{{Short description|Turkic ethnic group}} {{distinguish|Azaris}} {{pp-move}} {{pp|small=yes}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}} {{Infobox ethnic group | group = Azerbaijanis | native_name = {{lang|az|Azərbaycanlılar}}<br />{{lang|az-Arab|آذربایجانلیلار}} | image = Azerigirls.JPG | image_caption = Azerbaijani girls in [[Azerbaijani traditional clothing|traditional dresses]], 1997 | population = 30–35 million | total_year = 2002 | total_ref = <ref name="avraham">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YJwsAQAAIAAJ&q=30-35 |title=The Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East|author=Sela, Avraham|publisher=Continuum|year=2002|isbn=978-0-8264-1413-7|page=197|quote=They number 30-35 million and live primarily in Iran (approximately 20 million), the Republic of Azerbaijan (8 million), Turkey (1-2 million), Russia (1 million), and Georgia (300,000).|author-link=Avraham Sela}}</ref> | region1 = [[Iran]] | pop1 = 12–23 million{{refn|<ref name="dictionary" /><ref name="16.7mil">{{Cite web |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/country/IR/status |title=Iran|website=Ethnologue|access-date=26 October 2018|archive-date=4 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190904065634/https://www.ethnologue.com/country/IR/status|url-status=live |quote=Ethnic population: 16,700,000 (2019)}}</ref><ref name="18mil">{{cite book |last1=Elling |first1=Rasmus Christian |author1-link=Rasmus Christian Elling |title=Minorities in Iran: Nationalism and Ethnicity after Khomeini |date=18 February 2013 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-137-04780-9 |page=28 |quote=CIA and Library of Congress estimates range from 16 percent to 24 percent—that is, 12–18 million people if we employ the latest total figure for Iran's population (77.8 million).}}</ref><ref name = "Gheissari">{{cite book |last1=Gheissari |first1=Ali |title=Contemporary Iran: Economy, Society, Politics |date=2 April 2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-988860-3 |page=300 |quote=As of 2003, the ethnic classifications are estimated as: [...] Azeri (24 percent)}}</ref><ref name = "Bani-Shoraka">{{cite journal |last1=Bani-Shoraka |first1=Helena |title=Cross-generational bilingual strategies among Azerbaijanis in Tehran |journal=International Journal of the Sociology of Language |date=1 July 2009 |issue=198 |page=106 |doi=10.1515/IJSL.2009.029 |s2cid=144993160 |issn=1613-3668 |quote=The latest figures estimate the Azerbaijani population at 24% of Iran's 70 million inhabitants (NVI 2003/2004: 301). This means that there are between 15 and 20 million Azerbaijanis in Iran.}}</ref><ref name = "Potter">{{cite book |last1=Potter |first1=Lawrence G. |title=Sectarian Politics in the Persian Gulf |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=290 |isbn=978-0-19-937726-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=50pRBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA290 |access-date=14 January 2023}}</ref><ref name = "Crane">{{cite book |last1=Crane |first1=Keith |last2=Lal |first2=Rollie |last3=Martini |first3=Jeffrey |title=Iran's Political, Demographic, and Economic Vulnerabilities |date=6 June 2008 |publisher=RAND Corporation |page=38 |isbn=978-0-8330-4527-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PmlMdb5ACHEC&pg=PA38 |access-date=17 January 2023}}</ref><ref name = "Moaddel">{{cite book |last1=Moaddel |first1=Mansoor |last2=Karabenick |first2=Stuart A. |title=Religious Fundamentalism in the Middle East: A Cross-National, Inter-Faith, and Inter-Ethnic Analysis |date=4 June 2013 |publisher=Brill |page=101 |quote=The Azeris have a mixed heritage of Iranic, Caucasian, and Turkic elements(...) Between 16 to 23 million Azeris live in Iran.}}</ref><ref name = "Eschment">{{cite book |editor1-last=Eschment |editor1-first=Beate |editor2-last=von Löwis |editor2-first=Sabine |title=Post-Soviet Borders: A Kaleidoscope of Shifting Lives and Lands |date=18 August 2022 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |page=31 |quote=Irrespective of the large Azerbaijani population in Iran (about 20 million, compared to 7 million in Azerbaijan)(...)}}</ref>}} | region2 = [[Azerbaijan]] | pop2 = 8,172,800 | ref2 = <ref>[https://www.stat.gov.az/source/demoqraphy/ap/?lang=en Azerbaijan Republic | Population by ethnic groups] stat.gov.az</ref> | region3 = [[Russia]] | pop3 = 603,070 | ref3 = <ref name="Russian Census">{{cite web|url=http://www.perepis-2010.ru/results_of_the_census/tab5.xls |title=Итоги переписи |work=2010 census |year=2012 |publisher=Russian Federation State Statistics Service |access-date=24 January 2015 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120424113952/http://www.perepis-2010.ru/results_of_the_census/tab5.xls |archive-date=24 April 2012}}</ref> | region4 = [[Turkey]] | pop4 = 530,000–2 million | ref4 = <ref name="Leeuw">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sNoP1zphWf8C&pg=PA19|title=Azerbaijan: a quest for identity: a short history|author=van der Leeuw, Charles|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2000|isbn=978-0-312-21903-1|page=19|access-date=20 June 2015|archive-date=20 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150320173346/http://books.google.com/books?id=sNoP1zphWf8C&pg=PA19|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="avraham" /> | region5 = [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] | pop5 = 233,178 | ref5 = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://geostat.ge/cms/site_images/_files/english/population/Census_release_ENG_2016.pdf|title=Ethnic groups by major administrative-territorial units|publisher=National Statistics Office of Georgia|work=2014 census|access-date=28 April 2016|archive-date=10 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010074805/http://geostat.ge/cms/site_images/_files/english/population/Census_release_ENG_2016.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> | region7 = [[Kazakhstan]] | pop7 = 155,364 | ref7 = <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://stat.gov.kz/en/industries/social-statistics/demography/publications/337150/|title=Population of the Republic of Kazakhstan by individual ethnic groups and age groups (at the beginning of 2025)}}</ref> | region8 = [[Ukraine]] | pop8 = 45,176 | ref8 = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua/eng/results/general/nationality/|title=About number and composition population of Ukraine by data All-Ukrainian census of the population 2001|work=Ukraine Census 2001|publisher=State Statistics Committee of Ukraine|access-date=17 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111217151026/http://2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua/eng/results/general/nationality/|archive-date=17 December 2011}}</ref> | region9 = [[Uzbekistan]] | pop9 = 44,400 | ref9 = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arbuz.com/Umid/Main/Uzbekistan/Population/population.html|title=The National Structure of the Republic of Uzbekistan|year=1989|publisher=Umid World|access-date=17 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120223090542/http://www.arbuz.com/Umid/Main/Uzbekistan/Population/population.html|archive-date=23 February 2012}}</ref> | region10 = [[Turkmenistan]] | pop10 = 33,365 | ref10 = <ref>{{cite journal|url=http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_89.php?reg=14|script-title=ru:Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 года. Национальный состав населения по республикам СССР|journal=Демоскоп Weekly|language=ru|issue=493–494|date=1–22 January 2012|access-date=17 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314043707/http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_89.php?reg=14|archive-date=14 March 2012}}</ref> | region11 = [[United States]] | pop11 = 24,377 | ref11 = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.news.az/articles/5620|title=Azerbaijani-American Council rpartners with U.S. Census Bureau|publisher=News.Az|date=28 December 2009|access-date=2012-07-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407043029/http://www.news.az/articles/5620|archive-date=7 April 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.stlamerican.com/reader-interaction/letters-to-the-editor/obama-recognize-us/ |title=Obama, recognize us – St. Louis American: Letters To The Editor|work=St. Louis American |publisher=Stlamerican.com|date=9 March 2011|access-date=2012-07-11 |archive-date=12 April 2026 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260412103843/https://www.stlamerican.com/reader-interaction/letters-to-the-editor/obama-recognize-us/ |url-status=live}}</ref> | region12 = [[Germany]] | pop12 = 20,000–30,000 | ref12 = <ref>{{cite web |title=A portrait of a migrant: Azerbaijanis in Germany |url=https://www.boell.de/en/2022/01/12/portrait-migrant-azerbaijanis-germany |website=boell.de |publisher=HEINRICH-BÖLL-STIFTUNG – The Green Political Foundation |date=12 January 2022 |access-date=7 March 2022}}</ref> | region13 = [[Netherlands]] | pop13 = 18,000 | ref13 = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://mfa.gov.az/eng/downloads/bilaterial/Netherlands.pdf|title=The Kingdom of the Netherlands: Bilateral relations: Diaspora|publisher=Republic of Azerbaijan Ministry of Foreign Affairs|access-date=17 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119175140/http://mfa.gov.az/eng/downloads/bilaterial/Netherlands.pdf|archive-date=19 January 2012}}</ref> | region14 = [[Kyrgyzstan]] | pop14 = 17,823 | ref14 = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stat.kg/stat.files/din.files/census/5010003.pdf|title=5.01.00.03 Национальный состав населения|publisher=National Statistical Committee of Kyrgyz Republic|year=2011|language=ru|access-date=17 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120219092904/http://www.stat.kg/stat.files/din.files/census/5010003.pdf|archive-date=19 February 2012}}</ref> | region15 = [[France]] | pop15 = 70,000 | ref15 = <ref>{{cite news|last=İlhamqızı|first=Sevda|date=2 October 2007|title=Gələn ilin sonuna qədər dünyada yaşayan azərbaycanlıların sayı və məskunlaşma coğrafiyasına dair xəritə hazırlanacaq|url=http://az.trend.az/azerbaijan/society/1034370.html|language=az|work=Trend News Agency|location=Baku|access-date=8 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202205358/http://az.trend.az/azerbaijan/society/1034370.html|archive-date=2 February 2017}}</ref> | region16 = [[Canada]] | pop16 = 9,915 | ref16 = <ref>{{cite web|title=Canada Census Profile 2021|url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?LANG=E&GENDERlist=1&STATISTIClist=1,4&DGUIDlist=2021A000011124&HEADERlist=31&SearchText=Canada|website=Census Profile, 2021 Census|date = 7 May 2021|publisher=Statistics Canada Statistique Canada|access-date=3 January 2023}}</ref> | region17 = [[Portugal]] | pop17 = 8,000 | ref17 = <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sef.pt/pt/Documents/RIFA2022%20vF2a.pdf |title=Estrangeiros em Portugal}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://azerbaijan.az/en/related-information/207|title=Number of Azerbaijanis living outside Azerbaijan – Azerbaijan.az|website=azerbaijan.az}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://azertag.az/en/bolme/diaspora?page=19&device=Desktop|title=DIASPORA – AZERTAC}}</ref> | region18 = [[United Arab Emirates]] | pop18 = 7,000 | ref18 = <ref name="BQ">{{cite web|url=http://www.bqdoha.com/2015/04/uae-population-by-nationality|title=UAE´s population – by nationality|work=BQ Magazine|date=12 April 2015|access-date=13 June 2015|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150711160839/http://www.bqdoha.com/2015/04/uae-population-by-nationality|archive-date=11 July 2015}}</ref> | region19 = [[United Kingdom]] | pop19 = 6,220 | ref19 = <ref name=ons2011>{{cite web|title=Nationality and country of birth by age, sex and qualifications Jan – Dec 2013 (Excel sheet 60Kb)|url=http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/about-ons/business-transparency/freedom-of-information/what-can-i-request/published-ad-hoc-data/labour/april-2014/nationality-and-country-of-birth-by-age--sex-and-qualifications-jan---dec-2013.xls|website=www.ons.gov.uk|publisher=[[Office for National Statistics]]|access-date=11 June 2014|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924060723/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/about-ons/business-transparency/freedom-of-information/what-can-i-request/published-ad-hoc-data/labour/april-2014/nationality-and-country-of-birth-by-age--sex-and-qualifications-jan---dec-2013.xls|url-status=live}}</ref> | region20 = [[Belarus]] | pop20 = 5,567 | ref20 = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://belstat.gov.by/homep/ru/perepic/2009/vihod_tables/5.8-0.pdf|title=Population Census 2009|publisher=National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus|access-date=17 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118175907/http://belstat.gov.by/homep/ru/perepic/2009/vihod_tables/5.8-0.pdf|archive-date=18 January 2012}}</ref> | region21 = [[Sweden]] | pop21 = 2,935 | ref21 = <ref name="Statistics Sweden">{{cite web|title=Foreign born after country of birth and immigration year|url=http://www.scb.se/sv_/Hitta-statistik/Statistik-efter-amne/Befolkning/Befolkningens-sammansattning/Befolkningsstatistik/25788/25795/Helarsstatistik---Riket/385479/}} Statistics Sweden.</ref> | region22 = [[Latvia]] | pop22 = 1,567–2,032 | ref22 = <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://data.stat.gov.lv/pxweb/en/OSP_PUB/START__POP__IR__IRE/IRE010/table/tableViewLayout1/|title=Population by ethnicity at the beginning of year – Time period and Ethnicity | National Statistical System of Latvia |website=data.stat.gov.lv}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pmlp.gov.lv/lv/media/9756/download?attachment|title=Latvijas iedzīvotāju sadalījums pēc nacionālā sastāva un valstiskās piederības, 01.01.2023. – PMLP}}</ref> | region23 = [[Australia]] | pop23 = 1,036 | ref23 = <ref>[https://dfat.gov.au/geo/azerbaijan/pages/azerbaijan-country-brief.aspx Azerbaijan country brief] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190618103730/https://dfat.gov.au/geo/azerbaijan/pages/azerbaijan-country-brief.aspx|date=18 June 2019}}. NB According to the 2016 census, 1,036 people living in Australia identified themselves as of Azeri ancestry. Retrieved 18 June 2019.</ref> | region24 = [[Austria]] | pop24 = 1,000 | ref24 = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://mfa.gov.az/eng/downloads/bilaterial/Austria.pdf|publisher=Republic of Azerbaijan Ministry of Foreign Affairs|title=The Republic of Austria: Bilateral relations|access-date=18 January 2012}}{{dead link|date=October 2016|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> | region25 = [[Estonia]] | pop25 = 940 | ref25 = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://andmebaas.stat.ee/Index.aspx?lang=en&SubSessionId=860f7cac-3d26-4f21-be73-66fb9cbd4d52&themetreeid=7|title=Population Census of 2011|publisher=Statistics Estonia|access-date=10 November 2018|archive-date=11 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181111000011/http://andmebaas.stat.ee/Index.aspx?lang=en&SubSessionId=860f7cac-3d26-4f21-be73-66fb9cbd4d52&themetreeid=7|url-status=live}} Select "Azerbaijani" under "Ethnic nationality".</ref> | region26 = [[Norway]] | pop26 = 806 | ref26 = <ref name="Statistics Canada">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ssb.no/en/befolkning/statistikker/innvbef/aar/2020-03-09|title=2020-03-09|website=ssb.no|date=9 March 2020 |access-date=3 January 2021|archive-date=17 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201117201818/https://www.ssb.no/en/befolkning/statistikker/innvbef/aar/2020-03-09|url-status=live}}</ref> | region27 = [[Lithuania]] | pop27 = 648 | ref27 = <ref name=litstats>{{cite web|url=https://osp.stat.gov.lt/documents/10180/217110/Gyv_kalba_tikyba.pdf/1d9dac9a-3d45-4798-93f5-941fed00503f|title=Population by ethnicity in 1959, 1970, 1979, 1989, 2001 and 2011|publisher=Lithuanian Department of Statistics|access-date=10 March 2016|archive-date=13 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200313110843/https://osp.stat.gov.lt/documents/10180/217110/Gyv_kalba_tikyba.pdf/1d9dac9a-3d45-4798-93f5-941fed00503f|url-status=live}}</ref> | region28 = [[South Korea]] | pop28 = 608 | ref28 = <ref>{{cite web |title=Short-term and long-term foreign residents by nationality (region) and residence status |url=https://viewer.moj.go.kr/skin/doc.html?rs=/result/bbs/227&fn=temp_1729503242804100 |website=Ministry of Justice |access-date=5 January 2025 |language=Korean |date=30 September 2024}}</ref> | region29 = [[Italy]] | pop29 = 552 | ref29 = <ref>http://demo.istat.it/str2019/index.html [[Italian National Institute of Statistics|ISTAT]] – Foreign resident population in 2019</ref> | languages = [[Azerbaijani language|Azerbaijani]] (native)<br /> [[Persian language|Persian]], [[Turkish language|Turkish]] | religions = Predominantly [[Shia Islam]],<ref name="Robertson, Lawrence R. 2002 210">{{cite book|title=Russia & Eurasia Facts & Figures Annual|author=Robertson, Lawrence R.|year=2002|publisher=Academic International Press|isbn=978-0-87569-199-2|page=210|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ye1oAAAAMAAJ|access-date=20 June 2015|archive-date=20 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150320162646/http://books.google.com/books?id=ye1oAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> minority [[Sunni Islam]] | related_groups = [[Turkish people]],<ref name="golden" /> [[Turkmens|Turkmen people]],<ref>Ismail Zardabli. ''Ethnic and political history of Azerbaijan''. Rossendale Books. 2018. p.35 "... the ancestors of Azerbaijanis and Turkmens are the tribes that lived in these territories."</ref> and [[Iranian peoples]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Arnaiz-Villela |first=Antonio |date=October 2017 |title=Origin of Azeris (Iran) according to HLA genes |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320621082 |journal=International Journal of Modern Anthropology |volume=1 |issue=10 |page=115 |doi=10.4314/ijma.v1i10.5 |doi-access=free }}</ref> }} {{Azerbaijanis}}
