User talk:Hajji Piruz/AP Tombseye

Origins
Generally, Azerbaijanis are designated as a Turkic people, due to their usage of a Turkic language.[35][36][37] However, modern-day Azerbaijanis are descendants of the Caucasian and Iranic peoples who lived in the areas of the Caucasus and northern Iran, respectively, prior to Turkification.

According to Encyclopedia 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. This population was Persianized during the period of the Sasanian dynasty of Iran (3rd–7th century AD), but, after the region's conquest by the Seljuq Turks in the 11th century, the inhabitants were Turkicized, and further Turkicization of the population occurred in the ensuing centuries.[48]

Historian Vladimir Minorsky explains the changes that took place as the local population Iranian and Caucasian population came under the influence of Turkic tribes:

In the beginning of the 5th/11th century the G̲h̲uzz hordes, first in smaller parties, and then in considerable numbers, under the Seljuqids occupied Azarbaijan. In consequence, the Iranian population of Azarbaijan and the adjacent parts of Transcaucasia became Turkophone.[42]

Turkification
Although, "Turkic penetration probably began in the Hunnic era and its aftermath," there is little evidence to indicate, "permanent settlements".[36] The earliest major Turkic incursion began with Mahmud of Ghazni (971-1040) 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.[38]

Most academics view this migration as the most likely source of a Turkic background, but one that it most likely involved the linguistic Turkification of predominantly non-Turkic-speaking indigenous peoples.[17][18]

Iranian origin
The Iranian origins of the Azeris likely derived from ancient Iranic tribes, such as the Medes in Iranian Azarbaijan, and Scythian invaders who arrived during the eighth century BCE. It is believed that the Medes mixed with an indigenous population, the Caucasian Mannai, a Northeast Caucasian group related to the Urartians.[53] Ancient accounts attest to an Iranian presence in the region:

Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn al-Masudi(896-956), the Arab historian states that the regions of Iranian Azerbaijan and Aran were inhabited by Persians:

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 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.[41]

In addition, some academics see cultural similarities between modern Persians and Azeris as evidence of an ancient Iranian influence.[54] 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.[55] It has also been hypothesized that the population of Iranian Azarbaijan 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.[56][38] Other common Perso-Azeribaijani features include Iranian place names such as Tabriz[57] and the name Azerbaijan itself.

The modern presence of the Iranian Talysh and Tats in Azerbaijan is further evidence of the former Iranian character of the region.[58][59] Encyclopaedia Iranica also states:

The Turkish speakers of Azerbaijan (q.v.) are mainly descended from the earlier Iranian speakers, several pockets of whom still exist in the region.[52]

As a precursor to the modern population of the region, the ancient Azaris are hypothesized as the main ancestors of the modern Azerbaijanis.