Where in the world is Azerbaijan?

/AzerNews/

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijani scientists in consultation with international institutions and experts on the matter have concluded after heavy studies that at least 12 percent of the country is located in Europe.

"The border of Europe and Asia passes through Azerbaijan,” said Ramiz Mammadov, the Director of the Geography Institute of ANAS said at a conference on December 17.

He noted that many scientists and experts around the world have discovered that the border between Europe and Asia in Caucasus lies not along the Kuma–Manych Depression, but along the Great Dividing Range further on the Absheron Peninsula. This will allow the country to be recognized as European along Russia (23 percent) and Turkey (3 percent).

The border between Europe and Asia was marked during the IGU’s 20th conference, which was held in London in 1964. Earlier in 2013, Mammadov said that the international scientific and geographical rules were not taken into account when the borders were determined. In particular, the watershed of the Greater Caucasus Mountains and other natural and geographical factors were not considered and the border was arbitrarily drawn through the center of the Kuma-Manych Depression.

The boundary that separates Europe and Asia originates in the Black Sea, goes through the watershed of the Greater Caucasus, Dubrar Mountains, the northern part of the Absheron Peninsula and beyond -- across the Caspian Sea, connecting with the line which was suggested by Russian and Kazakh scientists. Then it crosses the Magistau Peninsula in Kazakhstan, along the eastern foothills of the Ural Mountains and then links to the border in the Arctic Ocean.

Mammadov also stressed that it is necessary to adopt a range of measures for the positive solution of this issue. At first we should discuss and then implement them via the International Geographical Union (IGU).

Javid Abdullayev, the Head of the of Geo-location and Information Technology Department of the State Committee for Land and Cartography suggested to implement some multidisciplinary research as well as to establish a joint commission of the State Committee and ANAS.

Rashid Fataliyev, a PhD in Geological and Mineralogical Sciences and the deputy head of the petrochemicals department at the Cabinet of Ministers, who firstly raised the issue, noted that it will be appropriate to consider the Great Dividing Range as the border between the two continents.

“After approval of the issue by the IGU, the border will be clarified and this information will be included in the whole textbooks, encyclopedia and maps,” Fataliyev underlined.

He also added that Prime Minister Artur Rasizada is informed on the issue. He has ordered the relative officials to adopt appropriate measures.