Who are Azerbaijanis? From whom did they originate? The origin of Azerbaijanis: ethnogenesis, the process of nation formation, genetic research and the history of the nation.

, Bulgars, Khazars, Oguzes, Pechenegs, etc.

Azerbaijanis are of mixed ethnic origin, the most ancient element of which is the local population of eastern Transcaucasia and possibly the Iranian-speaking Medes who lived in northern Persia. This population was Persianized during the coming to power of the Sassanid dynasty (III-VII centuries AD). A significant part of the Albanian population converted to Islam in Arab times, and later underwent Turkization, serving as the basis for the formation of the Azerbaijani people in the future. The American historian D. Burnutyan notes that the Caucasian Albanians are not the direct ancestors of modern Azerbaijanis, since by the time the Turks penetrated into Transcaucasia, the Albanian tribes were first absorbed by Zoroastrian Persia, and then Islamized by the Arabs.

As for the role of the Turkic-speaking component in the ethnogenesis of the Azerbaijanis, the Turkic-speaking Oghuz union of tribes was formed as a result of the mixing of the Turks with the local tribes of Ugric and Iranian-speaking Sarmatian origin (according to the TSB, as a result of the mixing of some Turkic and ancient Mongolian tribes with part of the Iranian-speaking Saka-Massaget tribes). Later, the Seljuk family emerged from the Oghuz environment, under whose auspices a wave of Turkic-speaking tribes poured into Transcaucasia in the 11th century. According to the Big Encyclopedic Dictionary Larus: "Azerbaijanis are the descendants of the ancient Iranian-speaking population, Turkified since the 11th century". Vladimir Minorsky, in turn, notes that “At the beginning of the 5th / 11th centuries. hordes of Oguzes, first in smaller groups, and then in significant numbers, under the Seljukids captured Azerbaijan. As a result, the Iranian population of Azerbaijan and the adjacent regions of Transcaucasia became Turkic-speaking; at the same time, the characteristic features of the Azerbaijani Turkic language, such as Persian intonation, the rejection of vocal harmony, reflect the non-Turkic origin of the Turkic population.” .

In Russia, early descriptions of the origin of Azerbaijanis appear already at the end of the 19th - the first half of the 20th centuries. So the encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron, published in the Russian Empire, wrote that "The Aderbeijan Tatars are the descendants of the Seljuk Turks and the Turkic-Mongols of the army of Gulag Khan (XIII century), but to a large extent also Turkishized Iranians", and according to TSB 1926, “In the era of the decline of the Caliphate, a gradual infiltration of Turkic elements into Eastern Transcaucasia begins. Indigenous people(Albanians) or is destroyed or pushed back into the mountains, most often mixed with the conquerors. The Turkic (Azeri) element finally established itself in the eastern part of the Caucasus as a result of the so-called. Mongol invasion in the 13th century and subsequent conquests of Tamerlane, Turkmens, Ottoman Turks, etc..

Later, Soviet and Russian scientists, as well as their Western colleagues, also began to note the formation of the Azerbaijani ethnos as a result of linguistic and ethno-cultural assimilation. So in the 1950s. S. T. Yeremyan wrote: “As the Turkic nomadic tribes established themselves on the winter pastures of the Kura-Araks lowland, the Muslimized part of the aboriginal population of ancient Albania was assimilated by the newcomer Turkic tribes. This is how the modern Azerbaijani nationality was formed. According to S. A. Tokarev: “The origin of Azerbaijanis is a relatively clear question. They are a mixed people. Its oldest layer is obviously the aboriginal population of Eastern Transcaucasia - the Caspians and Albanians, possibly also the Medes of Northern Iran. This population, due to the cultural predominance of Iran in the Sassanid era, was Iranianized, and in the 11th century, during the years of the Seljuk conquest, its Turkization began”, which continued during the period of the Mongol conquest.

Azerbaijanis as a people were formed as a result of a long historical development, the gradual consolidation of local ancient tribes (Albanians, Udins, Caspians, Talysh, etc.) with Turkic-speaking tribes that came in different periods - the Huns, Oguzes, Kypchaks, etc. - and, according to According to the opinion existing in science, the change of the indigenous languages ​​of the population by the Turkic spoken language here refers to the XI-XIII centuries. In turn, the Turkic-speaking tribes were rather variegated in their ethnic components, uniting many other, partly more ancient tribes, who later participated in the ethnogenesis not only of Azerbaijanis, but also of a number of other Turkic-speaking peoples. It must be assumed that in the ethnic history of Azerbaijan, the tribes of Karakoyunlu (“black sheep”) and Akgoyunlu (“white sheep”), who settled in South Azerbaijan, left a noticeable mark, in whose states in the 15th century. included "Azerbaijani lands south of Cuba"

The outstanding Soviet and Russian orientalist A.P. Novoseltsev wrote:

At the same time, he pointed out that “The current Azerbaijanis are also Turkic descendants of part of the ancient tribes of Caucasian Albania and the Iranians of southern Azerbaijan. The other ancestors of the Azerbaijanis, who brought the Turkic language, the Oguz tribes, in turn, are the product of a complex Turkic-Iranian synthesis” .

The penetration of the Seljuk Turks into Eastern Transcaucasia led to the Turkization of a significant part of the local population, and in the XI-XIII centuries. the formation of the Turkic-speaking Azerbaijani ethnos began, which ended mainly by the end of the 15th century, during the reign of the Safavids. A number of researchers note the adoption of Shiism during the reign of the Safavids as the final factor in the formation of the Azerbaijani people.

genetic research

Anthropological data

Anthropologically, Azerbaijanis belong to the Caspian subtype of the Caucasoid race. This also includes Kumyks, Tsakhurs and Muslim Tats, as well as part of the Kurds and Turkmens. The Caspian type is usually regarded as a variation of the Mediterranean race or the Indo-Afghan race.

19th century research

In another work, The Races of the Caucasus, Pantyukhov highlights:

The third Caucasian race is already of purely Asian origin, dolichocephalic with a cranial index of 77-78, an average height of about 1.70 m and an eye color of hyperbrunettes, that is, more than 90% pigmented eyes. To this very pure race belong the Persians, the Aderbeijan Tatars, the Kurds, and the Tats.

