Azerbaijan

The Azerbaijani nation in southeast Europe was formed as a result of the invasion of Turkic-speaking [Page 99]nomadic tribes into the South Caucasus in the 11th century, followed by a complex process of consolidation of Turkic and local Iranian groups.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Azerbaijan became an independent republic. Azerbaijan was secularized during the Soviet era. This feature of the Soviet Azerbaijan has been formally endorsed in the constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan; however, a slight trend of religious revival in Azerbaijan has emerged since the country's independence.

According to the official statistics, 97% of Azerbaijan's population is Muslim. Russian Orthodox Christians (also Armenian Orthodox before the breakup of the Soviet Union) and Jews are the largest religious minority groups; also, ...