Rayons of Azerbaijan (with Accents)

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Updates: 

Andrew Leonard writes that someone on Wikipedia has asserted that there is a new rayon in the Naxçivan exclave named Kangarli. It was formed from parts of Babak and Sarur on 2004-03-14.

The Azerbaijan postal authority has a Web page for postal codes . It has a slightly different list of rayons from any of the other sources. In those cases where a rayon and a city have the same name, it only lists the rayon. That may only mean that they're combined for postal purposes. The postal site also lists the autonomous republic (MR) of Naxçivan as being divided up into seven rayons, one of which is also named Naxçivan. I think this is probably more accurate than ISO, which lists the MR but not the rayon of that name.

Based on this new information, I have added a new rayon, Culfa, to the list, and changed the type of Naxçivan from autonomous republic to rayon. I also found that I had Ordubad misspelled, so I fixed it.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter Number I-2 was published on 2002-05-21. It changes the ISO code for Naxçivan from MM to NX. It also corrects the diacritical marks on four district names. Finally, it identifies the rayons that are part of Naxçivan, namely Babak, Culfa, Ordubad, Sadarak, Sahbuz, and Sarur.

International standard ISO 3166-2 was published on December 15, 1998. It superseded ISO/DIS 3166-2 (draft international standard), which came out in fall 1996. Change Notice 1 for FIPS PUB 10-4 is dated December 1, 1998. All three of these documents show Azerbaijan divided into units of three kinds: one autonomous republic, ten or eleven cities, and sixty-some rayons, or districts. They differ on the exact numbers.

After the end of Soviet rule, Azerbaijan chose a new alphabet based on the Roman alphabet. Many browsers are unable to display some of its special characters and diacritics. In the table below, diacritics are omitted, and the schwa is replaced by 'a'. If you want to see the original characters, try the fancy page.

Country overview: 

Modern Azerbaijan corresponds quite closely to the Russian districts of Baku, Elizabethpol, and Zakataly at the beginning of the 20th century. The Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan declared its independence on 1918-05-28. It was reconquered and incorporated into the Soviet Union on 1922-12-30, becoming part of the Transcaucasian Soviet Socialist Republic. Under the Soviets, the territory of Zangezur (27,400 km.²) was transferred from Azerbaijan to Armenia, separating Nakhichevan from the rest of Azerbaijan. In 1936, Azerbaijan became a separate republic within the U.S.S.R. Azerbaijan declared its independence from the U.S.S.R. on 1991-08-30. Later that year, it abolished the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region as a separate entity.

Other names of country: 

1. Azeri: Azarbaijchan Respublikasy, Azarbaycan Respublikasi (formal)
2. Danish: Aserbajdsjan
3. Dutch: Azerbaidzjan, Azerbeidzjan, Republiek Azerbeidzjan (formal)
4. English: Azerbaijani Republic (formal)
5. Finnish: Azerbaidzan
6. French: Azerbaïdjan f
7. German: Aserbaidschan n
8. Icelandic: Aserbaídsjan
9. Italian: Azerbaigian
10. Norwegian: Aserbajdsjan, Republikken Aserbajdsjan (formal)
11. Portuguese: Azerbaidjão (Brazil), Azerbaijão (Portugal), República f do Azerbaijão m (formal)
12. Russian: Azerbaydzhan
13. Spanish: Azerbaiyán, República f Azerbaiyana (formal)
14. Swedish: Azerbajdzjan
15. Turkish: Azerbaycan, Azerbaycan Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name: 

Named for Atropates, one of Alexander the Great's generals

Primary subdivisions: 

Azerbaijan is divided into 66 rayons (districts) and 11 cities, according to this list.

Note: The Azerbaijani postal site has some rayon names spelled differently from the ISO directory. It uses Göranboy instead of Goranboy and Tar-Tar instead of Tartar. The postal site identifies Cabrayil, Füzuli, Kalbacar, Laçin, Qubadli, Susa, Xankandi, Xocali, Xocavand, and Zangilan as RRQ. Dominic Heaney, of Europa Publications , suggests that RRQ may designate areas not under the control of the central government.

Territorial extent: 

Nakhichevan is separated from the rest of Azerbaijan by a strip of Armenian territory. Nakhichevan includes a tiny exclave inside Armenia, near Ararat. The chief village in this exclave is Kiarki (Tigranashen). Azerbaijan also has two small exclaves inside Armenia, north of Idzhevan. They contain the Azerbaijani villages of Yukhari Askipara and Barkhudali (Sofulu), respectively. There are also two even tinier exclaves in Armenia belonging to Tatly, Azerbaijan.

Under the Soviet Union, Nagorno-Karabakh was an autonomous region (avtonomnaya oblast') within Azerbaijan, formed on 1923-07-07. It is now treated as an integral part of Azerbaijan. It has a substantial Armenian population which would like to unite with Armenia. Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh have no common border, but are only a few kilometers apart.

Origins of names: 

Nakhichevan: = City of Nakhich (man's name)

Change history: 

Under the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan was the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (Azerbaydzhanskaya Sovyetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika). Nakhichevan was an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Nakhichevanskaya Avtonomnaya Sovyetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika). Nagorno-Karabakh was an autonomous oblast (Nagorno-Karabakhskaya Avtonomnaya Oblast') with Stepanakert as its capital.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Baki: Baku (English, Russian), Bakü (Turkish)
2. Nagorno-Karabakh: Artsakh, Arzach (Armenian)
3. Naxçivan: Nahcivan (Turkish), Nakhichevan' (Russian)
4. Xankandi: Stepanakert (obsolete, Armenian)