'''Azerbaijanis''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|æ|z|ər|b|aɪ|ˈ|dʒ|æ|n|i|,_|-|ɑː|n|i}}; {{langx|az|Azərbaycanlılar}}, {{lang|az-Arab|آذربایجانلیلار}}), '''Azeris''' or '''Azerbaijani Turks''' ({{lang|az|Azərbaycan türkləri}}, {{lang|az-Arab|آذربایجان تۆرکلری}})<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mrWRAAAAIAAJ&q=azeri+turks|title=Soviet Asian ethnic frontiers|first1=William O.|last1=MacCagg|first2=Brian D.|last2=Silver|date=10 May 1979|publisher=Pergamon Press|via=Google Books|isbn=978-0-08-024637-6|access-date=8 May 2020|archive-date=4 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204225104/https://books.google.com/books?id=mrWRAAAAIAAJ&q=azeri+turks|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ogp8AHZ3ZN4C&q=azeri+turks&pg=PA160|title=Iran: Political Development in a Changing Society|first=Leonard|last=Binder|date=10 May 1962|publisher=University of California Press|via=Google Books|access-date=8 November 2020|archive-date=4 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204225124/https://books.google.com/books?id=ogp8AHZ3ZN4C&q=azeri+turks&pg=PA160|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yAgGHnENHjoC&q=azeri+turks&pg=PA200|title=World Regional Geography|first=Joseph J.|last=Hobbs|date=13 March 2008|publisher=Cengage Learning|via=Google Books|isbn=978-0-495-38950-7|access-date=8 November 2020|archive-date=4 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204225105/https://books.google.com/books?id=yAgGHnENHjoC&q=azeri+turks&pg=PA200|url-status=live}}</ref> are a [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] ethnic group living mainly in the [[Azerbaijan (Iran)|Azerbaijan]] region of northwestern [[Iran]] and the [[Azerbaijan|Republic of Azerbaijan]]. They are the largest ethnic group in the Republic of Azerbaijan and the second-largest ethnic group in neighboring Iran and [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://geostat.ge/cms/site_images/_files/english/population/Census_release_ENG_2016.pdf|title=2014 General Population Census|publisher=[[National Statistics Office of Georgia]]|access-date=28 April 2016|archive-date=10 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010074805/http://geostat.ge/cms/site_images/_files/english/population/Census_release_ENG_2016.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> They speak the [[Azerbaijani language]], belonging to the [[Oghuz languages|Oghuz]] branch of the [[Turkic languages]], and predominantly practice [[Shia Islam]].<ref name="Robertson, Lawrence R. 2002 210" />
Following the [[Russo-Persian Wars]] of [[Russo-Persian War (1804–1813)|1813]] and [[Russo-Persian War (1826–1828)|1828]], the territories of [[Qajar Iran]] in the [[Caucasus]] were ceded to the [[Russian Empire]] and the [[Treaty of Gulistan|treaties of Gulistan]] in 1813 and [[Treaty of Turkmenchay|Turkmenchay]] in 1828 finalized the borders between Russia and Iran.<ref>{{cite book|author=Harcave, Sidney|year=1968|title=Russia: A History: Sixth Edition|publisher=Lippincott|page=267}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Mojtahed-Zadeh, Pirouz|year=2007|title=Boundary Politics and International Boundaries of Iran: A Study of the Origin, Evolution, and Implications of the Boundaries of Modern Iran with Its 15 Neighbors in the Middle East by a Number of Renowned Experts in the Field|publisher=Universal|isbn=978-1-58112-933-5|page=372}}</ref> After more than 80 years of being under the Russian Empire in the Caucasus, the [[Azerbaijan Democratic Republic]] was established in 1918 which defined the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
==Etymology== Azerbaijan is believed to be named after ''[[Atropates]]'', a [[Persian people|Persian]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.livius.org/as-at/atropates/atropates.htm|author=Lendering, Jona|title=Atropates (Biography)|publisher=Livius.org|access-date=27 January 2012|archive-date=1 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140901014335/http://www.livius.org/as-at/atropates/atropates.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Chamoux, Francois|year=2003|title=Hellenistic Civilization|url=https://archive.org/details/hellenisticcivil00cham|url-access=limited|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|isbn=978-0-631-22241-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/hellenisticcivil00cham/page/n37 26]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Bosworth, A. B. |author2=Baynham, E. J. |year=2002|title=Alexander the Great in Fact and Fiction|url=https://archive.org/details/alexandergreatfa00bosw |url-access=limited |publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-815287-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/alexandergreatfa00bosw/page/n99 92]}}</ref> [[satrap]] (governor) who ruled in ''[[Atropatene]]'' (modern [[Azerbaijan (Iran)|Iranian Azerbaijan]]) circa 321 [[Before Common Era|BC]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MybbePBf9YcC&q=azeri|author=Atabaki, Touraj|year=2000|title=Azerbaijan: Ethnicity and the Struggle for Power in Iran|publisher=I. B. Tauris|isbn=978-1-86064-554-9|page=7|access-date=8 November 2020|archive-date=4 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204225105/https://books.google.com/books?id=MybbePBf9YcC&q=azeri|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=altstadt>{{cite book|author=Altstadt, Audrey L.|year=1992|title=The Azerbaijani Turks: Power and Identity under Russian Rule|publisher=Hoover Institution Press|isbn=978-0-8179-9182-1}}</ref>{{rp|2}} The name ''Atropates'' is the Hellenistic form of [[Old Persian]] ''Aturpat'' which means 'guardian of [[atar|fire]]'{{sfn|Chaumont|1987|pp=17–18}} itself a compound of ''ātūr'' ([[File:aturpahlavi.svg|25px]]) 'fire' (later ''āður'' (آذر) in [[New Persian|(early) New Persian]], and is pronounced ''āzar'' today)<ref name="Pahlavi Dictionary">MacKenzie, D. (1971). A concise Pahlavi dictionary (p. 5, 8, 18). London: Oxford university press.</ref> + ''-pat'' ([[File:patpahlavi.svg|20px]]) suffix for -guardian, -lord, -master<ref name="Pahlavi Dictionary"/> (''-pat'' in early [[Middle Persian]], ''-bod'' (بُد) in New Persian).
Present-day name ''Azerbaijan'' is the [[Arabization|Arabicized]] form of ''Āzarpāyegān'' ([[Persian language|Persian]]: آذرپایگان) meaning 'the guardians of [[atar|fire]]' later becoming ''Azerbaijan'' (Persian: آذربایجان) due to the phonemic shift from /p/ to /b/ and /g/ to /dʒ/ which is a result of the medieval Arabic influences that followed the [[Muslim conquest of Persia|Arab invasion of Iran]], and is due to the lack of the phoneme /p/ and /g/ in the [[Arabic language]].{{sfn|de Planhol|2004|pp=205–215}} The word ''Azarpāyegān'' itself is ultimately from Old Persian ''Āturpātakān'' (Persian: آتورپاتکان)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/azerbaijan-iii |title=Azerbaijan, Pre-Islamic History |last=Schippmann |first=K. |date=15 December 1987 |website=Encyclopædia Iranica |access-date=26 December 2015 |archive-date=22 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130322101247/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/azerbaijan-iii |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Azerbaijan&allowed_in_frame=0 |title=Azerbaijan |website=Online Etymology Dictionary |access-date=26 December 2015 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304102543/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Azerbaijan&allowed_in_frame=0 |url-status=live }}</ref> meaning 'the land associated with (satrap) Aturpat' or 'the land of fire guardians' (''-an'', in its postvocalic form ''-kān'', is a suffix for association or forming adverbs and plurals;<ref name="Pahlavi Dictionary"/> e.g.: [[Gilan]] 'land associated with [[Gilites|Gil people]]').<ref>Aliyev, Igrar. (1958). History of Atropatene (تاريخ آتورپاتكان) (p. 93).</ref>
===Ethnonym=== {{see also|Azerbaijan (toponym)}} The modern ethnonym "Azerbaijani" or "Azeri" refers to the Turkic peoples of [[Iran]]'s northwestern historic region of [[Azerbaijan (Iran)|Azerbaijan]] (also known as Iranian Azerbaijan) and the Republic of [[Azerbaijan]].<ref>{{Encyclopaedia Iranica | title = AZERBAIJAN | last = EI. | url = https://iranicaonline.org/articles/azerbaijan-index | volume = 3 | fascicle = 2–3 | pages = 205–257 }}</ref> They historically called themselves or were referred to by others as Muslims and/or Turks. They were also referred to as [[Ajam]] (meaning from Iran), using the term incorrectly to denote their Shia belief rather than ethnic identity.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/powderkeginmiddl00geof|url-access=registration|author1=Kemp, Geoffrey |author2=Stein, Janice Gross |year=1995|title=Powder Keg in the Middle East|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-8476-8075-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/powderkeginmiddl00geof/page/214 214]}}</ref> When the [[Transcaucasia|Southern Caucasus]] became part of the [[Russian Empire]] in the nineteenth century, the Russian authorities, who traditionally referred to all [[Turkic peoples|Turkic people]] as [[Tatars]], defined Tatars living in the Transcaucasus region as Caucasian Tatars or more rarely<ref>Tsutsiev, Arthur. "18. 1886–1890: An Ethnolinguistic Map of the Caucasus". Atlas of the Ethno-Political History of the Caucasus, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014, pp. 48–50. "''"Tatars" (or in rarer cases, "Azerbaijani Tatars") to denote Turkic-speaking Transcaucasian populations that would later be called "Azerbaijanis""''</ref> Aderbeijanskie (Адербейджанские) Tatars or even<ref name="Yilmaz2013">{{cite journal |last1=Yilmaz |first1=Harun |title=The Soviet Union and the Construction of Azerbaijani National Identity in the 1930s |journal=Iranian Studies |date=2013 |volume=46 |issue=4 |page=513 |doi=10.1080/00210862.2013.784521 |s2cid=144322861 |quote=The official records of the Russian Empire and various published sources from the pre-1917 period also called them "Tatar" or "Caucasian Tatars," "Azerbaijani Tatars" and even "Persian Tatars" in order to differentiate them from the other "Tatars" of the empire and the Persian speakers of Iran.| issn = 0021-0862}}</ref> Persian Tatars in order to distinguish them from other Turkic groups and the [[Persian language|Persian]] speakers of Iran.<ref name="Yilmaz2013"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/2005/0187/perep04.php |year=2005 |publisher=Demoscope Weekly |script-title=ru:Алфавитный список народов, обитающих в Российской Империи |language=ru |access-date=29 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205042823/http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/2005/0187/perep04.php |archive-date=5 February 2012}}</ref> The Russian ''[[Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary]]'', written in the 1890s, also referred to Tatars in Azerbaijan as Aderbeijans (адербейджаны),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gatchina3000.ru/brockhaus-and-efron-encyclopedic-dictionary/103/103729.htm|work=Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary|script-title=ru:Тюрки|language=ru|date=1890–1907|access-date=29 January 2012|archive-date=13 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113221158/http://gatchina3000.ru/brockhaus-and-efron-encyclopedic-dictionary/103/103729.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> but noted that the term had not been widely adopted.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gatchina3000.ru/brockhaus-and-efron-encyclopedic-dictionary/103/103731.htm|work=Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary|script-title=ru:Тюрко-татары|language=ru|date=1890–1907|access-date=29 January 2012|archive-date=13 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113223602/http://gatchina3000.ru/brockhaus-and-efron-encyclopedic-dictionary/103/103731.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> This ethnonym was also used by [[Joseph Deniker]] in 1900.<ref>{{cite book |last=Deniker |first=Joseph |date=1900 |title=Races et peuples de la terre |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rbqRt-A13P8C&pg=PA349 |language=fr |location=Paris, France |publisher=Schleicher frères |page=349 |quote=Ce groupement ne coïncide pas non-plus avec le groupement somatologique : ainsi, les Aderbaïdjani du Caucase et de la Perse, parlant une langue turque, ont le mème type physique que les Persans-Hadjemi, parlant une langue iranienne. |access-date=25 April 2016 |archive-date=21 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170321183728/https://books.google.com/books?id=rbqRt-A13P8C&pg=PA349 |url-status=live }}</ref> In Azerbaijani language publications, the expression "Azerbaijani nation" referring to those who were known as Tatars of the Caucasus first appeared in the newspaper ''Kashkul'' in 1880.<ref>{{cite book|author=Mostashari, Firouzeh|year=2006|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RBNDaEFGJrsC|title=On the Religious Frontier: Tsarist Russia and Islam in the Caucasus|publisher=I. B. Tauris|isbn=978-1-85043-771-0|page=129|access-date=20 June 2015|archive-date=22 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160522082022/https://books.google.com/books?id=RBNDaEFGJrsC|url-status=live}}</ref>
During the early [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] period, the term "Transcaucasian [[Tatars]]" was supplanted by "Azerbaijani Turks" and ultimately "Azerbaijanis."<ref>Tsutsiev, Arthur. "Appendix 3: Ethnic Composition of the Caucasus: Historical Population Statistics". Atlas of the Ethno-Political History of the Caucasus, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014, p. 192 (note 150).</ref><ref name="Tsutsiev">Tsutsiev, Arthur. "31. 1926: An Ethnic Map Reflecting the First Soviet Census". Atlas of the Ethno-Political History of the Caucasus, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014, p. 87.</ref><ref>Tsutsiev, Arthur. "26. 1920: The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and Soviet Russia". Atlas of the Ethno-Political History of the Caucasus, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014, pp. 71–73.</ref> For some time afterwards, the term "Azerbaijanis" was then applied to all Turkic-speaking Muslims in Transcaucasia, from the [[Meskhetian Turks]] in southwestern [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], to the [[Terekeme]]s of southern [[Dagestan]], as well as assimilated [[Tat people (Caucasus)|Tats]] and [[Talysh people|Talysh]].<ref name="Tsutsiev"/> The temporary designation of Meskhetian Turks as "Azerbaijanis" was most likely related to the existing administrative framework of the [[Transcaucasian SFSR]], as the [[Azerbaijan SSR]] was one of its founding members.<ref>Tsutsiev, Arthur. "32. 1926: Using the Census to Identify Russians and Ukrainians". Atlas of the Ethno-Political History of the Caucasus, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014, pp. 87–90</ref> After the establishment of the Azerbaijan SSR,<ref name="iranicaonline.org">{{cite encyclopedia | article = AZERBAIJAN | url = http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/azerbaijan-index | encyclopedia = Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. III, Fasc. 2–3 | pages = 205–257 | year = 1987 }}</ref> on the order of Soviet leader [[Stalin]], the "name of the formal language" of the Azerbaijan SSR was also "changed from Turkic to Azerbaijani".<ref name="iranicaonline.org"/>
Among [[post-Soviet]] Azerbaijanis, the term "Azeri" usually provokes a negative reaction.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://bakudialogues.idd.az/articles/azeri-vs-azerbaijani-04-07-2021 |title='Azeri' vs. 'Azerbaijani' |last=Garibova |first=Jala |website=bakudialogues.idd.az |quote=The term 'Azeri' is basically used by foreigners, including citizens of Turkey, and most frequently in reference to the name of Azerbaijan's titular language. While many foreigners that opt to use the form 'Azeri' genuinely believe they employ the correct term for referring to the country's titular language, the use of this reduced form usually sparks an emotional reaction among Azerbaijanis. To some, the reduced form—particularly if used formally—is considered a disparagement, as it allegedly depreciates the importance of the name of the nation and its language. Thus, these people take it as a mark of disrespect towards the people of Azerbaijan and their language. Others believe that many foreigners use the reduced form because they think this is the right one to use and that these foreigners simply need to be informed about the correct form. Still others see the term 'Azeri' as dangerous, as it implicitly links Azerbaijan's titular ethnicity to some hypothetical group that would be, by implication, non‑Turkic (we will come to a discussion later on about how this hypothetical ethnicity is termed 'Azer' by some). Consequently, these people prefer the use of a term that can be directly associated with at least the geographical origin of the titular nation (i.e., with Azerbaijan) in the absence of the name that would clearly show the Turkic origin of the titular nation.}}</ref>
=== Exonym === The [[Chechen language|Chechen]] and [[Ingush language|Ingush]] names for Azerbaijanis{{efn|The ethnonyms are also used to designate [[Persians]].{{sfn|Kurkiev|1979|p=190}}}} are ''Ghezloy''/''Ghoazloy'' ({{lang|ce|ГӀезлой}}/{{lang|inh|ГӀоазлой}}) and ''Ghazaroy''/''Ghazharey'' ({{lang|ce|ГӀажарой}}/{{lang|inh|ГӀажарей}}). The former goes back to the name of [[Qizilbash]] while the latter goes back to the name of [[Qajars]], having presumably emerged in Chechen and Ingush languages during the [[Qajar Iran|reign of Qajars in Iran]] in the 18th–19th centuries.{{sfn|Akhriev|1975|p=203}}
==History== {{Main|History of Azerbaijan|Azerbaijan (Iran)#History}}
Ancient residents of the area, known as [[Azaris]], spoke [[Old Azeri]] from the [[Iranian languages|Iranian]] branch of the [[Indo-European languages]].<ref name="yarshater">{{cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/azerbaijan-vii|author=Yarshater, E|date=18 August 2011|title=The Iranian Language of Azerbaijan|publisher=Encyclopædia Iranica|access-date=25 January 2012|archive-date=31 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130131081642/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/azerbaijan-vii|url-status=live}}</ref> In the 11th century AD with Seljuq conquests, [[Oghuz Turks|Oghuz Turkic]] tribes started moving across the Iranian Plateau into the Caucasus and Anatolia. The influx of the Oghuz and other [[Turkoman (ethnonym)|Turkmen]] tribes was further accentuated by the Mongol invasion.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/arran-a-region|author=Bosworth, C. E.|date=12 August 2011|title=Arran|publisher=Encyclopædia Iranica|access-date=25 January 2012|archive-date=27 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170727092744/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/arran-a-region|url-status=live}}</ref> These Turkmen tribes spread as smaller groups, a number of which settled down in the Caucasus and Iran, resulting in the [[Turkification]] of the local population. Over time they converted to [[Shia Islam]] and gradually absorbed [[Azerbaijan (Iran)|Azerbaijan]] and [[Shirvan]].<ref name="roy">{{cite book|author=Roy, Olivier|author-link=Olivier Roy (professor)|year=2007|title=The new Central Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-eMcn6Ik1v0C&pg=PA7|publisher=I.B. Tauris|isbn=978-1-84511-552-4|page=6|quote=The mass of the Oghuz who crossed the Amu Darya towards the west left the Iranian plateau, which remained Persian, and established themselves more to the west, in Anatolia. Here they divided into Ottomans, who were Sunni and settled, and Turkmens, who were nomads and in part Shiite (or, rather, Alevi). The latter was to keep the name 'Turkmen' for a long time: from the 13th century onwards they 'Turkified' the Iranian populations of Azerbaijan (who spoke west Iranian languages such as Tat, which is still found in residual forms), thus creating a new identity based on Shiism and the use of Turkish. These are the people today known as Azeris.|access-date=8 May 2020|archive-date=3 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803141204/https://books.google.com/books?id=-eMcn6Ik1v0C&pg=PA7|url-status=live}}</ref>
