Whole Azerbaijan

Whole Azerbaijan (Azerbaijani: Bütöv Azərbaycan) is an irredentist concept of uniting Azerbaijani-inhabited and historically controlled territories into Azerbaijan.

The idea of "Whole Azerbaijan" was formulated by Piruz Dilanchi in 1991 and defined in 1992 by Azerbaijani president Abulfaz Elchibey (s. 1992-93). In 1991 Dilanchi founded the SANLM nationalist organization and in 1997 Elchibey founded the "Whole Azerbaijan Union" (Bütöv Azərbaycan Birliyi) organization. Elchibey published his book on the idea, Bütöv Azərbaycan yolunda, in Turkey in 1998; it was argued that the borders of Azerbaijan should extend from Derbent to the Persian Gulf, according to him a territory of Azerbaijani historical ethnic presence, over which Azerbaijan had right to rule, with a proposed system of governance called "United Azerbaijani Lands" (Birləşmiş Azərbaycan Yurdları). In his views published postmortem in 2002, he opposed the idea of a separate and independent South Azerbaijan.

The term Whole Azerbaijan is still preserved in a number of political initiatives including the SANLM (CAMAH) and Whole Azerbaijan Popular Front Party. Although the boundaries of Whole Azerbaijan are not strictly defined, some proponents portray them as encompassing the following areas:

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