The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron, regarding the distribution of dolichocevals, wrote that "only a few of the modern Caucasian peoples show the presence of a dolichocephalic element (Natukhians, Aderbeidzhan Tatars), while the majority are characterized by high degrees of brachycephaly (for example, Abkhazians, Georgians, Armenians, Aisors, Mountain Jews, Dagestanis, Kumyks)" . ESBE calls Azerbaijanis Turks by language and Iranians by race, and also gives the following description:

Head index, according to Eckert, 79.4 (mesocephalic), according to Chantre - 84 (brachycephaly). The eyes are dark, horizontally cut, the nose is long with a hump, the lips are often thick, the facial expression is serious, important.

According to the article "Turks" of the encyclopedic dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron, Azerbaijanis « tall mesocephalic (head. spec. 80.4) and in all other ways, abundant facial hair, a very elongated face, a curved nose, merging eyebrows, etc., clearly approaching the Iranians ". ESBE also notes that “In terms of the shape of the skull, Persians, Kurds, Azerbaijanis in general represent a significant similarity (an indicator of the width of the skull is 77-78)” .

20th century research

Analyzing the anthropological features of Azerbaijanis, the Soviet and Russian anthropologist Valery Alekseev noted:

Since the closest morphological analogies Caspian group populations are noted among the population of Afghanistan and North India, then the ancestors of the Azerbaijanis should be sought among those ancient peoples who simultaneously gave rise to the Nuristanis and many peoples of North India ... But even in the absence of paleoanthropological data, somatological materials suggest that the direct ancestors of the Azerbaijani people should be sought among the ancient peoples of Asia Minor and that in the ethnogenesis of the Azerbaijanis, connections in the southeast direction are decisive. Contact with peoples who spoke Turkic languages, and the transition to Turkic speech associated with it, did not have any noticeable influence on the formation of the anthropological characteristics of the Azerbaijani people.

He notes that among the Caucasian peoples, the most dark-eyed are Azerbaijanis, and the maximum of individuals with black eyes falls on the south-eastern regions of Azerbaijan, where the average score in most groups rises above 1.65. In terms of hair color in different Azerbaijani groups, in about half of the cases, blue-black hair was noted (No. 27 on the Fisher scale). Alekseev gives the following description:

The face of Azerbaijanis is narrow and, apparently, low, the nose protrudes very much. However, unlike the Adyghe peoples North Caucasus, who also have small faces, Azerbaijanis are the most darkly pigmented of the Caucasian peoples. The hairline is moderately developed, in all likelihood, approximately, like that of Georgians, or even a little less.

The Soviet and Russian anthropologist, specialist in the field of anthropological dermatoglyphics, Henrietta Heath, in the report "Dermatoglyphics and racial genesis of the population of the Caucasus" regarding dermatoglyphics notes that “The Turks of the Caucasus (Azerbaijanis, Karachays, Balkars), according to dermatoglyphics, form a separate homogeneous cluster, merging with the Adyghe. However, according to signs of somatology, closely similar Karachays and Balkars are united with Ossetians, Chechens and Ingush, and Azerbaijanis are generally dermatoglyphically isolated in the entire system of Caucasian peoples. .

Sources

1. Stuart James An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires. - Greenwood Publishing Group, 1994. - P. 27. - ISBN 0313274975
2. Shnirelman V.A. Memory Wars: Myths, Identity and Politics in Transcaucasia. - ICC "Akademkniga", 2002. - S. 197. - ISBN 5-94628-118-6

   original text(Russian)

   During the Arab times, a significant part of the Albanian population converted to Islam and began to use the Arabic script. Later, in the 11th-13th centuries, it underwent Turkization and served as the basis for the formation of the Azerbaijani people in the future.

3. Ethnogenesis of Azerbaijanis- article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia
4. Central Asian Survey: The Journal of the Society for Central Asian Studies (1982, p. 437).
5. Azerbaijani. Article from the Encyclopædia Britannica
6. George A. Bournoutian. A brief history of the Aghuank' region. Mazda Publishers, 2009. ISBN 1-56859-171-3. Page 28
7. Mikhail Illarionovich Artamonov History of the Khazars. - Faculty of Philology of St. Petersburg State University, 2002. - P. 419. - ISBN 5846500323, 9785846500327

   original text(Russian)

   The term "Oguz" was originally a common denominator of a tribe and with a numeral determinative was used to name unions of tribes, such as, for example, the Uighurs - Tokuz-Oguz - nine tribes, Karluks - Uch-Oguz - three tribes. Subsequently, it lost its original meaning and became the ethnic name of the tribes formed in the Aral steppes as a result of the mixing of Turkuts with local tribes of Ugric and Sarmatian origin.

8. Great Soviet Encyclopedia. - State Scientific Publishing House, 1954. - S. 513. - ISBN 5846500323, 9785846500327

   original text(Russian)

   OGUZES (guzes, bonds) - an alliance of tribes that existed in the Aral Sea region in the 6th-11th centuries. on the basis of a mixture of certain Turkic and ancient Mongolian tribes with a part of the Saka-Massaget; the Turkic speech turned out to be victorious.

9. Grand Dictionnaire Encyclopedique Larousse(1982). Page 921, ISBN 2-03-102301-2 (retrieved 17 February 2007).
10. Minorsky, V. "(Azarbaijan)." Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill

    original text(English)

    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 Ādharbāyjānī Turkish, such as Persian intonations and disregard of the vocalic harmony, reflect the non-Turkish origin of the Turkicised population.

11. // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
12. Great Soviet Encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1926. - T. 1. - S. 660.
13. Essays on the history of the USSR: the crisis of the slave system and the emergence of feudalism on the territory of the USSR III-IX centuries. - Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1958. - P. 330.
14. S.A. Tokarev Ethnography of the peoples of the USSR: historical foundations life and culture. - Publishing House of Moscow University, 1958. - S. 295-296.
15. Fundamentals of Iranian Linguistics: Ancient Iranian Languages. - M .: Nauka, 1979. - S. 49.
16. Proceedings of the Institute of Ethnography. N.N. Miklouho-Maclay. - Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1962. - T. 79, Part 1. - P. 18.
17. Sakinat Shikhamedovna Gadzhieva Dagestan Terekemen: XIX - early XX century. - Science, 1990. - S. 8-9. - ISBN 5020167614, 9785020167612
18. Ways of development of feudalism. - Science, 1972. - S. 56-57.
19. A.P. Novoseltsev, V.T. Pashuto, L.V. Cherepnin Ways of development of feudalism. - Science, 1972. - S. 21.
20. History of the East. In 6 vols. T. 2. The East in the Middle Ages. M., "Eastern Literature", 2002. ISBN 5-02-017711-3
21. XAVIER DE PLANHOL. IRAN I. LANDS OF IRAN , Encyclopaedia Iranica.

    original text(English)

    This unique aspect of Azerbaijan, the only area to have been almost entirely “Turkicized” within Iranian territory, is the result of a complex, progressive cultural and historical process, in which factors accumulated successively (Sümer; Planhol, 1995, pp. 510- 12) The process merits deeper analysis of the extent to which it illustrates the great resilience of the land of Iran. The first phase was the amassing of nomads, initially at the time of the Turkish invasions, following the route of penetration along the piedmont south of the Alborz, facing the Byzantine borders, then those of the empire Greek of Trebizond and Christian Georgia. The Mongol invasion in the 13th century led to an extensive renewal of tribal stock, and the Turkic groups of the region during this period had not yet become stable. In the 15th century, the assimilation of the indigenous Iranian population was far from being completed. The decisive episode, at the beginning of the 16th century, was the adoption of Shiʿite Islam as the religion of the state by the Iran of the Safavids, whereas the Ottoman empire remained faithful to Sunnite orthodoxy. Shiʿite propaganda spread among the nomadic Turkoman tribes of Anatolia, far from urban centers of orthodoxy. These Shiʿite nomads returned en masse along their migratory route back to Safavid Iran. This movement was to extend up to southwest Anatolia, from where the Tekelu, originally from the Lycian peninsula, returned to Iran with 15,000 camels. These nomads returning from Ottoman territory naturally settled en masse in regions near the border, and it was from this period that the definitive “Turkicization” of Azerbaijan dates, along with the establishment of the present-day Azeri-Persian linguistic border-not far from Qazvin, only some 150 kilometers from Tehran.

22. Olivier Roy The new Central Asia: the creation of nations. - I.B.Tauris, 2000. - P. 6. - ISBN 1860642780, 9781860642784

A very young nation, until recently its representatives themselves did not know what to call themselves and who they are. They called themselves whatever. Under Soviet power - "Baku people". The formation of the Azerbaijani nation took place under the Soviet regime, it took on such a task. But in 1926, the people were still recorded as "Turks", and already in 1939 - Azerbaijanis.

(Such types are not currently available)

Low awareness of one's own ethnicity and statehood is characteristic. Only Heydar Aliyev (father), one can say, became the creator of the nation in the full sense of the word. His son Ilham continued his father's work. His work is hard, because the technological and general level of culture of the people is very low (all this is superimposed on modern lack of culture). Historically, in these parts they not only did not know what to call themselves, but also did not strive to know anything and learn, for example, about the existence of atmospheric pressure and other physical laws. There was no Leiden jar here, Newton's apple did not fall, the Magdeburg hemispheres were not torn apart.

Even now I asked applicants and other young people what the number "pi" is, what is the radius of the Earth, its circumference, what is static electricity, what is the coefficient of friction, what is the width / length / depth of the Caspian Sea, etc. - no one answered a single question!

stylistic backwardness. Dressed as in uniform, all the guys are all as one, in jeans and white shirts. I would rather refrain from writing about girls and women. Outwardly everything not really, so to speak. Not Italians. There are a lot of people with bad figures, women become shapeless very early. And men too. Bad teeth from the age of 25, they insert gold ones. They do not wear glasses, because don't need them. Get acquainted through social networks, there are no live acquaintances. Men's eyes do not light up at the sight of any woman, as they once did. Facial expressions are poorly developed, expressing only gross and simple emotions. Innocent. Concrete thinking prevails. No romantics, no philosophers.

TV show.

But with all this, in general, Azerbaijan has achieved more than it should be due to its location. Thanks to natural wealth and thanks to the European ruler at the head of the country. Also an achievement!

The country looks decent, it is not a shame to show it. In general, order prevails - this is in the opinion of an outside observer (me). I have never seen anything negative or ugly. It doesn't happen often either.

What is the population of Azerbaijan? What nationalities live in this country, and how long ago did they settle there? You will find answers to these questions in this article.

Azerbaijan: population and its size by years

This small state is located on the shores of the Caspian Sea, right on the border of Asia and Europe, Eastern and Western culture. How many people in Azerbaijan live on this moment? And what ethnic groups make up its structure?

The population of Azerbaijan, according to the latest UN data, is 9.7 million people. According to this indicator, the country ranks first in the Transcaucasus region. At the same time, about 120-140 thousand of them live on the territory of an unrecognized state.

The population of Azerbaijan reached its 9 million mark in 2010. The birth of the nine millionth citizen of the country was even recorded. It happened in the city of Nakhichevan on the morning of January 15 of that year.

According to statistical data, the population of Azerbaijan has grown almost five times over the past hundred years. Over the 25 years of independence, the total population growth of this country amounted to about 2.5 million people, which is a very high figure for the post-Soviet states. More clearly, the dynamics of the population of Azerbaijan is presented in the following graph.

The birth rate in this country is three times higher than the death rate. This can explain the steady annual growth of its population. However, life expectancy in Azerbaijan is not that high (72 years). Although, again, for the countries of the post-Soviet space, this is a pretty good indicator.

There are slightly more women in Azerbaijan than men (50.3%). The population density of the country is 98 people per square kilometer of territory.

The population of Azerbaijan and its religious composition

According to the Constitution in Azerbaijan and has no influence on education, culture or any other spheres of public life.

The religious composition of the country is represented by various movements and confessions, among which Islam occupies the leading role. 99% of the total population profess this particular religion. Moreover, approximately 85% of them are Shia Muslims.

In addition, temples of other religions function freely in Azerbaijan: synagogues, Catholic cathedrals, Orthodox and Protestant churches. Even a community of Zoroastrians is registered and operates in the country.

