FORMATION OF THE AZERBAIJANI PEOPLE AND LANGUAGE IN THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES

Abstract

Some historians and linguists argue that, until the 13th century, there were no Turks in Azerbaijan, or they were very few. Therefore, the Azerbaijani Turkic people and the common Azerbaijani
language of Turkic origin emerged in the 11th century, after the Seljuks came to Azerbaijan.
Prof. G. Kazimov illustrates with striking evidence that the territory of Azerbaijan has been a
Turkic land since ancient times. The Kuti, Lul-ly, Albans, Huns, Turukkies, Gargars, Uti, Bulgars,
Dondars, Pechenegs, Kangars, Shiraks, and Savars were Turkic tribes who resided on both sides of
Azerbaijani land from the 3rd millennium BC and even earlier.
The Azerbaijani people and the common Azerbaijani language did not derive from the speech of
newcomers, but they emerged through the consolidation of aboriginal languages. The Cimmerian,
Sak, and Scythian tribes returned to their ancestral homeland in the 6th-7th centuries BC, then the
Huns, Kipchaks, Khazars, and other tribes in the 1st-4th centuries, and even later, merely strengthened
and assisted the natives.
The northern and southern parts of Azerbaijan united during the dynasty created by Alexander,
in the Parthian and Sasanian periods, during the Caliphate; The Azerbaijani people and the common
Azerbaijani lang.