The History Of The Azerbaijanis In Iran

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• published: 26 Apr 2015
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Iranian Azerbaijanis (Azerbaijani: ایران آذربایجانلیلاری – İran azərbaycanlıları) also known as Iranian Azeris, Iranian Turks, Azeri Turks or Persian Azerbaijanis, are Iranians of Azerbaijani ethnicity who speak Azerbaijani language as of their first language. Iranian Azerbaijanis are mainly found in the Azerbaijan region included (East Azerbaijan, Ardabil, Zanjan, West Azerbaijan) and in smaller numbers, in other provinces such as Kurdistan, Qazvin, Hamadan, Gilan, Markazi and Kermanshah. Iranian Azerbaijanis also constitute a significant minority in Tehran, Karaj and other regions. Apart from Iranian Azerbaijan (provinces of West Azerbaijan, East Azerbaijan, Ardabil and Zanjan), indigenous Azeri population is found in large numbers in four provinces: Hamadan (12% Azeri, as well as closely related groups such as Afshar, Gharehgozloo, Shahsevan, and Baharloo), Qazvin (22.2% Azerbaijani), Markazi (20.8% Azerbaijani) and Kurdistan. Azeri-populated parts of Markazi include Komijan, Khondab, Saveh, Zarandieh, Shazand, and Farahan. In Kurdistan, Azeris are mainly found in villages around Qorveh. Azeris have also immigrated and resettled in large numbers in Central Iran, mainly Tehran, where they constitute 25% — one-third of the population, Qum (25.8% to 26.6% Azeri) and Karaj (34.2% to 36.1% Azeri) Immigrant Azeri communities have been represented by people prominent not only among urban and industrial working classes but also in commercial, administrative, political, religious, and intellectual circles. Azeri-speaking clans ethnically close to Azeris, including the Shahsevan, the Bayat and the Gharagozloo, are the indigenous population of Central Iran. The latest comparative study on the complete mitochondrial DNA diversity in Iranians has indicated that Iranian Azeris are more related to the people of Georgia, than they are to other Iranians (Persians, Armenians, etc.) According to the scholar of historical geography, Xavier de Planhol: “Azeri material culture, a result of this multi-secular symbiosis, is thus a subtle combination of indigenous elements and nomadic contributions…. It is a Turkish language learned and spoken by Iranian peasants”. According to Richard Frye:"The Turkish speakers of Azerbaijan (q.v.) are mainly descended from the earlier Iranian speakers, several pockets of whom still exist in the region.". According to Olivier Roy: "The mass of the Oghuz Turkic tribes 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 thirteenth 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.". According to Rybakov: "Speaking of the Azerbaijan culture originating at that time, in the XIV-XV cc., one must bear in mind, first of all, literature and other parts of culture organically connected with the language. As for the material culture, it remained traditional even after the Turkicization of the local population. However, the presence of a massive layer of Iranians that took part in the formation of the Azeri ethnos, have imposed its imprint, primarily on the lexicon of the Azeri language which contains a great number of Iranian and Arabic words. The latter entered both the Azeri and Turkish language mainly through the Iranian intermediary. Having become independent, the Azeri culture retained close connections with the Iranian and Arab cultures. They were reinforced by common religion and common cultural-historical traditions.”. The Iranian origins of the Azeris[citation needed] likely derive from ancient Iranian tribes, such as the Medes in Iranian Azerbaijan, and Scythian invaders who arrived during the 8th century BCE. It is believed that the Medes mixed with an indigenous population, the Caucasian Mannai, a Northeast Caucasian group related to the Urartians.