The small former Soviet republic on the Caspian Sea south of the Caucasus is connected to Europe by strategically important pipelines through Georgia and Turkey. Recently, the TAP (Trans Adriatic Pipeline) pipeline has been added, which takes Azerbaijani natural gas to southern Italy and the rest of Europe via Turkey through northern Greece and Albania under the Adriatic Sea.
There are just over 10 million people living in the country, most of them Shia Muslims who speak a language related to Turkish. Azerbaijan has been governed autocratically by the Aliev family since 1993, first by father Haidar Aliev, a former member of the Soviet secret service KGB, then by his son Ilham Aliev. Azerbaijan is at war with neighboring Armenia from whom it recaptured part of the previously lost Nagorno Karabakh last year.
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