Azerbaijani

Azerbaijanis are a Turkic people of the eastern Caucasus whose language belongs to the Oghuz branch, alongside Turkish and Turkmen. They grew out of a local population of Iranian and Caucasian (Caucasian Albanian) origin that was Turkified by Oghuz migration from the Seljuk period onward. The Russo-Persian wars ended with the treaties of Gulistan (1813) and Turkmenchay (1828), which split them along the Aras river: those north of it came under Russian and later Soviet rule and became the Republic of Azerbaijan (independent since 1991), while a larger number stayed in Iran. This group is the northern, Caucasian branch, speaking North Azerbaijani (azj) in Latin script and usually Russian; the Azeris of Iran, who speak South Azerbaijani (azb), are a separate group ('Azerbaijani, Azeri Turk'). About 9 million live in Azerbaijan, over 90% of its people, with communities in Georgia (c. 233,000), Russia (c. 600,000), Turkey and Central Asia.

Azerbaijani culture centres on mugham, a modal art music inscribed by UNESCO, and the ashiq bards who sing epics to the saz; Novruz, the spring new year with wheat sprouts, bonfire jumping and sweet pastries (shekerbura, pakhlava), is the main festival. Cuisine includes many kinds of plov, dolma, qutab and tea served from samovars with jam. Families are close and patriarchal, weddings large, and hospitality a point of honour. Soviet rule left a secular, Russian-educated urban class, especially in Baku, beside more traditional rural life.

Most Azerbaijanis are Shia by heritage, with a Sunni minority in the north, but seventy years of Soviet atheism made religion largely a matter of identity, life-cycle rites and Muharram mourning rather than regular prayer. Pilgrimage to shrines (pir), vows and folk customs mix with Islamic practice. The state keeps religion under tight control through the State Committee on Work with Religious Associations, which registers communities, appoints imams and vets religious literature. Younger people show both renewed Islamic interest and continuing secularism.

The Bible has been translated in full into North Azerbaijani (JP Bible status 5), and the JESUS film and Global Recordings Network audio are available. Small evangelical, Baptist and Pentecostal churches exist in Baku and other cities, but unregistered religious activity is illegal and literature must be approved by the state, which limits outreach; the US government lists Azerbaijan for severe religious-freedom violations.