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Iranian Turks (Azeri: ىران بركلرى İran Türkləri) are Iranians of Turkic ethnic origin.
History
The origin of Iranian Turks is disputed. Some scholars believe that Turkic speaking Iranians, with the exception of Turkmens, are the descendant of the Aryan Medes and migrated to the Iranian plateau with the Persians and adopted the Turkic language amidst the Turkic invasion and settlement of the region in the 10th and 11th centuries. Others, mainly Turkish historians, suggest that they are basically Central Asian Turks who had migrated to Iran after the "Aryan" tribe invasion of Iran. However, this does not explain the fact that many of these people do not have a Turkic genetic marker similar to that of Central Asian Turks. It also does not account for the physical charateristics of Turks west of Central Asia, which is Caucasoid rather than Mongoloid. DNA testing has also shown Iranian Azeri's to be an Iranic people.
Their first emergence as Turks in Iran's history might have been with the ememrgence of Ghaznavids. Since then, they have re-appeared as various dynasties. Although some spoke Turkic at various times, Persian was the official language of their territories and they considered themselves as rulers of Iran and followed Persian culture. This is also evident from Persian poems and writings in their times. (e.g. Shahnameh of Ferdowsi praises Sultan Mahmud of Ghaznavids as king of Iran).
Turkic dynasties of Iran*
(*) Persian was the official language of these dynasties.
(**) Most historains believe Khwarezmids were Turkic speaking peoples. However, there are few historians dispute they were Persians.
Turkic groups in Iran
Iran has many variants of Turkic people. Azerbaijanis are the largest group of Iranian Turks. Furthermore, Turkmen living primarily in Golestan and North Khorasan Provinces account for around 2,000,000 people.
See also
External links
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- "Cambridge Genetic Study of Iran" — ISNA (Iranian Students News Agency), 06-12-2006, news-code: 8503-06068 (retrieved 09 June 2006)