Azerbaijan (Iran)

Azerbaijan or Azarbaijan (Persian: ;zarbijn ; Azerbaijani: , Kurdish: ), also Iranian Azerbaijan, Persian Azarbaijan is a region in northwestern Iran. It is also historically known as Atropatene and Aturpatakan. The region is referred by some as South Azerbaijan or Southern Azerbaijan, however some scholars and sources view these terms as being irredentist and politically motivated.

Etymology and usage

The name "zar" (Persian: ) means Fire and Baijan was originally known as "Pyegn" (Persian: ) meaning Guardian/Protector. (zar Pyegn = "Guardians of Fire") (Persian: ). Such name roots back to the "Zoroastrianism" era of Persia (Iran); However after the Arab invasion of Persia (Iran) many Persian words lost their original form as in Arabic there are no letter for pronouncing "G / P / ZH / CH"; Hence "Azar Paign" came to be known as Azarbaijan. The name Azerbaijan itself is derived from Atropates, the Satrap (governor) of Medea in the Achaemenid empire, who ruled a region found in modern Iranian Azerbaijan called Atropatene. Atropates name is believed to be derived from the Old Persian roots meaning "protected by fire." The name is also mentioned in the Avestan Frawardin Yasht: tereptahe ashaon fravashm azamaide which translates literally to: We worship the Fravashi of the holy Atare-pata. According to the Encyclopedia of Islam, the name of the province was pronounced as: In Middle Persian the name of the province was called turptkn , older newPersian dharbdhagn /, dharbyagn, at present zerbydjn/zarbydjn, Greek , Byzantine Greek , Armenian Atrpatakan, Syriac Adhorbyghn. The name Atropat in Middle Persian was transformed to Adharbad and is connected with Zoroastrianism. A famous Zoroastrian priest by the name Adarbad Mahraspandan is well known for his counsels. Azerbaijan, due to its numerous fire-temples has also been quoted in a variety of historic sources as being the birthplace of the prophet Zoroaster although modern scholars have not yet reached an agreement on the location of his birth.

Geography

Four provinces in Iranian Azerbaijan. Iranian Azerbaijan is generally considered the northwest portion of Iran comprising the provinces of East Azerbaijan, West Azerbaijan, and Ardabil, Zanjan, and some parts of Hamadan and comprising an area of 122,871 square kilometres (47,441 sq mi). It shares borders with the Republic of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey, and Iraq. There are 17 rivers and two lakes in the region. Cotton, nuts, textiles, tea, machinery, and electrical equipment are main industries. The northern, alpine region, which includes Lake Urmia, is mountainous, with deep valleys and fertile lowlands.

The region is bounded in the north by Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan and in the West by Lake Urmia and Kurdish-inhabited areas of Iran, and in the East by the Talyshstan and Gilan.

Agriculture
Grains, fruits, cotton, rice, nuts, and tobacco are the staple crops of the region.

Industries and handicrafts

Industries include machine tools, vehicle factories, oil refinery, petrochemical complex, food processing, cement, textiles, electric equipment, and sugar milling. Oil and gas pipelines run through the region. Wool, carpets, and metal ware are also produced.

People
Iranian Azeris, a Turkic-speaking people of mixed Caucasian, Iranian and Turkic origin,[15] who number 16 percent of Iran's population are the largest group in Iranian Azerbaijan, while Kurds are the second largest group, and a majority in many cities of the West Azerbaijan Province. Iranian Azerbaijan is one of the richest and most densely populated regions of Iran. Many of these various linguistic, religious, and tribal minority groups, and Azeris themselves have settled widely outside the region. The majority Azeris are followers of Shi'a Islam. The Iranian Azeris, mainly resides in the northwest provinces: East Azerbaijan, West Azerbaijan, Ardabil, and Zanjan as well as some regions of Kordestan, Hamadan, and Markazi. Many others live in Tehran, Karaj and other regions. source needed Smaller groups such as Armenians, Assyrians, Talyshs, Jews, Georgians, and Persians also inhabit the region.

Provinces and cities

According to the population census of 2006, the four provinces of East Azerbaijan (2006 pop. 3,603,456), West Azarbaijan (2006 pop. 2,873,459), Zanjan (2006 pop. 970,946), and Ardabil (2006 pop. 1,228,155) have a combined population of 7.9 million people.

Chief cities include Tabriz (the capital of East Azerbaijan), Urmia (the capital of West Azerbaijan), Zanjan (the capital of Zanjan Province), Ardabil (the capital of Ardabil), Maragheh, Marand, Mahabad, Piranshahr, and Khoy (Khvoy).

History
Pre-Islamic period The oldest kingdom known in Iranian Azerbaijan is that of the Mannea who ruled a region southeast of Lake Urmia centered around modern Saqqez. The Manneans were a confederation of Iranian and non-Iranian groups. According to Professor Zadok: it is unlikely that there was any ethnolinguistic unity in Mannea. Like other peoples of the Iranian plateau, the Manneans were subjected to an ever increasing Iranian (i.e., Indo-European) penetration. The Mannaeans were conquered and absorbed by an Iranian people called Matieni, and the country was called Matiene, with Lake Urmia called Lake Matianus. Matiene was later conquered by the Medes and became a satrapy of the Median empire and then a sub-satrapy of the Median satrapy of the Persian Empire. According to Encyclopdia Britannica, the Medes were an: Indo-European people, related to the Persians, who entered northeastern Iran probably as early as the 17th century BC and settled in the plateau land that came to be known as Media.

Map showing Atropatene (Iranian Azerbaijan) below the Aras River. Region above the Aras River,currently Located in Azerbaijan republic, is labeled as Caucasian Albania (600 AD). After Alexander the Great conquered Persia, he appointed (328 BC) as governor the Persian general Atropates, who eventually established an independent dynasty. The region, which came to be known as Atropatene or Media Atropatene (after Atropates), was much disputed. In the 2nd century BC, it was liberated from Seleucid domination by Mithradates I of Arsacid dynasty, and was later made a province of the Sassanid Empire of Ardashir I. Under the Sassanids, Azerbaijan was ruled by a marzubn, and, towards the end of the period, belonged to the family of Farrukh-Hormuzd. Heraclius, the Byzantine emperor, briefly held the region in the 7th century until peace was made with the Sassanids. After the Islamic Conquest of Iran, Arab invaders converted most of its people to Islam and made it part of the caliphate. Islamic period Arab Conquest During the Islamic invasion of Azerbaijan, the name of the general of Iran, was Rustam the son of Farrukh Hurmuz also known as Rustam Farrokhzad. Rustam himself was born in Azerbaijan and lead the Sassanid army into battle.

