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Azerbaijani people

Azerbaijanis
Azərbaycanlılar, Azərilər
آذربایجانلیلار، آذریلر
Azerigirls.JPG
Azerbaijani girls in traditional dresses
Total population
c. 28–35 million
Regions with significant populations
 Iran more than 15 million (Encyclopædia Britannica)
12.9–18 million (CIA factbook, Knüppel, Izady, Swietochowski)
18–27 million (e.g. Elling, Shaffer, Minahan, Gheissari)
 Azerbaijan 9,000,000 (2009)
 Russia 603,070–1,500,000
 Turkey 530,000–800,000
 Georgia 233,178
 Israel 100,000
 Kazakhstan 85,292
 Ukraine 45,176
 Uzbekistan 44,400
 Turkmenistan 33,365
 United States 24,377–400,000
 Netherlands 18,000
 Kyrgyzstan 17,823
 Germany 15,219
 United Arab Emirates 7,000
 United Kingdom 6,220
 Belarus 5,567
 Canada 4,580
 Sweden 2,935
 Latvia 1,657
 Austria 1,000
 Estonia 923
 Lithuania 648
 Norway 501
 Australia 290
Religion
Predominantly Shia Islam; minority Sunni Islam, Judaism,Bahá'í Faith,Zoroastrianism,Irreligion,Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Turkic peoples (Oghuz Turks), Iranian peoples (specifically Persians and Tats), Caucasian peoples

Azerbaijanis (/ˌæzərbˈɑːniz/) or Azeris (Azerbaijani: Azərilər آذریلر, Azərbaycanlılar آذربایجانلیلار), also known as Azerbaijani Turks (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan Türkləri آذربایجان تورکلری), are a Turkicethnic group living mainly in Iranian Azerbaijan and the independent Republic of Azerbaijan. They are the second most numerous ethnic group among the Turkic peoples after Anatolian Turks. They are predominantly Shi'i Muslims, and have a mixed cultural heritage, including Turkic,Iranian, and Caucasian elements. They comprise the largest ethnic group in Republic of Azerbaijan and by far the second-largest ethnic group in neighboring Iran. The world's largest number of ethnic Azerbaijanis live in Iran, followed by Azerbaijan.

Following the Russo-Persian Wars of 1813 and 1828, the territories of the Qajar Empire in the Caucasus were ceded to the Russian Empire and the treaties of Gulistan in 1813 and Turkmenchay in 1828 finalized the borders between Czarist Russia and Qajar Iran. The formation of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1918 established the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Despite living on two sides of an international border, the Azeris form a single ethnic group. However, northerners and southerners differ due to nearly two centuries of separate social evolution of Iranian Azerbaijanis and Azerbaijanis in Russian/Soviet-influenced Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani language unifies Azeris, and is mutually intelligible with Turkmen, Qashqai, Gagauz, Turkish, and the dialects spoken by the Iraqi Turkmen, all of which belong to the Oghuz, or Western, group of Turkic languages.


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