Azerbaijan? Where is it?
Let's look at the map. It was politically connected to Russia, to the north. Russia, famed for its onion domed orthodox churches and later communist atheism. The the west is landlocked Armenia, whose Christians were massacred at the start of the 20th century, as well as more recently. The Islamic Republic of Iran is to the south. To the east is the Caspian Sea and the big city of Baku.
The name sounds like Pakistan and Afghanistan, which I wrote about in previous posts on the stan countries. But it's an ...an country but not a ...stan country. Time for a look at it.
I see four more places whose names end with an,: the two cities of Shirvan and Lankaran to the south of Baku. Nakhichivan, an enclave to the west, separated from the main country of Azerbaijan by Armenia. And Iran.
FOOD AND DRINK
FAVOURITE FOODS - Rice, meat and green vegetables
The rice dish is called plov, better known to us in the west as pilaf. It appears in countries all over the region. Here's a version from Afghanistan.
So what is different in this region?
Armenians use a lot of bulgur (cracked wheat) in their pilaf dishes. Armenian recipes may combine vermicelli or orzo with rice cooked in stock seasoned with mint, parsley and allspice. One traditional Armenian pilaf is made with the same noodle rice mixture cooked in stock with raisins, almonds and allspice.
Armenian kinds of rice are discussed by Rose Baboian in her cookbook from 1964 which includes recipes for different pilafs, most rooted in her birthplace of Antep in Turkey. Baboian recommends that the noodles be stir-fried first in chicken fat before being added to the pilaf. Another Armenian cookbook written by Vağinag Pürad recommends to render poultry fat in the oven with red pepper until the fat mixture turns a red color before using the strained fat to prepare pilaf.
Lapa is an Armenian word with several meanings one of which is a "watery boiled rice, thick rice soup, mush" and lepe which refers to various rice dishes differing by region.Antranig Azhderian describes Armenian pilaf as "dish resembling porridge".
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijani cuisine includes more than 40 different plov recipes. One of the most reputed dishes is plov from saffron-covered rice, served with various herbs and greens, a combination distinctive from Uzbek plovs. Traditional Azerbaijani plov consists of three distinct components, served simultaneously but on separate platters: rice (warm, never hot), gara (fried beef or chicken pieces with onion, chestnut and dried fruits prepared as an accompaniment to rice), and aromatic herbs. Gara is put on the rice when eating plov, but it is never mixed with rice and the other components. Pilaf is usually called aş in Azerbaijani cuisine.
- Rice pilaf examples from Azerbaijan
They used to eat horsemeat but not any more. The horse is the national symbol and now endangered.
FAVOURITE LOCAL DRINK - black tea in a pear-shape glass
The national drink is black tea, drunk in a pear-shape or waisted glass, which is credited with allowing the top of your tea to cool whilst keeping the lower part of the glass contents warm.
LANGUAGE
The language is similar to Turkish with bits of Arabic recognizable to me, such as Allah for God, and madrassah for school.
So, how would I say, or recognize somebody else saying: hello (that's easy, salam) one, no, ten, yes, be quick, goodness gracious (that's easy, allahalla,) and thanks?
From Wiki on Afghanistan language
Interjections
Some samples include:
Secular:
- Of ("Ugh!")
- Tez Ol ("Be quick!")
- Tez olun qızlar mədrəsəyə ("Be quick girls, to school!", a slogan for an education campaign in Azerbaijan)
Invoking deity:
- implicitly:
- Aman ("Mercy")
- Çox şükür ("Much thanks")
- explicitly:
- Allah Allah (pronounced as Allahallah) ("Goodness gracious") (a bit like the English expression, 'Good God!'
- Hay Allah; Vallah "By God [I swear it]".
- Çox şükür allahım ("Much thanks my god")
| Category | English | North Azerbaijani (in Latin script) |
|---|---|---|
| Basic expressions | yes | hə /hæ/ (informal), bəli (formal) |
| no | yox /jox/ (informal), xeyr (formal) | |
| hello | salam /sɑlɑm/ | |
| goodbye | sağ ol /ˈsɑɣ ol/ | |
| sağ olun /ˈsɑɣ olun/ (formal) | ||
| good morning | sabahınız xeyır /sɑbɑhɯ(nɯ)z xejiɾ/ | |
| good afternoon | günortanız xeyır /ɟynoɾt(ɯn)ɯz xejiɾ/ | |
| good evening | axşamın xeyır /ɑxʃɑmɯn xejiɾ/ | |
| axşamınız xeyır /ɑxʃɑmɯ(nɯ)z xejiɾ/ | ||
| Colours | black | qara /ɡɑɾɑ/ |
| blue | mavi /mâvi/ | |
| brown | qəhvəyi / qonur | |
| grey | boz /boz/ | |
| green | yaşıl /jaʃɯl/ | |
| orange | narıncı /nɑɾɯnd͡ʒɯ/ | |
| pink | çəhrayı | |
| purple | bənövşəyi | |
| red | qırmızı /ɡɯɾmɯzɯ/ | |
| white | ağ /ɑɣ/ | |
| yellow | sarı /sɑɾɯ/ |
Numbers[edit]
| Number | Word |
|---|---|
| 0 | sıfır /ˈsɯfɯɾ/ |
| 1 | bir /biɾ/ |
| 2 | iki /ici/ |
| 3 | üç /yt͡ʃ/ |
| 4 | dörd /døɾd/ |
| 5 | beş /beʃ/ |
| 6 | altı /ɑltɯ/ |
| 7 | yeddi /jed:i/ |
| 8 | səkkiz /sækciz/ |
| 9 | doqquz /doɡ:uz/ |
| 10 | on /on/ |
For numbers 11–19, the numbers literally mean "10 one, 10 two" and so on.
| Number | Word |
|---|---|
| 20 | iyirmi /ijiɾmi/ [a] |
| 30 | otuz /otuz/ |
| 40 | qırx /ɡɯɾx/ |
| 50 | əlli /ælli/ |
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2020/04/which-stan-is-which-pakistan.html
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20200721-nakhchivan-the-worlds-most-sustainable-nation
The glass:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armudu
About the Author
Travel writer and photographer Angela Lansbury, now forced into armchair travelling because of Covid19, but just as keen as ever to research countries and plan trips.
See later post on Azerbaijan covering religious buildings and more.
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