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Azerbaijanis, or "Azerbaijani Turks," (also reffered to as Azeri Turks or Azeris) are natives of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the northwestern region of Iran which some reffer to as South Azerbaijan. It is estimated that there are 45 million Azerbaijanis worldwide. They also live in Turkey, Russia and Iraq.

Origins

Azerbaijani historians consider the nation of Azerbaijani Turks the inheritants of ancient civilizations such as those of Sumer, Elam, Urartu, Mannai, Media, Caucasian Albania.

They are also regarded as descendants of various bodies of Turks (Gokturks, Huns, Khazars, Barsils, Kurtugurs, Saragurs, Kipchaks and others) who lived in the land prior to the 10th century, but primaraly the Oghuz Turks, who had inhabited Azerbaijan since the 6th century, and who in a series of mass-migrations from Central Asia during Seljuk rule in the 10th and 11th centuries created a majority population in the land.

Prior to the Oghuz Turkic majority-population in Azerbaijan in the 10th and 11th centuries, there were also traces of Caucasian peoples, such as the tribe of Chols as well as Indo-Europeans, whom were less in number than the aboriginal Turanian population. Non-Turks lived in the vicinity of the land, as did Turks in the vicinity of Semitic, Indo-European or Slavic lands.

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

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 Qorqud, a historic epic, was written in the Azerbaijani language in the 6th and 7th centuries. Others consider the book to be written in an early Ottoman dialect.

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

• Azerbaijan