Population-genetic and comparative interpopulation studies of Azerbaijan population based on the 15 autosomal STR markers

•The parameters of STR loci indicate their suitability for use in forensic practice.•The locus that could distinguish compared populations from each other not revealed.•The interpopulation tests revealed significant differences only at the racial level. We have investigated 765 unrelated individuals from Azerbaijan using AmpFlSTR® Identifiler® Plus PCR Amplification Kit. For each STR locus basic population-genetic and forensic parameters were determined. The calculated P-values (PHWE) for the accuracy of the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) tests, showed that this parameter had a statistically significant value (PHWE = 0.0000) only for the THO1, D18S51 and FGA loci. The values of parameters for the set of 15 STR loci such as CPE, CPD, CTPI and the PP showed that the given set of loci can be confidently used to solve identification problems for the studied population. Multiple population differentiation tests performed between Azerbaijan and other 17 world populations revealed that between Azerbaijan and Iraqi, Iranian, Turkish populations there were no significant differences on all STR loci. Additionally, comparisons of Fischer genetic distance indices (FST) P-values did not reveal any statistically significant difference between Azerbaijan and Iranian populations at P