===Ancient period=== [[Caucasian Albanian language|Caucasian-speaking]] [[Caucasian Albania|Albanian]] tribes are believed to be the earliest inhabitants of the region in the north of Aras river, where the Republic of Azerbaijan is located.<ref>{{cite book|author=Coene, Frederik|year=2010|title=The Caucasus: An Introduction|url=https://archive.org/details/caucasusintroduc00coen|url-access=limited|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-48660-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/caucasusintroduc00coen/page/n113 97]}} </ref> The region also saw [[Scythia]]n settlement in the ninth century BC, following which the [[Medes]] came to dominate the area to the south of the [[Aras River]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TsoJhzc426cC&q=Early+Iranian+settlements+included+the+Scythians+in+the+ninth+century+BC&pg=PA586|title=Countries and Territories of the World|access-date=18 March 2015|archive-date=4 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204225107/https://books.google.com/books?id=TsoJhzc426cC&q=Early+Iranian+settlements+included+the+Scythians+in+the+ninth+century+BC&pg=PA586|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[Alexander the Great]] defeated the Achaemenids in 330 BC, but allowed the Median satrap Atropates to remain in power. Following the decline of the [[Seleucid]]s in Persia in 247 BC, an [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Armenian Kingdom]] exercised control over parts of [[Caucasian Albania]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+am0014)|title=Armenia-Ancient Period|publisher=Federal Research Division Library of Congress|access-date=28 January 2012|archive-date=7 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190507140626/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd%2Fcstdy%3A%40field%28DOCID+am0014%29|url-status=live}}</ref> Caucasian Albanians established a kingdom in the first century BC and largely remained independent until the [[Sassanid Empire|Persian Sassanids]] made their kingdom a [[vassal state]] in 252 AD.<ref name="dictionary">{{harvtxt|Swietochowski|Collins|1999|p=165}}: Today, Iranian Azerbaijan has a solid majority of Azeris with an estimated population of at least 15 million (over twice the population of the Azerbaijani Republic). (1999)</ref>{{rp|38}} Caucasian Albania's ruler, King [[Urnayr]], went to Armenia and then officially adopted [[Christianity]] as the state religion in the fourth century AD, and Albania remained a Christian state until the 8th century.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/albania-iranian-aran-arm|author=Chaumont, M. L.|date=29 July 2011|title=Albania|publisher=Encyclopædia Iranica|access-date=28 January 2012|archive-date=26 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200526212016/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/albania-iranian-aran-arm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ai102_folder/102_photos/102_heyerdahl_alexidze.html|author=Alexidze, Zaza|date=Summer 2002|title=Voices of the Ancients: Heyerdahl Intrigued by Rare Caucasus Albanian Text|journal=Azerbaijan International|volume=10|issue=2|pages=26–27|access-date=25 January 2012|archive-date=4 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004044141/http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ai102_folder/102_photos/102_heyerdahl_alexidze.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
===Medieval period=== Sassanid control ended with their defeat by the [[Rashidun Caliphate]] in 642 AD through the [[Muslim conquest of Persia]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/islam/beginnings/sassanid.html |title=Sassanid Empire |work=The Islamic World to 1600 |publisher=University of Calgary |year=1998 |access-date=3 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120213113547/http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/islam/beginnings/sassanid.html |archive-date=13 February 2012}}</ref> The Arabs made Caucasian Albania a vassal state after the Christian resistance, led by Prince [[Javanshir]], surrendered in 667.<ref name="dictionary"/>{{rp|71}} Between the ninth and tenth centuries, Arab authors began to refer to the region between the [[Kura (Caspian Sea)|Kura]] and [[Aras River|Aras]] rivers as ''[[Arran (Azerbaijan)|Arran]]''.<ref name="dictionary"/>{{rp|20}} During this time, Arabs from [[Basra]] and [[Kufa]] came to Azerbaijan and seized lands that indigenous peoples had abandoned; the Arabs became a land-owning elite.<ref name="lapidus">{{cite book|author=Lapidus, Ira|year=1988|title=A History of Islamic Societies|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-77933-3}}</ref>{{rp|48}} Conversion to Islam was slow as local resistance persisted for centuries and resentment grew as small groups of Arabs began migrating to cities such as [[Tabriz]] and [[Maraghah]]. This influx sparked a major rebellion in [[Azarbaijan (Iran)|Iranian Azerbaijan]] from 816 to 837, led by an Iranian [[Zoroastrian]] commoner named [[Babak Khorramdin]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Kennedy, Hugh|author-link=Hugh N. Kennedy|year=1992|title=The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates|url=https://archive.org/details/prophetagecaliph00kenn|url-access=limited|publisher=Longman|isbn=978-0-582-40525-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/prophetagecaliph00kenn/page/n182 166]}}</ref> However, despite pockets of continued resistance, the majority of the inhabitants of Azerbaijan converted to Islam. Later, in the 10th and 11th centuries, parts of Azerbaijan were ruled by the [[Kurdish people|Kurdish]] dynasty of [[Shaddadid]] and [[Arab people|Arab]] [[Rawadid dynasty|Radawids]]. [[File:Map of the Seljuk Empire (1092).png|thumb|314x314px|Territorial extent of the [[Seljuk Empire]] in 1090, stretching from [[Karakum Desert]] to modern-day [[Azerbaijan]]]] In the middle of the eleventh century, the [[Seljuk Turks|Seljuq]] dynasty overthrew Arab rule and established an empire that encompassed most of [[Southwest Asia]]. The Seljuk period marked the influx of [[Oghuz Turks|Oghuz]] nomads into the region. The emerging dominance of the Turkic language was chronicled in epic poems or ''dastans'', the oldest being the ''[[Book of Dede Korkut]]'', which relate [[allegory|allegorical]] tales about the early Turks in the Caucasus and [[Asia Minor]].<ref name="dictionary"/>{{rp|45}} Turkic dominion was interrupted by the [[Mongol Empire|Mongols]] in 1227, but it returned with the [[Timurid dynasty|Timurids]] and then [[Sunni]] [[Kara Koyunlu|Qara Qoyunlū]] (Black Sheep Turkmen) and [[Aq Qoyunlu|Aq Qoyunlū]] (White Sheep Turkmen), who dominated Azerbaijan, large parts of Iran, eastern Anatolia, and other minor parts of West Asia, until the [[Shi'a Islam|Shi'a]] [[Safavid dynasty|Safavids]] took power in 1501.<ref name="dictionary"/>{{rp|113}}<ref name="lapidus"/>{{rp|285}}
===Early modern period=== {{See also|Treaty of Gulistan|Treaty of Turkmenchay}} [[File:Shirvan Tatar, engraving from 1839.jpg|left|thumb|upright=0.75|Shirvan Tatar (i.e. Azerbaijani). Engraving from book of Jean Baptiste Benoît Eyriès. Voyage pittoresque en Asie et en Afrique: résumé général des voyages anciens et modernes... T. I, 1839]]
The [[Safavids]], who rose from around [[Ardabil]] in Iranian Azerbaijan and lasted until 1722, established the foundations of the modern Iranian state.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/islam/empires/safavid/ |title=The Safavid Empire |publisher=University of Calgary |access-date=8 June 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060427202257/http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/islam/empires/safavid/ |archive-date=27 April 2006 }}</ref> The Safavids, alongside their [[Ottoman Turks|Ottoman]] archrivals, dominated the entire West Asian region and beyond for centuries. At its peak under [[Shah Abbas I|Shah Abbas the Great]], it rivaled its political and ideological archrival the [[Ottoman Empire]] in military strength. Noted for achievements in state-building, architecture, and the sciences, the Safavid state crumbled due to internal decay (mostly royal intrigues), ethnic minority uprisings and external pressures from the [[Russian Empire|Russians]], and the eventually opportunistic [[Hotaki|Afghans]], who would mark the end of the dynasty. The Safavids encouraged and spread Shi'a Islam, as well as the arts and culture, and Shah [[Abbas I of Persia|Abbas the Great]] created an intellectual atmosphere that according to some scholars was a new "golden age".<ref name="Sammis">{{cite book|author=Sammis, Kathy|year=2002|title=Focus on World History: The First Global Age and the Age of Revolution|publisher=J. Weston Walch|isbn=978-0-8251-4370-0|page=39}}</ref> He reformed the government and the military and responded to the needs of the common people.<ref name="Sammis"/>
After the Safavid state disintegrated, it was followed by the conquest by [[Nader Shah Afshar]], a Shia chieftain from [[Khorasan Province|Khorasan]] who reduced the power of the ghulat Shi'a and empowered a moderate form of Shi'ism,<ref name="lapidus"/>{{rp|300}} and, exceptionally noted for his military genius, making Iran reach its greatest extent since the [[Sassanid Empire]]. The brief reign of [[Karim Khan]] came next, followed by the [[Qajar dynasty|Qajars]], who ruled what is the present-day Azerbaijan Republic and Iran from 1779.<ref name="dictionary"/>{{rp|106}} Russia loomed as a threat to Persian and Turkish holdings in the Caucasus in this period. The [[Russo-Persian Wars]], despite already having had minor military conflicts in the 17th century, officially began in the eighteenth century and ended in the early nineteenth century with the [[Treaty of Gulistan]] of 1813 and the [[Treaty of Turkmenchay]] in 1828, which ceded the Caucasian portion of Qajar Iran to the [[Russian Empire]].<ref name="altstadt"/>{{rp|17}} While Azerbaijanis in Iran integrated into Iranian society, Azerbaijanis who used to live in Aran, were incorporated into the Russian Empire. [[File:"Young noble Tatar", drawing by Vasily Vereshchagin, Shusha, 1865.jpg|thumb|332x332px|"Young noble Tatar," by [[Vasily Vereshchagin]]. [[Shusha]], 1865]] Despite the Russian conquest, throughout the entire 19th century, preoccupation with [[Culture of Iran|Iranian culture]], [[Literature of Iran|literature]], and language remained widespread amongst Shia and Sunni intellectuals in the Russian-held cities of [[Baku]], [[Ganja, Azerbaijan|Ganja]] and Tiflis ([[Tbilisi]], now Georgia).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gasimov |first1=Zaur |title=Observing Iran from Baku: Iranian Studies in Soviet and Post-Soviet Azerbaijan |journal=Iranian Studies |date=2022|volume=55|issue=1|page=38|doi=10.1080/00210862.2020.1865136|s2cid=233889871 |quote=The preoccupation with Iranian culture, literature, and language was widespread among Baku-, Ganja-, and Tiflis-based Shia as well as Sunni intellectuals, and it never ceased throughout the nineteenth century. }}</ref> Within the same century, in post-Iranian Russian-held East Caucasia, an [[Azerbaijani national identity]] emerged at the end of the 19th century.<ref name="Gasimov1">{{cite journal |last1=Gasimov |first1=Zaur |title=Observing Iran from Baku: Iranian Studies in Soviet and Post-Soviet Azerbaijan |journal=Iranian Studies |date=2022|volume=55|issue=1|page=37|doi=10.1080/00210862.2020.1865136|s2cid=233889871 |quote=Azerbaijani national identity emerged in post-Persian Russian-ruled East Caucasia at the end of the nineteenth century, and was finally forged during the early Soviet period.}}</ref> In 1891, the idea of recognizing oneself as an "Azerbaijani Turk" was first popularized amongst the Caucasus Tatars in the periodical ''Kashkül''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bishku |first1=Michael B. |title=The Status and Limits to Aspirations of Minorities in the South Caucasus States |journal=Contemporary Review of the Middle East |date=2022 |volume=9 |issue=4 |page=414 |doi=10.1177/23477989221115917|s2cid=251777404 }}</ref> The articles printed in ''Kaspiy'' and ''Kashkül'' in 1891 are typically credited as being the earliest expressions of a cultural Azerbaijani identity.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Broers |first1=Laurence |title=Armenia and Azerbaijan: Anatomy of a Rivalry |date=2019 |page= 326 (note 9)|publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-1-4744-5052-2}}</ref>
Modernisation—compared to the neighboring [[Armenians]] and [[Georgians]]—was slow to develop amongst the Tatars of the Russian Caucasus. According to the 1897 [[Russian Empire census]], less than five percent of the Tatars were able to read or write. The intellectual and newspaper editor [[Ali bey Huseynzade]] (1864–1940) led a campaign to 'Turkify, Islamise, modernise' the Caucasian Tatars, whereas [[Mammed Said Ordubadi]] (1872–1950), another journalist and activist, criticized superstition amongst Muslims.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pourjavady |first1=R. |editor1-last=Thomas |editor1-first=David |editor2-last=Chesworth |editor2-first=John A. |title=Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History Volume 20. Iran, Afghanistan and the Caucasus (1800–1914) |date=2023 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden, The Netherlands |page=20 |chapter=Introduction: Iran, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia in the 19th century}}</ref>
===Modern period in Republic of Azerbaijan=== [[File:1ST AZ REP.GIF|thumb|upright=0.95|Map of [[Azerbaijan Democratic Republic]] presented by the Azerbaijani delegation [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]] in 1919.]] [[File:Flag of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan (1918).svg|thumb|upright=0.95|First flag of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (until 9 November 1918)<ref>Азербайджанская Демократическая Республика (1918―1920). Законодательные акты. (Сборник документов). — Баку, 1998, С.188</ref>]] [[File:Army of Azerbaijan in 1918.jpg|thumb|upright=1.05|Soldiers and officers of the army of [[Azerbaijan Democratic Republic]] in 1918]] After the collapse of the Russian Empire during [[World War I]], the short-lived [[Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic]] was declared, constituting what are the present-day republics of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia. This was followed by [[March Days]] massacres<ref name="Swietochowski Borderland">Russia and a Divided Azerbaijan: A Borderland in Transition, by Tadeusz Świętochowski, Columbia University Press, 1995, p. 66</ref><ref name="smithmusavat">{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Michael |date=April 2001 |title=Anatomy of Rumor: Murder Scandal, the Musavat Party and Narrative of the Russian Revolution in Baku, 1917–1920 |journal=Journal of Contemporary History |volume=36 |issue=2 |page=228 |doi= 10.1177/002200940103600202|s2cid=159744435 |quote=The results of the March events were immediate and total for the Musavat. Several hundreds of its members were killed in the fighting; up to 12,000 Muslim civilians perished; thousands of others fled Baku in a mass exodus}}</ref> that took place between 30 March and 2 April 1918 in the city of Baku and adjacent areas of the [[Baku Governorate]] of the [[Russian Empire]].<ref name="Smith">{{cite web |url=http://old.sakharov-center.ru/publications/azrus/az_004.htm |title=Pamiat' ob utratakh i Azerbaidzhanskoe obshchestvo/Traumatic Loss and Azerbaijani. National Memory |author=Michael Smith |work=Azerbaidzhan i Rossiia: obshchestva i gosudarstva (Azerbaijan and Russia: Societies and States) |publisher=Sakharov Center |access-date=21 August 2011 |language=ru |archive-date=1 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200401031542/http://old.sakharov-center.ru/publications/azrus/az_004.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> When the republic dissolved in May 1918, the leading [[Musavat|Musavat party]] adopted the name "Azerbaijan" for the newly established [[Azerbaijan Democratic Republic]], which was proclaimed on 27 May 1918,<ref>{{cite book |first=Touraj |last=Atabaki |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M3adD9kNH1gC&pg=PA132 |title=Iran and the First World War: Battleground of the Great Powers' |publisher=I.B.Tauris |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-86064-964-6 |page=132 |access-date=6 December 2016 |archive-date=21 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170321184000/https://books.google.com/books?id=M3adD9kNH1gC&pg=PA132 |url-status=live }}</ref> for political reasons,<ref name="Routledgeb">{{cite book|last1=Yilmaz|first1=Harun|title=National Identities in Soviet Historiography: The Rise of Nations Under Stalin|date=2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-59664-6|page=21|quote=On May 27, the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan (DRA) was declared with Ottoman military support. The rulers of the DRA refused to identify themselves as [Transcaucasian] Tatar, which they rightfully considered to be a Russian colonial definition. (...) Neighboring Iran did not welcome the DRA's adoption of the name of "Azerbaijan" for the country because it could also refer to Iranian Azerbaijan and implied a territorial claim.}}</ref><ref name="Sochineniya, vol II/1b">{{cite book|last1=Barthold|first1=Vasily|title=Sochineniya, vol II/1|date=1963|location=Moscow|publisher=none|page=706|quote=(...) whenever it is necessary to choose a name that will encompass all regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan, name [[Arran (Caucasus)|Arran]] can be chosen. But the term Azerbaijan was chosen because when the Azerbaijan republic was created, it was assumed that this and the [[Iranian Azerbaijan|Persian Azerbaijan]] will be one entity because the population of both has a big similarity. On this basis, the word Azerbaijan was chosen. Of course right now when the word Azerbaijan is used, it has two meanings as Persian Azerbaijan and as a republic, its confusing and a question arises as to which Azerbaijan is talked about.}}</ref> even though the name of "Azerbaijan" had been used to refer to the [[Iranian Azerbaijan|adjacent region of contemporary northwestern Iran]].<ref name="I.B.Tauris">{{cite book |last1=Atabaki |first1=Touraj |title=Azerbaijan: Ethnicity and the Struggle for Power in Iran |date=2000 |publisher=I.B.Tauris |isbn=978-1-86064-554-9 |page=25}}</ref><ref name="Amsterdam University Pressb">{{cite book|last1=Rezvani|first1=Babak|title=Ethno-territorial conflict and coexistence in the Caucasus, Central Asia and Fereydan: academisch proefschrift|date=2014|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|location=Amsterdam|isbn=978-90-485-1928-6|page=356|quote=The region to the north of the river Araxes was not called Azerbaijan prior to 1918, unlike the region in northwestern Iran that has been called since so long ago.}}</ref> The ADR was the first modern [[parliamentary republic]] in the Turkic world and [[Muslim world]].<ref name="Swietochowski Borderland"/><ref name="kazemzadeh"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Schulze |first=Reinhard |title=A Modern History of the Islamic World |publisher=I.B. Tauris |year=2000 |isbn=978-1-86064-822-9}}</ref> Among the important accomplishments of the Parliament was the extension of suffrage to women, making Azerbaijan the first Muslim nation to grant women equal political rights with men.<ref name="kazemzadeh"/> Another important accomplishment of ADR was the establishment of [[Baku State University]], which was the first modern-type university founded in Muslim East.<ref name="kazemzadeh">{{Cite book| last = Kazemzadeh | first = Firuz |author-link=Firuz Kazemzadeh | title = The Struggle for Transcaucasia: 1917–1921 | publisher = The New York Philosophical Library | orig-year= 1951 |year=1981 |isbn=978-0-8305-0076-5 | pages = 124, 222, 229, 269–270 }}</ref>
