Azerbaijan, a souverain republic as broad as Austria and located on the Caspian Sea's western shore and sharing common borders with Russian Federation, Georgia, Armenia, Turkey and Iran. Having enjoyed a short-lived independence as intermezzo between 1918 and 1920, Azerbaijan was a part of Russian Empire and then one of the 15 Soviet Socialist Republics for almost two centuries. While its history, political and economic culture of 19th and particularly of 20th century are intertwined with that of Russia, Azerbaijan shares common religious, language, literary and folk traditions with Turkey,...