He is also mentioned in the Shahnameh. The Sassanid Persian army was defeated in the battle of Qadisiya and Rustam was killed in the same battle. In 642 A.D., Piruzan, the Persian commander fought the Muslims in Nahavand, which was a gateway to the provinces of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Albania. The battle was fiece but the Sassanid troops failed in battle. This opened the gateway for Muslims into Azerbaijan. Muslims settled in Azerbaijan like many parts of Iran. According to the historian Kasravi, the Muslims also settled in Azerbaijan more numerously than other provinces due to its wide and green pastures. Local revolts against the Caliphate were common and the most famous of these revolts was that Persian Khurramite movement.
Abbasid and Seljuqids

Caspian sea and Azerbaijan position on the left side of the map in the 10th century. Original map is in rat al-Ar (" ; The face of the Earth") Ibn Hawqal (977) Beyrut) page 419

Ibn Hawqals map of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Arran (Albania), which shows their relative positions. Arran is north of the Arax and Kura rivers, while Azerbaijan is south of the Arax River. From Ibn Hawqals Surath ul-Ardh, BNF Paris, MS Arabe 2214, p. 58, 1145 AD.

The Tabula Rogeriana, drawn by Muhammad al-Idrisi for Roger II of Sicily in 1154. Azerbaijan in south west of Caspian sea After the revolt of Babak Khorramdin who was a Zoroastrian of neo-Mazdakite background, the grip of the Abbasid caliphate on Azerbaijan weakened, allowing native dynasties to rise in Azerbaijan. Later on Azerbaijan was taken by the Kurdish Daisam and the Daylamite Marzuban. The Daylamites were succeeded by the Kurdish Rawadids. After confrontations with the local Kurdish populations who had already established their own dynasties and emirates in vast areas of Azerbaijan, the Seljuks dominated the region in the 11th and early 12th centuries, at which point Turkification of the native populations began. In 1136, Azerbaijan fell to the lot of the Atabakan-e-Azerbaijan and Atabakan-e-Maragheh. It was invaded by the Khwarizm Shah Jalal ad-din until the advent of the Mongol invasions. Mongol and Turkmen Period The Mongols under Hulagu Khan established their capital at Maragheh. The Safina-yi Tabriz is a book that describes the general intellectual condition of Tabriz during the Ilkhanid period. After being conquered by Timur in the 14th century, Tabriz became an important provincial capital of the Timurid empire. Later, Tabriz becamse the capital of the Qara Qoyunlu empire. Safavid, Afghan interlude, Afshars and Qajar

It was out of Ardabil (ancient Artavilla) that the Safavid dynasty arose to renew the state of Persia and establish Shi'ism as the official religion of Iran. After 1502, Azerbaijan became the chief bulwark and military base of the Safavids. In the meantime, between 1514 and 1603, the Ottomans frequently occupied Tabriz and other parts of the province. The Safavid control was restored by Shah Abbas but during the Afghan invasion (17228) the Ottomans recaptured Azerbaijan and other western provinces of Iran, until Nadir Shah expelled them. In the beginning of the reign of Karim Khan Zand, the Afghan Azad Khan revolted in Azerbaijan and later the Dumbuli Kurds of khoy and other tribal chiefs ruled various parts of the territory. With the advent of the Qajars, Azerbaijan became the traditional residence of the heirs-apparent. At this time, the final northern frontier of Iran with Russia (along the Araxes) was established in 1828 (Turkmanchay Treaty). After 1905 the representatives of Azerbaijan were very active in the Iranian Constitutional Revolution. Modern Period The Russian (Tsarist) army occupied Iranian Azerbaijan in 1909, and again in 19121914 and 19151918 period,the Ottoman forces occupied her in 19141915 and 19181919 periods, the Bolshevik forces occupied Iranian Azerbaijan and other parts of Iran in 19201921, and the Soviet forces occupied Iranian Azerbaijan in 1941, createing a very short-lived autonomous, Soviet-supported state from November 1945 to November 1946, which was dissolved after reunification of Iranian Azerbaijan with Iran in November of the same year. The history of Iran, especially its contemporary history has proven that Azerbaijani people are one of the most patriotic people in Iran. Iranian Nationalism is partly the product of Azerbaijani Intellectuals. Azerbaijani provinces have played a major in the cultural and economic life of Iran in both the Pahlavi era as well as the Iranian Constitutional and Islamic revolution.

Culture
Azeris are culturally very close to the rest of the Iranians though their language is Turkic. The people of Azerbaijan have similar DNA to other Iranian peoples as well as their religion which is Shi'a Islam, which sets them apart from other Turkic speakers (who are mostly Sunni Muslims). Azeris celebrate Nouruz for the turn of the new Iranian year, the arrival of spring. Azerbaijan has a distinct music in Iran. Many local dances and folk music continue to survive among the various peoples of the provinces. Although Azerbaijani language is not an official language it is widely used, mostly in an oral tradition, among the Azeris in Iran. Many poets that

came from Azerbaijan wrote poetry in both Persian and Azerbaijani. Renowned poets in Azerbaijani language are Nasimi, Shah Ismail I (who was known with the pen-name Khatai), Fuzuli, and Mohammad Hossein Shahriar. Fuzuli and Nasimi were probably born outside what is now Iranian Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani was the dominant language of the ruling dynasties of the Turkic rulers of the area such as the Ak Koyunlu and later it was used in the Safavid courts for a short time, until Persian was adopted, however, Turkic was used especially among the Kizilbash warriors. As a longstanding province of Iran (Persia), Azerbaijan is mentioned favorably on many occasions in Persian literature by Iran's greatest authors and poets. Examples:

Sassanid king, Bahram Gur is a great favourite in Persian tradition and poetry. Depction of Nezami's "Bahram and the Indian Princess in the Black Pavilion" Khamse ("Quintet"), mid-16th century Safavid era.

All the nobles and greats of Iran, Choose from Azerbaijan, Ray, and Gorgan. Vis o Ramin

From there the wise and the free, set off to Azerbaijan Nizami

For a month's time, The Kings and The Free, Would choose in Azerbaijan to be Ferdowsi

Colleges and universities

Sahand University of Technology Tabriz University of Medical Sciences University of Tabriz Urmia University of Medical Sciences Urmia University Ardabil University of Medical Sciences Mohaghegh Ardabili University Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences (IASBS) Zanjan University Azarbaijan University of Tarbiat Moallem Tabriz Islamic Arts University University of Maragheh

The Diplomat Blogs

Geopolitics Trump Religion in Iran-Azerbaijan Relations By Caroline Farris

August 7, 2013

Irans Azeri population is emerging as a critical voting bloc in Iranian elections. Ethnic Azeris in Iran may receive less fanfare than the Iranian Kurds, yet they play an increasingly important role in Irans political process. Not only is Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of Azeri descent, but Azeris have emerged as a critical voting bloc in Iranian presidential elections. Indeed, Irans two most recent presidents, Hassan Rouhani and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have both garnered strong support from Irans Azeri provinces, winning East and West Azerbaijan, along with Ardabil and Zanjan. Azeris are descendants of the Oghuz Turks who migrated to the Caucasus Mountains and northwestern Iran in the 11th century from Central Asia. During this time, many areas of the Persian Empire experienced an influx of Turkish immigrants. Although many of Irans inhabitants remained Persian, others adopted the Turkic language. As such, there is a good deal of cultural overlap between the Iranian Azeris and their Persian countrymen. While both are Shia, Azeris in Iran tend to be more secular; a trait shared with Azeris living in the Republic of Azerbaijan. Although intermarriage and a fluid border have made precise counting difficult, Azeris are believed to comprise just under a third of Irans population.