By March 1920, it was obvious that Soviet Russia would attack the much-needed Baku. [[Vladimir Lenin]] said that the invasion was justified as [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Soviet Russia]] could not survive without Baku's [[petroleum|oil]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Горянин |first=Александр |script-title=ru:Очень черное золото |publisher=GlobalRus |date=28 August 2003 |url=http://www.globalrus.ru/print_this/134413/ |access-date=28 August 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030906163920/http://www.globalrus.ru/print_this/134413/ |archive-date=6 September 2003 |url-status=live |language=ru}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| last = Горянин| first = Александр| script-title = ru:История города Баку. Часть 3.| publisher = Window2Baku| url = http://www.window2baku.com/001history_3.htm| language = ru| access-date = 22 July 2014| archive-date = 21 March 2017| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170321183819/http://www.window2baku.com/001history_3.htm| url-status = live}}</ref> Independent Azerbaijan lasted only 23 months until the [[Bolshevik]] [[11th Soviet Red Army]] invaded it, establishing the [[Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic|Azerbaijan SSR]] on 28 April 1920. Although the bulk of the newly formed Azerbaijani army was engaged in putting down an Armenian revolt that had just broken out in [[Karabakh]], Azeris did not surrender their brief independence of 1918–20 quickly or easily. As many as 20,000 Azerbaijani soldiers died resisting what was effectively a Russian reconquest.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pope|first=Hugh |year=2006|title=Sons of the conquerors: the rise of the Turkic world|page= 116 |location=New York |publisher=The Overlook Press |isbn=978-1-58567-804-4}}</ref>
The brief independence gained by the short-lived Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1918–1920 was followed by over 70 years of [[Soviet Union|Soviet rule]].<ref name=nichol/>{{rp|91}} Nevertheless, it was in the early Soviet period that the Azerbaijani national identity was forged.<ref name="Gasimov1"/> After the restoration of independence in October 1991, the Republic of Azerbaijan became embroiled in a war with neighboring Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.<ref name=nichol/>{{rp|97}}
The [[First Nagorno-Karabakh War]] resulted in the displacement of approximately 725,000 Azerbaijanis and 300,000–500,000 Armenians from both Azerbaijan and Armenia.<ref>{{cite news|last=Haider|first=Hans|title=Gefährliche Töne im "Frozen War"|url=https://www.wienerzeitung.at/nachrichten/welt-europa/weltpolitik/513109_Gefaehrliche-Toene-im-Frozen-War.html|access-date=18 November 2020|work=Wiener Zeitung|date=2 January 2013|language=de}}</ref> As a result of the [[2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war]], Azerbaijan took control of 5 cities, 4 towns, 286 villages in the region.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://azertag.az/xeber/Isgaldan_azad_edilmis_seher_ve_kendlerimiz-1622227|title=İşğaldan azad edilmiş şəhər və kəndlərimiz|work=[[Azerbaijan State News Agency]]|date=1 December 2020|access-date=1 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201118125709/https://azertag.az/xeber/Isgaldan_azad_edilmis_seher_ve_kendlerimiz-1622227 |archive-date=18 November 2020 |language=az |url-status=live}}</ref> According to the [[2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement]], internally displaced persons and refugees shall return to the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent areas under the supervision of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/64384|title=Statement by President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia and President of the Russian Federation|website=[[Kremlin.ru]]|date=10 November 2020 }}</ref>
===Modern period in Iran=== [[File:Sattar Khan.jpg|thumb|upright=0.85|[[Sattar Khan]] (1868–1914) was a major [[Persian Constitutional Revolution|revolutionary]] figure in the late [[Qajar dynasty|Qajar]] period in Iran.]] In Iran, Azerbaijanis such as [[Sattar Khan]] sought constitutional reform.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sattar-khan-one-of-the-most-popular-heroes-from-tabriz-who-defended-the-town-during-the-lesser-autocracy-in-1908-09|author=Pistor-Hatam, Anja|title=Sattār Khan|publisher=Encyclopædia Iranica|date=20 July 2009|access-date=6 February 2012|archive-date=17 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171117091146/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sattar-khan-one-of-the-most-popular-heroes-from-tabriz-who-defended-the-town-during-the-lesser-autocracy-in-1908-09|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Persian Constitutional Revolution]] of 1906–11 shook the Qajar dynasty. A parliament (''Majlis'') was founded on the efforts of the constitutionalists, and pro-democracy newspapers appeared. The last Shah of the Qajar dynasty was soon removed in a military coup led by [[Reza Khan]]. In the quest to impose national homogeneity on a country where half of the population were ethnic minorities, Reza Shah banned in quick succession the use of the Azerbaijani language in schools, theatrical performances, religious ceremonies, and books.<ref>{{cite book|author=Swietochowski, Tadeusz|year=1995|title=Russia and Azerbaijan: A Borderland in Transition|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-07068-3}}</ref>
Upon the dethronement of Reza Shah in September 1941, Soviet forces [[Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran|took control]] of [[Iranian Azerbaijan]] and helped to set up the [[Azerbaijan People's Government]], a [[client state]] under the leadership of [[Sayyid Jafar Pishevari]] backed by [[Soviet Azerbaijan]]. The Soviet military presence in Iranian Azerbaijan was mainly aimed at securing the [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] supply route during [[World War II]]. Concerned with the continued Soviet presence after World War II, the United States and Britain pressured the Soviets to withdraw by [[Iran crisis of 1946|late 1946]]. Immediately thereafter, the Iranian government regained control of Iranian Azerbaijan. According to Professor Gary R. Hess, local Azerbaijanis favored the Iranian rule, while the Soviets forewent the Iranian Azerbaijan due to the exaggerated sentiment for autonomy and oil being their top priority.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.azargoshnasp.net/recent_history/atoor/theiraniancriris194546.pdf|title=The Iranian Crisis of 1945–46 and the Cold War|author=Hess, Gary. R.|journal=Political Science Quarterly|volume=89|issue=1|date=March 1974|pages=117–146|doi=10.2307/2148118|jstor=2148118|access-date=28 January 2012|archive-date=25 March 2009|archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20090325231811/http://www.azargoshnasp.net/recent_history/atoor/theiraniancriris194546.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Origins== {{Main|Origin of the Azerbaijanis}}
{{multiple issues| {{Original research|section|date=January 2021}} }}
In many references, Azerbaijanis are designated as a [[Turkic peoples|Turkic people]],<ref name="golden">{{cite book|author=Golden, Peter B.|year=1992|title=An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples|url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontohi00gold|url-access=limited|publisher=Otto Harrasowitz|isbn=978-3-447-03274-2|pages=[https://archive.org/details/introductiontohi00gold/page/n395 385]–386}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Turkic Peoples|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Americana| volume=27|page=276|publisher=Grolier|year=1998|isbn=978-0-7172-0130-3}}</ref> while some sources describe the origin of Azerbaijanis as "unclear",<ref name="Matveeva_2002">{{cite report |author=Anna Matveeva |date=2002 |title=The South Caucasus:Nationalism, Conflict and Minorities |url=https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/469cbfd90.pdf |publisher=Minority Rights Group International |access-date=11 March 2021 |quote=The ethnic origins of the Azeris are unclear. The prevailing view is that Azeris are a Turkic people, but there is also a claim that Azeris are Turkicized Caucasians or, as the Iranian official history claims, Turkicized Aryans.}}</ref> mainly Caucasian,<ref>{{cite book|author=[[Yuri Kobishchanov|Kobishchanov, Yuri M.]]|year=1979|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K4RyAAAAMAAJ&q=azerbaidjanians|title=Axum|publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press|isbn=978-0-271-00531-7|page=89|access-date=8 May 2020|archive-date=4 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204225202/https://books.google.com/books?id=K4RyAAAAMAAJ&q=azerbaidjanians|url-status=live}}</ref> mainly Iranian,<ref>Roy, Olivier (2007). The new Central Asia. I.B. Tauris. p. 6. {{ISBN|978-1-84511-552-4}}. "The mass of the Oghuz who crossed the Amu Darya towards the west left the Iranian plateaux, which remained Persian, and established themselves more to the west, in Anatolia. Here they divided into Ottomans, who were Sunni and settled, and Turkmens, who were nomads and in part Shiite (or, rather, Alevi). The latter was to keep the name 'Turkmen' for a long time: from the 13th century onwards they 'Turkified' the Iranian populations of Azerbaijan (who spoke west Iranian languages such as Tat, which is still found in residual forms), thus creating a new identity based on Shiism and the use of Turkish. These are the people today known as Azeris."</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=IRAN v. PEOPLES OF IRAN (1) A General Survey |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Iranica]] |date=15 December 2004 |last=Frye |first=R. N. |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/iran-v1-peoples-survey |access-date=11 March 2021}}</ref> mixed [[Caucasian Albania]]n and Turkish,<ref name="Suny">{{cite journal |author=Suny, Ronald G. |author-link=Ronald Grigor Suny |date=July–August 1988 |title=What Happened in Soviet Armenia? |journal=Middle East Report |issue=153, Islam and the State |pages=37–40 |doi=10.2307/3012134 |jstor=3012134}} "The Albanians in the eastern plain leading down to the Caspian Sea mixed with the Turkish population and eventually became Muslims." "...while the eastern Transcaucasian countryside was home to a very large Turkic-speaking Muslim population. The Russians referred to them as Tartars, but we now consider them Azerbaijanis, a distinct people with their own language and culture."</ref> and mixed with Caucasian, Iranian, and Turkic elements.<ref name="Cornell_2015">{{cite book|author=Svante E. Cornell|title=Azerbaijan Since Independence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TaZzCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA7|date=20 May 2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-47621-4|pages=5–7|access-date=15 December 2015|archive-date=17 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160517094253/https://books.google.com/books?id=TaZzCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA7|url-status=live}} "If native Caucasian, Iranian, and Turkic populations – among others – dominated Azerbaijan from the fourth century CE onwards, the Turkic element would grow increasingly dominant in linguistic terms,5 while the Persian element retained strong cultural and religious influence." "Following the Seljuk great power period, the Turkic element in Azerbaijan was further strengthened by migrations during the Mongol onslaught of the thirteenth century and the subsequent domination by the Turkmen Qaraqoyunlu and Aq-qoyunlu dynasties."</ref> Russian historian and orientalist [[Vladimir Minorsky]] writes that largely Iranian and Caucasian populations became Turkic-speaking following the Oghuz occupation of the region, though the characteristic features of the local Turkic language, such as Persian intonations and disregard of the vocalic harmony, were a remnant of the non-Turkic population.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|author=Minorsky, V.|title=Azarbaijan|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam|editor1=Bearman, P. |editor2=Bianquis, Th. |editor3=Bosworth, C. E. |editor4=van Donzel, E. |editor5=Heinrichs, W. P. |publisher=Brill|edition=2nd}}</ref> [[File:Court of Seljuk ruler Tughril III.jpg|thumb|371x371px|[[Toghrul III]] (center), last ruler of the Seljuks, an empire founded by [[Oghuz Turks]] of the [[Seljuk dynasty|Seljuk Oghuz clan]] ]] Historical research suggests that the [[Old Azeri|Old Azeri language]], belonging to the Northwestern branch of the Iranian languages and believed to have descended from the language of the Medes,<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Iranian languages|date=2009|publisher=Routledgec|author=Windfuhr, Gernot |isbn=978-0-7007-1131-4|location=London |oclc=312730458 |page=15}}</ref> gradually gained currency and was widely spoken in said region for many centuries.<ref name="LANDS OF IRAN">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/iran-i-lands-of-iran|title=IRAN i. LANDS OF IRAN|first=Xavier de|last=Planhol|volume=XIII|pages=204–212|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica|access-date=30 December 2012|archive-date=17 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160517050350/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/iran-i-lands-of-iran|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="peoples survey">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/iran-v1-peoples-survey|title=IRAN v. PEOPLES OF IRAN (1) A General Survey|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica|first=R. N.|last=Frye|pages=321–326|volume=XIII|access-date=30 December 2012|archive-date=17 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190517075943/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/iran-v1-peoples-survey|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Minorsky|first=V|title=Azerbaijan|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam|editor=Bearman, P.|editor2=Bianquis, Th.|editor3=Bosworth, C.E.|editor4=Donzel, E. van|editor5=Heinrichs, W.P.|publisher=Brill}}</ref><ref name="roy2">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-eMcn6Ik1v0C&pg=PA7|title=The new Central Asia|author=Roy, Olivier|publisher=I.B. Tauris|year=2007|isbn=978-1-84511-552-4|page=6|quote=The mass of the Oghuz who crossed the Amu Darya towards the west left the [[Iranian plateau]], which remained Persian, and established themselves more to the west, in Anatolia. Here they divided into Ottomans, who were Sunni and settled, and Turkmens, who were nomads and in part Shiite (or, rather, Alevi). The latter were to keep the name 'Turkmen' for a long time: from the 13th century onwards they 'Turkised' the Iranian populations of Azerbaijan (who spoke west Iranian languages such as Tat, which is still found in residual forms), thus creating a new identity based on Shiism and the use of Turkish. These are the people today known as Azeris.|author-link=Olivier Roy (professor)|access-date=8 May 2020|archive-date=3 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803141204/https://books.google.com/books?id=-eMcn6Ik1v0C&pg=PA7|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/azerbaijan-vii|title=AZERBAIJAN vii. The Iranian Language of Azerbaijan|last=Yarshater|first=Ehsan|date=15 December 1988|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica|access-date=3 May 2015|archive-date=31 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130131081642/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/azerbaijan-vii|url-status=live}}</ref>
Some Azerbaijanis of the Republic of Azerbaijan are believed to be descended from the inhabitants of [[Caucasian Albania]], an ancient country located in the eastern [[Caucasus]] region, and various Iranian peoples which settled the region.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sourdel|first=D.|date=1959|title=V. MINORSKY, A History of Sharvan and Darband in the 10th–11th centuries, 1 vol. in-8°, 187 p. et 32 p. (texte arabe), Cambridge (Heffer and Sons), 1958|journal=Arabica|volume=6|issue=3|pages=326–327|doi=10.1163/157005859x00208|issn=0570-5398}}</ref> They claim there is evidence that, due to repeated invasions and migrations, the aboriginal Caucasian population may have gradually been culturally and linguistically assimilated, first by Iranian peoples, such as the [[Persian people|Persians]],<ref>{{Cite book|title=Istorii︠a︡ Vostoka: v shesti tomakh|date=1995–2008|publisher=Izdatelʹskai︠a︡ firma "Vostochnai︠a︡ lit-ra" RAN |author1=Rybakov, R. B. |author2=Kapit︠s︡a, Mikhail Stepanovich |isbn=5-02-018102-1|location=Moscow|oclc=38520460}}</ref> and later by the [[Oghuz Turks]]. Considerable information has been learned about the Caucasian Albanians, including [[Caucasian Albanian language|their language]], history, early conversion to [[Christianity]], and relations with the [[Armenians]] and [[Georgians]], under whose strong religious and cultural influence the Caucasian Albanians came in the coming centuries.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Weitenberg|first=J.J.S.|date=1984|title=Thomas J. SAMUELIAN (ed.), Classical Armenian Culture. Influences and Creativity. Proceedings of the first Dr. H. Markarian Conference on Armenian culture (University of Pennsylvania Armenian Texts and Studies 4), Scholars Press, Chico, CA 1982, xii and 233 pp., paper $ 15,75 (members $ 10,50), cloth $ 23,50 (members $ 15,75)|journal=Journal for the Study of Judaism|volume=15|issue=1–2|pages=198–199|doi=10.1163/157006384x00411|issn=0047-2212}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Suny|first1=Ronald G.|last2=Stork|first2=Joe|date=July 1988|title=Ronald G. Suny: What Happened in Soviet Armenia?|journal=Middle East Report|issue=153|pages=37–40|doi=10.2307/3012134|issn=0899-2851|jstor=3012134}}</ref>
===Turkic origin and Turkification=== {{see also|Turkification}} Turkification of the non-Turkic population derives from the Turkic settlements in the area now known as Azerbaijan, which began and accelerated during the [[Seljuk Turks|Seljuk]] period.<ref name= golden/> The migration of Oghuz Turks from present-day [[Turkmenistan]], which is attested by linguistic similarity, remained high through the Mongol period, as many troops under the [[Ilkhanids]] were Turkic. By the [[Safavid]] period, the Turkic nature of Azerbaijan increased with the influence of the [[Qizilbash]], an association of the [[Turkoman (ethnonym)|Turkoman]]<ref>David Blow. ''Shah Abbas: The Ruthless King Who Became an Iranian Legend.'' p. 165. "The primary court language remained Turkish. But it was not the Turkish of Istambul. It was a Turkish dialect, the dialect of the '''Qizilbash Turkomans'''..."</ref> nomadic tribes that was the backbone of the Safavid Empire.
