Azerbaijan - Where is it? The Answer!

Well, I am back on the blog and have returned to the subject of Azerbaijan. I have now been working here for 10 and a half months and still enjoying my time here. Next week we shall be moving to a new apartment in downtown Baku and looking forward to that. Right, just recently there has been some confusion in various media and in local newspapers about the Caucasus and Azerbaijan - it's specifically about where it is and its relation to neighbouring countries.
Obviously I know where it is but I decided to do a Google search and see where other websites pinpointed the country. Shown below are some examples with the location in brackets ( ).

True Knowledge - www.trueknowledge.com - (Asia)

Wikipedia - www.wikipedia.org - (Eurasia)

Wikitravel - www.wikitravel.org - (Europe or Asia) -not sure!

Nato - www.nato.int - (Europe)

Contractors Unlimited - www.contractorsunlimited.com - ????

Juggle - www.juggle.com - (Eurasia)

Capial of - www.capital-of.com - (Europe)

Travelling Luck - www.travellingluck.com - (Southwestern Asia)

Confused? Well, let me put you out of your misery once and for all. Whilst doing further research I came across old faithful, the about.com website. Somehow I knew that if I kept digging enough I'd come to a definitive answer to the question: just where is Azerbaijan officially locted?

I will hand you over to the person of Matt Rosenburg at About.com Guide, who writes:

"I was asked today why I list Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan as Asian countries while some other websites list them as European countries. My answer was as follows... There’s no official definition of the boundary between Asia and Europe (nor between any continent for that matter) so the boundaries are merely traditional. The Caucasus Mountains have traditionally divided the two continents and these three countries are to the south of that boundary. I also feel that it is more appropriate to place these countries in Asia because all of Turkey east of Istanbul is customarily considered Asia and certainly their neighbor to the south, Iran, is an Asian country."

Well, Azerbaijan is, when going by physical boundaries, an Asian country. So, I am accepting it as such because when you think about it logically, Azerbaijan was part of the Soviet Union and it was classified as part of Asia. So, I am afraid Azerbaijan cannot characterise itself as European - but then it did win the Eurovision Song contest earlier this year! Still confused?