Azerbaijan

The Asian Development Bank is a regional development bank established on 22 August 1966 to facilitate economic development of countries in Asia. The... bank admits the members of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and non-regional developed countries. From 31 members at its establishment, ADB now has 67 members - of which 48 are from within Asia and the Pacific and 19 outside. ADB was modeled closely on the World Bank, and has a similar weighted voting system where votes are distributed in proportion with member's capital subscriptions. At present, both the United States and Japan hold 552,210 shares, the largest proportion of shares at 12.756% each. China holds 228,000 shares , India holds 224,010 shares , the 2nd and 3rd largest proportion of shares respectively. The highest policy-making body of the bank is the Board of Governors composed of one representative from each member state. The Board of Governors, in turn, elect among themselves the 12 members of the Board of Directors and their deputy.
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The Southeast European Cooperative Initiative, or the SECI, has been an initiative that, under the auspices of men like Erhard Busek and Richard... Schifter, has been successful in providing stability in an unstable region and has found support in international organizations and countries. As of 2009, the region has found confidence in its new stability and along with the help of the SECI, has created a Regional Co-operation Council , owned and run by the countries in Southeast Europe aimed at strengthening peace, democracy and the economy in the hopes that the newfound stability can be supported by those countries who not so long ago were the perpetuators of volatility. The SECI Regional Center Headquarters is located in Bucharest Romania. The Southeast European Cooperative Initiative was formed in 1996 under the guidance of then, Senior Director for Eastern Europe in the United States National Security Council, Richard Schifter.
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Partnership for Peace is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization program aimed at creating trust between NATO and other states in Europe and the... former Soviet Union; 22 states are members. It was first proposed as an American initiative at the meeting of NATO defense ministers in Travemünde, Germany, on 20–21 October 1993, and formally launched on 10–11 January 1994 NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium. Twelve former member states have subsequently joined NATO. On April 26, 1995 Malta became a member of PfP; it left on October 27, 1996 in order to keep its security intact. On March 20, 2008 Malta decided to reactivate their PfP membership; this was accepted by NATO at the Summit in Bucharest on April 3, 2008. During the NATO summit in Riga on November 29, 2006, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia were invited to join PfP after which they joined PfP on December 14, 2006. Cyprus is the only European Union member that is not participating.
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The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programs. The World Bank's official... goal is the reduction of poverty. According to the World Bank's Articles of Agreement all of its decisions must be guided by a commitment to promote foreign investment, international trade and facilitate capital investment. The World Bank differs from the World Bank Group, in that the World Bank comprises only two institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association , whereas the former incorporates these two in addition to three more: International Finance Corporation , Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency , and International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes . The World Bank is one of five institutions created at the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944. The International Monetary Fund, a related institution, is the second. Delegates from many countries attended the Bretton Woods Conference.
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Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who... brought about the October Revolution in Russia in 1917 and later held the position of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953. While the office of the General Secretary was officially elective and not initially regarded as the top position in the Soviet state, Stalin managed to use it to consolidate more and more power in his hands after the death of Vladimir Lenin in 1924 and gradually put down all opposition groups within the Communist Party. This included Leon Trotsky, a socialist theorist and the principal critic of Stalin among the early Soviet leaders, who was exiled from the Soviet Union in 1929. Whereas Trotsky was an exponent of permanent revolution, it was Stalin's concept of socialism in one country that became the primary focus of Soviet politics.
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Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich, KBE , was a Soviet and Russian cellist and conductor. He was married to the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya. He is... widely considered to have been the greatest cellist of the second half of the 20th century, and one of the greatest of all time. In addition to his outstanding interpretations and technique, he was well known for both inspiring and commissioning new works which enlarged the cello repertoire more than any cellist before or since. He gave the premieres of over 100 pieces, forming long-standing friendships and artistic partnerships with composers including Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei Prokofiev, Henri Dutilleux, Witold Lutoslawski, Alfred Schnittke, Andreas Makris and especially Benjamin Britten. Rostropovich was internationally recognized as a staunch advocate of human rights, and was awarded the 1974 Award of the International League of Human Rights. Rostropovich was born in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, USSR, to parents who had moved from Orenburg.