According to Soviet scholars, the Turkicization of Azerbaijan was largely completed during the Ilkhanid period. Faruk Sümer posits three periods in which Turkicization took place: Seljuk, Mongol and Post-Mongol (Qara Qoyunlu, Aq Qoyunlu and Safavid). In the first two, Oghuz Turkic tribes advanced or were driven to Anatolia and Arran. In the last period, the Turkic elements in Iran (Oghuz, with lesser admixtures of Uyghur, Qipchaq, Qarluq as well as Turkicized Mongols) were joined now by Anatolian Turks migrating back to Iran. This marked the final stage of Turkicization.<ref name="golden" />
===Iranian origin=== {{Main|Iranian peoples|Persian peoples|Tat people (Iran)|Tat people (Caucasus)}}
10th-century Arab historian [[Al-Masudi]] attested the [[Old Azeri]] language and described that the region of [[Azerbaijan (Iran)|Azerbaijan]] was inhabited by [[Persians]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Al Mas'udi|year=1894|title=Kitab al-Tanbih wa-l-Ishraf|editor=De Goeje, M.J.|publisher=Brill|pages=77–78|language=ar}} Arabic text: "قد قدمنا فيما سلف من كتبنا ما قاله الناس في بدء النسل، وتفرقهم على وجه الأرض، وما ذهب إليه كل فريق منهم في ذلك من الشرعيين وغيرهم ممن قال بحدوث العالم وأبى الانقياد إلى الشرائع من البراهمة وغيرهم، وما قاله أصحاب القدم في ذلك من الهند والفلاسفة وأصحاب الاثنين من المانوية وغيرهم على تباينهم في ذلك، فلنذكر الآن الأمم السبع ذهب من عني بأخبار سوالف الأمم ومساكنهم إلى أن أجل الأمم وعظماءهم كانوا في سوالف الدهر سبعاً يتميزون بثلاثة أشياء: بشيمهم الطبيعية، وخلقهم الطبيعية، وألسنتهم فالفرس أمة حد بلادها الجبال من الماهات وغيرها وآذربيجان إلى ما يلي بلاد أرمينية وأران والبيلقان إلى دربند وهو الباب والأبواب والري وطبرستن والمسقط والشابران وجرجان وابرشهر، وهي نيسابور، وهراة ومرو وغير ذلك من بلاد خراسان وسجستان وكرمان وفارس والأهواز، وما اتصل بذلك من أرض الأعاجم في هذا الوقت وكل هذه البلاد كانت مملكة واحدة ملكها ملك واحد ولسانها واحد، إلا أنهم كانوا يتباينون في شيء يسير من اللغات."</ref> Archaeological evidence indicates that the Iranian religion of [[Zoroastrianism]] was prominent throughout the Caucasus before Christianity and Islam.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iras.ucalgary.ca/~volk/sylvia/FireTemple.htm |title=Various Zoroastrian Fire-Temples |publisher=University of Calgary |date=1 February 2000 |access-date=8 June 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060430091558/http://www.iras.ucalgary.ca/~volk/sylvia/FireTemple.htm |archive-date=30 April 2006 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4ZLxt6LsgKUC&q=Zoroastrianism+in+Azerbaijan&pg=PA26|title=Ethnicity, Nationalism and Conflict in the South Caucasus|access-date=18 March 2015|isbn=978-1-4094-3630-0|last1=Geukjian|first1=Ohannes|year=2012|publisher=Ashgate Publishing |archive-date=4 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204225106/https://books.google.com/books?id=4ZLxt6LsgKUC&q=Zoroastrianism+in+Azerbaijan&pg=PA26|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_B2W1YOG3N10C|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_B2W1YOG3N10C/page/n158 106]|title=Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia|publisher=DIANE Publishing|access-date=18 March 2015|isbn=978-0-7881-2813-4|last1=Suny|first1=Ronald G.|date=April 1996}}</ref> According to [[Encyclopaedia Iranica]], Azerbaijanis mainly originate from the earlier Iranian speakers, who still exist to this day in smaller numbers, and a massive migration of Oghuz Turks in the 11th and 12th centuries gradually Turkified Azerbaijan as well as Anatolia.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/iran-v1-peoples-survey|title=Peoples of Iran|author=Frye, R. N.|publisher=Encyclopædia Iranica|date=15 December 2004|access-date=29 January 2012|archive-date=17 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190517075943/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/iran-v1-peoples-survey|url-status=live}}</ref>
===Caucasian origin=== {{Main|Peoples of the Caucasus|Caucasian Albania}} [[File:Azerbaijani woman from Shusha in silk national garments.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Azerbaijani girl from [[Shusha]] in silk national garments]]
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, the Azerbaijanis are of mixed descent, originating in the indigenous population of eastern Transcaucasia and possibly the Medians from northern Iran.<ref name="eb">{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/46833/Azerbaijani|title=Azerbaijani (people)|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=24 January 2012|archive-date=6 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006093258/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/46833/Azerbaijani|url-status=live}}</ref> There is evidence that, due to repeated invasions and migrations, aboriginal [[Caucasian Albania|Caucasians]] may have been culturally assimilated, first by [[Ancient Iranian peoples]] and later by the Oghuz. Considerable information has been learned about the Caucasian Albanians including their language, history, early conversion to [[Christianity]]. The [[Udi language]], still spoken in Azerbaijan, may be a remnant of the Albanians' language.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lrz.de/~wschulze/Udigen1.htm |title=The Udi Language |publisher=University of Munich |author=Schulze, Wolfgang |date=2001–2002 |access-date=29 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205043611/http://www.lrz.de/~wschulze/Udigen1.htm |archive-date=5 February 2012}}</ref>
===Genetics=== {{See also|Genetic history of the Middle East|Genetic history of Europe}} {{primary sources|section|date=January 2021}}
Contemporary Western Asian genomes, a region that includes Azerbaijan, have been greatly influenced by early agricultural populations in the area; later population movements, such as those of Turkic speakers, also contributed.<ref name="Taskent_et_al_2017">{{cite journal| author=Taskent RO, Gokcumen O| title=The Multiple Histories of Western Asia: Perspectives from Ancient and Modern Genomes. | journal=Hum Biol | year= 2017 | volume= 89 | issue= 2 | pages= 107–117 | pmid=29299965 | doi=10.13110/humanbiology.89.2.01 | s2cid=6871226 }}</ref> However, as of 2017, there is no [[whole genome sequencing]] study for Azerbaijan; sampling limitations such as these prevent forming a "finer-scale picture of the genetic history of the region".<ref name="Taskent_et_al_2017"/>
A 2014 study comparing the genetics of the populations from Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, (which were grouped as "Western [[Silk Road]]") Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan (grouped as "Eastern Silk Road") found that the samples from Azerbaijan were the only group from the Western Silk Road to show significant contribution from the Eastern Silk Road, despite the overall clustering with the other samples from the Western Silk Road. The eastern input into the Azerbaijani genetics was estimated to be roughly 25 generations ago, corresponding to the time of the [[Mongol invasions and conquests|Mongolian expansion]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mezzavilla |first1=Massimo |last2=Vozzi |first2=Diego |last3=Pirastu |first3=Nicola |last4=Girotto |first4=Giorgia |last5=d'Adamo |first5=Pio |last6=Gasparini |first6=Paolo |last7=Colonna |first7=Vincenza |title=Genetic landscape of populations along the Silk Road: admixture and migration patterns |journal=BMC Genetics |date=5 December 2014 |volume=15 |issue=1 |page=131 |doi=10.1186/s12863-014-0131-6 |pmid=25476266 |pmc=4267745 |issn=1471-2156|doi-access=free }}</ref>
A 2002 study focusing on eleven Y-chromosome markers suggested that Azerbaijanis are genetically more related to their Caucasian geographic neighbors than to their linguistic neighbors.<ref name="nasidze">{{cite journal|url=http://www.eva.mpg.de/genetics/pdf/Y-paper.pdf |author1=Nasidze, Ivan |author2=Sarkisian, Tamara |author3=Kerimov, Azer |author4=Stoneking, Mark |year=2003 |title=Testing hypotheses of language replacement in the Caucasus |journal=Human Genetics |volume=112 |pages=255–261 |doi=10.1007/s00439-002-0874-4 |pmid=12596050 |issue=3 |s2cid=13232436 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070315195125/http://www.eva.mpg.de/genetics/pdf/Y-paper.pdf |archive-date=15 March 2007}}</ref> Iranian Azerbaijanis are genetically more similar to northern Azerbaijanis and the neighboring Turkic population than they are to geographically distant Turkmen populations.<ref name="andonian">{{cite journal|author=Andonian l. |year=2011 |title=Iranian Azeri's Y-Chromosomal Diversity in the Context of Turkish-Speaking Populations of the Middle East |journal=Iranian J Publ Health |volume=40 |issue=1 |pages=119–123 |pmid=23113065 |pmc=3481719 |url=http://www.ijph.ir/pdfs/17.%20Dr_Laris_1st_edit_Re_3_.pdf |display-authors=etal |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111127222342/http://www.ijph.ir/pdfs/17.%20Dr_Laris_1st_edit_Re_3_.pdf |archive-date=27 November 2011}}</ref> Iranian-speaking populations from Azerbaijan (the [[Talysh people|Talysh]] and [[Tat people (Caucasus)|Tats]]) are genetically closer to Azerbaijanis of the Republic than to other Iranian-speaking populations ([[Persian people]] and [[Kurds]] from Iran, [[Ossetians]], and [[Tajiks]]).<ref>{{cite journal|author=Asadova, P. S.|year=2003|title=Genetic Structure of Iranian-Speaking Populations from Azerbaijan Inferred from the Frequencies of Immunological and Biochemical Gene Markers|journal=Russian Journal of Genetics|volume=39|issue=11|pages=1334–1342|doi=10.1023/B:RUGE.0000004149.62114.92|s2cid=40679768|display-authors=etal}}</ref> Several genetic studies suggested that the Azerbaijanis originate from a native population long resident in the area who adopted a Turkic language through [[Language shift|language replacement]], including possibility of elite dominance scenario.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Yunusbayev|first1=Bayazit|last2=Metspalu|first2=Mait|last3=Metspalu|first3=Ene|last4=Valeev|first4=Albert|last5=Litvinov|first5=Sergei|last6=Valiev|first6=Ruslan|last7=Akhmetova|first7=Vita|last8=Balanovska|first8=Elena|last9=Balanovsky|first9=Oleg|last10=Turdikulova|first10=Shahlo|last11=Dalimova|first11=Dilbar|date=2015-04-21|title=The Genetic Legacy of the Expansion of Turkic-Speaking Nomads across Eurasia|journal=PLOS Genetics|language=en|volume=11|issue=4|article-number=e1005068|doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.1005068|issn=1553-7404|pmc=4405460|pmid=25898006|quote=Our ADMIXTURE analysis (Fig 2) revealed that Turkic-speaking populations scattered across Eurasia tend to share most of their genetic ancestry with their current geographic non-Turkic neighbors. This is particularly obvious for Turkic peoples in Anatolia, Iran, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe, but more difficult to determine for northeastern Siberian Turkic speakers, Yakuts and Dolgans, for which non-Turkic reference populations are absent. We also found that a higher proportion of Asian genetic components distinguishes the Turkic speakers all over West Eurasia from their immediate non-Turkic neighbors. These results support the model that expansion of the Turkic language family outside its presumed East Eurasian core area occurred primarily through language replacement, perhaps by the elite dominance scenario, that is, intrusive Turkic nomads imposed their language on indigenous peoples due to advantages in military and/or social organization. |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="yepiskoposian">{{cite journal|author=Yepiskoposian, L.|year=2011|title=The Location of Azaris on the Patrilineal Genetic Landscape of the Middle East (A Preliminary Report)|journal=Iran and the Caucasus|volume=15|issue=1|pages=73–78|doi=10.1163/157338411X12870596615395|display-authors=etal}}</ref><ref name="nasidze"/> However, the language replacement in Azerbaijan (and in Turkey) might not have been in accordance with the elite dominance model, with estimated Central Asian contribution to Azerbaijan being 18% for females and 32% for males.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Berkman |first=Ceren Caner |date=September 2006 |title=Comparative Analyses For The Central Asian Contribution To Anatolian Gene Pool With Reference To Balkans |type=PhD |url=http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12607764/index.pdf |access-date=24 January 2021 |archive-date=12 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112020146/http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12607764/index.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> A subsequent study also suggested 33% Central Asian contribution to Azerbaijan.<ref name="Berkman_et_al_2008">{{cite journal| author1=Berkman CC |author2=Dinc H |author3=Sekeryapan C |author4=Togan I| title=Alu insertion polymorphisms and an assessment of the genetic contribution of Central Asia to Anatolia with respect to the Balkans. | journal=Am J Phys Anthropol | year= 2008 | volume= 136 | issue= 1 | pages= 11–8 | pmid=18161848 | doi=10.1002/ajpa.20772 | bibcode=2008AJPA..136...11B | hdl=11511/57550 | hdl-access=free }}</ref>
A 2001 study which looked into the first [[Hypervariable region|hypervariable segment]] of the [[MtDNA]] suggested that "genetic relationships among Caucasus populations reflect geographical rather than linguistic relationships", with Armenians and Azerbaijanis being "most closely related to their nearest geographical neighbours".<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Nasidze, S |author2=Stoneking, M. |year=2001|title=Mitochondrial DNA variation and language replacements in the Caucasus|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B|volume=268|issue=1472|pages=1197–1206|doi=10.1098/rspb.2001.1610|pmid=11375109|pmc=1088727}}</ref> Another 2004 study that looked into 910 MtDNAs from 23 populations in the Iranian plateau, the Indus Valley, and Central Asia suggested that populations "west of the Indus basin, including those from Iran, Anatolia [Turkey] and the Caucasus, exhibit a common mtDNA lineage composition, consisting mainly of western Eurasian lineages, with a very limited contribution from South Asia and eastern Eurasia".<ref>{{cite journal|author=Quintana-Murci, L.|year=2004|title=Where West Meets East: The Complex mtDNA Landscape of the Southwest and Central Asian Corridor|journal=American Journal of Human Genetics|volume=74|pages=827–845|doi=10.1086/383236|issue=5|pmid=15077202|pmc=1181978|display-authors=etal |bibcode=2004AmJHG..74..827Q }}</ref> While genetic analysis of mtDNA indicates that Caucasian populations are genetically closer to Europeans than to Near Easterners, Y-chromosome results indicate closer affinity to Near Eastern groups.<ref name="nasidze"/>
The range of haplogroups across the region may reflect historical genetic admixture,<ref>{{cite journal|author=Zerjal, T.|year=2002|title=A Genetic Landscape Reshaped by Recent Events: Y-Chromosomal Insights into Central Asia|journal=American Journal of Human Genetics|volume=71|pages=466–482|doi=10.1086/342096|issue=3|pmid=12145751|pmc=419996|display-authors=etal}}</ref> perhaps as a result of invasive male migrations.<ref name="nasidze"/>
In a comparative study (2013) on the complete mitochondrial DNA diversity in Iranians has indicated that Iranian Azeris are more related to the people of [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], than they are to other [[Iranian peoples|Iranians]], as well as to [[Armenians]]. However the same [[multidimensional scaling]] plot shows that Azeris from the Caucasus, despite their supposed common origin with Iranian Azeris, "occupy an intermediate position between the Azeris/Georgians and Turks/Iranians grouping".<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Derenko | first1 = M. | last2 = Malyarchuk | first2 = B. | last3 = Bahmanimehr | first3 = A. | last4 = Denisova | first4 = G. | last5 = Perkova | first5 = M. | last6 = Farjadian | first6 = S. | last7 = Yepiskoposyan | first7 = L. | year = 2013 | title = Complete Mitochondrial DNA Diversity in Iranians | journal = PLOS ONE | volume = 8 | issue = 11| article-number = e80673 | doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0080673 | pmid=24244704 | pmc=3828245| bibcode = 2013PLoSO...880673D | doi-access = free }}</ref>
A 2007 study which looked into class two [[Human leukocyte antigen]] suggested that there were "no close genetic relationship was observed between Azeris of Iran and the people of Turkey or Central Asians".<ref name="Farjadian_et_al_2007">{{Cite journal |pmid = 18001303|year = 2007|last1 = Farjadian|first1 = S.|title = HLA class II similarities in Iranian Kurds and Azeris|journal = International Journal of Immunogenetics|volume = 34|issue = 6|pages = 457–63|last2 = Ghaderi|first2 = A.|doi = 10.1111/j.1744-313X.2007.00723.x|s2cid = 22709345}}</ref> A 2017 study which looked into HLA [[allele]]s put the samples from Azeris in Northwest Iran "in the Mediterranean cluster close to Kurds, Gorgan, Chuvash (South Russia, towards North Caucasus), Iranians and Caucasus populations (Svan and Georgians)". This Mediterranean stock includes "Turkish and Caucasian populations". Azeri samples were also in a "position between Mediterranean and Central Asian" samples, suggesting Turkification "process caused by Oghuz Turkic tribes could also contribute to the genetic background of Azeri people".<ref name="Arnaiz-Villena_et_al_2017">{{cite journal | last1=Arnaiz-Villena | first1=Antonio | last2=Palacio-Gruber | first2=Jose | last3=Muñiz | first3=Ester | last4=Rey | first4=Diego | last5=Nikbin | first5=Behrouz | last6=Nickman | first6=Hosein | last7=Campos | first7=Cristina | last8=Martín-Villa | first8=José Manuel | last9=Amirzargar | first9=Ali | title=Origin of Azeris (Iran) according to HLA genes | journal=International Journal of Modern Anthropology | publisher=African Journals Online (AJOL) | volume=1 | issue=10 | date=2017-10-31 | issn=1737-8176 | doi=10.4314/ijma.v1i10.5 | page=115| doi-access=free }}</ref> In a 2019 study examining genome-wide data from selected populations in North Africa and West Eurasia, Azeris were grouped with [[Balkars]], [[Circassians]], [[Georgians]], [[Lezgins]], and [[Turkish people]].<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1038/s41598-019-49901-8 |title=Genome-wide analysis of Corsican population reveals a close affinity with Northern and Central Italy |date=2019 |last1=Tamm |first1=Erika |last2=Di Cristofaro |first2=Julie |last3=Mazières |first3=Stéphane |last4=Pennarun |first4=Erwan |last5=Kushniarevich |first5=Alena |last6=Raveane |first6=Alessandro |last7=Semino |first7=Ornella |last8=Chiaroni |first8=Jacques |last9=Pereira |first9=Luisa |last10=Metspalu |first10=Mait |last11=Montinaro |first11=Francesco |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=9 |issue=1 |page=13581 |pmid=31537848 |pmc=6753063 |bibcode=2019NatSR...913581T |quote=Other samples from Caucasus (light blue in Fig. 3) fell into a macrogroup that includes eight different clusters (Lezgins, Azeris, Turks, Georgians, Balkars_Adygei, Balkars, Adygei1, Adygei2).}}</ref>
