Dagestani Azerbaijanis ( (Latin), Дағыстан азәрбајҹанлылары (Cyrillic); ) are a segment of Azerbaijanis who have settled in Dagestan. According to the 2021 census, the Azerbaijani population in the Republic of Dagestan numbers 116,907 people, making them the seventh largest ethnic group in the region.
Dagestani Azerbaijani Turks hold an important place in the history of Dagestan. Particularly after the strengthening of Turkic tribes in the South Caucasus, the influence of Turks and Azerbaijani Turks began to grow in Dagestan as well, with the establishment of new settlements. During the Safavid Empire and the subsequent Afsharid dynasty, military campaigns in the region further strengthened the presence of Azerbaijani Turks.
The Azerbaijani Turkish language has played a significant role in the cultural and political life of Dagestan. In addition to having a strong influence on the languages of other indigenous peoples of Dagestan, it served for a long period as the main language of writing and communication. Furthermore, up until the mid-Soviet era, Azerbaijani was used as the primary language of education for several other ethnic groups in Dagestan.
Emergence of Azerbaijani settlements The issue of the ethnic formation of Azerbaijani Turks in Dagestan is examined within the inseparable context of the ethnogenesis of the Azerbaijani Turkish people as a whole. The ethnogenesis of Azerbaijani Turks in Dagestan involved the ancient indigenous population of Caucasian Albania (including Khazars, Kassites, Albanians, Masguts, etc.), who had intermingled with groups that invaded the region in the first millennium BCE, such as the Cimmerians, Scythians, Sarmatians, Huns, Bulgars, Khazars, and Pechenegs. Through successive waves of migration from Oghuz and Kipchak Turks, many of these local ethnic groups in the region also became Turkified by the 13th and 14th centuries. Over the following centuries, Azerbaijani Turks in Dagestan continued to receive migrations from the main parts of Azerbaijan, with most of them coming from the Quba and Shirvan regions.
M. Ibrahimov describes this process as follows:
In the first millennium BCE, the ancient indigenous population of Caucasian Albania (such as the Khazars, Kassites, Albanians, Masguts, etc.), who intermingled with the invaders, played a role in the formation of Azerbaijani Turks in Dagestan. This fusion included Iranic and Turkic-speaking groups, such as the Cimmerians, Scythians, Sarmatians, Huns, Bulgars, Khazars, and Pechenegs, as well as Iranian and Arab colonists. The new waves of conquest by Turkic-speaking groups, particularly Oghuz-Seljuks and to a lesser extent Kipchaks, in the 11th–13th centuries contributed to the completion of the Azerbaijani Turkish nation's formation, reflected in the replacement of local languages by Turkic languages. The ancestors of Azerbaijani Turks experienced migrations and civilizational disruptions during the 13th–14th centuries. The ethnic foundation of Azerbaijani Turks in Dagestan was further consolidated in the 15th–18th centuries through repeated migrations from Azerbaijan, primarily from Quba and Shirvan. In the first half of the 15th century, the Oghuz-Turcoman Qara Qoyunlu tribes occupied Dagestan, and researchers associate the Terekeme ethnonym and the transformation of the Terakeme people into a distinct ethnic group in Shirvan with this period.
The majority of such migrations occurred between the 15th and 18th centuries, further solidifying the Azerbaijani Turkic ethnic base in Dagestan.
Azerbaijani Turks have historically inhabited the city of Derbent and the adjacent plains (coastal and foothill areas), corresponding to present-day Derbent and partially Tabasaran districts. According to A. V. Komarov, the village of Qullar in Derbent emerged when one of the khans of Derbent settled his servants (qullar) there. Similar accounts exist for other Azerbaijani Turkic villages.
Legends According to legend, the name of the village Yersi, populated entirely by Azerbaijani Turks, derives from the word əsir (prisoner), which evolved into its modern form over time. Another version suggests that the name originates from the Tabasaran word yarsa (old), indicating that its inhabitants were an autochthonous community.
A. V. Komarov, citing a legend from that period, states that the residents of Ərəblər village were descendants of Arabs who came from the village of Ərəblər near Shamakhi.
The name Velikent is associated with a man named Veli from Quba, who, according to legend, gave the village its name. The name of Padar village is linked to a man named Padarkhan, a native of the Büyük Padar village in Azerbaijan, who migrated there. According to information provided by residents of Salik village, the inhabitants of modern Terekeme villages in Dagestan trace their ancestry to migrants from Shirvan, Quba, and other areas. Additionally, some claims suggest that individuals who established the Kumyk villages of Qayakənd and Velikənt originally came from Lahij. One resident, interviewed by a researcher, noted that his father had come from the Büyükşıxlar village in Quba. The founding of Mamedkala village in Derbent District, Dagestan, is attributed to Fath-Ali Khan of Quba. According to Ivan Hajinsky:
After becoming estranged from his uncle, the usmi, Mohammad Khan was warmly received and influenced by Fath-Ali Khan of Quba, who built a residence-fortress for him 20 versts north of Derbent, named Mohammad Khan Fortress. Fath-Ali Khan of Quba relocated 200 families from Quba to this area and appointed Fath-Ali Khan of Quba to govern the fortress.
