Here's my take on designing an alternate flag for the country of Azerbaijan for the "It's A Wonderful World" alternate universe. It was a bit difficult for me since the Azerbaijani people have had little time historically as an independent people, free from foreign domination, and thus there was very little that I could draw influence from to make something original unfortunately. I did end up drawing inspiration from the flag of the Centrocaspian Dictatorship, a short-lived anti-Soviet state proclaimed in Baku during the last year of the First World War; its existence extinguished when Baku fell to the Ottomans and Azerbaijanis. I also took influence from some of the imagery depicted in Azerbaijan's coat of arms - namely the fire which harks back to the ancient land's Zoroastrian past and the eight pointed star which represented the eight branches of the Turkic peoples. I combined them and believe it to a somewhat effective design but lacking a bit in originality. Now I'll briefly go over the historical background of this alternate Azerbaijan as regards to the part it plays in the grander alternate universe.

Like the Georgians and Armenians, the Azerbaijanis were one of the many ethnic groups that had been under the oppressive rule of the Russian Czar. Their homeland was a battleground between the Russian, Ottoman Turk and Persian empires for much of the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Like many ethnic minorities in the region, the Azerbaijani people aimed at secession from Russia and in the provinces and districts where they made up the majority, National Muslim Councils were formed during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century to make passive (and sometimes violent) resistance against Russian rule. The Russian response to these cells were more often than not, extremely brutal but it did not deter the Azerbaijanis from what they truly desired: the establishment of an independent state for them. Many intellectuals eventually did realize that the goal of independence could not be achieved as long as the Russian state remained strong and stable and if they were the only ones seeking freedom. Out of the diverse assortment of ethnic groups that dwelled in the Viceroyalty of the Caucasus and its successor the Grand Duchy of Transcaucasia, it would be ironically those of Azerbaijan (given its later act of secession) that invested the most time and manpower to turning Transcaucasianism into a fringe position held by a few Armenians and Georgians into a popular viewpoint amongst members of the two ethnic groups. The provisional Transcaucasian government, including Armenians, Georgians and Azerbaijanis, did not last very long and by October 1918, existing tensions between the three, particularly the Armenians and Azerbaijanis had reached a fever pitch. Armenians Azerbaijanis in the Transcaucasian Army were spending more time fighting each other than pushing back against the Ottoman Turk invasion.

The secession of Azerbaijan from the Grand Duchy of Transcaucasia would not have gone as smoothly as it did if it were not for the presence of General Dunsterville and the forty five thousand British, Canadian and Australian soldiers, drawn from the Mesopotamian and Western Fronts, that had been entrusted with the responsibility of assisting the poorly organized and ill equipped Transcaucasian forces in repelling invasion by the Ottoman Turks, in addition to defending the newly formed state from possible Soviet aggression. When they arrived, it became evident that the British expeditionary force was saddled with the added duty of keeping tensions between the various ethnic groups in the Transcaucasian Army from descending into chaos. With the assistance of Major General Giorgi Kvinitadzem, the British and the Transcaucasians successfully managed to repel an attempted assault and massacre of Baku's Azerbaijani population by the pro-Soviet Armenian Revolutionary Federation in revenge for purported complicity amongst the city's Muslims in the Ottoman Empire's ethnic cleansing against the Armenian people. Several thousands did die but many more deaths had been prevented with the intervention of Generals Kvinitadzem and Dunsterville whose troops prevented a devastating civil war from erupting in Baku, and possibly spreading throughout the entire country. The damage though had been done and the Azerbaijani representatives led by Fatali Khan Khoyski stormed out of Tbilisi and marched into Baku, forming the Azerbaijani National Congress. The Congress undertook parliamentary functions and proclaimed the independence of the Azerbaijani Republic from Transcaucasia on December 21st, 1918, starting a brief low-level war between the Transcaucasians and the Azerbaijanis.

Azerbaijan became the second modern formally declared republican government in the Islamic world, following the Republic of Cyrenaica, but given for the fact that the latter had little international support and was quickly conquered by the Italians, it is fair to say that Azerbaijan is the first successful republican government in the Islamic world. The Azerbaijanis are renown throughout the entire world for being the first Muslim nation to grant equal political rights to women and men and with the assistance of a friendly British government, the establishment of the famous Baku Institute, performed consistently in various league tables over the years, achieving a spot in the top 20 universities in the world according to various ranking websites and educational magazines. By January 1919, it became evident that the Soviets would attempt to launch a direct assault at Baku; Lenin himself saying that the conquest of Baku, and possibly all of Azerbaijan, was necessary as the Soviet Union could not continue to function, especially with its ongoing war with the various secessionist states and White remnants in the East. The Azerbaijanis signed an agreement with Transcaucasia known as the Treaty of Bash Abaran, mediated by British diplomat Sir Oliver Wardrop, which had the Transcaucasians recognize Azerbaijan's independence in exchange for the government at Baku revoking all claims to lands between the Lesser Caucasus Mountains and the Kura and Aras rivers as well as Nakhchivan, which was claimed by the Armenians in the Transcaucasian diplomatic delegation. Fatali Khan Khoyski, Azerbaijan's first Prime Minister, was initially against the harsh terms of the Treaty, which would've surrendered much of the country's lands, most of which were populated by ethnic Azeris, to Transcaucasia but he was convinced to accept, when the British offered Azerbaijan a free hand in the Azeri-majority lands held by the Qajar-ruled Sublime State of Persia, which had upset the British government for refusing to give it to demands to deport German nationals and hand them over to British custody, as well as making gestures to German and Ottoman diplomats that hinted at the Persians making a late entry into the war as part of the Central Powers.

After repelling the Ottoman Turks with the Anglo-Transcaucasians and then the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan worked to improve its diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Transcaucasia, replacing the old Grand Duchy of Transcaucasia, as well as establishing alliances with Kurdistan, Aleppo and the Hashemite Realms of Iraq, Damascus, Galilee and the Hejaz. Bordering the Soviet Union and its satellite the Khorasani Soviet Republic, the Azerbaijanis remained on high alert for the next Soviet invasion, the government under PM Khoyski initiated massive purges against Communists and those suspected of pro-Soviet ties; several hundreds of people, including notable Azeri figures such as Nariman Narimanov and Mir Jafar Baghirov. He also targeted local supporters of Pan-Turanism - a increasingly popular Fascist ideology emerging out of the post-war Ottoman Empire that advocated for the union of all Turkic peoples under the Ottoman banner - as they threatened Azerbaijan's existence as an independent and distinct state. Azerbaijan played an important role in the Great Mediterranean War, providing oil to the British Empire on the Middle Eastern Front. Operation Chormaqan was carried out by the Ottoman Kuvvetleri; they targeted Baku because of its importance as one of the key energy supplies of the Allied Powers. A fifth of the entire population fought in the Great Mediterranean War; approximately 716,000 people with over 210,000 of them women went to fight the Turkish and Soviet invaders. Around 300,000 people were killed on the front defending their country.