Despite Irans sizeable Azeri populationand indeed, in part because of it Irans relationship with neighboring Azerbaijan has been fraught since Azerbaijan gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Shortly after the Republic of Azerbaijan was established, its first President Abulfaz Elchibey called for unifying Azerbaijani Iran with the new Republic. Irans President at the time, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, was less than thrilled by this gesture and feared that it could sew dissention and secessionism within Irans borders. Relations werent helped by Elchibeys pro-Turkey bent and vehement secularism. Thus, Tehran has struggled to woo Baku since its formation. Despite being the first country to establish full diplomatic relations with the Republic of Azerbaijan, repeated attempts to solidify working relations have been thwarted. Multiple points of contention cause Baku to balk at the kind of relationship Tehran is so keen to establish. For instance, Baku detests Irans treatment of its Azeri populatio n and remains bitter over Tehrans decision to align with Armenia in the Nagorno Karabakh War. Partly as a result, Azerbaijan has always maintained ties to Irans regional rival Israel, and this appear to be increasing. In February of 2012, for instance, Azerbaijan signed a US$1.6 billion defense deal with Israel, which included provisions for Baku to purchase intelligence hardware, air defense systems, and unmanned aerial vehicles from Israel. While this substantial arms purchase is not an immediate threat to Iran, it underscores just how much Azerbaijan is aligning with Israel. One of Irans top priorities in dealing with Azerbaijan is to undercut its relationship with Israel, especially amid reports that Azerbaijan has granted Israel access to an airfield near the Iranian border. Another factor hindering ties between Iran and Azerbaijan is the extensive smuggling networks inside Iran. Azerbaijan has been especially sensitive to the narcotics entering its borders via Iran, although this is likely conducted by nonstate actors. Moreover, as international sanctions against Tehran have tightened, the lure of untold profits has resulted in many Iranian state actorsparticularly the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps expanding their black market smuggling activities. The Iran-Armenia and Azeri-Israeli relationships show the foundation of such political alliances to be purely pragmatic. From a strictly sectarian standpoint, Iran and Azerbaijans shared Shia ties would make them close allies. Yet Iran has backed a Christian nation against Azerbaijan, while the latter has cozied up to Israel. In a neighborhood where it is impossible to keep your enemies closer than

your friends, the Supreme Leaders Azeri blood may not be enough to establish a lasting detente between Iran and its looming neighbor to the north.

Iranian Azerbaijanis
Iranian Azerbaijanis ran Azrbaycanllar

Ismail I Ali Khamenei Shahriar

Rezazadeh

Akhundov

Pishevari

Tabrizi

Ali Javan Haydar Khan

Bazargan

Pahlavi

Bqer Khn

Behrangi Sattar Khan Shariatmadari

Kazembek

Kasravi

Sami Yusuf Khiabani

Googosh

Mousavi

Ali Daei

Hadi Saei

Vossoughi

Arash

Total population

1213 million Approximately 16% of Iran's population Ethnologue 15,500,000 [1] Regions with significant populations East Azerbaijan Tehran West Azerbaijan Alborz Ardabil Zanjan Qazvin Hamadan Markazi Gilan Kurdistan Languages Azerbaijani Persian as second language Religion Predominately Shi'a Islam; Minorities practice Sunni Islam, Bahai, and Zoroastrianism Iranian Azerbaijanis (Azerbaijani: ran azrbaycanllar) also known as Iranian Azeris, Iranian Turks, Azeri Turks or Persian Azerbaijanis, are Iranians of Azerbaijani ethnicity. Iranian Azerbaijanis are mainly found in the northwest provinces of East Azerbaijan, Ardabil, Zanjan, parts of West Azerbaijan, and in smaller numbers, in other provinces such as Kurdistan, Qazvin, Hamadan, Gilan and Markazi. Iranian Azerbaijanis also constitute a significant minority in Tehran, Karaj and other regions.

Background
Origins 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 Turkmenfor a long time: from the 13th century onwards they Turkisedthe 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 Azerbaijani ethnos, have imposed its imprint, primarily on the lexicon of the Azerbaijani language which contains a great number of Iranian and Arabic words. The latter entered both the Azerbaijani and the Turkish language mainly through the Iranian intermediary. Having become independent, the Azerbaijani 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 Azerbaijanis 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. Ancient written accounts, such as one written by Arab historian Abu alHasan Ali ibn al-Husayn al-Masudi (896956), attest to an Iranian presence in the region:

The Persians are a people whose borders are the Mahat Mountains and Azerbaijan up to Armenia and Aran, and Bayleqan and Darband, and Ray and Tabaristan and Masqat and Shabaran and Jorjan and Abarshahr, and that is Nishabur, and Herat and Marv and other places in land of Khorasan, and Sejistan and Kerman and Fars and Ahvaz...All these lands were once one kingdom with one sovereign and one language...although the language differed slightly. The language, however, is one, in that its letters are written the same way and used the same way in composition. There are, then, different languages such as

Pahlavi, Dari, Azeri, as well as other Persian languages. Scholars see cultural similarities between modern Persians and Azerbaijanis as evidence of an ancient Iranian influence. Archaeological evidence indicates that the Iranian religion of Zoroastrianism was prominent throughout the Caucasus before Christianity and Islam and that the influence of various Persian Empires added to the Iranian character of the area. It has also been hypothesized that the population of Iranian Azerbaijan was predominantly Persian-speaking before the Oghuz arrived. This claim is supported by the many figures of Persian literature, such as Qatran Tabrizi, Shams Tabrizi, Nezami, and Khaghani, who wrote in Persian prior to and during the Oghuz migration, as well as by Strabo, Al-Istakhri, and Al-Masudi, who all describe the language of the region as Persian. The claim is mentioned by other medieval historians, such as Al-Muqaddasi. Other common Perso-Azeribaijani features include Iranian place names such as Tabriz and the name Azerbaijan itself. Various sources such as Encyclopaedia Iranica explain how, "The Turkish speakers of Azerbaijan (q.v.) are mainly descended from the earlier Iranian speakers, several pockets of whom still exist in the region." The modern presence of the Iranian Talysh and Tats in Azerbaijan is further evidence of the former Iranian character of the region. As a precursor to these modern groups, the ancient Azaris are also hypothesized as ancestors of the modern Azerbaijanis.