Christianity is practically not spread in Azerbaijan. So, there are only six Orthodox churches on the territory of the state now (half of them are located in the capital). Catholic Church originated in this country in the 14th century. The most significant event in the life of Azerbaijani Catholics was the arrival in Baku of Pope John Paul III, which took place in the spring of 2002.

Ethnic diversity of the population of Azerbaijan

Representatives of many nationalities and ethnic groups live in Azerbaijan. Their top ten in terms of numbers is as follows:

• Azerbaijanis (91%);
• Lezgins (2%);
• Armenians (1.4%);
• Russians (1.3%);
• Talysh (1.3%);
• Avars (0.6%);
• Turks (0.4%);
• Tatars (0.3%);
• Ukrainians (0.2%);
• Georgians (0.1%).

The absolute majority in ethnic structure country belongs to Azerbaijanis. This people dominates in all regions and cities of the state (with the exception of Nagorno-Karabakh). In the early 1990s, the share of this ethnic group in the structure of the country's population increased significantly due to the active resettlement of Azerbaijanis from neighboring Armenia (due to the Karabakh conflict).

The most numerous nationalities of Azerbaijan and their placement

According to the latest census, about 120,000 Armenians live in Azerbaijan. These people live compactly within Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory not controlled by the authorities of the country, as well as in the city of Baku.

The first Russian communities appeared on the territory of Azerbaijan in the 19th century. Now about 200 thousand Russians live in the country, but their number is decreasing every year (mainly due to leaving the state).

A fairly large and integral Ukrainian diaspora has formed in Azerbaijan. Ukrainians began to move to this country at the end of the 19th century due to the active industrial development of Azerbaijan. At the same time, Poles began to arrive en masse in the country (mainly in Baku). Their resettlement was connected, first of all, with the "oil boom" in Azerbaijan. Both highly qualified engineers and ordinary workers came to Baku from Poland.

Cities of Azerbaijan

The population of the cities of Azerbaijan is only 53% of the total number of its inhabitants (by European standards, this is very small). There are only ten cities with a population of over 50 thousand people in this country. Moreover, the capital of the state - the city of Baku, significantly broke away from them in terms of population. At the moment it is the only million-plus city in the state.

The largest ones are Baku, Ganja, Sumgayit, Mingachevir, Khirdalan, Nakhichevan, Sheki.

According to demographers, about 2.1 million people live in the capital of the state today. This city is strikingly different from all other Azerbaijani cities. Today it is actively developing and acquiring modern high-rise buildings.

Finally...

Today, about 9.7 million people live in Azerbaijan, and the population of this country is rapidly approaching the 10 million mark. The ethnic composition of this state is quite motley. In addition to the indigenous people, representatives of many other nationalities live here - Armenians, Russians, Lezgins, Kurds, Tatars, Turks, Ukrainians, Talysh.

“Each ethnic unit has one ethnic language, Azerbaijanis have more than forty ethnic languages!” (V. Jengel)

The reason for writing this article was the publication of a certain author, Azerbaijani historian Fikrin Bektashi “Where did the Armenians come from in the list of the “indigenous” peoples of Azerbaijan?”.

On the subject of "Azerbaijanis" among the Azerbaijanis themselves (meaning only the Turkic-speaking inhabitants of the AR), disputes on ethnological topics have not stopped for several decades. Let's analyze the most common versions put forward not only on various Internet forums, but even in academic and university circles.

The first, the most publicized, is the official version, put forward by circles close to the government, which suggests the autochthonous Turkic origin of all the ethnic groups of the country with Iranianization and Caucasianization of some parts into various historical periods. That is, Azerbaijanis are ancient local Turks of Sumerian origin.

This is the official version of the ethnogenesis version, intended for foreign use - for school and university textbooks and popular TV shows. The version is based on the first two parts of the call of the founder of Pan-Turkism, Ziya Gökalp, “To be Turkicized, modernized, Islamized!”.

The second is the official version for internal use, somewhat different, where the Azerbaijanis, due to the country's multi-ethnicity and the complete unwillingness to become Turkicized, are very solid parts of the population, which are non-Turkic autochthonous ethnic groups: Kurds, Tats-Parsis, Talysh, Lezgins, Avars, Udins, Ingiloys, Rutuls , Budugs, Padars, Lahijs and others. The languages ​​of these peoples belong to two language families, Indo-European and Caucasian.

The third version is a somewhat amorphous and fuzzy statement that the Azerbaijani nation was formed from several ethnic groups, which, during assimilation, lost their languages ​​​​(or retained, but are not considered ethnic groups anymore) and switched to Turkic, or as it was customary to call it from 1939 - to 1992, and then from 1993, the Azerbaijani language.

This version of the ethnogenesis of Azerbaijanis, as an ethnic group, was promoted by the Bolsheviks, was especially fashionable in the Stalin-Bagirov era, but then gave way to the aforementioned pan-Turkic, assimilation versions.

However, these are not all versions of the genesis of Azerbaijanis. For example, after reading the article by Fikrin Bektashi, one can discover a new idea that in the formation of the allegedly united Azerbaijani (simultaneously - Turkic, or as it is still fashionable to call the "Azeri-Turkic" ethnic group today), some people who are incomprehensibly called Armenians in Iranian sources, but actually being Caucasian-speaking, Albanians.

For reference, it should be noted that Albanians in the Republic of Azerbaijan are called the inhabitants of medieval Caucasian Albania, which is traditionally called Aranians in Iranian and local sources, i.e. inhabitants of the medieval Aran (or, in the Arabic manner - Ar-Rana). In Georgian chronicles, this country is called Rani, and in ancient Armenian chronicles - Agvank, or Aluank.

This careless and apolitical confession of Fikrin Bektashi arouses the genuine interest of the reader. Either he wants to say that the contemporaries of medieval Armenians, Persian-speaking and Arabic-speaking authors are mistaken and saw another ethnos, but called it a foreign ethnonym, or these authors saw Armenians, but in fact they were not Armenians, but were Caucasian-speaking Albanians, for example, udins. But the Udis are also not ethnic Azerbaijanis, and also not ethnic Turks! Moreover, in the Republic of Azerbaijan, the ancient Udi (read - Albanian) toponyms were completely destroyed, a priori classifying them as Armenian (Kutkashen, Vartashen, etc.).

