Azerbaijan Unitary state

Structures and competences

Azerbaijan has a centralised system of government led by the president, who holds full executive power. According to its constitution, the Republic of Azerbaijan is a unitary state. The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic is the country’s only entity with a special legal and administrative status.

Azerbaijan’s system of local government comprises the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, 65 districts (rayonlar) 69 cities (şəhərlər), 13 urban districts, 130 settlements of city type and 4,354 villages.

According to the State Statistics Committee, Azerbaijan’s local government landscape comprises 66 districts, 77 cities, 13 urban districts, 257 settlements of city type and 4,261 rural settlements.

With the exception of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, the districts do not have their own representative bodies (governors and assemblies).

One of the regions, Nagorno-Karabakh, seceded from Azerbaijan in 1991 and does not recognise its jurisdiction. It is a self-proclaimed Transcaucasian republic with a majority ethnic Armenian population (80%). It is not recognised by any UN member state.

The present-day system of local self-government has its origins in the immediate aftermath of Azerbaijan’s independence in 1991.

For the very first time, local self-government was legally recognised in the constitution of 1995.

Azerbaijan’s capital Baku (Bakı) is divided into 11 administrative districts (rayonlar), 5 settlements of city type and 52 small municipalities. Azerbaijan is the only Council of Europe member state whose capital city is governed by an unelected body rather than an elected municipal council.

The constitution contains no explicit provisions on local or regional public administration. Only article 124 on local bodies with executive power is of interest in this regard. The article states that executive power is vested in the leaders of local executive bodies. The powers enjoyed by these bodies are determined by the president, who also appoints their leaders. The most important legal instrument defining the scope, organisational structure and powers of local executive authorities was approved by the president in 1999 – the same year in which Azerbaijan’s local governements were created. The president’s decisive role in determining the duties and responsibilities of executive authorities creates a confusing legal situation, since there is no clarity around how legislative powers are divided between parliament and the president in terms of determining the powers and duties of the various public authorities that, together, make up the public administration.

 

Local level:

Azerbaijan has no regional local governements. Regional powers are exercised at the central level and/or by central government authorities at the district level.

In such a heavily centralised system, the very existence of administrative districts might be considered a barrier to any meaningful, democratic regionalisation process. Yet the country’s centralist tradition and its weak system of local self-government are likely the biggest obstacles to effective, democratically elected local self-government. The lack of local governments means there is a democratic deficit in the exercise of regional functions and powers, since citizens have no effective control over these processes.

The need for a regional level of government (or any other second-tier level of government) is clear to see in the country’s economic regionalisation process – 10 economic regions were created after the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities’ Monitoring Committee published its report in 2003. That said, it was made clear to the delegation during the visit that the authorities had no particular intention to move towards greater regionalisation.

 

 

The special status of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic

The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic is a landlocked exclave of Azerbaijan surrounded by Armenia, Iran and Turkey. This geographical anomaly justifies the special legal and administrative status granted to the region, as an autonomous republic within Azerbaijan.

The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic’s constitutional/legal status is determined by the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Constitution of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, and two international treaties (the Treaty of Moscow and the Treaty of Kars, signed on 16 March and 13 October 1921 respectively and still in force). Consequently, the status of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic is defined by both domestic law and international treaties.

The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic has a parliamentary system of government. The republic’s parliament, the Ali Majlis, is a legislative assembly with 45 members elected for a five-year term.

According to the constitution, the supreme authority of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic is the president of the Ali Majlis (Supreme Assembly), who exercises all powers vested in him by the constitution and represents the autonomous republic in Azerbaijan’s international relations, subject to the limits laid down in the Constitution of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and the laws of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic is divided into seven administrative divisions known as districts (rayonlar) – Sharur, Babek, Ordubad, Julfa, Shahbuz, Kangarli and Sadarak.

Nakhchivan City is the capital. The status of the administrative districts is determined by the laws of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Administrative control of the districts is exercised by the government bodies of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. As the law currently stands, the leaders of the administrative districts are appointed and dismissed by the president of Azerbaijan, at the recommendation of the supreme leader of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (i.e. the president of the Ali Majlis of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic).

The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic is divided into 171 municipalities.