Azerbaijan declared independence.
Azerbaijan . The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic proclaimed its independence in 1918 and became the first democratic state in the Muslim orient world . The region and seven adjacent districts outside it became de facto independent with the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1994 . A member of the United Nations since 1992 after its independence , Azerbaijan was elected to membership in the newly established Human Rights Council by the United Nations General Assembly on 9 May 2006 . Azerbaijan Democratic Republic . The name of `` Azerbaijan '' which the leading Musavat party adopted , for political reasons , was , prior to the establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1918 , exclusively used to identify the adjacent region of contemporary northwestern Iran .