But, according to F. Bektashi, they are the Azerbaijanis. You can't argue against logic, as they say! Let's check what served as the basis for the statement of our unlucky ethnologist historian...

Most likely, he relies on the opinion of those Armenians who recognize the Karabakh people as "converted", in Armenian it sounds "shurvats". Being a Talysh by nationality and, of course, a native speaker of the Talysh language, which in fact is nothing more than modern form the Median language, that is, the very “Azeri” or “Avestan”, which was spoken by the population of the pre-Islamic Atropate Media (Atrapatgana Mad or Midia Atropatena), I can afford to translate this word into Talysh - “gardman” (converted).

If F. Bektashi means those who in Talysh are called gardmans / gyrdmans /, then he is very close to the true state of affairs, but something “incomprehensible” does not allow him to recognize autochthonous gardmans. According to the official version, this would be regarded as unacceptable tightrope walking and turning down a slippery slope. And this would never be forgiven by one who is "a thousand times right." It won't take long to end up in the dungeons, but F. Bektashi hardly wants this.

What can you advise him in this case? Yes, the same well-trodden and indicated path is to declare the Shurtvats-Gardmans "Sumerian Turks" or "Turkic Sumerians". If this version does not suit you, then they can be written as Oghuz, Turkmen, Seljuks, the Turkic-speaking army of the Mongols who got lost in the mountains, at worst. For the first time or what, why else be afraid of rain soaked to the skin?

Here, for example, is a very reliable confirmation of the wet reputation of our professional ethnologist - "Armenians have retained their" identity "not because they" staunchly resisted "the process of the ethnogenesis of Azerbaijanis, but because they arrived here with a great" delay "- when the train left and the Azerbaijani ethnos had already been formed by their arrival in the Caucasus.” That is, he does not refuse “Armenians of Persian sources” to participate in the ethnogenesis of some mysterious Azerbaijani ethnic group F. Bektashi (although no one, including himself, knows what kind of ethnic group this - Azeri).

It seems that the Azerbaijanis actually appeared in 1939, before that they were called Turks, and even earlier just Muslims or Iranians, as is clear from all the sources of the considered periods of history (“Iranlylar - in the Baku newspapers of the founding period of Ekinchi”, “Shargi-Rus” and etc.).

But Bektashi speaks of a train that left in antiquity, when neither the name "Azerbaijanis", nor trains, nor even Stephenson himself was in sight. And if not, then what kind of allegedly departed train, and what ethnic groups allegedly late for it can we talk about? Either F. Bektashi, with a surprisingly serious expression on his face, decided to play a trick on all readers, or he considers everyone to be naive fools, or he mocks historical and ethnological sciences at the same time and at the same time.

Why do I think so. Yes, because with a difference in religious affiliation, ethnic groups mixed little in the Middle Ages. The mountainous and complex terrain formed linguistic and ethnic isolated "bags". What kind of active mixing can we talk about in the conditions of the Mountain of Languages ​​\u200b\u200b- the Caucasus?

The only thing that can actively advance under such conditions is religion, for which ethnicity is not a big hindrance. And indeed, even an uninformed reader, having opened before him only a physical map of the region, can almost accurately indicate the territories in which this or that religion can most quickly be spread. These will be flat areas, but not mountainous.

Let me give you one more, this time living, example: the Talysh Sunnis almost do not mix with related (!) Gilyak Shiites on the southern border, but on the northern border of the range, where the Talysh Shiites border on the Shiite Turks, assimilation processes are actively taking place. As you can see, religion is more permeable or, conversely, it protects ethnic identity more strongly.

These processes are quite well studied in Azerbaijan, where for several centuries the propaganda and ideological machine of the Safaviye order dominated, which originated among the Talysh and was transferred to the Turkmen tribes of the Ag-goyunlu (“white-sheep”) union up to the province of Diyarbekr, where they roamed. And only the repressions of the Ottoman sultans on confessional and religious grounds forced the Turkmens, already Shiites, to seek protection in the territory controlled by the theocratic power of the Safavid sheikhs. Thus, the resettlement of part of the Turkmens and Kurds to the east, to Azerbaijan, took place. But these ethnic groups appeared in Aran later, in connection with the conquests of the son of Sheikh Heydar, who declared himself Shah and a descendant of ancient Iranian crowned bearers, Ismail I Safavi.

By the way, this historical personality of the restorer of Iranian statehood is presented by Azerbaijani historians as a Turk (but not Turkmen!) and the founder of a certain “Azerbaijani state”. This is exactly what Azerbaijani authors write in all textbooks. Although the first to introduce this “innovation” into Soviet historiography was Z.I. Yampolsky, a Soviet historian, a Jew by nationality, who was completely free from the remorse of a professional.

This phrase is also bewildering: “Before that, there were practically no Armenians here, and those who were sometimes called such in the sources and whom the Persian Shah resettled to the south of the country were in fact the non-assimilated remnants of the Caucasian-speaking Albanians who professed Christianity, who, moreover, had own independent catholicosate in Ganzasar. They were sometimes called "Armenians".

Allow me, sir! What kind of Persian Shah is the article talking about? The Iranian monarchy dates back more than 2.5 thousand years, during which time several formations have changed, from a slave-owning society to capitalism! For some reason, for the historian F. Bektashi, this turns into an insignificant factor, which he easily neglects. No, that won't work, mister forger, you can't even falsify in this way, white threads are visible to the naked eye. You will have to explain to us, the unassimilated Talysh, how the ethnic group resettled to the south of the country (and this is the coast of the Persian Gulf), without the Armenian environment and interethnic contacts (there were practically no Armenians there according to F. Bektashi) managed in some incomprehensible way to assimilate without them, and, moreover, to manage to get into the annals under the name of Armenians?

Probably, Mr. Bektashi is one of those sorcerers-historians who, unlike academician Igrar Aliyev, are able to suck out the Turkic origin from anyone, even the Sumerians. Question two: If the mentioned “non-assimilated remnants of the Caucasian-speaking Albanians” were sometimes called Armenians, then how were they usually called? Unfortunately, F. Bektashi did not indicate exactly this much needed “common” and not “rare” name of the ethnos.