History
Constitutional Revolution Iranian Azerbaijanis played a major role in the constitutional revolution and figures such as Sattar Khan, Seqat-ol-Eslam Tabrizi, Mohammad Khiabani and Baqer Khan were instrumental for its success. Tabriz was also one of the founding cities for the call for the constitutional revolution. Role of Iranian Azerbaijani intellectuals in modern Iranian Nationalism On the eve of World War I, pan-Turkist propaganda focused on the Turkicspeaking lands of Iran, Caucusus and Central Asia. The ultimate purpose was to persuade these populations to secede from the larger political entities to which they belonged and join the new pan-Turkic homeland. It was the latter appeal to Iranian Azerbaijanis, which, contrary to Pan-Turkist intentions, caused a small group of

Azerbaijani intellectuals to become the strongest advocates of the territorial integrity of Iran. After the constitutional revolution in Iran, a romantic nationalism was adopted by Azerbaijani Democrats as a reaction to the pan-Turkist irredentist policies threatening Irans territorial integrity. It was during this period that Iranism and linguistic homogenization policies were proposed as a defensive nature against all others. Contrary to what one might expect, foremost among innovating this defensive nationalism were Iranian Azerbaijanis. They viewed that assuring the territorial integrity of the country was the first step in building a society based on law and a modern state. Through this framework, their political loyalty outweighed their ethnic and regional affiliations. The adoption of these integrationist policies paved the way for the emergence of the titular ethnic groups cultural nationalism. WWII and Soviet intervention In 1945, Soviet troops moved into Iranian Azerbaijan and a short lived Sovietbacked puppet regime by the name of "Azerbaijan People's Government" was founded through direct order of the Soviet leadership. The regime was led by Mir Jafar Pishevari. However, the Soviet soon realized their idea was premature, the mass of population did not support separatism; under largely Western pressure, the Soviet troops withdrew which resulted in the quick collapse of their client state. Iranian Azeri migration to Azerbaijan Beginning in the 1850s, many Iranian Azeris opted to become work migrants and seek job opportunities in the Russian Empire, primarily in the economically booming Azeri-populated part of the Caucasus. Due to them being Persian subjects, Russian offices often recorded them as "Persians". The migrants referred to themselves as hamshahri ("compatriot") as an in-group identity. The word was adopted by the Azeri-speaking locals as hmri and has since been applied by them to Iranian Azeri migrants in general. Already in the nineteenth century, the word also spread to urban varieties of Russian of Baku and Tiflis in the form of gamshara () or amshara (), where it was, however, used with a negative connotation to mean "a raggamuffin". In the Soviet times, the word was borrowed into the Russian slang of Ashkhabad and was used to refer to forestallers. Iranian Azeris often worked menial jobs, including on dyer's madder plantations Guba where 9,000 out of 14,000 Iranian Azeri contract workers were employed as of 1867. In the 1886 economic report on the life of the peasantry of the Guba

district, Yagodynsky reported frequent cases of intermarriage between the Iranian work migrants and local women which prompted the former to settle in villages near Guba and quickly assimilate. Children from such families would not be regarded differently from others by the residents of the community. Starting from the late nineteenth century, Baku was another popular destination for Iranian Azeris, thanks to its highly developing oil industry. By the beginning of the twentieth century, they already constituted 50% of all the oil workers on Baku, and numbered 9,426 people in 1897, 11,132 people in 1903 and 25,096 people in 1913. Amo-oghli and Sattar Khan notably worked in the Baku oil fields before returning to Iran and engaging in politics. In 1925, there were 45,028 Iranian-born Azeris in the Azerbaijan SSR. Of those, 15,000 (mostly oil workers, port and navy workers and railway workers) had retained Iranian citizenship by 1938 and were concentrated in Baku and Ganja. In accordance with the 1938 decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, residents of Azerbaijan with Iranian citizenship were given 10 days to apply for Soviet citizenship and were then relocated to Kazakhstan. Those who refused (numbering 2,878 people) became subject to deportation back to Iran immediately. Some naturalized Iranian Azeris were later accused of various anti-Soviet activities and arrested or even executed in the socalled "Iranian operation" of 1938. After the fall of the democratic government in Tabriz in 1946, as many as 10,000 Iranian Azeri political migrs relocated to Soviet Azerbaijan, fleeing the inevitable repressions of the Shah's government. Notable Azeris of Iranian descent living in Azerbaijan included writers Mirza Ibrahimov and Mir Jalal Pashayev, singers Rubaba Muradova and Fatma Mukhtarova, actress Munavvar Kalantarli, poets Madina Gulgun and Balash Azeroghlu and others. Islamic republic era and today 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. Within the Islamic Revolutionary government there emerged an Azerbaijani nationalist faction led by Ayatollah Kazem Shariatmadari, who advocated greater regional autonomy and wanted the constitution to be revised to include secularists and opposition parties; this was denied.[41] Other Azerbaijanis played an important rule in the revolution including Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Bazargan, Sadeq Khalkhali, and Ali Khamenei.

Azerbaijanis make up 25% of Tehran's population and 30.3% 33% of the population of the Tehran Province. Azerbaijanis in Tehran live in all of the cities Tehran Province. They are the largest ethnic groups after Persians in Tehran and the Tehran Province.

Ethnic status in Iran

Sattar Khan, Iranian Azerbaijani, was a key figure in the Iranian Constitutional Revolution and is held in great esteem by many Iranians. Generally, Azerbaijanis in Iran were regarded as "a well integrated linguistic minority" by academics prior to Iran's Islamic Revolution. 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.". In addition, the current Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, is half Azerbaijani. In contrast to the claims of de facto discrimination of some Azerbaijanis in Iran, the government claims that its policy in the past 30 years has been one of pan-Islamism, which is based on a common Islamic religion of which diverse ethnic groups may be part, and which does not favor or repress any particular ethnicity, including the Persian majority. Persian language is thus merely used as the lingua franca of the country,

which helps maintain Iran's traditional centralized model of government. More recently, the Azerbaijani language and culture starts being taught and studied at university level in Iran, and there appears to exist publications of books, newspapers and apparently, regional radio broadcasts too in the language.

Major Ethnic Groups of Iran Furthermore, Article 15 of Iran's constitution reads:

"The use of regional and tribal languages in the press and mass media, as

well as for teaching of their literature in schools, is allowed in addition to Persian."

