Azerbaijanis in Russia

After the disintegration of the Caliphate, the city of Derbent and the surrounding area (currently the Derbent Rayon) became an independent emirate closely allied with the neighbouring state of Shirvan (present day northeastern Azerbaijan). During this period, the emirate became destination for the migration of numerous Turkic tribes. This factor, as well as the influence of the Seljuq Empire, ensured the spread of an Oghuz Turkic idiom in Derbent already in the eleventh century.[11] The Mongol invasion put an end to the emirate's independence for the next two centuries. In the fifteenth century, Ibrahim I, who hailed from Derbent, became the new ruler of Shirvan and incorporated Derbent into Shirvan.[24]

Map of Dagestan. Azerbaijani populated regions are shown in yellow

The ethnic make-up of Derbent remained unchanged until the city became part of the Safavid Empire in the early sixteenth century. The Safavid rule was characterised with active resettlement policies, aimed at securing Shia Muslim dominance in the conquered lands. In 1509, 500 Karamanli Turkic families from Tabriz settled in Derbent. An unknown number of Turkic-speakers from the Kurchi tribe were resettled her in 1540. Half a century later, 400 more families of the Turkic-speaking Bayat clan were relocated to Derbent on the orders of Abbas I. Finally, in 1741, Nadir Shah relocated Turkic-speakers from the Mikri clan to Derbent. By 1870 the settlers were all regarded as speaking a common language, Azeri.[25] Due to their Shia adherence, the new migrants were referred to by contemporary historians as Persians (Russian: персияне), a term that was erroneously applied to Shia Azeris of Dagestan way into the twentieth century.[26] Adam Olearius who visited the region around 1635 described Shirvan as a state of many peoples, all of whom, however, besides their own language, also spoke Turkic.[27] At the time of Peter the Great's conquest of the Caspian coastline in 1722, the city of Derbent was predominantly inhabited by Azeris.[11]

The northern part of the Derbent Rayon was historically populated by the Tarakama, a Turkic-speaking people akin to the Karapapak, who were sometimes classified as a separate ethnic group until the twentieth century. In Dagestan, they are also sometimes referred to as Padars. The Tarakama originated in various parts of Shirvan and were resettled by Khan Muhammad of Kaitag to the north of the city of Derbent around 1600. From then on, the area inhabited by them has been referred to as the Tarakama mahal (district) and constituted an administrative unit until the early twentieth century.[28] The district included 10 villages. In 1736, around 300 Tarakama families from Kaitag advanced further across the Sulak River and settled on the Terek Valley in three villages, where they later mixed with the Kumyks.[29] The rest gradually assimilated among Azerbaijanis and today for the most part consider themselves Azerbaijani.[30] They are mainly Sunni and speak a variety of Azeri, close to the dialect of Shamakhy.

Such assimilation notably affected not only Turkic-speaking peoples of Dagestan. In the past, southern Dagestan had a large Tat population which originally spoke an Iranian language like other Tats. In 1866, they numbered 2,500 people[11] and by 1929 lived in seven villages, including Zidyan, Bilgadi, Verkhny Chalgan, and Rukel.[31] However, by the beginning of the twentieth century most of them had become Azeri-speaking and assumed Azeri identity in the later decades.[11] Today, 16 out of 40 settlements in Derbent are majority-Azeri populated, and in nine more, Azeris constitute either a relative majority or a significant minority: Berikei, Delichoban, Velikent, Verkhny Chalgan, Nizhny Chalgan, Sabnova, Dzhemikent, Zidyan, Zidyan-Kazmalyar, Mitagi, Mitagi-Kazmalyar, Kala, Mugarty, Muzaim, Padar, Kommuna, Rukel, Tatlyar, Karadagly, Bilgadi, Belidzhi, Arablinsky, Arablyar, Gedzhukh, Chinar, Nyugdi, Rubas, Salik, Ullu Terekeme, Khazar, the town of Mamedkala.

Derbent was still a predominantly Azeri (called Transcaucasian Tatars in older Russian sources) town in 1897, with 9,767 persons constituting 66.7% of its population.[32] Decades later, even though their numbers continued to grow, due to heavy immigration in the town, as of 2010, Azeris constituted just 32.3% of its total population with 38,523 persons.[33]

In the historical region of Tabasaran, ethnic Azeris populate the left bank of the Rubas river. The growth and establishment of ethnic Azeris in this region has heavily depended on assimilation processes. In 1876, many Tabasarans were already in the process of switching from Tabasaran to Azeri as their first language.[34] In addition, from the Middle Ages, the population of a number of villages in Tabasaran, namely Arablyar, Gimeidi, Darvag, Yersi, and Kemakh consisted of ethnic Arabs who were gradually being absorbed by the neighbouring population, mainly Azeri, such as in Yersi. In 1929, Kemakh was listed among Tat-populated villages, whereas Gimeidi (abandoned in 1976) was described as mixed Tat and Azeri. These Tats, in turn, were assimilated by Azeris in the following decades. Arablyar, which is now part of the Kurakh Rayon, currently has mixed Lezgian and Azeri population.[31] Residents of Darvag retained the knowledge of Arabic as a first language until the 1930s, after which they also integrated linguistically and ethnically into the Azeri surrounding.[35]