==Demographics and society== {{See also|Demographics of Azerbaijan|Demographics of Iran|List of Azerbaijanis}} [[File:Map of the Azerbaijani language.svg|upright=1.15|thumb|Azerbaijani-speaking regions]] [[File:Azerbaijanis from Aleksandropol.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|Russian Empire postcard depicting Tatars (i.e. Azerbaijanis) from Alexandropol (Gyumri)]] The vast majority of Azerbaijanis live in the Republic of Azerbaijan and [[Azarbaijan (Iran)|Iranian Azerbaijan]]. Between 12 and 23 million Azerbaijanis live in Iran,<ref name="dictionary" /><ref name="16.7mil"/><ref name="18mil"/><ref name = "Gheissari"/><ref name = "Bani-Shoraka"/><ref name = "Potter"/><ref name = "Crane"/><ref name = "Moaddel"/><ref name = "Eschment"/> mainly in the northwestern provinces. Approximately 9.1 million Azerbaijanis are found in the Republic of Azerbaijan. A diaspora of over a million is spread throughout the rest of the world. According to [[Ethnologue]], there are over 1 million speakers of the northern Azerbaijani dialect in southern [[Republic of Dagestan|Dagestan]], Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russian proper, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=azj|title=Azerbaijani, North|author=Lewis, M. Paul|year=2009|work=Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition|publisher=SIL International|access-date=29 January 2012|archive-date=9 February 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100209033458/http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=azj|url-status=live}}</ref> No Azerbaijanis were recorded in the 2001 census in Armenia,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://docs.armstat.am/census/pdfs/51.pdf|title=Table 5.1 De Jure Population (Urban, Rural) by Age and Ethnicity|work=Census 2001|publisher=National Statistical Service of the Republic of Armenia|access-date=29 January 2012|archive-date=2 June 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100602023627/http://docs.armstat.am/census/pdfs/51.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> where the [[Nagorno-Karabakh conflict]] resulted in population shifts. Other sources, such as national censuses, confirm the presence of Azerbaijanis throughout the other states of the former [[Soviet Union]].
===In the Republic of Azerbaijan=== {{see also|Wedding tradition in Azerbaijan}} Azerbaijanis are by far the largest ethnic group in The Republic of Azerbaijan (over 90%), holding the second-largest community of ethnic Azerbaijanis after neighboring Iran. The literacy rate is very high, and is estimated at 99.5%.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/AZE.html |title=Azerbaijan |work=International Human Development Indicators |publisher=United Nations |access-date=29 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120121093046/http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/AZE.html |archive-date=21 January 2012 }}</ref> Azerbaijan began the twentieth century with institutions based upon those of Russia and the Soviet Union, with an official policy of atheism and strict state control over most aspects of society. Since independence, there is a secular system.
Azerbaijan has benefited from the oil industry, but high levels of corruption have prevented greater prosperity for the population.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bicusa.org/bicusa/issues/BTC_corruption_claim_COIWRP.pdf |title=Report on corruption in Azerbaijan oil industry prepared for EBRD & IFC investigation arms |publisher=The Committee of Oil Industry Workers' Rights Protection |date=October 2003 |access-date=10 June 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060724165553/http://www.bicusa.org/bicusa/issues/BTC_corruption_claim_COIWRP.pdf |archive-date=24 July 2006 }}</ref> Despite these problems, there is a financial rebirth in Azerbaijan as positive economic predictions and an active political opposition appear determined to improve the lives of average Azerbaijanis.<ref name="Library of Congress Azerbaijan">{{cite web|url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/aztoc.html|title=Country Study: Azerbaijan|publisher=Federal Research Division Library of Congress|access-date=28 January 2012|archive-date=8 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141108212410/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/aztoc.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/civilsociety/articles/eav032805.shtml|title=Azerbaijan: Opposition Parties Prepare to Vigorously Contest Parliamentary Election|publisher=Eurasia.net|author1=Abbasov, Shahin|author2=Arifoglu, Farid|date=27 March 2005|access-date=29 January 2012|archive-date=2 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402074330/http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/civilsociety/articles/eav032805.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref>
===In Iran=== {{Main|Iranian Azerbaijanis}}
[[File:Ashiqs in Tabriz.jpg|thumb|upright=0.85|[[Ashik]]s performance in [[Tabriz]]]] [[File:Ali Khamenei crop.jpg|thumb|upright=0.85|Iran's former highest-ranking official, the [[Supreme Leader of Iran|supreme leader]] [[Ali Khamenei]], was Iranian Azeri on his father's side.]] The exact number of Azerbaijanis in Iran is heavily disputed. Since the early twentieth century, successive Iranian governments have avoided publishing statistics on ethnic groups.<ref name="state">{{cite book|editor1=Banuazizi, Ali |editor2=Weiner, Myron |year=1988|title=The State, Religion, and Ethnic Politics: Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan Part II: Iran|publisher=Syracuse University Press|isbn=978-0-8156-2448-6}}</ref> Unofficial population estimates of Azerbaijanis in Iran are around the 16% area put forth by the CIA and Library of Congress.<ref name="CIA Iran">{{cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/iran/ |title=Iran |work=CIA: The World Factbook |publisher=CIA |date=14 November 2011 |access-date=4 October 2012 |quote=16% of 77,891,220 [12.5 million] |archive-date=10 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110162554/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/iran |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Library of Congress Iran">{{cite web|url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/Iran.pdf|title=Country Profile: Iran|publisher=Federal Research Division Library of Congress|date=May 2008|access-date=1 September 2012|quote=16% of 70 million [14.5 million]|archive-date=5 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150505023445/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/Iran.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> An independent poll in 2009 placed the figure at around 20–22%.<ref name="tft"/> According to the [[Iranian studies|Iranologist]] Victoria Arakelova in peer-reviewed journal ''[[Iran and the Caucasus]]'', estimating the number of Azeris in Iran has been hampered for years since the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]], when the "once invented theory of the so called separated nation (i.e. the citizens of the Azerbaijan Republic, the so-called Azerbaijanis, and the Azaris in Iran), was actualised again (see in detail Reza 1993)". Arakelova adds that the number of Azeris in Iran, featuring in the politically biased publications as "Azerbaijani minority of Iran", is considered to be the "highly speculative part of this theory". Even though all Iranian censuses of population distinguish exclusively religious minorities, numerous sources have presented different figures regarding Iran's Turkic-speaking communities, without "any justification or concrete references".<ref name="Arakelova">{{Cite journal|jstor = 43899203|last1 = Arakelova|first1 = Victoria|title = On the Number of Iranian Turkophones|journal = Iran & the Caucasus|year = 2015|volume = 19|issue = 3|pages = 279–282|doi = 10.1163/1573384X-20150306}}</ref>
In the early 1990s, right after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the most popular figure depicting the number of "Azerbaijanis" in Iran was thirty-three million, at a time when the entire population of Iran was barely sixty million. Therefore, at the time, half of Iran's citizens were considered "Azerbaijanis". Shortly after, this figure was replaced by thirty million, which became "almost a normative account on the demographic situation in Iran, widely circulating not only among academics and political analysts, but also in the official circles of Russia and the West". Then, in the 2000s, the figure decreased to 20 million; this time, at least within the Russian political establishment, the figure became "firmly fixed". This figure, Arakelova adds, has been widely used and kept up to date, only with a few minor adjustments. A cursory look at Iran's demographic situation however, shows that all these figures have been manipulated and were "definitely invented on political purpose". Arakelova estimates the number of Azeris i.e. "Azerbaijanis" in Iran based on Iran's population demographics at 6 to 6.5 million.<ref name="Arakelova"/>
Azerbaijanis in Iran are mainly found in the northwest provinces: [[West Azerbaijan]], [[East Azerbaijan]], [[Ardabil Province|Ardabil]], [[Zanjan Province|Zanjan]], parts of [[Hamedan Province|Hamadan]], [[Qazvin Province|Qazvin]], and [[Markazi Province|Markazi]].<ref name="Library of Congress Iran"/> Azerbaijani minorities live in the [[Qorveh County|Qorveh]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ghorveh.gov.ir/Default.aspx?TabID%3D62 |title=فرمانداری قروه |access-date=2013-08-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130808090412/http://ghorveh.gov.ir/Default.aspx?TabID=62 |archive-date=8 August 2013 }}</ref> and [[Bijar County|Bijar]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopaediaislamica.com/madkhal2.php?sid=2396 |title=بیجار |access-date=18 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131014040836/http://www.encyclopaediaislamica.com/madkhal2.php?sid=2396 |archive-date=14 October 2013 }}</ref> counties of [[Kurdistan Province|Kurdistan]], in [[Gilan Province|Gilan]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://library.tebyan.net/newindex.aspx?pid=102834&ParentID=0&BookID=97560&MetaDataID=27846&Volume=1&PageIndex=196&PersonalID=0&NavigateMode=CommonLibrary&Content=Tebyan|title=کتابخانه|date=18 March 2015|access-date=18 March 2015|archive-date=2 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402172301/http://library.tebyan.net/newindex.aspx?pid=102834&ParentID=0&BookID=97560&MetaDataID=27846&Volume=1&PageIndex=196&PersonalID=0&NavigateMode=CommonLibrary&Content=Tebyan|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Encyclopædia Iranica:[http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/manjil Manjil] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130517044508/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/manjil |date=17 May 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tatha.fagig.com/tati%20talesh2.htm|title=ی ی /|access-date=18 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150320035425/http://www.tatha.fagig.com/tati%20talesh2.htm|archive-date=20 March 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://guilan.irib.ir/home|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203110906/http://guilan.irib.ir/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=913%3A-&catid=291%3Ashahr|title=صفحه اصلی – صدا و سیمای گیلان|archive-date=3 December 2013|website=guilan.irib.ir}}</ref> as [[ethnic enclave]]s in [[Galugah]] in [[Mazandaran Province|Mazandaran]], around [[Lotfabad]] and [[Dargaz]] in [[Razavi Khorasan Province|Razavi Khorasan]],<ref>{{cite book|author1=Keith Brown|author2=Sarah Ogilvie|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F2SRqDzB50wC|title=Concise encyclopedia of languages of the world|publisher=Elsevier|year=2008|access-date=30 January 2012|isbn=978-0-08-087775-4|archive-date=26 December 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111226082343/http://books.google.com/books?id=F2SRqDzB50wC|url-status=live}}; p. 112-113</ref> and in the town of [[Gonbad-e Qabus]] in [[Golestan Province|Golestan]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/gonbad-e-qabus|title=GONBAD-E QĀBUS|access-date=18 March 2015|archive-date=2 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402113848/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/gonbad-e-qabus|url-status=live}}</ref> Large Azerbaijani populations can also be found in central Iran ([[Tehran Province|Tehran]] and [[Alborz Province|Alborz]]) due to internal migration. Azerbaijanis make up 25%<ref name="The Council of Public Culture">{{cite news|title=The Council of Public Culture |publisher=The Council of Public Culture |date=19 January 2013 }}</ref> of [[Tehran]]'s population and 30.3%<ref>National Bibliography Number: 2887141 / plan review and assess the country's culture indicators (indicators Ghyrsbty) {report}: [[Tehran Province]] / General Council of the Order of the Executive Director is responsible for planning and policy: Mansoor Vaezi; run company experienced researchers Us – {{ISBN|978-600-6627-42-7}} * Publication Status: Tehran – Institute Press book, published in 1391 * appearance: 296 p: table (the color), diagrams (colored part)</ref> – 33%<ref name="Library of Congress Country Studies">"Chapter ۲ – The Society and Its Environment: People and Languages: Turkic-speaking Groups: Azarbaijanis" in ''A Country Study: Iran'' [[Library of Congress]] Country Studies, [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/irtoc.html#ir0052 Table of Contents] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313185348/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/irtoc.html#ir0052 |date=13 March 2007 }}, last accessed 19 November 2008</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0KOSUrLPC6IC&pg=PA152 |title=Country Study Guide-Azerbaijanis |year=2005 |publisher=STRATEGIC INFORMATION AND DEVELOPMENTS-USA |isbn=978-0-7397-1476-8 |access-date=13 August 2013 |archive-date=4 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904062040/https://books.google.com/books?id=0KOSUrLPC6IC&pg=PA152 |url-status=live }}</ref> of the population of the Tehran Province, where Azerbaijanis are found in every city.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.refworld.org/docid/469f3a9821.html |title=Assessment for Azerbaijanis in Iran |publisher=[[United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees|UNHCR]] |date=31 December 2003 |access-date=2013-07-05 |archive-date=2 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202094256/http://www.refworld.org/docid/469f3a9821.html |url-status=live }}</ref> They are the largest ethnic groups after [[Persian people|Persians]] in Tehran and the Tehran Province.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.minorityrights.org/?lid=5096|title=Azeris|publisher=World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous People|access-date=2013-07-05|archive-date=21 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921053530/http://www.minorityrights.org/?lid=5096|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.tehran.ir/Default.aspx?tabid=98|title=Tehran, Political situation|publisher=[[List of mayors of Tehran|Municipality of Tehran]]|access-date=2013-08-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921094245/http://en.tehran.ir/Default.aspx?tabid=98|archive-date=21 September 2013}}</ref> Arakelova notes that the widespread "cliché" among residents of Tehran on the number of Azerbaijanis in the city ("half of Tehran consists of Azerbaijanis"), cannot be taken "seriously into consideration". Arakelova adds that the number of Tehran's inhabitants who have migrated from northwestern areas of Iran, who are currently Persian-speakers "for the most part", is not more than "several hundred thousands", with the maximum being one million.<ref name="Arakelova"/> Azerbaijanis have also emigrated and resettled in large numbers in [[Khorasan Province|Khorasan]],<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/azerbaijan-vi |title=AZERBAIJAN vi. Population and its Occupations and Culture |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Iranica]] |date=18 August 2011 |access-date=13 August 2013 |archive-date=22 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130322101157/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/azerbaijan-vi |url-status=live }}</ref> especially in [[Mashhad]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://khabarfarsi.com/ext/3881782 |title=Mourning Azerbaijanis residing in Mashhad |publisher=[[Mehr News Agency]] |date=18 August 2011 |access-date=23 August 2013 |archive-date=4 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004231306/http://khabarfarsi.com/ext/3881782 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Generally, Azerbaijanis in Iran were regarded as "a well integrated linguistic minority" by academics prior to [[Iranian Revolution|Iran's Islamic Revolution]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=Higgins, Patricia J.|year=1984|title=Minority-State Relations in Contemporary Iran|journal=Iranian Studies|volume=17|issue=1|pages=37–71|doi=10.1080/00210868408701621}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Binder, Leonard|year=1962|title=Iran: Political Development in a Changing Society|publisher=University of California Press|pages=160–161|oclc=408909}}</ref> Despite friction, Azerbaijanis in Iran came to be well represented at all levels of "political, military, and intellectual hierarchies, as well as the religious hierarchy".<ref name="state"/>
