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Updates:

I moved information about the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic to this page, since it now seems unlikely that it will unite with Armenia.

Update 10 to Geopolitical Entities and Codes (formerly FIPS 10-4) is dated 2012年12月31日. It corrects the spelling of Mingə軻vir.

Update 9 to Geopolitical Entities and Codes is dated 2012年09月01日. It includes changes to the codes for Azerbaijan.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter II-3 is dated 2011年12月15日. It makes a couple of adjustments to the list of rayons and to rayon names, and to the codes where appropriate. For specifics, see Change history.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter Number I-2 was published on 2002年05月21日. It changes the ISO code for Nax?ıvan from MM to NX. It also corrects the diacritical marks on four district names. Finally, it identifies the six rayons that are part of Nax?ıvan.

International standard ISO 3166-2 was published on December 15, 1998. It superseded ISO/DIS 3166-2 (draft international standard), which came out in fall 1996. Change Notice 1 for FIPS PUB 10-4 is dated December 1, 1998. All three of these documents show Azerbaijan divided into units of three kinds: one autonomous republic, ten or eleven cities, and sixty-some rayons, or districts. They differ on the exact numbers.

Country overview:

Modern Azerbaijan corresponds quite closely to the Russian districts of Baku, Elizabethpol, and Zakataly at the beginning of the 20th century. The Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan declared its independence on 1918年05月28日. It was reconquered and incorporated into the Soviet Union on 1922年12月30日, becoming part of the Transcaucasian Soviet Socialist Republic. Under the Soviets, the territory of Zangezur (27,400 km.イ) was transferred from Azerbaijan to Armenia, separating Nakhichevan from the rest of Azerbaijan. In 1936, Azerbaijan became a separate republic within the U.S.S.R. Azerbaijan declared its independence from the U.S.S.R. on 1991年08月30日. Later that year, it abolished the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region as a separate entity.

Other names of country:

1. Azeri: Azərbaycan Respublikası (formal)
2. Danish: Aserbajdsjan
3. Dutch: Azerbaidzjan, Azerbeidzjan, Republiek Azerbeidzjan (formal)
4. English: Azerbaijani Republic (formal)
5. Finnish: Azerbaidžan
6. French: Azerba?djan m
7. German: Aserbaidschan n
8. Icelandic: Aserba?dsjan
9. Italian: Azerbaigian
10. Norwegian: Aserbajdsjan, Republikken Aserbajdsjan (formal)
11. Portuguese: Azerbaidj縊 (Brazil), Azerbaij縊 (Portugal), Rep?blica f do Azerbaij縊 m (formal)
12. Russian: Азербайджан, Азербайджанская Республика (formal)
13. Spanish: Azerbaiy疣, Rep?blica f Azerbaiyana (formal)
14. Swedish: Azerbajdzjan
15. Turkish: Azerbaycan, Azerbaycan Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name:

Named for Atropates, one of Alexander the Great's generals

Primary subdivisions:

Azerbaijan is divided into 66 rayons (districts) and 12 cities.

Further subdivisions:

Nakhchivan autonomous republic is a unit that incorporates the rayons of Babek, Julfa, Kangarli, Ordubad, Sedarak, Shahbuz, and Sherur, and Nakhchivan city. It has an ISO 3166-2 code, AZ-NX.

Territorial extent:

Nakhchivan autonomous republic is separated from the rest of Azerbaijan by a strip of Armenian territory. It includes a tiny exclave inside Armenia, near Ararat. The chief village in this exclave is Kiarki (Tigranashen), which belongs to Sedarak rayon. Azerbaijan also has two small exclaves inside Armenia, north of Idzhevan. They contain the Azerbaijani villages of Yukhari Askipara and Barkhudali (Sofulu), respectively, and are part of Gazakh rayon. There are also two even tinier exclaves in Armenia belonging to Tatly, Azerbaijan.

