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Azerbaijanis, or "Azerbaijani Turks," are a Turkic-Muslim people who number more than 45 million worldwide and are natives of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the South Azerbaijan region of northwestern Iran. They also have sizeable communities in Turkey, Georgia and Russia.

The Azerbaijanis are primaraly the descendants of Oghuz Turks, and are also inheritants of several ancient civilizations.

Turkic Origins

in the land.

In "Borders and Brethren" American author Brenda Shaffer states that "under Seljuk rule in the tenth and eleventh centuries, major waves of immigation of Oghuz Turks into Azerbaijan created a clear Turkic majority and unified the ethnic basis of both north and south Azerbaijan. More Turks came during Mongol Ilkhanid rule from the thirteenth through the fourteenth centuries, and during the Qara Qoyunlu and Aq Qoyunlu Turkic dynasties in the fifteenth century, which had their capital in South Azerbaijan, at Tabriz."

The 1911 encyclopedia states that the Azerbaijanis " are the descendants of various bodies of Turks..... but more particularly of the Oghuz tribes who invaded it during the Seljuk period."

In "Azerbaijani Turks" by another American author Audrey Altstadt, it is written that "complete Turkization of Azerbaijan can be dated from the arrival of the Seljuks (Oghuz)....and more fully consolidated with Turkish migrations during the 13th century Mongol eruption." The Turks that migrated to Azerbaijan in the 13th century were part of the Oguz branch, but there were also large amounts of Kipchak Turks (another Turkic branch) that also settled in the land to escape the Mongols in Central Asia.

The modern statehood, blood, language, literature, culture, garments, dances, folklore and national character of Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijanis comes from the Oghuz Turks.

Azerbaijan Republic was known as Caucasian Albania in the pre-Islamic period, and later as Arran. From the time of ancient Media (ninth to seventh centuries b.c.) and the Persian Empire (sixth to fourth centuries b.c.), Azerbaijan usually shared the history of what is now Iran. According to the most widely accepted etymology, the name "Azerbaijan" is derived from Atropates, the name of a Persian satrap of the late fourth century b.c. Another theory traces the origin of the name to the Persian word azar ("fire"') - hence Azerbaijan, "the Land of Fire", because of Zoroastrian temples, with their fires fueled by plentiful supplies of oil.

Azerbaijan maintained its national character after its conquest by the Arabs in the mid-seventh century a.d. and its subsequent conversion to Islam. At this time it became a province in the early Muslim empire. Only in the 11th century, when Oghuz Turkic tribes under the Seljuk dynasty entered the country, did Azerbaijan acquire a significant number of Turkic inhabitants. The original Persian population became fused with the Turks, and gradually the Persian language was supplanted by a Turkic dialect that evolved into the distinct Azerbaijani language. The process of Turkification was long and complex, sustained by successive waves of incoming nomads from Central Asia. After the Mongol invasions in the 13th century, Azerbaijan became a part of the empire of Hulagu and his successors, the Il-Khans. In the 15th century it passed under the rule of the Turkmens who founded the rival Qara Qoyunlu (Black Sheep) and Aq Qoyunlu (White Sheep) confederations. Concurrently, the native Azerbaijani state of the Shirvan-Shahs flourished. At the end of the 15th century, Azerbaijan became the power base of another native dynasty, the Safavids, who through a series of conquests and a vigorous centralization policy built a new Persian kingdom. Shah Ismail I (r. 1502-1524), whose capital was at Tabriz, made the Shi' a branch of Islam the official religion of his domain, thus setting the Azerbaijanis firmly apart from the Ottoman Turks. Under the Safavids, Azerbaijan was frequently a battleground in the wars between Persia and Sunni Muslim Turkey. Because of the threat from Ottoman incursions, the Safavid capital was moved from Tabriz to Qazvin and then to Isfahan. A strategically vital province, Azerbaijan remained under the authority of a governor who usually combined his position with the highest military rank, that of sepahsalar. Safavid rule, which gradually lost its Azerbaijani character, lasted for more than two centuries, finally ending in 1722.

Language

Main article: Azerbaijani language

The Azerbaijanis speak Azerbaijani (sometimes called Azerbaijani Turkish or Azeri) which is a Turkic language, close to Turkish and Turkmen (see also Turkic peoples). The standard Azerbaijani language developed from the 10th century onwards.

Prior to the 10th century, there were various Turkish dialects spoken across the region.

Development

The modern written language of the Azerbaijanis developed from the 10th to the 13th centuries, after the Oghuz Turkic migrations and the decline of the Oghuz Yabgu state in Central Asia. This is the timespan that is called Azerbaijan's cultural and linguistic "golden age".

Demographics

There are about total 15 to 20 million Azerbaijanis in the world, but census figures are incomplete.

It is estimated that there are 2 to 5 million Azerbaijanis in Iran, 8 million in the Republic of Azerbaijan, 600 thousand to 2.16 million in Russia, possibly over one million in the US, between 50 and 500 thousand in each of Ukraine and Germany, more than 5 million in Turkey, 286 thousand in Georgia, and 78.3 thousand to 200 thousand in Kazakhstan. The UK, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan also have some populations of Azerbaijanis living there.

More than 90% of Azerbaijanis are Shia Muslims Turks.

• Azerbaijan
• Turkic peoples