This year Azerbaijan has the honour to host the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time in history. This rarely known country in the extreme eastern corner of Europe is going to be the hot spot for music in May. That’s when a lot of singers, journalists and fans gather from all over Europe to the city of Baku. For most of them this is a nearly unknown country which needs to be discovered.

Here are some facts of Azerbaijan:

Inhabitants: 9 million inhabitants, 1,1 million in Baku
Borders: Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Iran and Caspian Sea (on the other side Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan) the exclave Nakhchivan borders to Turkey
President: Ilham Äliyev
Time: GMT +4 hours
Highest mountain: Bazardüzü (4.466 m)
Climate: subtropical at the cost, inner land veldt and semi-desert climate
Language: Azerbaijani (similarities with Turkish)
Special interest: the gas and oil has been used since the Middle Ages, open and burning gas fields seen as cult places
History: 1918 declaration of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan, 1922 became a part of Soviet Union, 1991 independency
National day: 28th May
Cuisine: similarities to the Turkish cuisine, pomegranate, filled wine leafs
Popular Azerbaijanis: Seymour Karimov (opera singer) Garri Kasparow (chess champion)