Currently ethnic Azeris constitute majority in the villages of Maraga, Hili-Pendzhik (including the settlement of Yekrag), Tsanak, Arak, Yersi, Darvag, and Zil. The villages of Arkit and Khurvek, as well the district capital Khuchni are mixed Azeri and Tabasaran. Azeris of Tsanak, Arak, Yersi, and Khuchni are normally bilingual in Azeri and Tabasaran, showing preference for Tabasaran when talking to their Tabasaran neighbours even if the latter know Azeri.[11]

Nizhny Katrukh is the only Azeri village in the Rutul Rayon. Azeris of Nizhny Katrukh consider themselves descendants of the people of Shirvan who were captured by the mountaineers during one of their raids into the plains around 1700, taken to the Shamkhalate of Kazi-Kumukh (a Lak state of the time) and made subjects of the Shamkhal. According to a local legend, only two of the original seven settlers were Azeri, though it was the Azeri identity that came to dominate.[36] The village today consists of seven quarters, populated by people of various waves of pre-Czarist immigration.[37] Azeris of Rutul speak a distinct dialect of Azeri, which displays a heavy Lak substratum (despite general ethnic Rutul dominance in the district).[38] The first newspaper in Rutul, Gizil Choban, established in 1932, was printed in Azeri.[39]

For centuries Azeri has been the lingua franca of Southern Dagestan,[40] used both to communicate with Azeris and with mountaineers whose languages were unrelated or considered unintelligible.[41] In the sixteenth century, it became widespread in the Samur Valley and by the nineteenth century, the Azeri language spread across all of the foothill and lowland regions of Dagestan, and was one of the languages of trade and interethnic communication, along with Kumyk and Avar.[42]

Historically the peoples of Southern Dagestan were oriented toward the cultural and behavioural norms of Azerbaijan, as well as depended on its economy.[11] In the course of history, they found themselves almost fully immersed in the Azeri linguistic and cultural milieu. According to Dagestani anthropologist Magomedkhan Magomedkhanov, through the Azeri language, the people of this region "achieved material benefits, satisfaction of cultural needs, as well as creative and spiritual inspiration."[43] Lezgian, Tabasaran, Rutul, and Aghul poets were creating poetry in Azeri already in the seventeenth century.[44] Beginning in 1917, the works of Kumyk authors have displayed influences of Azeri literature.[45] First plays in the amateur Lezgian theatre established in 1907 were performed in the Azeri language.[46] Azeri music and singing traditions played a major role in the cultural integration of the peoples of Southern Dagestan.[11] Music was performed through Azeri folk instruments, such as tar and kamancha and the Azeri mugham became a well-celebrated genre of music among the peoples of Dagestan.[47] Lezgian music in particular shares many similar features with Azeri music.[46] Azeri songs were played and performed at Tabasaran weddings as late as in the 1980s. According to Belarusian Jewish traveller Joseph Cherny, who visited the region in 1870, Mountain Jews of Dagestan had largely adopted Azeri cultural values and lifestyles, and even read liturgical prayers with a Tat translation and an Azeri tune.[11] As for the Lezgian, Rutul, Tsakhur and other Nakh-Dagestani-speaking population, the Azeri language affected their cultural sphere[11] and was a primary source for many loanwords,[48][49] leaving their everyday speech behaviour mostly intact.[11] The Tabasaran language is considered the most influenced by Azeri,[50] which has contributed many nouns, adjectives, adverbs, verb forms and even auxiliary words and morphemes.[51]

In 1861, the first secular school in Southern Dagestan opened in the Lezgian village of Akhty, and Azeri was taught there along with Russian.[52] The learned masses preferred to use Arabic in formal communication, which is why in 1920, Arabic was chosen over the largely unwritten indigenous languages of Dagestan as a means of public education. The atheist policies of the Soviet government, however, attempted to eliminate religion from everyday life. Arabic soon became seen as a link between the Dagestanis and their Islamic heritage. Thus in 1923, Azeri became the language of education in all of Dagestan. According to Alibek Takho-Godi, Dagestani People's Commissar (minister) of Justice in the 1920s (himself of Dargwa origin), local Nakh-Dagestani languages were "not taken seriously as a means of nation-building due to their excessive number."[11] Azeri retained its status until 1928, when education in other local languages, as well as in Russian, was introduced.[53]

Azeri remained as the most popular second language in Southern Dagestan at least until the 1950s,[41] spoken with various degrees of popularity as far north as in the Tindi villages of Tsumada.[54] It is noteworthy that historically among Tindis[54] and especially Aghuls, who lived relatively far from the Azeri settlements, usually only males spoke Azeri or any second language; and only those who visited the lowlands for seasonal labour.[55] Beginning in the 1950s, the use of Azeri as a common second language and lingua franca has been in decline, as it could no longer compete with Russian.[11] As of 2010, 13,648 Lezgians (2.93%), 5,665 Tabasarans (3.96%), 3,105 Avars (0.35%), and 1,379 Dargwa (0.24%) living in Russia claimed speaking Azeri, mostly as a second language (the figures in brackets indicate the percentage of the speakers of Azeri in relation to the overall ethnic population that reported language command).[56] In Dagestan, the number of non-Azeri speakers of the Azeri language (as either a first or second language) was still in the thousands in 2010.[57]

According to the Dagestani constitution, the official languages of Dagestan are Russian and "all local languages", though only 14 of the republic's numerous languages have writing systems, one of them being Azeri.[58]