According to Professor. Nikki R. Keddie of UCLA: One can purchase newspapers, books, music tapes, and videos in Azerbaijani Turkish and Kurdish, and there are radio and television stations in ethnic areas that broadcast news and entertainment programs in even more languages. Azerbaijani nationalism has oscillated since the Islamic revolution and recently escalated into riots over the publication in May 2006 of a cartoon that many Azerbaijanis found offensive. The cartoon was drawn by Mana Neyestani, an ethnic Azerbaijani, who was fired along with his editor as a result of the controversy. Despite sporadic problems, Azerbaijanis are an intrinsic community within Iran. Currently, the living conditions of Azerbaijanis in Iran closely resemble that of Persians:

The life styles of urban Azeri do not differ from those of Persians, and there is considerable intermarriage among the upper classes in cities of mixed populations. Similarly, customs among Azeri villagers do not appear to differ markedly from those of Persian villagers.

Azerbaijanis in Iran are in high positions of authority with the Azerbaijani Ayatollah Ali Khamenei currently sitting as the Supreme Leader. Azerbaijanis in Iran remain quite conservative in comparison to most Azerbaijanis in the Republic of Azerbaijan. Nonetheless, since the Republic of Azerbaijan's independence in 1991, there has been renewed interest and contact between Azerbaijanis on both sides of the border. Andrew Burke writes:

Azeri are famously active in commerce and in bazaars all over Iran their voluble voices can be heard. Older Azeri men where the traditional wool hat and their music and 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.

According to Bulent Gokay:

The Northern part of Iran , that used to be called Azerbaijan , is inhabited by 17 million Azeris. This population has been traditionally well integrated with the multi-ethnic Iranian state.

Richard Thomas, Roger East, and Alan John Day state:

The 1520 million Azeri Turks living in northern Iran, ethnically identical to Azeris, have embraced Shia Islam and are well integrated into Iranian society.

According Michael P. Croissant:

Although Iran's fifteen-million Azeri population is well integrated into Iranian society and has shown little desire to secede, Tehran has nonetheless shown extreme concern with prospects of the rise of sentiments calling for union between the two Azerbaijans.

Iranian Azerbaijan has seen some anti-government protests by Iranian Azerbaijanis in recent years, most notably in 2003, 2006, and 2007. In cities across northern Iran in mid-February 2007, tens of thousands of ethnic Azerbaijanis marched in observance of International Mother Language Day, although it's been said that the subtext was a protest against what the marchers perceive to be "the systematic, state-sponsored suppression of their heritage and language". While Iranian Azerbaijanis may seek greater cultural rights, few Iranian Azerbaijanis display separatist tendencies. Extensive reporting by Afshin Molavi, an Iranian Azerbaijani scholar, in the three major Azerbaijani provinces of Iran, as well as among Iranian Azerbaijanis in Tehran, found that irredentist or unificationist sentiment was not widely held among Iranian Azerbaijanis. Few people framed their genuine political, social and economic frustration feelings that are shared by the majority of Iranians within an ethnic context. According to another Iranian Azerbaijani scholar Dr. Hassan Javadi a Tabrizborn, Cambridge-educated scholar of Azerbaijani literature and professor of Persian, Azerbaijani and English literature at George Washington University Iranian Azeris have more important matters on their mind than cultural rights. "Irans Azeri community, like the rest of the country, is engaged in the movement for reform and democracy," Javadi told the Central Asia Caucasus Institute crowd, adding that separatist groups represent "fringe thinking." He also told EurasiaNet: "I get no sense that these cultural issues outweigh national ones, nor do I have any sense that there is widespread talk of secession."

Azerbaijani people

Azerbaijanis

Total population approx. 2835 million Regions with significant populations 15 million (Ethnologue and Encyclopdia Britannica) Iran 14.5 to 18 million (e.g. CIA factbook, Knppel, etc.) 18 to 25 million (e.g. criticism R. Elling) 9,235,001 621,800 to 1,500,000 530,000 to 2,500,000 284,761 85,292 45,176 44,400 33,365 24,377 to 400,000 18,000 17,823 15,219 15,000 5,567 4,580

Azerbaijan Russia Turkey Georgia Kazakhstan Ukraine Uzbekistan Turkmenistan United States Netherlands Kyrgyzstan Germany United Kingdom Belarus Canada

Latvia Austria Estonia Lithuania

1,697 1,000 880 788 Languages Azerbaijani Religion

Predominantly Shia Islam; minorities practice Sunni Islam, Bah' Faith,[31][32] and Zoroastrianism[33][34][35] Related ethnic groups Other Turkic peoples, Iranian peoples, peoples of the Caucasus The Azerbaijanis (/zrbadni/; Azerbaijani: Azrbaycanllar, )are a Turkic-speaking people living mainly in Azerbaijan and northwestern Iran, as well as in the neighboring states. Also referred to as "Azeris" (Azrilr, )or "Azerbaijani Turks" (Azrbaycan trklri, )they live in a wider area from the Caucasus to the Iranian plateau. The Azerbaijanis are predominantly Shi'a Muslim and have a mixed cultural heritage including Turkic, Iranian and Caucasian elements. Following the Russo-Persian Wars of 1813 and 1828, the territories of the Qajar Empire in the Caucasus were ceded to the Russian Empire and the treaties of Gulistan in 1813 and Turkmenchay in 1828 finalized the borders between Czarist Russia and Qajar Iran. The formation of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1918 established the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Despite living on two sides of an international border, the Azeris form a single ethnic group. However, northerners and southerners differ due to nearly two centuries of separate social evolution Iranian Azerbaijanis and in Russian/Soviet-influenced Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani language unifies Azerbaijanis, and is mutually intelligible with Turkmen, Qashqai, Gagauz, Turkish, and the dialects spoken by the Iraqi Turkmen, all of which belong to the Oghuz, or Western, group of Turkic languages.

