The idea of "Whole Azerbaijan" was formulated by
Piruz Dilanchi in 1991 and defined in 1992 by
Azerbaijani president
Abulfaz Elchibey (s. 1992-93). In 1991, Dilanchi founded the SANLM nationalist organization and in 1997 Elchibey founded the "Whole Azerbaijan Union" (Bütöv Azərbaycan Birliyi) organization. Elchibey published his book on the idea,
Bütöv Azərbaycan yolunda, in Turkey in 1998. It claimed that the borders of Azerbaijan should extend from
Derbent to the
Persian Gulf. Elchibey claimed that this was a territory of Azerbaijani historical ethnic presence. He proposed that Azerbaijan had right to rule it, under a proposed system of governance called "United Azerbaijani Lands" (Birləşmiş Azərbaycan Yurdları). Elchibey's ultimate goal was to unite the newly independent
Republic of Azerbaijan with the
Azerbaijan region under Iranian rule (in his words,
South Azerbaijan) and then unite with
Turkey to establish a "Turk" federation. Azerbaijani historiography portrays the early to mid 1800s as the "ideal" and "normative" situation with Azeri sovereignty over Karabakh and Southern Azerbaijan (Iran), despite that a "united Azerbaijan" was never, in fact, independent but always part of the Iranian empires. The concept of Whole Azerbaijan has been Azerbaijani state policy since the
September 2022 Armenia–Azerbaijan clashes. == Political initiatives ==