And I will tell you, dear readers, why he does not name this ethnonym. It simply does not exist in the mentioned sources. The fact is that the very term "Armenians" is an Iranian exo-ethnonym, which denoted the inhabitants of Aran. Subsequently, he denoted all the inhabitants of this country who professed Christianity. Therefore, it is possible to treat this term only as an ethnonym in the initial period of time of use. Gradually, this term began to designate both Armenians and all Monophysite Christians, including the Iranian-speaking and Caucasian-speaking ethnic elements of Aran. An example of this can be shown by King Varaz Tirdad from the Mehranid dynasty, Iranian in origin.

The term “Albanians”, today the only one used by historians of the AR, is taken from ancient Greek sources, therefore it looks strange in Azerbaijani sources, which, according to the logic of facts and tradition, should rely on Arab-Persian sources, in which this term is not present.

According to the examples considered, one can only note the amateurish and frivolous approach of the author to historical facts and his ignorance of the ethnological processes that have taken place and are taking place in the region.

With such quirks and somersaults, it will not be long for the Talysh, who are already watching how history and ethnogenesis are shamelessly falsified, turning into sheer nonsense.

So tomorrow, the same "Bektashis" will begin to assert that the Talysh are alien, especially since we already see in school textbooks today how, instead of the Talysh Khanate, the fantastic Lankaran Khanate of some fantastic Azerbaijan Shahship is cleverly screwed in. We observe the Turkization of Talysh toponyms even in Talysh itself, which is ordered in the media to be called only "southern region" instead of historical name. We clearly observe the course of falsification of everything in a row in the policy of the Azerbaijani-Turkic state, which is just "Turkic state No. 2".

We do not need unnecessary comments from any political crooks! And without comment, the predatory grin of the Turkic-chauvinists is visible, who planned to destroy both the indigenous peoples and real history, and replace them with pseudo-Atropatenes and their pseudo-historical tales.

The next very strange paragraph of Fikrin Bektashi's opus is the following quote: “In our article there is no hint that these peoples completely lost their identity and became Azerbaijanis. On the contrary, today many peoples live in Azerbaijan (unlike the once multinational Armenia, which today holds an insignificant number of Yezidi Kurds as a “duty” example), which is the pride of multinational Azerbaijan. The emphasis in our previous article was put differently: today's Azerbaijanis are a conglomeration of those representatives of indigenous and immigrated peoples who have joined either completely or partially. However, no matter what share this “partiality” has, Azerbaijanis today are the majority of the population compared to those representatives of indigenous peoples who retain (and God bless them!) their identity...”.

The very tone of F. Bektashi's expressions in this quote is the tone of a market trader, accustomed to verbal skirmishes and loud insults, although he speaks of himself in the third person like plural monarchs. Pay attention to it "in our article". Very immodest, overly ambitious, and very inappropriate for a scientist or journalist. And here's why: The pride of today in multinational Azerbaijan is the slogan "One nation - two states!", which was repeated by Presidents A. Elchibey, G. Aliyev and I. Aliyev one after another.

Multinationality in today's Azerbaijan Republic is used only as a duplicitous excuse and a cover for the policy of forced assimilation - Turkization, which even F. Bektashi cannot hide. Therefore, I will remind him that it is indecent to lie and to deny the personal statements of the presidents is at least ugly. We must recognize the chauvinist and Nazi policies of our state, and not revenge with the tail in front of the readers of IA REGNUM.

The emphasis in his articles is precisely on the hope of naive and stupid politicians that the Turkification of indigenous peoples will be completed fairly soon. However, in the current state of affairs, smart people would not even dream about it. It is clear that the policy aimed at the Turkization-Azerbaijanization of the country's indigenous ethnic groups has failed, and today it is stalling in place, and is unlikely to be successful in the next century. Most likely, this policy will lead to civil and ethnic confrontation. Rely on the mythical majority of the so-called. assimilated Azerbaijanis is not serious. Firstly, the facts of the total registration of indigenous peoples by the Azerbaijani State Committee as Azerbaijanis are already widely known. Secondly, simultaneously with the censuses, a whole army of public groups and associations of indigenous peoples conducts parallel censuses and monitoring, which reveal an unprecedented scale of registration and falsification. As a result, the results of Azgoskomstat turned into an international laughingstock. To do this, it is enough just to wish a request in search engines, as soon as all the information gets to the reader in all details. So this old method of postscripts of the Brezhnev era is no longer valid, and there is no need to try in vain.

Conglomerates are not single nations and can never compete in the field of monolithic ethnic unity even with small ethnic groups, not to mention such large ones for the Republic of Azerbaijan as Talysh and Lezghins. Talking about the Tats, allegedly turned into Turks, can still somehow pass - the perpetrated ethnocide against this people is before everyone’s eyes, but this does not happen with everyone and one should not hope that these peoples, like a flock of sheep, will run after the goat-turkizer .

That's what it would be worth telling you in my articles about the departed train. The Bolshevik train of the Stalinist policy of manufacturing and amalgamating socialist nations has indeed long ago at full speed slipped past Azerbaijanization, which today, with the sabotage of all international conventions on the rights of indigenous peoples and national minorities, has acquired a very negative significance. This ethno-politician in no way attracts ethnic groups to the Stalinist plan to create some kind of disenfranchised conglomerate from Muslims.

Ethnic groups no longer want to be a conglomerate. Finally, take a look around. Look soberly at the processes in the world. And then ask: “Who are you really, mysterious Azerbaijanis?”

Maybe they are blacks, as it seemed to you in your own example? Or maybe they are just, as you put it, a poorly mixed conglomerate, a solution, a vinaigrette, a salad, or, as it is called in Tat, a hafta-bijar? No, Fikrin Bektashi, this is not so, it’s just that there are no ethnic Azerbaijanis, there are Azerbaijanis who are citizens of the Azerbaijan Republic, but as soon as they change their citizenship, they lose their involvement in the vinaigrette-conglomerate along with citizenship. And this is despite the amazing efforts of such talkers as you and those like you, despite the incredible efforts of the special services of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the territory of Russia and other post-Soviet republics.

The East is a delicate matter, and ethnic issues are even more subtle and even more dangerous. It was necessary to try with all efforts to endow their indigenous peoples and minorities with a whole range of rights, but everything was done in the exact opposite way. And here is the result - ridiculous attempts to impose a falsified, invented story on everyone, to come up with a conglomerate salad that falls apart before our eyes, but is shown from the stage as a monolith with the help of a crudely and hastily put together agitation and propaganda scheme. You and your colleagues have to go out of your way to somehow fool your own people, and somehow "put noodles on the ears" of foreigners and international organizations. to lie from the international platform Is this deceitful policy worth such effort and such shame?

