This entry will be divided into the following sub-entries: Both the adoption of Azerbaijan for the region and Azeri for the language of the new entity are historically and linguistically questionable (for detail discussion of these developments in the 19th and early 20th centuries, see Tadeusz Swietochowski, Russian and Azerbaijan: A Borderland in Transition, New York, 1995 Idem, Russian Azerbaijan 1905-1920: The Shaping of National Identity in a Muslim Community, Cambridge, 1985, Repr.
Then, by the order of Joseph Stalin, the name of the formal language of Azerbaijan was changed from Turkish to Azeri. Later they were granted separate political status among the Soviet Republics. This new entity consisted of the former Iranian Khanates of Arrān, including Karabagh, Baku, Shirvan, Ganja, Talysh (Ṭāleš), Derbent (Darband), Kuba, and Nakhichevan (Naḵjavān), which had been annexed to Russia by the treaties of Golestān (1813) and Torkamānčāy (1828) under the rubric of Eastern Transcaucasia.Īfter the Russian Bolsheviks re-conquered the region in 1920-21, the newly formed Caucasian states (Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia) were annexed to the Soviet Union and renamed, on 12 March 1922, The Transcaucasian Soviet Socialist Republic. To allay Iranian concerns, the Azerbaijan government used the term “Caucasian Azerbaijan” in the documents for circulation abroad. The name Azerbaijan was also adopted for Arrān, historically an Iranian region, by anti-Russian separatist forces of the area when, on, they declared its independence and called it the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan. (Āḏarbāyjān), historical region of northwestern Iran, east of Lake Urmia, since the Achaemenid era.Ī version of this article is available in printĪZERBAIJAN (Āḏarbāyjān), historical region of northwestern Iran, east of Lake Urmia, since the Achaemenid era. Population and its Occupations and Culture