History
Azerbaijan is believed to be named after Atropates, a Persian satrap (governor) who ruled in Atropatene (modern Iranian Azerbaijan). The name Atropates means "protected by fire". An alternative theory is that Azerbaijan is the combination of two Persian words, "zar" meaning "(holy) fire" and "pygn" meaning "the place of". Ancient residents of the area spoke the Ancient Azari language, which belonged to the Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. In the 11th century A.D. with Seljukid conquests, Oghuz Turkic tribes started moving across the Iranian plateau into the Caucasus and Anatolia. The influx of the Oghuz and other Turkmen tribes was further accentuated by the Mongol invasion. Here, the Oghuz tribes divided into various smaller groups, some of whom mostly Sunni moved to Anatolia (i.e., the Ottomans) and became settled, while others remained in the Caucasus region and later due to the influence of the Safaviyya eventually converted to the Shia branch of Islam. The latter were to keep the name "Turkmen" or "Turcoman" for a long time: from the 13th century onwards they gradually Turkified the Iranian-speaking populations of Azerbaijan, thus creating a new identity based on Shia and the use of Oghuz Turkic. Today, this Turkic-speaking population is known as Azeri. Ancient period

Caucasian Albanians are believed to be the earliest inhabitants of the region where the modern-day Republic of Azerbaijan is located. Early Iranian settlements included the Scythians in the ninth century BC. Following the Scythians, the Medes came to dominate the area to the south of the Aras River. The Medes forged a vast empire between 900 and 700 BC, which the Achaemenids integrated into their own empire around 550 BC. During this period, Zoroastrianism spread in the Caucasus and in Atropatene. Alexander the Great defeated the Achaemenids in 330 BC, but allowed the Median satrap Atropates to remain in power. Following the decline of the Seleucids in Persia in 247 BC, an Armenian Kingdom exercised control over parts of Caucasian Albania. Caucasian Albanians established a kingdom in the first century BC and largely remained independent until the Persian Sassanids made their kingdom a vassal state in 252 AD. Caucasian Albania's ruler, King Urnayr, officially adopted Christianity as the state religion in the fourth century AD, and Albania remained a Christian state until the 8th century. Sassanid control ended with their defeat by Muslim Arabs in 642 AD. Medieval period[edit source | editbeta] Muslim Arabs defeated the Sassanids and Byzantines as they marched into the Caucasus region. The Arabs made Caucasian Albania a vassal state after the Christian resistance, led by Prince Javanshir, surrendered in 667. Between the ninth and tenth centuries, Arab authors began to refer to the region between the Kura and Aras rivers as Arran. 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.: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 Iranian Azerbaijan from 816837, led by a local Zoroastrian commoner named Bbak. 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 dynasties of Shaddadid and Rawadid. In the middle of the eleventh century, the Seljuq dynasty overthrew Arab rule and established an empire that encompassed most of Southwest Asia. The Seljuk period marked the influx of Oghuz nomads into the region, and the beginning of the Turkification of Azerbaijan as the West Oghuz Turkic language supplanted earlier Caucasian and Iranian ones.

Iranian cultural influence, however, survived extensively, as evidenced by the works of Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi. The emerging Turkic identity was chronicled in epic poems or dastans, the oldest being the Book of Dede Korkut, which relate allegorical tales about the early Turks in the Caucasus and Asia Minor. Turkic dominion was interrupted by the Mongols in 1227. Turkic rule returned with the Timurids and then Sunni Qara Qoyunl (Black Sheep Turkmen) and Aq Qoyunl (White Sheep Turkmen), who dominated Azerbaijan until the Shi'a Safavids took power in 1501. Modern period The Safavids, who rose from around Ardabil in Iranian Azerbaijan and lasted until 1722, established the modern Iranian state. Noted for achievements in state building, architecture, and the sciences, the Safavid state crumbled due to internal decay and external pressures from the Russians and Afghans. The Safavids encouraged and spread Shi'a Islam, as well as the arts and culture, and Shah Abbas the Great created an intellectual atmosphere that according to some scholars was a new "golden age".He reformed the government and the military, and responded to the needs of the common people. After the Safavid state came brief Ottoman rule followed by conquest by Nadir Shah Afshar, a Sunni chieftain from Khorasan who reduced the power of the Shi'a. The brief reign of Karim Khan came next, followed by the Qajars, who ruled Azerbaijan and Iran from 1779. Russia loomed as a threat to Persian holdings in the Caucasus in this period. The Russo-Persian Wars 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. While Azerbaijanis in Iran integrated into Iranian society, northern Azeris were incorporated into the Russian Empire.

Sattar Khan (18681914) was a major revolutionary figure in the late Qajar period in Iran. In Iran, Azerbaijanis such as Sattar Khan sought constitutional reform. The Persian Constitutional Revolution of 190611 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. Upon the dethronement of Reza Shah in September 1941, Soviet forces 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 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 late 1946. Immediately thereafter, the Iranian government regained control of Iranian Azerbaijan.

According to Professor Gary R. Hess: On December 11, an Iranian force entered Tabriz and the Peeshavari government quickly collapsed. Indeed the Iranians were enthusiastically welcomed by the people of Azerbaijan, who strongly preferred domination by Tehran rather than Moscow. The Soviet willingness to forego its influence in (Iranian) Azerbaijan probably resulted from several factors, including the realization that the sentiment for autonomy had been exaggerated and that oil concessions remained the more desirable long-term Soviet Objective. Brief independence for northern Azerbaijan in 19181920 was followed by over 70 years of Soviet rule.[51]:91 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.

Origins

Fruit market in Urmia, Persia, 1911

Downtown Baku, Azerbaijan 2008 In many references, Azerbaijanis are designated as a Turkic people, due to their Turkic language. However, modern-day Azerbaijanis are believed to be primarily the descendants of the Caucasian Albanian and Iranian peoples who lived in the areas of the Caucasus and northern Iran, respectively, prior to Turkification. Historian Vladimir Minorsky writes that largely Iranian and Caucasian populations became Turkish-speaking: In the beginning of the 5th/11th century the Ghuzz hordes, first in smaller parties, and then in considerable numbers, under the Seljuqids occupied Azerbaijan. In consequence, the Iranian population of Azerbaijan and the adjacent parts of Transcaucasia became Turkophone while the characteristic features of dharbyjn Turkish, such as Persian intonations and d isregard of the vocalic harmony, reflect the non-Turkish origin of the Turkicised population. Thus, centuries of Turkic migration and turkification of the region helped to formulate the contemporary Azerbaijani ethnic identity.

Turkification The earliest major Turkic incursion of the area now known as Azerbaijan began and accelerated during the Seljuk period. 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 Ilkhans were Turkic. By the Safavid period, the Turkification of Azerbaijan continued with the influence of the Kizilbash. The very name Azerbaijan is derived from the pre-Turkic name of the province, Azarbayjan or Adarbayjan, and illustrates a gradual language shift that took place as local place names survived Turkification, albeit in altered form. Most academics view the linguistic Turkification of predominantly non-Turkicspeaking indigenous peoples and assimilation of small bands of Turkic tribes as the most likely origin for the Azeris. Iranian origin The Iranian origins of the Azerbaijanis likely derive from ancient Iranian tribes, such as the Medes in Iranian Azerbaijan, and Scythian invaders who arrived during the eighth century BC. It is believed that the Medes mixed with Mannai. Ancient written accounts, such as one written by Arab historian Al-Masudi, attest to an Iranian presence in the region: The Persians are a people whose borders are the Mahat Mountains and Azarbaijan up to Armenia and Aran, and Bayleqan and Darband, and Ray and Tabaristan and Masqat and Shabaran and Jorjan and Abarshahr, and that is Nishabur, and Herat and Marv and other places in the land of Khorasan, and Sejistan and Kerman and Fars and Ahvaz ... All these lands were once one kingdom with one sovereign and one language ... although the language differed slightly. The language, however, is one, in that its letters are written the same way and used the same way in composition. There are, then, different languages such as Pahlavi, Dari, Azari, as well as other Persian languages.

