minister of Azerbaijan as head of government. The current President of Azerbaijan is Ilham Aliyev, the president rules through his office at Presidential Apparatus, consisting of a group of secretaries and departmental ministers. Additionally, there is a Cabinet of Ministers and a Security Council, among the agencies directly subordinate to the President is the Special State Protection Service. A candidate for office must be a citizen of Azerbaijan at least 35 years old, the election of the President is mainly regulated by the Presidential Election Law and the Basic Guarantees of Electoral Rights. Each faction in the National Assembly has the right to nominate a candidate for the presidential elections, the minimum number of signatures for a presidential candidate fielded by a political party with no parliamentary representation is 40,000, before amendments to the law. After the oath of office has been taken by the elected president and these devices are used to display the rank of his office and are used on special occasions. The standard is a version of the Azerbaijani flag, charged in the center with the Azerbaijani coat of arms. Golden fringe is added to the standard, copies of the standard are used inside his office, other state agencies, and while the president is traveling in a vehicle inside Azerbaijan. A2,3 ratio version of the flag is used when the President is at sea and this is the most used symbol to denote the presence of the Azerbaijan President. The President is invested with extensive rights to implement the states foreign policy, the President determines Azerbaijans position in international affairs and represents the state in international relations, conducts negotiations and signs ratification documents. The primary working Presidents residence is the The Presidential building on Istiglaliyyat Street in Baku, the current home Presidents residence is Zagulba. Also, the President has several vacation residences outside of Baku, Novkhani, Novkhani, Absheron Rayon Khoshbulaq, Daşkəsən, Dashkasan District National transport services for the Azerbaijan President are provided by the Special Purpose Garage. The SPG is a unit within the Special State Protection Service
3.
Prime Minister of Azerbaijan
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The Prime Minister of Azerbaijan is the head of government of Azerbaijan. The current prime minister is Artur Rasizade, due to the central role of the President in the political system, the activities of the executive branch are significantly influenced by the head of state. People who held those positions are referred to as the prime ministers. They may have also referred to as Premier of Ministers. The Prime Minister is the third-highest constitutional office in Azerbaijan, in the event of the Presidents death, resignation or impeachment, the Prime Minister is second in the line of succession, after the First Vice-President. Until September 2016, when the office of First Vice-President was created, the Prime Minister was first in line
4.
National Assembly (Azerbaijan)
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The National Assembly, also transliterated as Milli Majlis, is the legislative branch of government in Azerbaijan. Milli Majlis was the first secular republican parliament in the Muslim world, following the Russian Revolution in February 1917, a special committee consisting of deputees from Transcaucasian State Duma was created. In November, Transcaucasian Commissariat was created as the first government of independent Transcaucasia, the Sejm made up from representatives of three nations did not have a solid political platform as each nation looked after its own interests. This subsequently led to dissolution of the Sejm on May 25,1918, on May 27,44 Muslim deputees of the Sejm gathered in Tbilisi and established Azerbaijan National Council to form the government of Azerbaijan. Mammad Emin Rasulzade was elected its chairman, on May 28, the National Council passed a resolution proclaiming independence of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. On June 16, the National Council and the Azerbaijani government moved to Ganja, once the government was established, Azerbaijani was made the official state language. One of the priorities of the government before moving to Baku was to liberate Baku from Centrocaspian Dictatorship then in control of the city took place on September 15,1918. Alimardan Topchubashov was elected the Speaker of the Parliament, Hasanbey Agayev - Deputy Speaker, by the end of 1919, there were 11 various political party factions in the parliament represented by 96 deputies. During its 17-month existence, the parliament held 145 sessions with the last session being convened on April 27,1920 on the eve of Russian occupation of Azerbaijan, a total of 270 resolutions were sponsored,230 of which were passed. In January 1920, Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was de facto recognized by the Peace Conference, the Bolsheviks dissolved the Azerbaijani Army, executed its generals and officers, and nationalized private industries. In May 1921, the first All-Azerbaijan Soviet Session made up of elected deputies from all regions of Azerbaijan convened in Baku. The elected deputies were mainly drawn from poor, uneducated, unprepared factory workers and villagers which facilitated complete rule from Moscow, the first session established the Azerbaijan Central Executive Committee consisting of 75 members and its board with 13 members. From 1921 through 1937, nine sessions of All-Azerbaijan Soviets were convened, in 1937, during the 9th session of the All-Azerbaijani Soviets a new Azerbaijan SSR Constitution was ratified and the new legislative body the Supreme Soviet of Azerbaijan SSR was established. The first elections to Supreme Soviet took place on June 24,1938, out of 310 deputies elected,107 were workers,88 collective farmers and 115 educated civil servants. Seventy two of the deputies were women, due to the authoritarian nature of Soviet rule where most new initiatives were met as conspiracies against the state, the parliament was virtually ineffective. Due to multiple reforms and restructuring in the government of the Azerbaijan SSR in the 1970s-1980s, many legislative reforms including the ratification of the new Azerbaijan SSR Constitution of 1977 took place. After the demands of the Armenian SSR to transfer the NKAO region of Azerbaijan to Armenia, on October 18,1991 the Supreme Soviet passed a resolution confirming the restoration of the independence of Azerbaijan. The first Azerbaijani parliamentary election was held in late 1990, when the Supreme Soviet already held discussions on independence of Azerbaijan from the Soviet Union, the 1995 parliamentary election was the first to be held after restoration of Azerbaijans independence
5.
