Q

Iranian Azerbaijan

Iranian Azerbaijan is a historical area situated in northwestern Iran which includes three northwestern provinces of Iran namely, West Azerbaijan, East Azerbaijan, and Ardabil. The region neighbors Iraq, Turkey, Armenia, the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, and the Republic of Azerbaijan. The short-lived unrecognized breakaway state existed from November 2, 1945, until December 11, 1946. Iranian Azerbaijan was also known as the Azerbaijan Autonomous Republic, Azerbaijan National Government, and Azerbaijan People’s Government. Most of its settlers are Azerbaijanis with a minority population of Tats, Assyrians, Kurds, Armenians, Talysh, and Persians.  

The region’s economy is fueled by industries such as the production of machine tools, electric equipment, textile, cement, textiles, vehicles, carpets, wool, carpets, metal as well as oil refinery, petrochemical complex, food processing, and sugar milling. Major companies in Azerbaijan involve in tractors, tires, machinery, and vehicle manufacturing for export. Its largest economic point is the capital city of Tabriz with heavy industries as well as food industries. Due to the region’s higher precipitation, its agricultural industry produces better than any other region in the country. 

In 1946, Iranian Azerbaijan issued local banknotes in 5 krans, and 1, 2, 5, 10, and 50 toman denominations. These banknotes had a unified design depicting Azeri Turkish text and floral patterns on the obverse and the counterfeit clause in Azeri Turkish on the reverse. Banknotes from this series also carry a purple handstamp at the left part of the obverse. Except for the 5-kran banknote, these paper bills also bear a perforation at the upper center in the form of the denomination in Western numerals. Iranian Azerbaijani banknotes do not contain a security thread and have an unknown watermark. Some of them bear printed signatures while some were hand-signed by the Minister of Finance Gholamreza Elhami and Treasurer Reza Rasouli. These banknotes have different color schemes and sizes.

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