Azerbaijan is a landlocked country that was formerly part of the USSR. To the east is the Caspian Sea, Russia’s Republic of Dagestan is to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia and Turkey to the west and Iran to the south. The capital and largest city is Baku.
From 1920 until 1991, the country was part of the Soviet Union. In 1991, it became an independent republic. Since then the Armenian people from the Nagorno-Karabahk region have been fighting for their independence. They achieved this is 1994, but most of the independent portions were returned to Azerbaijan proper in 2020. Most of the population is Muslim – about 97%, although freedom of religion is allowed.
The first post office opened in Azerbaijan in 1818. The first stamps were issued in 1919 and consisted of 10 pictorial designs. In 1920 the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic was formed and the first stamps of the ASSR were issued in 1921. From 1922, the stamps were overprinted as a result of the merger between various republics.
Azerbaijan became independent in 1991 and the first stamps of the new republic were issued in 1992. Most of the other ex-Soviet republics overprinted Russian stamps, however Azerbaijan did not and Azerpoct, the national postal service was founded in 1992. The first person to be featured on a postage stamp after 1991 was Heydar Aliyev, the third president of Azerbaijan. There appear to be many forgeries of stamps from this country since the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
1923
Views Series
Unused (Hinged)