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Revision as of 07:45, 20 August 2004 by 198.81.26.80 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Azerbaijanis, (Azerbaijani Turks, Azeri Turks), live in the Republic of Azerbaijan and the northwestern Iranian region of South Azerbaijan. They number approximately 45 million and inhabit nearby regions in Turkey, Georgia and Russia as well.
Origins
Azerbaijanis are a Turkic people, descendants of various bodies of Turks but primaraly the Oghuz Turks who were a majority in Azerbaijan in the 10th and 11th century and henceforth. The language, culture, literature and blood of the Azerbaijanis comes from the Oghuz Turks.
Most Iranian historians, labeled as "Persian chauvinists" by western and Azerbaijani scholars and historians, claim that the Azerbaijanis are Iranic. American, Arab, European and Azerbaijani historians, based on evident reasons agree that the Azerbaijani-Turk nation has existed since antiquity and that the Azerbaijanis do not trace their lineage to Iranic peoples. Persian writers and "historians" seem to think otherwise.
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.
Some claim that prior to the 10th century, there were various Turkic dialects spoken across the region, and that the Book of Dede Korkut, a historic epic, was written in Azerbaijan in the 6th and 7th centuries.
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 23 to 45 million Azerbaijanis in the world, but census figures are incomplete.
It is estimated that there are 16 million to 22 million Azerbaijanis in Iran, 4 million to 8 million in 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 that 300 thousand 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, but there are also Sunni Muslims, Eastern orthodox, and evangelical Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, and Baha'is. Some people claim that in recent years there have been many conversions to Sunni Islam.
See also: List of Azerbaijanis
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