Resentment came with Pahlavi policies that suppressed the use of the [[Azerbaijani language]] in local government, schools, and the press.<ref>{{cite book|author=Abrahamian, Ervand|year=1982|title=Iran between Two Revolutions|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-10134-7|url=https://archive.org/details/iranbetweentwore00abra_0}}</ref> However, with the advent of the [[Iranian Revolution]] in 1979, emphasis shifted away from nationalism as the new government highlighted religion as the main unifying factor. Islamic [[theocracy|theocratic]] institutions dominate nearly all aspects of society. The Azerbaijani language and its literature are banned in Iranian schools.<ref name="bbc"/><ref>{{Cite web|title = Iran's Persian Language Academy against teaching of ethnic groups' mother language in country|url = http://en.trend.az/iran/2235038.html|website = Trend|access-date = 2016-02-11|date = 2014-01-28|archive-date = 3 March 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160303204726/http://en.trend.az/iran/2235038.html|url-status = live}}</ref> There are signs of civil unrest due to the policies of the Iranian government in Iranian Azerbaijan and increased interaction with fellow Azerbaijanis in Azerbaijan and satellite broadcasts from Turkey and other Turkic countries have revived Azerbaijani nationalism.<ref>{{cite web|author=Koknar, Ali M.|date=6 June 2006|url=http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC05.php?CID=2476|title=Iranian Azeris: A Giant Minority|publisher=The Washington Institute for Near East Policy|access-date=1 February 2012|archive-date=12 January 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090112144722/http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC05.php?CID=2476|url-status=live}}</ref> In May 2006, Iranian Azerbaijan witnessed riots over publication of a [[Iran newspaper cockroach cartoon controversy|cartoon depicting a cockroach speaking Azerbaijani]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iranian.com/Satire/Cartoon/2006/June/soosks.html|title=Cartoon|publisher=Iranian Archives 1995–2007|date=2 June 2006|access-date=29 January 2012|archive-date=19 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119041036/http://www.iranian.com/Satire/Cartoon/2006/June/soosks.html|url-status=live}}</ref> that many Azerbaijanis found offensive.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70910FE345A0C7A8EDDAC0894DE404482|author=Fathi, Nazila|date=29 May 2006|title=Ethnic Tensions Over Cartoon Set Off Riots in Northwest Iran|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=12 June 2006|archive-date=12 March 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312180800/http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70910FE345A0C7A8EDDAC0894DE404482|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5024550.stm|author=Collin, Matthew|date=28 May 2006|title=Iran Azeris protest over cartoon|work=BBC News|access-date=29 January 2012|archive-date=31 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161231233324/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5024550.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> The cartoon was drawn by [[Mana Neyestani]], an Azeri, who was fired along with his editor as a result of the controversy.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/cockroach_cartoonist_jailed_in_iran/ |title=Cockroach Cartoonist Jailed in Iran |newspaper=The Comics Reporter |date=24 May 2006 |access-date=15 June 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060602155849/http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/cockroach_cartoonist_jailed_in_iran/ |archive-date=2 June 2006 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5008420.stm |title=Iranian paper banned over cartoon |publisher=BBC |date=23 May 2006 |access-date=15 June 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060625225210/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5008420.stm |archive-date=25 June 2006 |url-status=live}}</ref> One of the major incidents that happened recently was [[Azeris protests in Iran (2015)]] started in November 2015, after children's television programme ''Fitileha a''ired on 6 November on state TV that ridiculed and mocked the accent and language of Azeris and included offensive jokes.<ref>{{Cite news|title = Iran's Azeris protest over offensive TV show – BBC News|url = https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34770537|website = BBC News|access-date = 2016-02-11|date = 2015-11-09|archive-date = 4 November 2020|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201104195001/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34770537|url-status = live}}</ref> As a result, ethnic Azeris protested a program on state TV that contained what they consider an ethnic slur. The head of the country's state broadcaster [[Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting|Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB)]] Mohammad Sarafraz has apologized for airing the program, whose broadcast was later discontinued.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Iran's ethnic Azeris protest slur on TV program|url = http://www.sltrib.com/home/3156636-155/irans-ethnic-azeris-protest-slur-on|website = The Salt Lake Tribune|access-date = 2016-02-11|agency = Associated Press|archive-date = 3 March 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160303155233/http://www.sltrib.com/home/3156636-155/irans-ethnic-azeris-protest-slur-on|url-status = live}}</ref>
Azerbaijanis are an intrinsic community of Iran, and their style of living closely resemble those of [[Persian people|Persians]]:
{{blockquote|The lifestyles of urban Azerbaijanis do not differ from those of Persians, and there is considerable intermarriage among the upper classes in cities of mixed populations. Similarly, customs among Azerbaijani villagers do not appear to differ markedly from those of Persian villagers.<ref name="Library of Congress Iran"/>}} {{blockquote|Azeris are famously active in commerce and in bazaars all over Iran their voluble voices can be heard. Older Azeri men wear the traditional wool hat, and their music & dances have become part of the mainstream culture. Azeris are well integrated, and many Azeri-Iranians are prominent in [[Persian literature]], politics, and clerical world.<ref>{{cite book|author=Burke, Andrew|year=2004|title=Iran|publisher=Lonely Planet|pages=[https://archive.org/details/iran00burk_0/page/42 42–43]|isbn=978-1-74059-425-7|url=https://archive.org/details/iran00burk_0/page/42}}</ref>}}
There is significant cross-border trade between Azerbaijan and Iran, and Azerbaijanis from Azerbaijan go into Iran to buy goods that are cheaper, but the relationship was tense until recently.<ref name="bbc">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8515588.stm |title=Azerbaijan-Iran tensions increasing |work=BBC News |date=14 February 2010 |access-date=2010-05-29 |archive-date=4 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204225125/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8515588.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> However, [[Azerbaijan-Iran relations|relations]] have significantly improved since the [[Hassan Rouhani|Rouhani]] administration took office.
===Subgroups=== {{multiple image | align = right | direction = horizontal | image1 = Ayrum from village of Gedamish of Ganja Uyezd.jpg | width1 = 130 | image3 = Shahsevan girls from a rich family.jpg | width3 = 143 | footer = Ayrum from Azerbaijan (left); Shahsevan girls from a rich family. End of the 19th century, Iran (right). }} There are at least ten Azerbaijani ethnic groups, each of which has particularities in the economy, culture, and everyday life. Some Azerbaijani ethnic groups continued in the last quarter of the 19th century.
Major Azerbaijani ethnic groups: {{div col|colwidth=20em|content= * [[Ayrums]]{{sfn|Swietochowski|Collins|1999|p=28}} * [[Afshars]] * [[Bayat (tribe)|Bayat]] * [[Qaradaghis]] * [[Qizilbash]] * [[Karapapak]] * [[Padar tribe]]{{sfn|Swietochowski|Collins|1999|p=28}} * [[Terekeme]] * [[Shahsevan]]{{sfn|Swietochowski|Collins|1999|p=28}} * [[Qajars (tribe)|Qajars]] }}
===Diaspora=== {{main|Azerbaijani diaspora}}
===Women=== {{See also|Women in Azerbaijan|Women in Iran}} In Azerbaijan, women were granted the right to vote in 1917.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rochester.edu/SBA/suffragetimeline.html |title=US Suffrage Movement Timeline, 1792 to present |publisher=Susan B. Anthony Center for Women's Leadership |year=2006 |access-date=1 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130723040530/http://www.rochester.edu/SBA/suffragetimeline.html |archive-date=23 July 2013 }}</ref> Women have attained Western-style equality in major cities such as [[Baku]], although in rural areas more reactionary views remain.<ref name="Library of Congress Azerbaijan"/> Violence against women, including rape, is rarely reported, especially in rural areas, not unlike other parts of the former Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.onlinewomeninpolitics.org/womensit/az-w-sit.pdf |title=Women's rights in Azerbaijan |publisher=OneWomen |access-date=1 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118153642/http://www.onlinewomeninpolitics.org/womensit/az-w-sit.pdf |archive-date=18 January 2012 }}</ref> In Azerbaijan, the veil was abandoned during the Soviet period.<ref>{{cite book|author=Heyat, Farideh|year=2002|title=Azeri Women in Transition: Women in Soviet and Post-Soviet Azerbaijan|publisher=RoutledgeCurzon|isbn=978-0-7007-1662-3|pages=80–113}}</ref> Women are under-represented in elective office but have attained high positions in parliament. An Azerbaijani woman is the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in Azerbaijan, and two others are Justices of the Constitutional Court. In the 2010 election, women constituted 16% of all MPs (twenty seats in total) in the [[National Assembly of Azerbaijan]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.day.az/politics/237289.html |title=2010 Parliamentary Election Results |publisher=Day.az |date=7 November 2010 |access-date=8 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101110054208/http://news.day.az/politics/237289.html |archive-date=10 November 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Abortion]] is available on demand in the Republic of Azerbaijan.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3LALpdV0DPoC&pg=PA41|title=Abortion Policies: a Global Review|publisher=United Nations|year=2001|isbn=978-92-1-151351-6|volume=1|page=41|access-date=20 June 2015|archive-date=23 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160723002946/https://books.google.com/books?id=3LALpdV0DPoC&pg=PA41|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Elmira Süleymanova]], who served as human rights [[Ombudsman#Azerbaijan|ombudsman]] from 2002 to 2019, was a woman.<ref>[https://qafqazinfo.az/news/detail/elmira-suleymanova-vefat-etdi-434012 "Elmira Süleymanova vəfat etdi"], ''Qafqazinfo'' (in Azerbaijani). 25 April 2024. [https://web.archive.org/web/20240425225520/https://qafqazinfo.az/news/detail/elmira-suleymanova-vefat-etdi-434012 Archived] from the original on 25 April 2024. Retrieved 15 June 2025.</ref>
In Iran, a groundswell of grassroots movements have sought gender equality since the 1980s.<ref name="Library of Congress Iran"/> Protests in defiance of government bans are dispersed through violence, as on 12 June 2006 when female demonstrators in Haft Tir Square in Tehran were beaten.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5073328.stm|title=Iran police beat women activists|author=Harrison, Frances|publisher=BBC|date=12 June 2006|access-date=1 February 2012|archive-date=10 October 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071010145051/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5073328.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> Past Iranian leaders, such as the reformer ex-president [[Mohammad Khatami]] promised women greater rights, but the [[Guardian Council]] of Iran opposes changes that they interpret as contrary to Islamic doctrine. In the 2004 legislative elections, nine women were elected to parliament ([[Majlis]]), eight of whom were conservatives.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.onlinewomeninpolitics.org/archives/04_0608_iran_wip.htm |title=Women's Gains at Risk in Iran's New Parliament |publisher=[[Women's Enews]] |author=Sadr, Shadi |date=9 June 2004 |access-date=1 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119031658/http://www.onlinewomeninpolitics.org/archives/04_0608_iran_wip.htm |archive-date=19 January 2012 }}</ref> The social fate of Azerbaijani women largely mirrors that of other women in Iran.{{Citation needed|date=April 2016}}
== Culture == {{Main|Culture of Azerbaijan|Culture of Iran}}
===Language and literature=== {{Main|Azerbaijani language|Azerbaijani literature}}
[[File:Portrait of Azerbaijani poet Fuzuli by Azimzade.jpg|thumb|upright|Portrait of [[Fuzûlî|Muhammad Fuzûlî]] by [[Azim Azimzade]] (1914). Fuzûlî is considered one of the greatest [[Azerbaijani literature|Azerbaijani poets]]<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9035730 "Fuzuli, Mehmed bin Süleyman"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080118163318/https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9035730 |date=18 January 2008 }} in Encyclopædia Britannica</ref>]] The Azerbaijanis speak the [[Azerbaijani language]], a [[Turkic languages|Turkic language]] descended from the branches of Oghuz Turkic language that became established in Azerbaijan in the 11th and 12th centuries CE. The Azerbaijani language is closely related to [[Qashqai language|Qashqai]], [[Gagauz language|Gagauz]], [[Turkish language|Turkish]], [[Turkmen language|Turkmen]] and [[Crimean Tatar language|Crimean Tatar]], sharing varying degrees of [[mutual intelligibility]] with each of those languages.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vn-xZ3O1G-cC&pg=PA71|title=Aspects of Altaic Civilization III: Proceedings of the Thirtieth Meeting of the Permanent International Altaistic Conference, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, June 19–25, 1987|date=1996-12-13|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-7007-0380-7|access-date=8 May 2020|archive-date=21 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170121045243/https://books.google.com/books?id=vn-xZ3O1G-cC&pg=PA71|url-status=live}}</ref> Certain lexical and grammatical differences formed within the Azerbaijani language as spoken in the Republic of Azerbaijan and Iran, after nearly two centuries of separation between the communities speaking the language; mutual intelligibility, however, has been preserved.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_B2W1YOG3N10C|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_B2W1YOG3N10C/page/n157 105]|title=Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia|last=Suny|first=Ronald G.|date=April 1996|publisher=DIANE Publishing|isbn=978-0-7881-2813-4}}</ref> Additionally, the Turkish and Azerbaijani languages are mutually intelligible to a high enough degree that their speakers can have simple conversations without prior knowledge of the other.<ref name="nichol">{{cite book |title=Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia |editor=Curtis, Glenn E. |author=Nichol, James |contribution=Azerbaijan |year=1995 |publisher=Federal Research Division, Library of Congress |isbn=978-0-8444-0848-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B2W1YOG3N10C&pg=PA105 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-date=20 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150320164609/http://books.google.com/books?id=B2W1YOG3N10C&pg=PA105 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Early literature was mainly based on oral tradition, and the later compiled epics and heroic stories of [[Book of Dede Korkut|Dede Korkut]] probably derive from it. The first written, classical Azerbaijani literature arose after the Mongol invasion, while the first accepted Oghuz Turkic text goes back to the 15th century.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Javadi, H.|author2=Burill, K.|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/azerbaijan-x|title=Azeri Literature in Iran|publisher=Encyclopædia Iranica|date=18 August 2011|access-date=30 January 2012|archive-date=1 February 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130201033259/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/azerbaijan-x|url-status=live}}</ref> Some of the earliest Azerbaijani writings trace back to the poet [[Imadaddin Nasimi|Nasimi]] (died 1417) and then decades later [[Fuzûlî]] (1483–1556). [[Ismail I]], Shah of [[Safavid dynasty|Safavid Iran]] wrote Azerbaijani poetry under the pen name ''Khatâ'i''.