Ilham Aliyev
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Ilham Aliyev is the fourth and current President of Azerbaijan, in office since 2003. He also functions as the Chairman of the New Azerbaijan Party, Aliyev was born was born in December 24,1961, in Baku. In 1977, Aliyev entered the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, in 1985 he received a PhD degree in history. From 1985 to 1990 Aliyev lectured at MSUIR, from 1991 to 1994, he led a group of private industrial-commercial enterprises. In 1994-2003, he was the vice-president, and later the first vice-president of the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan and he had been actively involved in the implementation of Heydar Aliyev’s oil strategy. He is an author of research works on geopolitical aspects of oil strategy of sovereign Azerbaijan. He holds a degree of doctor of political sciences, since 1997, Mr. Ilham Aliyev is the President of the National Olympic Committee of Azerbaijan. Ilham Aliyev married Mehriban Pashayeva in Baku on 22 December 1983 and they have three children, Leyla, Arzu and Heydar. Apart from his native Azerbaijani, he is fluent in English, French, Russian, Ilham Aliyev is the son of Heydar Aliyev, who was President of Azerbaijan from 1993 to 2003. In May or June 1994, Ilham Aliyev was appointed as vice-president of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, in 1995, Aliyev was elected to the Parliament of Republic of Azerbaijan, later he became president of the National Olympic Committee. From 2001 to 2003, Aliyev was the elected as the head of Azerbaijani delegation to Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe, following that, in January 2003, he was elected as Deputy-Chairman and bureau member of PACE. In April of 2004, Mr. Aliyev was awarded a medal and diploma of honorable member of PACE for his participation in PACE events. In August 2003, two prior to the presidential elections, he was appointed as Prime Minister. The official results of the October 15,2003, elections gave victory to Ilham Aliyev, Ilham Aliyev was re-elected in 2008 with 87% of the polls, while opposition parties boycotted the elections. In a constitutional referendum in 2009, term limits for the presidency were abolished, the opposition claimed this to be a violation of the Azerbaijani constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. The 2010 parliamentary elections produced a Parliament completely loyal to Aliyev, the Economist subsequently scored Azerbaijan at 140th place in its 2011 Democracy Index. Repeated protests were staged against Aliyevs rule in 2011, calling for more democracy, well over 400 violent protestors were arrested after protests began in March 2011. Opposition leaders, including Musavats Isa Gambar, vowed to continue demonstrating, Amnesty International in its Media Briefing of 2012 reported that the crackdown on the free speech has intensified in recent years
6.
Political party
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A political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government. The party agrees on some proposed policies and programmes, with a view to promoting the good or furthering their supporters interests. While there is some international commonality in the way political parties are recognized, and in how they operate, there are many differences. Many political parties have a core, but some do not. In many democracies, political parties are elected by the electorate to run a government, many countries, such as Germany and India, have several significant political parties, and some nations have one-party systems, such as China and Cuba. The United States is in practice a two-party system, but with smaller parties also participating. Its two most important parties are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, the first political factions, cohering around a basic, if fluid, set of principles, emerged from the Exclusion Crisis and Glorious Revolution in late 17th century England. The leader of the Whigs was Robert Walpole, who maintained control of the government in the period 1721–1742, as the century wore on, the factions slowly began to adopt more coherent political tendencies as the interests of their power bases began to diverge. The Whig partys initial base of support from the aristocratic families widened to include the emerging industrial interests. A major influence on the Whigs were the political ideas of John Locke. They acted as a united, though unavailing, opposition to Whig corruption and they finally regained power with the accession of George III in 1760 under Lord Bute. Out of this chaos, the first distinctive parties emerged, the first such party was the Rockingham Whigs under the leadership of Charles Watson-Wentworth and the intellectual guidance of the political philosopher Edmund Burke. A coalition including the Rockingham Whigs, led by the Earl of Shelburne, took power in 1782, the new government, led by the radical politician Charles James Fox in coalition with Lord North, was soon brought down and replaced by William Pitt the Younger in 1783. It was now that a genuine two-party system began to emerge, by the time of this split the Whig party was increasingly influenced by the ideas of Adam Smith, founder of classical liberalism. As Wilson and Reill note, Adam Smiths theory melded nicely with the political stance of the Whig Party. The modern Conservative Party was created out of the Pittite Tories of the early 19th century, in the late 1820s disputes over political reform broke up this grouping. A government led by the Duke of Wellington collapsed amidst dire election results, following this disaster Robert Peel set about assembling a new coalition of forces. However, a consensus reached on these issues ended party politics in 1816 for a decade, Party politics revived in 1829 with the split of the Democratic-Republican Party into the Jacksonian Democrats led by Andrew Jackson, and the Whig Party, led by Henry Clay
