Incorrect Alphabet

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Azerbaijan 394

 

     In the Cyrillic alphabet a letter that looks like an "H" is pronounced "en" like an "N." In the early 1900s, after the dissolution of the USSR the republic of Azerbaijan attempted to use the Roman alphabet rather than the Cyrillic. In 1993 an error was made, Azerbaijan issued a stamp with the name of the eclave Naxivan spelled with a Cyrillic "H."

 

SCN 384b

 

     The stamp was withdrawn and almost immediately reissued with the correct spelling with a Roman "N."

SCN 384c

     The effort to return to the Roman alphabet in 1993 was not successful, but in 2001 the president decreed that "all official documents, newspapers and magazines, as well as advertisements and signs will now be in Roman letters."

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