June 15 – National Salvation Day in Azerbaijan

Posted on June 15, 2015

Today is the anniversary of this date in 1993 when the Parliament of Azerbaijan invited Heydar Aliyev to lead the country.

Azerbaijan is sort of a border country, sandwiched between Eastern Europe and Western Asia. I had to read several sources to determine that it is generally classified as an Asian nation, not a European one. BUT it is a member state of the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, so maybe it is trying to get itself reclassified as European?

(Back when I was a kid, people were trying to shrink the number of continents by one, calling the hugest land mass on Earth “Eurasia.” That makes so much sense! I'm not sure why we have dropped that idea, at least for the most part.)

Like so many other nations, Azerbaijan was once a part of the Soviet Union. Before it was brought into the U.S.S.R., Azerbaijan had become the first democratic, secular Muslim-majority nation in the world; it is still secular, still majority-Muslim, and still democratic, mostly – but it has been plagued with some military coups, and the current ruling party has been accused of human rights violations.

Here are some amazing things to see in Azerbaijan:

Mud Volcanoes

Azerbaijan has about 400 mud volcanoes!



Mosques and Mountains




Where there are mountains, there are also valleys!

Also, often, there are cliffs. YIKES!


Modern Cities


Flame Towers (in Baku) and lovely fountains (at Galaba)

Ancient Ruins


The Tower” (at Baku) and early temples (at Galaba)


And this tunnel of trees!



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