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Aziza Mustafa Zadeh , also known as "The Princess of Jazz", or "Die Prinzessin des Jazz" or as "Jazziza", is an Azerbaijani singer, pianist and... composer who plays a fusion of jazz and mugam with classical and Avant-garde influences. Reviewers have said that her style also shows some influence from Keith Jarrett. She currently resides in Mainz, Germany, with her mother, Eliza Mustafa Zadeh, who is also her manager. Her two favorite leisure activities, she says, are painting and sleeping. She is a vegetarian. She believes in God even though she does not consider herself as belonging to any religion. Since 1991, Aziza has sold around 15 million albums worldwide. Aziza was born in Baku to musical parents Vagif and Elza Mustafa Zadeh. Vagif was a pianist and composer, famous for creating the mugam-jazz fusion in which his daughter now plays. Elza is a classically trained singer from Georgia. They first noticed their daughter's sensitivity to music when she was eight months old.
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Irina Aleksandrovna Allegrova is a Russian singer of Russian and Armenian descent. Irina Allegrova was born in Rostov-on-Don in 1952. Her Armenian... father Alexander Sarkisov took the last name Allegrov as a pseudonym when he was just 17 and Irina was born under the name Allegrova. Her Russian mother was Serafima Sosnovskaya. Irina was brought up in a theatrical family with famous people who frequented their house and impressed the young girl. Irina spent her early life in Baku, Azerbaijan where she studied piano and ballet. Irina gave birth to one daughter, Lala, at a young age. She left Lala with her parents and moved to Moscow to become a singer at the age of 22. In the early 1980s she became lead soloist in David Tukhmanov's group - ElectroClub. In the late 80's Irina met Oscar Feltsman, who gave her a chance at a solo career and later wrote several songs for Irina. Irina's debut album "My Destined One - Suzheny/Wanderer - Strannik" was written and produced by her then neighbor and friend - Igor Nikolaev.
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Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran", which in Persian means "Land of the... Aryans", has been in use natively since the Sassanian era. It came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia . Both "Persia" and "Iran" are used interchangeably in cultural contexts; however, "Iran" is the name used officially in political contexts. The 18th-largest country in the world in terms of area at 1,648,195 km , Iran has a population of around 79 million. It is a country of particular geopolitical significance owing to its location in the Middle East and central Eurasia. Iran is bordered on the north by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. As Iran is a littoral state of the Caspian Sea, which is an inland sea, Kazakhstan and Russia are also Iran's direct neighbors to the north.
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Armenia /ɑrˈmiːniə/ , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked, mountainous country in the South Caucasus region of... Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north, the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and Azerbaijan to the east, and Iran and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan to the south. A former republic of the Soviet Union, Armenia is a unitary, multiparty, democratic nation-state with an ancient and historic cultural heritage. The Kingdom of Armenia became the first state in the world to adopt Christianity as its religion, in the early years of the 4th century . The modern Republic of Armenia recognizes the Armenian Apostolic Church, the world's oldest national church, as the country's primary religious establishment. Armenians have their own unique alphabet invented by Mesrob Mashtots in 406 AD. Armenia is an emerging democracy and as of 2011 was negotiating with the European Union to become an associate member.
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Russia /ˈrʌʃə/ or /ˈrʊʃə/ , also officially known as the Russian Federation , is a country in northern... Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland , Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea. It also has maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, and the US state of Alaska by the Bering Strait. At 17,075,400 square kilometres , Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than one eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area. Russia is also the eighth most populous nation with 143 million people. It extends across the whole of northern Asia and 40% of Europe, spanning nine time zones and incorporating a wide range of environments and landforms.
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Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe.... Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus are to the south; the Aegean Sea is to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. The Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles demarcate the boundary between East Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia. Turkey is one of the six independent Turkic states. The vast majority of the population are Muslims. The country's official language is Turkish, whereas Kurdish and Zazaki languages are spoken by Kurds and Zazas, who constitute 18% of the population. Oghuz Turks began migrating into the area now called Turkey in the 11th century.
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