Nagorno-Karabakh is a part of Azerbaijan largely populated by Armenians. The Soviet Union created Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region (avtonomnaya oblast', NKAO) on 1923年07月07日. This was a "matryoshka region" within Azerbaijan S.S.R. In the breakup of the Soviet Union (1991), it became part of independent Azerbaijan and lost its territorial integrity, as far as the government of Azerbaijan and the international community were concerned. However, on 1991年09月02日, the councils of the NKAO and Shahumyan declared an independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR, also known as Artsakh). There was a conflict and a cease-fire, and now the NKR controls the territory, although it lacks international recognition.

Armenia and the NKAO had no common border, but were only separated by a few kilometers of Azerbaijani territory. This was by design of the Soviet government. The NKR now extends to the borders of Armenia and Iran, having gained territory from Azerbaijan, while losing three smaller areas that were part of the NKAO. According to the government of the NKR, it is divided into seven regions and one city.

The UN LOCODE page for Azerbaijan lists locations in the country, some of them with their latitudes and longitudes, some with their ISO 3166-2 codes for their subdivisions. This information can be put together to approximate the territorial extent of subdivisions.

Origins of names:

Nakhchivan: = City of Nakhich (man's name)

Change history:

Under the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan was the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (Азербайджанская Советская Социалистическая Республика). Nakhichevan was an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Нахичеванская Автономная Советская Социалистическая Республика). Nagorno-Karabakh was an autonomous oblast (Нагорно-Карабахская Автономная Область) with Stepanakert as its capital.

1. 1991年11月26日: Nagorno-Karabakh autonomous region abolished. Its territory was redistributed to rayons.
2. 2004年03月14日: Kangarli rayon formed from parts of Babek (former HASC code AZ.BB) and Sherur (AZ.SR).
3. 2008: Name of Ali-Bairamly (Əli Bayramlı) city (former ISO code AZ-AB) changed to Shirvan (Şirvan).
4. 2008年04月25日: Name of Khanlar (Xanlar) rayon (former ISO code AZ-XAN) and its capital changed to Goygol (G?yg?l).
5. 2010: Name of Devechi (Dəvə輅) rayon (former ISO code AZ-DAV) and its capital changed to Shabran (Şabran).
6. 2011年12月15日: ISO 3166-2 standard updated. Compared to the previous version, it implements the changes of 2004-2010. It also adds Nax?ıvan city and drops Şuşa city (former ISO code AZ-SS, FIPS AJ56). (Nax?ıvan city and Nax?ıvan autonomous republic both existed then, and still exist. The first was a subdivision of the second. Only the second was listed in the standard. I used its code for the first, faute de mieux.)
7. 2012年09月01日: FIPS standard updated. It implements the three name changes of 2008-2010. It also deletes the code AJ35, which represented Nax?ıvan autonomous republic, adds AJ75 for Nax?ıvan city, and adds new codes for the rayons that didn't yet have them.

Other names of subdivisions:

The Azeri alphabet includes some characters from the Turkish alphabet, as well as the schwa (Ə, ə). The Azerbaijan post office website listed names using the order ... D, Ə, F, ....

The FIPS standard spells one name slightly differently from ISO: Mingəcevir instead of Mingə軻vir. The Azerbaijani postal site spells several names differently from ISO. It shows G?ranboy instead of Goranboy, Səlyan instead of Salyan, and Tər-Tər instead of Tərtər. The postal site identifies Cəbrayıl, F?zuli, Kəlbəcər, La?ın, Qubadlı, Şuşa, Xankəndi, Xocalı, Xocavənd, and Zəngilan as RRQ. Dominic Heaney, of Europa Publications (now owned by Routledge), suggests that RRQ may designate areas not under the control of the central government.