You should be ashamed and ashamed for such a brazen imposition of a conglomerate, not an ethnic name on your fellow citizens. Or are you incapable of experiencing such natural for anyone normal person the senses? Judging by your articles, I am sure that they are not capable. Why did you suddenly get the idea that betrayal of your people, your culture, your mother tongue can have positive qualities, why did you get the idea that being called an Azerbaijani instead of the ethnonym Talysh, Lezghin, Udin, Avar, Kurd, Parsi, Turk, finally, is better and more honorable and prestigious?

What you, with all your meager strength, are trying to impose on these proud peoples, is in fact a call for betrayal and ugliness. Throw away your lies, do not serve the devil, turn your face to the truth, to God, and although it will be bitter and difficult at first, but after committing the inner, biggest jihad against your own lies, you will be able to understand how sweet the taste of freedom and the feeling of belonging to your own history, to your ancestors...

You yourself wrote that “there is not a single Azerbaijani in the world in whose veins only the Oguz blood of the “Trans-Baikal spill” and “Altai seasoning” would flow. No one!". And in this you are right - there is not a single ethnic Azerbaijani, and there never was and never will be, no matter how much they say this every fifteen minutes on all Azerbaijani TV channels. There is no such ethnicity!

But, you are trying to suck such an ethnic group out of your finger, and even inspire readers that one exists. Are your readers zombies, are they mankurts? So what if the AR authorities want to see exactly what they want to see?

I want to remind you that the basis of any state is ethnic groups, real, not invented, but over-ambitious and self-confident governments and authorities - just transient personalities, like Saddam Hussein, like Ben Ali, like Muammar Gaddafi and a string of the same dictators in other countries. All these rulers and their entourage were very fond of erecting statues for themselves and building museums and naming streets and avenues by their own names at the expense and on behalf of the peoples, but we know firsthand what such a hobby leads to. You yourself can look today for the monuments of Stalin and Lenin, which stood in almost all settlements Azerbaijan and understand the futility of the search for these former idols and idols.

But they were right not a thousand times, but hundreds of thousands of times, but the Almighty judged their rightness differently. So with this false concept of ethnogenesis, there is no need to break spears in vain, it is unviable and detrimental to the unity of the ethnic groups of Azerbaijan, among which there is not a single ethnic group called Azerbaijanis.

This “concept” is not beneficial to anyone, to any ethnic group, neither large nor small, nor the smallest, and what does the quantity have to do with it, we all know very well that peoples are considered great not by the number of individuals. We know perfectly well that a few Mongols managed to rule numerous and many ethnic groups, we know how relatively few Manchus ruled all of China for centuries.

There is no need to disgrace all of us (hidden under a common name) before the enlightened world, because your policy can only have a dubious success and only in an unenlightened environment. You are forcing us to explain your point of view, your position, which is fundamentally different from your officialdom, to which we: Talysh, Lezgins, Avars, Tabasarans, Rutuls, Kryz, Ingiloys, Kurds, Parsis and all other peoples of the Republic of Azerbaijan do not care.

And if you want to write on behalf of only officials and other associates and appointees, then write like that, God help you and the flag in your hands! But we have nothing to do with your articles and other opuses, and you have no moral right to write on our behalf, just as we do not have any ethnic rights in the Azerbaijani state with one nation with the Turkish one. And it is not you, who has not yet figured out who the Azerbaijanis are, who should write about the Turkish nation, but the Turkish press itself.

Arriving in Azerbaijan, you will find yourself in a country where the hot sun reigns, you can see magnificent buildings (whether they are architectural monuments or modern houses). And, no doubt, you will be conquered by the temperament of the Azerbaijanis, who are part of the family of the Caucasian peoples and are rightfully proud of their history and culture. Without them, it is impossible to imagine either the Caucasian flavor or the post-Soviet space itself.

Origin and history of the people

What they don’t tell about Azerbaijanis! Sometimes you can even hear the opinion that this people cannot be considered Caucasian, because they have something in common with the peoples of Asia. However, these are idle speculations. They are the indigenous people of the Caucasus, as well as those inhabiting this region.

Historians have come to the conclusion that the origin of the people is associated with people from Caucasian Albania, a large state located in the eastern part of the Caucasus in the II-I centuries BC. new era. Then the population of this country began to mix with the Huns, Cimmerians and others.

Persia also had a significant impact on the formation of the ethnic nation of Azerbaijanis. In the first centuries of our era in Persia, the Sassanid dynasty ruled, which expanded its influence to eastern regions.

We should not forget about the later influence of the Seljuk Turks, who came to these lands in the 11th century. As a result, the local population was first exposed to the influence of Persian culture, and then to the process of Turkization. In this way, Azerbaijani people has a rich history and it is closely connected with the history of neighboring states.

Turkic tribes constantly migrated throughout the region of Asia Minor, starting from the early Middle Ages and ending with the XV-XVI centuries. All this could not but affect the local population, which only later began to realize their ethnic identity. Some researchers believe that modern Azerbaijanis are the descendants of a particular tribe with Turkic roots.

Such a hypothesis is broken by other evidence, including cultural heritage, as well as written sources. Therefore, today we can say that the appearance of Azerbaijanis was influenced by a variety of tribes - Arab, Turkic, Iranian.

And at the same time, they still remain the indigenous ethnic group of Transcaucasia, since their history has precisely Caucasian roots. This is proved by the numerous traditions and diverse customs of the Azerbaijanis, who find their origins both in Iranian and in.

In the XVIII century, the powerful Persian dynasty of the Safavids ended its existence, as a result of which a number of khanates were formed with a semi-independent status. These small Transcaucasian principalities were headed by representatives of Azerbaijani local dynasties. However, they could not form into a single state, since they were still under the strong influence of the Persians.

And later, in XIX century, Russian-Persian military conflicts began, which led to the fact that they were delimited according to their regions of residence. This border ran along the Araks River, as a result of which the northern parts of Azerbaijan fell under the influence of Russia, and the southern parts went to the Persians. And if earlier the Azerbaijani elites had a strong influence on the processes taking place in Persia, then after this this influence disappeared.