The name of Yuxarı Calğan village appears in records dating back to 1723. This village is located at the summit of Çalğan Mountain and was settled by Azerbaijani Turks during the reign of Fath-Ali Khan of Quba. According to legend, people were brought here from Quba to defend Derbent, and unlike other settlements, they were granted special privileges.
Formation of Nizhny Qatrukh Currently, the only Azerbaijani village in Dagestan is located in the Rutul region, known as Lower or Nizhny Qatrukh (Aşağı Qatrux in Azerbaijani). It lies between the Rutul village of Ihrek (İhrek) and the Lak villages of Arakul and Upper Qatrukh (Yuxarı Qatrux in Azerbaijani). Although situated in the Lak region, until the early 18th century, Nizhny Qatrukh was administratively connected to the village of Vaçi. In the Lak language, the village is referred to as "Luv Chaatlux".
According to some local accounts, this area once hosted a garden belonging to a ruler of Gazikumukh Khanate, who settled seven individuals there. These included two Lezgins, two Azerbaijani Turks, and three Laks. The narrative suggests that the inhabitants of Qatrukh are descendants of these seven individuals. Over time, Azerbaijani Turkic became the dominant language of communication in the village. Another version recounts that the ruler of Gazikumukh, Surkhay I, after waging war against the Afsharid ruler Nader Shah, settled prisoners of war captured from Nader Shah's army in this area, marrying them to Lak women. According to this tradition, the current residents of Nizhny Qatrukh are descended from these individuals.
Linguist N. S. Dzhidalaev, who studied the Azerbaijani Turkic dialect of Nizhny Qatrukh, also addressed the village's origin story. He proposed that Azerbaijani Turkic emerged as a common language among the Rutuls, Tsakhurs, Laks, Avars, and Lezgins of the Kara-Samur River basin. Dzhidalaev linked the spread of Azerbaijani Turkic to the settlement of Turkic prisoners of war in the region, which provided the necessary linguistic factors to facilitate the adoption of Azerbaijani Turkic. This, he argued, created a bilingual environment where Lak coexisted with Azerbaijani Turkic, but over time, Azerbaijani Turkic supplanted Lak as the sole spoken language in the village.
Residents of Nizhny Qatrukh are associated with other historical accounts. For example, inhabitants of the neighboring Rutul village of Ihrek referred to the residents of Nizhny Qatrukh as "lyk" (slave). Within the village itself, one neighborhood is known as "Mugallar" (Muğallar), a term commonly used for Azerbaijani Turks in the Dagestan region. Other neighborhood names, such as "Qatırqılar" and "Samançıyar", suggest connections to migrants from Shirvan.
In pre-revolutionary academic literature, the residents of Nizhny Qatrukh were often described as originating from Gazikumukh Khanate and the Lak population. For instance, the 1857 Caucasus Calendar identified the village as being inhabited by Sunni, Avar-speaking Lezgins. Similarly, an 1860s settlement list compiled by A. Komarov categorized Nizhny Qatrukh as a Lak village. By 1884, the village was classified as a Sunni, Rutul village, but its inhabitants’ language was noted as Turkish (Azerbaijani Turkic). An 1888 study of settlements in Dagestan described the inhabitants as Sunni Lezgins but recorded that they spoke Tatar (a term historically used for Azerbaijani Turkic). Linguist P. K. Uslar, who studied the Lak language in the 1860s, noted that “they speak Azerbaijani Turkic in Nizhny Qatrukh” within the Gazikumukh region. Historian Hasan Alkadari wrote in 1891 that the residents of Qatrukh in the Samur region spoke Azerbaijani Turkic. In 1929, Ali Hasanov edited his father's works and noted that certain communities in Qatrukh also spoke the Gazikumukh (Lak) language. The 1926 census identified the inhabitants of Nizhny Qatrukh as Turks, later classified as Azerbaijanis under terminology adopted in the 1930s. This census further affirmed that the Azerbaijani language had become the dominant language of the village.
Villages in the Tabasaran District Alongside the village of Nizhny Qatrukh, the current situation in the Tabasaran District remains quite complex. German linguist and ethnographer A. Dirr notes that some of the modern Azerbaijani inhabitants of the area are Turkified Tabasarans. Ethnographer L. I. Lavrov believes that the names of Azerbaijani villages such as Arkit, Arak, and Yersi have Tabasaran origins, and their inhabitants once spoke this language. Neither the statistical materials from the 19th century and early Soviet period nor historical data provide clarity on when these settlements were established or the origins of their inhabitants.
In the past, Yersi was one of the Arab settlements. According to the Caucasus Calendar of 1857, the village was inhabited by Sunni Lezgins and Tatars (i.e., Azerbaijani Turks). Additionally, Tats are reported to have resided in the village. A source from 1869 states that the inhabitants of Yersi spoke Azerbaijani Turkic. All pre-revolutionary sources refer to the inhabitants of Yersi as Tatars (Azerbaijani Turks). However, according to the 1926 census, one Tabasaran and one Dargin individual were also residing in the village.