A sample poem from Safina-yi Tabriz written in the old Azari language. Archaeological evidence indicates that the Iranian religion of Zoroastrianism was prominent throughout the Caucasus before Christianity and Islam. It has also been hypothesized that the population of Iranian Azerbaijan was predominantly Persianspeaking before the Oghuz arrived. This claim is supported by the many figures of Persian literature, such as Qatran Tabrizi, Shams Tabrizi, Nizami Ganjavi, and Khaghani, who wrote in Persian prior to and during the Oghuz migration, as well as by Strabo, Al-Istakhri, and Al-Masudi, who all describe the language of the region as Persian. The claim is mentioned by other medieval historians, such as AlMuqaddasi. Encyclopdia Iranica says "The Turkish speakers of Azerbaijan (q.v.) are mainly descended from the earlier Iranian speakers" and points out the continued presence of pockets of Iranian Talysh and Tats in Azerbaijan. Caucasian origin According to Encyclopdia Britannica: The Azerbaijani are of mixed ethnic origin, the oldest element deriving from the indigenous population of eastern Transcaucasia and possibly from the Medians of northern Persia.

There is evidence that, despite repeated invasions and migrations, aboriginal 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, and close ties to the Armenians. The Udi language, still spoken in Azerbaijan, may be a remnant of the Albanians' language. This Caucasian influence extended further south into Iranian Azerbaijan. During the 1st millennium BC, another Caucasian people, the Mannaeans (Mannai) populated much of Iranian Azerbaijan. Weakened by conflicts with the Assyrians, the Mannaeans are believed to have been conquered and assimilated by the Medes by 590 BC.
Genetics

Iranian Azaris have stronger genetic affinity with their immediate geographic neighbors than with populations from Central Asia. Genetic studies demonstrate that northern Azeris are more closely related to other Caucasian people like Georgians and Armenians than they are to Iranians or Turks. Iranian Azeris are genetically more similar to northern Azeris and the neighboring Turkish population than they are to geographically distant Turkmen populations. Iranian-speaking populations from Azerbaijan (the Talysh and Tats) are genetically closer to Azerbaijanis of the Republic than to other Iranian-speaking populations (Persian people and Kurds from Iran, Ossetians, and Tajiks). Such genetic evidence supports the view that the Azeris originate from a native population long resident in the area who adopted a Turkish language through a process of "elite dominance", i.e. a limited number of Turkic immigrants had a substantial cultural impact but left only weak patrilineal genetic traces. MtDNA analysis indicates that Iranians, Anatolians and Caucasians are part of a larger West Eurasian group that is secondary to that of the Caucasus. 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. Iranians have a relatively diverse range of Y-chromosome haplotypes. A population from central Iran (Isfahan) shows closer similarity in terms of haplogroup distributions to Caucasians and Azeris than to populations from southern or northern Iran. The range of haplogroups across the region may reflect historical genetic admixture, perhaps as a result of invasive male migrations. Ethnonym Historically the Turkic speakers of Iranian Azerbaijan and the Caucasus called themselves or were referred to by others as Muslims, Persians, Turks, or Ajams (by Kurds), and religious identification prevailed over ethnic identification. When the South Caucasus became part of the Russian Empire in the nineteenth century, the Russian authorities, who traditionally referred to all Turkic people as Tatars, defined Tatars living in the Transcaucasus region as Caucasian or Aderbeijanskie () Tatars to distinguish them from other Turkic groups. The Russian Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, written in the 1890s, also referred to Tatars in Azerbaijan as Aderbeijans (), but noted that the term had not been adopted widely. This ethnonym was also used by Joseph Deniker:

[The purely linguistic] grouping [does not] coincide with the somatological grouping: thus the Aderbeijani of the Caucasus and Persia, who speak a Turkish language, have the same physical type as the Hadjemi-Persians, who speak an Iranian tongue. 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.

Demographics and society

The vast majority of Azerbaijanis live in the Republic of Azerbaijan and Iranian Azerbaijan. Between 11.2 and 20 million Azerbaijanis live in Iran, mainly in the northwestern provinces. Approximately 8 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 Dagestan, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. No Azerbaijanis were recorded in the 2001 census in Armenia, where the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resulted in population shifts. Other sources, such as national censuses, confirm the presence of Azeris throughout the other states of the former Soviet Union. Ethnologue reports that 1 million South Azeris live outside Iran, but these figures include Iraqi Turkmen, a distinct though related Turkic people. Azerbaijanis in Azerbaijan

Azerbaijanis are by far the largest ethnic group in Azerbaijan (over 90%). The literacy rate is very high, and is estimated at 99.5%. 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 democratic system. Azerbaijani society has been deeply impacted by the war with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, which has displaced nearly 1 million Azerbaijanis and put strain on the economy. Azerbaijan has benefited from the oil industry, but high levels of corruption have prevented greater prosperity for the masses. Despite these problems, there is a renaissance in Azerbaijan as positive economic predictions and an active political opposition appear determined to improve the lives of average Azerbaijanis Azerbaijanis in Iran While population estimates in Azerbaijan are considered reliable due to regular censuses, the figures for Iran remain questionable. Since the early twentieth century, successive Iranian governments have avoided publishing statistics on ethnic groups. Unofficial population estimates of Azerbaijanis in Iran range from 16% by the CIA and Library of Congress up to 40% by Azeri nationalists. An independent poll in 2009 placed the figure at around 2022%. Azerbaijanis in Iran are mainly found in the northwest provinces: West Azerbaijan, East Azerbaijan, Ardabil, Zanjan, parts of Hamadan, Qazvin, and Markazi. Azeri minorities live in the Qorveh and Bijar counties of Kurdistan, in Gilan,[112][113][114][115][116][117] as ethnic enclaves in Galugah in Mazandaran, around Lotfabad and Dargaz in Razavi Khorasan, and in the town of Gonbad-e Qabus in Golestan.[119] Generally, Azerbaijanis in Iran were regarded as "a well integrated linguistic minority" by academics prior to Iran's Islamic Revolution. 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".

