| Culture Of Azerbaijan |
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The culture of Azerbaijan has developed as a result of many influences, including its Turkic , Persian , Islamic , and Central Asia n heritage as well as Russia n influences due to its former status as a Soviet Republic . Today, West ern influences, including Globalized Consumer culture, are strong. RELIGION ''Main article: Religion In Azerbaijan '' Around 96 percent of Azerbaijan's population is nominally Muslim . The rest of the population adheres to other Faith s or no specific faith. Among the Muslim majority, religious observance is relatively low and Muslim identity tends to be based more on culture and ethnicity rather than religion; however, imams reported increased attendance at mosques during 2003. The Muslim population is approximately 70 percent Shi'a and 30 percent Sunni; differences traditionally have not been defined sharply. There are fairly sizeable expatriate Christian and Muslim communities in the capital city of Baku ; authorities generally permit these groups to worship freely. LANGUAGE The official language of Azerbaijan is Azerbaijani , a member of the Oghuz subdivision of the Turkic Language family, and is spoken by around 95% of the republic's population, as well as about a quarter of the population of Iran. Its closest relatives are Turkish and Turkmen . As a result of the language policy of the Soviet Union, Russian is also commonly spoken as a second language among the urbane. SEE ALSO |
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