1. Aghdam: Agdam (variant)
2. Aghdash: Agdas, Agdash (variant)
3. Aghjabedi: Agcabadi, Agdjabadi (variant)
4. Aghstafa: Agstafa (variant)
5. Aghsu: Agsu (variant)
6. Ali-Bairamly: Ali Bayramli (variant)
7. Babek: Babak (variant)
8. Baku: Bakı (Azeri); Bak? (Spanish); Bak? (Turkish)
9. Balaken: Balakan (variant)
10. Beilagan: Beylagan, Beylaqan (variant)
11. Dashkesan: Dashkasan, Daskasan (variant)
12. Devechi: Davachi (variant)
13. Fizuli: F?zuli (variant)
14. Gadabey: Gadabay (variant)
15. Gakh: Qax (variant)
16. Ganja: Ganca (variant)
17. Gazakh: Qazax (variant)
18. Geranboy: Goranboy (variant)
19. Guba: Quba (variant)
20. Gubadly: Gubadli, Qubadli (variant)
21. Hacuqabul: Haciqabul, Hajigabul (variant)
22. Imishli: Imisli (variant)
23. Ismailly: Ismayilli (variant)
24. Jalilabad: Calilabad (variant)
25. Jebrail: Cabrayil, Jabrail (variant)
26. Julfa: Culfa (variant)
27. Kelbajar: Kalbacar, Kalbajar (variant)
28. Khachmaz: Xa輓az (variant)
29. Khankendy: Khankendi, Xankandi (variant); Stepanakert (obsolete, Armenian); Xankəndi (Azeri)
30. Khanlar: Xanlar (variant)
31. Khojaly: Xocali (variant)
32. Khojavend: Khojavand, Xocavand (variant)
33. Khyzy: Khyzi, Xizi (variant)
34. Kyurdamir: Kurdamir, K?rdamir (variant)
35. Lachin: La輅n (variant)
36. Lenkaran: Lankaran (variant)
37. Masally: Masalli (variant)
38. Mingechevir: Mingacevir (variant)
39. Nagorno-Karabakh: Artsakh, Arzach (Armenian); Нагорно-Карабахская Республика (formal) (Russian)
40. Nakhchivan: Nahcivan (Turkish); Nakhichevan (variant); Нахичевань (Russian)
41. Neftchala: Neft軋la (variant)
42. Oghuz: Oguz (variant)
43. Saatly: Saatli (variant)
44. Samuh: Samukh (variant)
45. Sedarak: Sadarak (variant)
46. Shahbuz: Sahbuz (variant)
47. Shamakhy: Samaxi (variant)
48. Shamkir: Samkir (variant)
49. Sheki: Shaki (variant)
50. Sherur: Sarur, Sharur (variant)
51. Shusha: Susa (variant)
52. Siazan: Siyazan (variant)
53. Sumgayit: Sumgait, Sumqayit (variant)
54. Terter: Tartar (variant)
55. Ujar: Ucar (variant)
56. Yardymly: Yardimli, Yardimliy (variant)
57. Yevlakh: Yevlax (variant)
58. Zerdab: Zardab (variant)

Sources:

1. [1] "The Population Census of the Azerbaijan Republic 1999", State Statistical Committee of the Azerbaijan Republic. Note: this source combined the populations of the six rayons and one city of Nakhchivan into a single figure for the whole region. Mario Pezza supplied a spreadsheet that shows the populations of the component divisions separately, but they are all rounded to the nearest 100. To make the populations add up to the correct total, I subtracted 4 from the population of each of the seven divisions in Nakhchivan.
2. [2] Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Department in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (retrieved 2009年01月27日) confirmed the existence of Kəngərli rayon.
3. [3] Azerbaijan Post Office postal code list (http://www.azerpost.bakinter.net/htmlaz/indexler.html, obsolete, dead link, retrieved 2003年12月12日). It had a slightly different list of rayons from any of the other sources. In those cases where a rayon and a city have the same name, it only listed the rayon. That may only mean that they were combined for postal purposes. The postal site also listed the autonomous republic (MR) of Nax?ıvan as being divided up into seven rayons, one of which was also named Nax?ıvan.
4. [4] De Jure Population by Administrative Territorial Distribution and Density . Census 2005 (retrieved 2014年10月15日).
5. [5] Government: Regions . Government of NKR website (retrieved 2014年10月15日).