Modern Azerbaijani literature continued with a traditional emphasis upon [[humanism]], as conveyed in the writings of [[Samad Vurgun]], [[Mohammad Hossein Shahriar|Shahriar]], and many others.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/41_folder/41_articles/41_editorial.html |title=Contemporary Literature |work=Azerbaijan International |author=Blair, Betty |date=Spring 1996 |access-date=10 June 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060616054608/http://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/41_folder/41_articles/41_editorial.html |archive-date=16 June 2006 |url-status=live}}</ref>
Azerbaijanis are generally bilingual, often fluent in either Russian (in Azerbaijan) or [[Persian language|Persian]] (in Iran) in addition to their native Azerbaijani. As of 1996, around 38% of Azerbaijan's roughly 8,000,000 population spoke Russian fluently.<ref>{{cite book|author=Suny, Ronald G.|year=1996|title=Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_B2W1YOG3N10C|publisher=DIANE Publishing|isbn=978-0-7881-2813-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_B2W1YOG3N10C/page/n157 105]}}</ref> An independent telephone survey in Iran in 2009 reported that 20% of respondents could understand Azerbaijani, the most spoken minority language in Iran, and all respondents could understand Persian.<ref name="tft">{{cite web|url=http://www.terrorfreetomorrow.org/upimagestft/TFT%20Iran%20Survey%20Report%200609.pdf |author=Terror Free Tomorrow |title=Results of a New Nationwide Public Opinion Survey of Iran before the June 12, 2009 Presidential Elections |date=May 2009 |publisher=[[New America Foundation]] |quote=21.6% of 70,495,782 [15.2 million] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130723044939/http://www.terrorfreetomorrow.org/upimagestft/TFT%20Iran%20Survey%20Report%200609.pdf |archive-date=23 July 2013}}</ref>
===Religion=== {{Main|Religion in Azerbaijan|Islam in Azerbaijan|Islam in Iran}}
[[File:Азербайджанское медресе. Шуша. .jpg|thumb|285x285px|Azerbaijani [[madrasa]] in [[Karabakh]], 1865]] The majority of Azerbaijanis are [[Twelver]] [[Shi'a Islam|Shi'a Muslims]]. Religious minorities include [[Sunni Islam|Sunni Muslims]] (mainly [[Shafi'i]] just like other Muslims in the surrounding North Caucasus),<ref>{{in lang|ru}} [[:ru:Добаев, Игорь Прокопьевич|Igor Dobayev]]. ''Radicalisation of Islamic Movements in Central Asia and the North Caucasus: A Comparative Political Analysis''. [http://do.gendocs.ru/docs/index-36795.html Chapter IV: Islam and Islamism in the Republic of Dagestan] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130316050837/http://do.gendocs.ru/docs/index-36795.html |date=16 March 2013 }}. СКНЦ ВШ ЮФУ: Moscow, 2010.</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=[[Kevin Boyle (lawyer)|Boyle, Kevin]] |author2=Sheen, Juliet |year=1997|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MFUZkWWgOtMC|title=Freedom of Religion and Belief|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-15978-4|page=273|access-date=20 June 2015|archive-date=17 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160517173620/https://books.google.com/books?id=MFUZkWWgOtMC|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Baháʼí Faith|Baháʼís]]. An unknown number of Azerbaijanis in the Republic of Azerbaijan have no religious affiliation. Many describe themselves as Shia Muslims.<ref name="Library of Congress Azerbaijan"/> There is a small number of [[Naqshbandi]] [[Sufism|Sufis]] among Muslim Azerbaijanis.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.riadagestan.ru/news/2007/06/06/28600/|title=External factors of radicalization of Islam in the Caucasus|publisher=RIA Dagestan|language=ru|date=6 June 2007|access-date=30 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218044618/http://www.riadagestan.ru/news/2007/06/06/28600/|archive-date=18 February 2012}}</ref> Christian Azerbaijanis number around 5,000 people in the Republic of Azerbaijan and consist mostly of recent converts.<ref name="Day.az">{{cite web|url=http://news.day.az/society/85160.html|title=5,000 Azerbaijanis adopted Christianity|publisher=Day.az|date=7 July 2007|language=ru|access-date=30 January 2012|archive-date=12 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200112173129/https://news.day.az/society/85160.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Tehran Radio">{{cite web|url=http://azeri.irib.ir/tehliller/item/148029-xristian-missioner-t%C9%99riq%C9%99tl%C9%99r-ar-da-aktivl%C9%99sir?tmpl=component&print=1|title=Christian Missionaries Becoming Active in Azerbaijan|publisher=Tehran Radio|date=19 June 2011|language=az|access-date=12 August 2012|archive-date=25 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141025134350/http://azeri.irib.ir/tehliller/item/148029-xristian-missioner-t%C9%99riq%C9%99tl%C9%99r-ar-da-aktivl%C9%99sir?tmpl=component&print=1|url-status=live}}</ref> Some Azerbaijanis from rural regions retain pre-Islamic [[animist]] or [[Zoroastrianism in Azerbaijan|Zoroastrian]]-influenced<ref>Barbara West. [https://books.google.com/books?id=pCiNqFj3MQsC&pg=PA72 Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160522022409/https://books.google.com/books?id=pCiNqFj3MQsC&pg=PA72 |date=22 May 2016 }}. Infobase Publishing, 2009, {{ISBN|1-4381-1913-5}}; p. 72.</ref> beliefs, such as the sanctity of certain sites and the veneration of fire, certain trees and rocks.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.azerbembassy.org.cn/eng/culture.html |title=Azerbaijan: Culture and Art |publisher=Embassy of the Azerbaijan Republic in the People's Republic of China |access-date=30 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216124122/http://www.azerbembassy.org.cn/eng/culture.html |archive-date=16 February 2012}}</ref> In Azerbaijan, traditions from other religions are often celebrated in addition to [[Islamic holidays]], including [[Nowruz]] and [[Christmas]].
===Performing arts=== {{See also|Music of Azerbaijan|Music of Iran}} [[File:Uzeyir Hajibeyov.jpg|thumb|233x233px|[[Uzeyir Hajibeyov]], Azerbaijani composer, musicologist, and teacher. He composed the [[Azərbaycan marşı|National Anthem of Azerbaijan]], and is often referred to as the father of [[Azerbaijani classical music]]]]In the group dance the performers come together in a semi-circular or circular formation as, "The leader of these dances often executes special figures as well as signaling and changes in the foot patterns, movements, or direction in which the group is moving, often by gesturing with his or her hand, in which a kerchief is held."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stanford.edu/group/psa/events/1998-99/avaz/about.utf8.html|title=Avaz|publisher=Stanford University Persian Student Association|access-date=11 June 2006|archive-date=4 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204225131/https://web.stanford.edu/group/psa/events/1998-99/avaz/about.utf8.html|url-status=live}}</ref> [[File:Alim Qasimov, Bahram Mansurov, Talat Bakikhanov.jpg|thumb|[[Mugham triads]]|left|210x210px]]Azerbaijani musical tradition can be traced back to singing [[bard]]s called ''[[Ashiq]]s'', a vocation that survives. Modern Ashiqs play the [[baglama|saz]] ([[lute]]) and sing ''dastans'' (historical [[ballad]]s).<ref>{{cite book|author=Perry, John R.|year=2011|contribution=Cultural currents in the Turco-Persian world of Safavid and post-Safavid times|editor=Mitchell, Colin P.|title=New Perspectives on Safavid Iran: Empire and Society|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-203-85463-1|page=90}}</ref> Other musical instruments include the ''[[Tar (lute)|tar]]'' (another type of lute), ''[[Balaban (instrument)|balaban]]'' (a wind instrument), ''[[kamancha]]'' (fiddle), and the ''[[dhol]]'' (drums). Azerbaijani classical music, called ''[[mugham]]'', is often an emotional singing performance. Composers [[Uzeyir Hajibeyov]], [[Gara Garayev]] and [[Fikret Amirov]] created a hybrid style that combines Western [[European classical music|classical music]] with ''mugham''. Other Azerbaijanis, notably [[Vagif Mustafa Zadeh|Vagif]] and [[Aziza Mustafa Zadeh]], mixed [[jazz]] with ''mugham''. Some Azerbaijani musicians have received international acclaim, including [[Rashid Behbudov]] (who could sing in over eight languages), [[Muslim Magomayev (musician)|Muslim Magomayev]] (a pop star from the Soviet era), [[Googoosh]], and more recently [[Sami Yusuf]].{{citation needed|date=November 2022}}
After the [[1979 revolution]] in Iran due to the clerical opposition to music in general, Azerbaijani music took a different course. According to Iranian singer [[Hossein Alizadeh]], "Historically in Iran, music faced strong opposition from the religious establishment, forcing it to go underground."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/54_folder/54_articles/54_alizadeh.html|title=Hossein Alizadeh Personal Reflections on Playing Tar|work=Azerbaijan International|date=Winter 1997|access-date=30 January 2012|archive-date=3 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303162351/http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/54_folder/54_articles/54_alizadeh.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
Some Azerbaijanis have been film-makers, such as [[Rustam Ibragimbekov]], who wrote ''[[Burnt by the Sun]]'', winner of the Grand Prize at the [[Cannes Film Festival]] and an [[Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film]] in 1994.
===Sports=== {{See also|Azerbaijan at the Olympics|List of Azerbaijani Olympic medalists}} [[File:Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 1, Candidates Tournament 2018.jpg|200px|thumb|Chess player [[Shakhriyar Mamedyarov]]]] [[File:Ilham Aliyev attended ceremony dedicated to sport results of 2017 (Heydarov).jpg|thumb|180px|[[Hidayat Heydarov]], Azerbaijani judoka, [[Olympic Games|Olympic Champion]], [[World Judo Championships|World Champion]] and a four-time [[European Judo Championships|European Champion]]]] Other ancient sports include [[wrestling]], [[javelin throwing]] and [[fencing]]. The Soviet legacy has in modern times propelled some Azerbaijanis to become accomplished athletes at the Olympic level.<ref name="sport">{{cite web|url=http://azerbaijan.az/portal/Society/Sport/sport_e.html|title=Sport History in Azerbaijan|publisher=Heydar Aliyev Foundation|access-date=3 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110625053745/http://www.azerbaijan.az/portal/Society/Sport/sport_e.html|archive-date=25 June 2011}}</ref> The [[Politics of Azerbaijan|Azerbaijani government]] supports the country's athletic legacy and encourages youth participation. <!-- There are many prominent Iranian football players such as [[Ali Daei]], the world's [[Top international association football goal scorers by country|all-time leading goal scorer]] in international matches, and the former captain of the [[Team Melli|Iran national football team]]remark: there are no reliable sources that this person is an ethnic Azerbaijani.--> Iranian athletes of Azerbaijani origin have particularly excelled in [[powerlifting|weight lifting]], [[gymnastics]], [[Shooting sports|shooting]], javelin throwing, [[karate]], [[boxing]], and wrestling.<ref name="MinistrySports">{{cite web|author=Deck, Laurel |url=http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/44_folder/44_articles/44_sports.html |title=The Ministry of Youth and Sports |work=Azerbaijan International |date=Winter 1996 |access-date=11 June 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060508022556/http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/44_folder/44_articles/44_sports.html |archive-date=8 May 2006 |url-status=live}}</ref> Weight lifters, such as Iran's [[Hossein Reza Zadeh]], world super heavyweight-lifting record holder and two-time Olympic champion in 2000 and 2004, or [[Hadi Saei]], a former Iranian.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.farsnews.ir/newstext.php?nn=8706021402|title=هادي ساعي مدال خود را تقديم به مردم آذربايجان كرد|access-date=18 March 2015|date=2008-08-23|archive-date=30 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230134745/http://www.farsnews.ir/newstext.php?nn=8706021402|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Ramil Guliyev]], an ethnic Azerbaijani who plays for Turkey, became the first [[Turkey at the World Athletics Championships|world champion in athletics in the history of Turkey]]. Athletes such as [[Nizami Pashayev]], who won the European heavyweight title in 2006, have excelled at the international level. [[Chess]] is another popular pastime in the Republic of Azerbaijan.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.azembassy.it/browse.php?lang=eng&page=0005 |title=Tourism and sport |publisher=Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Italy |access-date=3 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217104040/http://www.azembassy.it/browse.php?lang=eng&page=0005 |archive-date=17 February 2012}}</ref> The strongest players of Azerbaijani origin [[Vugar Gashimov]], [[Shahriyar Mammadyarov]] and [[Teimour Radjabov]], all three highly ranked internationally. Karate is also popular, where [[Rafael Aghayev]] achieved particular success, becoming a five-time world champion and eleven-time European champion. {{clear}}
==See also== {{Portal|Azerbaijan|Iran}} * [[List of Azerbaijanis]] * [[Turkic peoples]] * [[Peoples of the Caucasus]] * [[Iranian Azerbaijanis]] * [[Azerbaijan (Iran)]]
== Notes == {{notelist}}
==References== ===Citations=== {{Reflist}}
===Cited sources=== * {{Cite book|last=Akhriev|first=N. G.|author-link=Nureddin Akhriev|year=1975|chapter=Исконные имена чеченцев и ингушей|trans-chapter=Original names of Chechens and Ingush|url=https://www.twirpx.com/file/3327379/grant/|url-access=registration|title=Сборник статей и материалов по вопросам нахского языкознания. Известия ЧИНИИИЯЛ|trans-title=Collection of articles and materials on questions of Nakh linguistics. Izvestia CHINIIIYAL|language=ru|volume=10|edition=2nd|location=[[Grozny]]|publisher=ChI kn. izd-vo|pages=199–212}} * {{cite book|last=Chaumont|first=M. L.|date=December 15, 1987|url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/atropates-aturpat-lit|title=Atropates|publisher=Encyclopædia Iranica|volume=III|issue=1|pages=17–18}} * {{cite book|last=de Planhol|first=Xavier |date=December 15, 2004|url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/iran-i-lands-of-iran|title=Iran i. Lands of Iran|publisher=Encyclopædia Iranica|volume=XIII|issue=2|pages=204–212}} * {{Cite book|last=Kurkiev|first=A. S.|year=1979 |url=https://dzurdzuki.com/download/kurkiev-a-s-osnovnye-voprosy-leksikologii-ingushskogo-yazyka-1979g/ |title=Основные вопросы лексикологии ингушского языка |trans-title=The main questions of the lexicology of the Ingush language |language=ru|location=[[Grozny]] |publisher=ChI kn. izd-vo|pages=1–254}} * {{cite book |last1=Swietochowski |first1=Tadeusz |last2=Collins |first2=Brian C. |title=Historical Dictionary of Azerbaijan |date=1999 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-3550-4 |language=en}}
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