Azerbaijani noblemen from Erivan (Yerevan), 1860 Resentment came with Pahlavi policies that suppressed the use of the Azerbaijani language in local government, schools, and the press. 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. Within the Islamic Revolutionary government there emerged an Azeri nationalist faction led by Mohammad Kazem Shariatmadari, who advocated greater regional autonomy and wanted the constitution to be revised to include secularists and opposition parties; this was denied. Islamic theocratic institutions dominate nearly all aspects of society. The Azerbaijani language and its literature are banned in Iranian schools. There are signs of civil unrest due to the policies of the Iranian government in Iranian Azerbaijan and increased interaction with fellow Azeris in Azerbaijan and satellite broadcasts from Turkey have revived Azeri nationalism. In May 2006, Iranian Azerbaijan witnessed riots over publication of a cartoon depicting a cockroach speaking Azeri that many Azeris found offensive. The cartoon was drawn by Mana Neyestani, an ethnic Azeri, who was fired along with his editor as a result of the controversy. Despite sporadic problems, Azeris are an intrinsic community within Iran, and living conditions of Azeris in Iran closely resemble those of Persians:

The life styles 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. 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. There is cross-border trade between Azerbaijan and Iran, and Azeris go into Iran to buy goods that are cheaper, but the relationship is tense.

Culture
In many respects, Azerbaijanis are Eurasian and bi-cultural, as northern Azerbaijanis have absorbed Russo-Soviet and Eastern European influences, whereas the Azerbaijanis of the south have remained within the Turko-Iranian and Persianate tradition. Modern Azerbaijani culture includes significant achievements in literature, art, music, and film.
Language and literature

Muhammad Fuzl, sixteenth-century poet The Azerbaijanis speak Azerbaijani (sometimes called Azerbaijani Turkish or Azeri), a Turkic language descended from the Western Oghuz Turkic language that became established in Azerbaijan in the 11th and 12th century CE. Early Oghuz was mainly an oral language, and the later compiled epics and heroic stories of Dede Korkut probably derive from an oral tradition. The first accepted Oghuz Turkic text goes back to 15th century. The first written, classical Azeri literature arose after the Mongol invasion. Some of the earliest Azerbaijani writings trace back to the poet Nasimi (died 1417) and then decades later Fuzl (14831556). Ismail I, Shah of Safavid Persia wrote Azerbaijani poetry under the pen name

Khat'i. Modern Azeri literature continued with a traditional emphasis upon humanism, as conveyed in the writings of Samad Vurgun, Shahriar, and many others. Azerbaijanis are generally bilingual, often fluent in either Russian (in Azerbaijan) or Persian (in Iran). As of 1996, around 38% of Azerbaijan's roughly 8,000,000 population spoke Russian fluently. An independent telephone survey in Iran in 2009 reported that 20% of respondents could understand Azeri, the most spoken minority language in Iran, and all respondents could understand Persian. Religion The majority of Azerbaijanis are Twelver Shi'a Muslims. Religious minorities include Sunni Muslims (mainly Hanafi, but also Shafi'i such as Sunni Azeris in Dagestan),[135][136] Christians and Bah's. An unknown number of Azerbaijanis in the Republic of Azerbaijan have no religious affiliation. Many describe themselves as cultural Muslims. There is a small number of Naqshbandi Sufis among Muslim Azerbaijanis Christian Azeris number around 5,000 people in the Republic of Azerbaijan and consist mostly of recent converts. Some Azerbaijanis from rural regions retain pre-Islamic animist or Zoroastrian-influenced beliefs, such as the sanctity of certain sites and the veneration of fire, certain trees and rocks. In Azerbaijan, traditions from other religions are often celebrated in addition to Islamic holidays, including Norouz and Christmas. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijanis have increasingly returned to their Islamic heritage as recent reports indicate that many Azerbaijani youth are being drawn to Islam. Performance art

Azerbaijani musicians in performance

Azerbaijani singers Ell & Nikki won the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest.

Chess player Teimour Radjabov

Azerbaijanis express themselves in a variety of artistic ways including dance, music, and film. Azerbaijani folk dances are ancient and similar to that of their neighbors in the Caucasus and Iran. The group dance is a common form found from southeastern Europe to the Caspian Sea. 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." Solitary dances are performed by both men and women and involve subtle hand motions in addition to sequenced steps.

Azerbaijani musical tradition can be traced back to singing bards called Ashiqs, a vocation that survives. Modern Ashiqs play the saz (lute) and sing dastans (historical ballads). Other musical instruments include the tar (another type of lute), 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 classical music with mugham. Other Azerbaijanis, notably 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) and Muslim Magomayev (a pop star from the Soviet era). In Iran, Azerbaijani music has taken a different course. According to Iranian Azerbaijani singer Hossein Alizadeh, "Historically in Iran, music faced strong opposition from the religious establishment, forcing it to go underground." As a result, most Iranian Azerbaijani music is performed outside of Iran amongst exile communities. Azerbaijani film and television is largely broadcast in Azerbaijan with limited outlets in Iran. Some Azerbaijanis have been prolific 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. Many Iranian Azeris have been prominent in the cinematic tradition of Iran, which has received critical praise since the 1980s. Sports Sports have historically been an important part of Azerbaijani life. Horseback competitions were praised in the Book of Dede Korkut and by poets and writers such as Khaqani. Other ancient sports include wrestling, javelin throwing and fencing. The Soviet legacy has in modern times propelled some Azeris to become accomplished athletes at the Olympic level. The Azeri government supports the country's athletic legacy and encourages youth participation. Football is popular in both Azerbaijan and Iranian Azerbaijan. There are many prominent Azerbaijani soccer players such as Ali Daei, the world's all-time leading goal scorer in international matches and the former captain of the Iran national soccer team. Azeri athletes have particularly excelled in weight lifting, gymnastics, shooting, javelin throwing, karate, boxing, and wrestling.[148] Weight lifters, such as Iran's

Hossein Reza Zadeh, world super heavyweight lifting record holder and two times Olympic champion in 2000 and 2004, and Nizami Pashayev, who won the European heavyweight title in 2006, have excelled at the international level. Chess is another popular pastime in Azerbaijan. The country has produced many notable players, such as Teimour Radjabov and Shahriyar Mammadyarov, both highly ranked internationally.

Women

Azerbaijani woman wearing traditional clothing, 1900 In Azerbaijan, women were granted the right to vote in 1919. Women have attained Western-style equality in major cities such as Baku, although in rural areas more traditional views remain. Violence against women, including rape, is rarely reported, especially in rural areas, not unlike other parts of the former Soviet Union. In Azerbaijan, the veil was abandoned during the Soviet period. Women are

under-represented in elective office but have attained high positions in parliament. An Azeri 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.] Abortion is available on demand in the Republic of Azerbaijan. The human rights ombudsman since 2002, Elmira Suleymanova, is a woman. In Iran, a groundswell of grassroots movements have sought gender equality since the 1980s. 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. 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. The social fate of Azeri women largely mirrors that of other women in Iran. Azerbaijan topics

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