suku Azerbaijan di Iran

Iranian Azerbaijanis are a Turkic ethnic group native to the Iranian Azerbaijan region (including provinces of East Azerbaijan, Ardabil, Zanjan and West Azerbaijan). They also live in smaller numbers in other provinces, such as Kurdistan, Qazvin, Hamadan, Gilan, Markazi and Kermanshah. Iranian Azerbaijanis constitute the largest ethnic minority in Iran and make up significant minorities in Tehran, Karaj, and elsewhere in Iran. Most Iranian Azerbaijanis are bilingual in Azerbaijani and Persian.

Azerbaijanis comprise the largest minority ethnic group in Iran. Apart from Iranian Azerbaijan (provinces of West Azerbaijan, East Azerbaijan, Ardabil and Zanjan), Azerbaijani populations are found in large numbers in four other provinces: Hamadan (includes other Turkic ethnic groups such as Afshar, Gharehgozloo, Shahsevan, and Baharloo ), Markazi, and Kurdistan. Azerbaijani-populated of Markazi province includes some parts and villages of Komijan, Khondab, Saveh, Zarandieh, Shazand, and Farahan. In Kurdistan, Azerbaijanis are mainly found in villages around Qorveh.

Sub-ethnic groups of the Azerbaijanis within the modern-day borders of Iran following the ceding of the Caucasus to Russia in the 19th century, include the Shahsevan, the Qarapapaqs, the Ayrums, the Bayat, the Qajars, the Qaradaghis, and the Gharagozloo.

The Iranian Azerbaijani culture was produced by centuries of a symbiosis and mixture between native and nomadic elements. According to Richard Frye, Iranian Azerbaijanis largely descend from the pre-existing local Iranian population who was gradually Turkified following the major influx of Oghuz nomads into the region. Olivier Roy writes that the Azerbaijani ethnogenesis entailed the Turkification of the natives by Turkomans and the rise of Shiite identity and Turkic tongue. According to Russian scholar Rostislav Rybakov, Iranian Azerbaijan was almost fully Turkicized by 14th and 15th centuries, though the local population left its mark in the Azerbaijani culture and language and the ethnic border between the Turkish people and Azerbaijanis was established in the 16th century. Scholars note cultural similarities between modern Persians and Azerbaijanis.