Historians admit that their statehood was formed only after the October Revolution took place in Russia and national republics began to be created. Soviet power gave the modern borders and state-legal base.

When the USSR collapsed, all Soviet republics gained independence, including Azerbaijan. The date of independence is 18 October.

Language and religious denomination

The Azerbaijani language is of Turkic origin, and its formation, moreover, was influenced by the Arabic and Persian languages. However, their language also has other phonetic connections - linguists find similarities in it with the Kumyk and even Uzbek languages.

Currently, about 99% of the country's inhabitants speak Azerbaijani. Since the same language is spoken in the north of Iran and Iraq, this brings ethnic groups together and allows the accumulation of cultural ties.

As for their literary language, it was fully formed only after these territories were annexed to Russia. However, even before the Russian period of history, the literary language of Azerbaijanis gradually developed in Shirvan and the southern regions of Azerbaijan.

As far as religion is concerned, most of them are Muslims. Almost 90% of those who profess Islam in Azerbaijan are Shiites, however, those who consider themselves to live here. This is another manifestation of Persian influence.

The modern faith of Azerbaijanis can be very different, since there is complete tolerance in relation to the country.

Here you can meet both Christians and followers of any other religions. A person living on the territory of this country has the right to choose which one to follow, and no one has the right to influence his beliefs.

Territorial issues of enos

Since Azerbaijanis are a very diverse ethnic group, representatives of the people are found not only in this region, but also in other countries of the world. Moreover, the division of their lands between Russia and Persia led to the fact that today there are from 15 to 20 million people living in Iran. This is much more than the population of Azerbaijan itself - according to state statistics, about 10 million people live there.

It was they who had a serious influence on the development of healthy nationalism in modern Iran. After the Second World War, the inhabitants of the Azerbaijan Republic in the USSR and the Azerbaijanis of Iran got the opportunity to communicate closely. This inner unity can be seen today.

Azerbaijanis also have close ties in Russia. In 2000, the Dagestan authorities included Azerbaijanis in the Republic of Dagestan, although this ethnic group is here classified as small. Basically, they live in the southern parts of the republic, namely in and its region they live the most. In the republic, they make up no more than 5% (or even less) of the entire Dagestan population.

A serious conflict arose at one time between Azerbaijanis and Armenians, it concerned the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, located in the east of the Armenian Highlands. Historically, this territory belonged to, but the Paris Peace Conference in 1920 attributed this region to Azerbaijan.

Since then, the Azerbaijanis consider Karabakh to be theirs, which led after the collapse of the USSR to a territorial conflict that resulted in full-fledged military actions on both sides.

Only in 1994, Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a truce, although the tense situation in this region is still observed today. No matter how many Azerbaijanis claim that they are the legal owners of Nagorno-Karabakh, they are not going to admit it.

Culture and traditions of the Azerbaijani people

Such a colorful people as the Azerbaijanis cannot but have own culture- and it has its roots in. Cultural heritage can be attributed not only to their folk traditions, but also many crafts - carpet weaving, art processing of stone and bone have long been developed here, and gold products created by folk goldsmiths were widely known.

Speaking about the culture of Azerbaijanis, one cannot help but recall such traditions as holidays and folk ritual events. First of all, these are wedding customs. In many ways, it is similar to those wedding ceremonies that are practiced by other Caucasian ethnic groups. Here, not only ordinary, but also preliminary matchmaking is common, during which the parties enter into an initial agreement on a future union.

In many ways, the wedding among Azerbaijanis resembles classical ritual ones. Here the bride's face is covered with a scarf or a thin veil, and the wedding feast is arranged both in the groom's house and in the bride's house.

Azerbaijanis are always no less bright. Here you can not do without national costumes, as well as without songs and incendiary dances.

Folklore Azerbaijani music is always the use of ethnic musical instruments. And modern motives in many ways still resemble, therefore, the songs of Azerbaijanis are distinguished by a special tonality and are largely stylized as the works of ashugs.

The national flavor is always traced in. If we consider folk dance Azerbaijanis, it is impossible not to note its peculiar rhythm. They can be either frankly rhythmic or smooth.

It is on strict observance of the rhythm that the whole pattern of the dance, its structure, is built. Those dances that have roots in ancient traditions, often bear the names of plants or animals characteristic of Azerbaijan. There are many videos in which they incendiary perform their own.

Speaking about the national costumes of Azerbaijanis, it is necessary to mention their correlation with the cultural and geographical location of the region itself. Men wear an arkhalyg caftan, and under it they put on an undershirt. A man's costume also includes outerwear for cold weather - after all, in the foothills of the Caucasus in winter, only a burka or a fur coat made of dressed mutton skins can save.

If you look at the photos of Azerbaijanis, you can see that they often wear a Circassian coat with gazyrs.
Women's costume is no less bright and original. These are the top and bottom dresses, as well as the obligatory veil. Mandatory component women's clothing there was always a belt or a sash - such belts could be richly decorated with gold and embroidery, which could say a lot about the status of a woman.

Another custom regarding appearance women - this is the traditional dyeing of hair and nails with henna. Henna dyeing is also a legacy of Persian cultural influences.

Azerbaijanis in Russia today

At present, Azerbaijanis are settled far beyond the borders of Azerbaijan (it is worth remembering the Iranian representatives of this ethnic group). Today their total number is up to 35 million people. They can meet in the most different countries, including not only the states of the post-Soviet space, but also Turkey, Afghanistan, and European countries.

As for the Azerbaijanis living in Russia, according to rough estimates, there are about 60,000 of them in Moscow alone. They also live in Siberia, where Yugra and the Tyumen region occupy the first place in terms of their numbers.

When asked why Azerbaijanis feel at home everywhere, one can answer that these people have always been open, cheerful and very friendly. They expect the same attitude towards themselves.

Composer Uzeyir Gadzhibekov, writer Chingiz Abdullayev, film director Rustam Ibragimbekov and many others.

Considering as a great commonality various ethnic groups, you understand that Azerbaijanis are an integral part of the peoples of this beautiful mountainous region. And without Azerbaijan, the history of the entire Caucasus will be incomplete.