Afshar people
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Iran, Turkey, Azerbaijan | |
| Languages | |
| Afshar, Azerbaijani, Persian and Turkish | |
| Religion | |
| Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Azerbaijani people and other Turkic peoples |
The Afshar, also spelled Awshar or Afşar, are one of the Oghuz Turkic peoples. These originally nomadic Oghuz tribes moved from Central Asia and initially settled in what is now Iranian Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan Republic, Eastern Turkey. Later some of them relocated by the Safavids to Khurasan, Kerman and Mazandaran. Today, they are variously grouped as a branch of the Azerbaijanis,Turkmens or Turkomans.
Afshars in Iran remain a largely nomadic group, with tribes in central Anatolia, northern Iran, and Azerbaijan. They were the source of the Afsharid, Karamanid dynasties,Baku Khanate, Zanjan Khanate and Urmia Khanate.
Nader Shah, who became Shah of Iran in 1736, was from the Qerekhlu (Persian:قرخلو) tribe of Afshar.
Afshars in Turkey mostly live in Sarız, Tomarza and Pınarbaşı districts of Kayseri province, as well as in several villages in Adana, Kahramanmaraş and Gaziantep provinces.
Most of Afshars in Turkey are descendants of those who migrated from Iran after the fall of Nader Shah. This is hinted in one of poems by Dadaloğlu, famous Afshar bard during Afshar resistance against forced settlements in Ottoman Empire:
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Wikipedia