Azerbaijan

On October 18, 1991, Azerbaijan declared its independence from the Soviet Union. Following the failed coup attempt in Moscow in August 1991, Azerbaijan's Supreme Soviet adopted a Declaration of Independence. The Azerbaijani people voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence in a national referendum held on December 29, 1991. Azerbaijan was the last of the Soviet republics, along with Kazakhstan, to declare independence from the disintegrating USSR in its farewell wave.

The Khojaly Massacre took place on February 26, 1992, during the Nagorno-Karabakh War. Armenian armed forces, with the assistance of the Russian 366th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment, killed 613 ethnic Azerbaijani civilians from the town of Khojaly. The massacre is the largest massacre of the conflict between ethnic Armenians and Azerbaijanis, marking a significant escalation of the war's human toll. It has been a source of tension between Armenia and Azerbaijan, with Azerbaijan commemorating the events with national mourning.

On May 12, 1994, a ceasefire was declared, ending hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. A trilateral ceasefire agreement was signed by the defense ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and the unrecognized Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh. This ceasefire put a halt to full-scale combat operations, which had started in the late 1980s, albeit without reaching a political resolution. A ceasefire line was implemented, with Russian mediation, that has held tense but mostly stable until the flare-ups in later years.

On October 31, 2003, Ilham Aliyev was inaugurated as the President of Azerbaijan following the death of his father, Heydar Aliyev, who had been the former President and a longtime leader in the country. Ilham Aliyev won the presidential election held on October 15, 2003, amid allegations of electoral fraud and voting irregularities. His presidency has been marked by continuity in policies from his father’s era, some democratic backsliding, and economic growth driven by oil exports.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline was officially opened on July 13, 2006. It is one of the world's longest oil pipelines, running from the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli oil field in the Caspian Sea, through the capitals of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey, to the Mediterranean Sea. The pipeline was built by a BP-led consortium, easing Western efforts to reduce dependence on Middle Eastern oil. The BTC pipeline is significant as it avoids Russian territory, enhancing energy security and offering strategic geopolitical importance.

On October 7, 2011, it was announced that Azerbaijan would host the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012 following the country's victory in the 2011 contest with the song "Running Scared" by Ell and Nikki. Being a significant cultural event, hosting Eurovision played a key role in putting the country on the international cultural map and was viewed by the Azerbaijani government as an opportunity to showcase the country’s modernization and infrastructure improvements to a global audience.

In a move to increase transparency in its natural resource sector, Azerbaijan joined the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) on September 20, 2013. EITI is a global standard for transparent resource management. Azerbaijan was the first country to begin implementing EITI, showing a commitment to openness regarding oil and gas revenues. However, Azerbaijan later left the initiative in 2017 due to concerns about civil society's space and governmental transparency requirements, emphasizing the complexity of its governance model.

A constitutional referendum was held in Azerbaijan on September 26, 2016, which resulted in an expansion of presidential powers. The changes included extending the presidential term from five to seven years, granting the president the possibility to dissolve parliament, and creating the positions of first vice president and vice presidents. The referendum was criticized by opposition parties and international watchdogs who argued it concentrated too much power in the hands of the president, who had been in power since 2003.

On April 11, 2018, Ilham Aliyev won his fourth consecutive term as the President of Azerbaijan with 86% of the vote according to official results. His election marks over 15 years of his rule in Azerbaijan. The vote was criticized by international observers due to allegations of electoral fraud and media restrictions. Ilham Aliyev has retained control over the country’s significant oil revenues, and his presidency has seen significant infrastructural development and attempts to modernize the country's economy.

On November 10, 2020, a significant ceasefire agreement was signed between Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia, ending a six-week conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. The ceasefire resulted in significant territorial gains for Azerbaijan, reclaiming areas lost during the first Nagorno-Karabakh war in the early 1990s. The agreement included the deployment of Russian peacekeepers in the region and the establishment of a corridor linking Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia. This was a pivotal moment in the long-standing conflict, reshaping the region's geopolitical landscape.