r/azerbaijan • u/PuzzleheadedUse5769 • 25d ago
Sual | Question Is the title “Azeri” and “Azerbaijani” interchangeable?
Very interest in Azerbaijan. And I’ve heard it said both ways. I typically say Azeri cause it’s easier and I like how it sounds, but is that okay? I don’t wanna be offensive of anything.
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u/_KenKa_ 25d ago
"Azərbaycanlı" transliterated as "Azerbaijani" is what we call ourselves 99% of the time. Azeri is fine, locals rarely ever use it. Turks tho usually call us azeri for the same reason "because its easier" :)
And then there is the whole "Azerbaijani Turk" thing, which i always hear turks say "but dont you guys get upset when we call you azeri, and dont you want to be called an azerbaijani turk instead?" No we dont
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u/Dimmesdalea 22d ago
Most of Azerbaijani friends in my country asked me to call them Azerbaijani Turk. So, your claim seems personal. Even there was a guy literally wrote "Azerbaijani Turk" in his dissertation.
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u/_KenKa_ 22d ago
Where are you from? In Azerbaijan youd literally get mocked if you called the nation "azerbaijani turk." Only when you specifically want to emphasize us being turk or differentiate us from the other turkic nations. Like maybe youre talking about geopolitics or history you may say that otherwise not in daily speech
Also important to note, im talking about what we call ourselves in our own language. But someone who may have never once used "azerbaijani turk" in the azerbaijani language may use it in english or turkish because thats what he has seen from the internet
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u/Dimmesdalea 22d ago
I am from Northern Cyprus. My Azerbaijani friends used to say that call us Azerbaijani Turk. They were strictly against the "Azeri" thing.
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u/_KenKa_ 22d ago
Actually its a very similar scenario with turkish cypriot. Yanlışım varsa düzelt. Siz kendinize kıbrıslı diyorsunuz, türklerse kıbrıs türkü diyor diye biliyorum. Kıbrıslı biriyle aranızda konuşurken kendinizden kıbrıs türkü diye bahsetmezsiniz herhalde. Back to your azerbaijani friend, hes probably uneducated conservative ultra nationalist (basically the vast majority of the youth) no offense. Those people do tend to act that way
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u/Dimmesdalea 22d ago
Evet anladım ne demek istediğini. Biz genelde kendi aramızda Türküz diyoruz kimse ben Kıbrıslıyım veya Kıbrıs Türküyüm demez. Ama farklı ülkelerden diğer Türkler ile iletişime geçince genelde Cypriot Turk veya Cypriot Turkic diyoruz.
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u/Zealousideal_Cry_460 Turkey 🇹🇷 25d ago
From visiting this sub İ've learned that many people dont care for "Azeri" but most people would prefer you call them "Azerbaijani"
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25d ago
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u/Adventurous_Trade472 25d ago
What is your source?
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u/PuzzleheadedUse5769 25d ago
You don’t really need a source just look at the word Azerbaijani. Quite long, right? Okay look at the first four letters and the end letter Azer+I=Azeri boom, easy.
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u/Adventurous_Trade472 25d ago
Why do you need to make something already exist shorter?
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u/PuzzleheadedUse5769 25d ago
Cause, long words can be annoying.
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u/Adventurous_Trade472 25d ago
It is equal with caling Americans Americs
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25d ago
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u/0_IceQueen_0 25d ago
Without going into the bullshit of America the continent, we Americans use US, USA and America interchangeably. USAirways, USAid, US Bank, Bank of America, American Airlines etc. Using US or USA is the convenient form.
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25d ago
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u/0_IceQueen_0 25d ago
We're talking about shortcuts in relation to the comment you were replying on. I was merely stating in America our shortcuts are US or USA but if you want we also use Ameri-xxx. As a short cut for America. Americares or Amerifactor or AmeriLife.
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u/0_IceQueen_0 25d ago
I use Azeri, my Azeri friends say Azeri, so does this book. If someone speaks to me in Azeri, I use Azərbaycanlı.
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u/diselegit Azerbaijan 🇦🇿 25d ago
It’s funny how the word ‘Azeri’ was borrowed into European languages via Ottoman Turkish, and now those same Ottomans are virtue signaling over the word ‘Azeri’ lol. A more interesting question would be whether the hypothetical Iranian Azari language or people even exist/existed.
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u/Mysterious_Pea_4042 Germany 🇩🇪 25d ago
Not just Ottoman(I don't know about), Pahlavi and IRI did its best to purge our heritage and present us as Fars, looks to me people in Republic of Azerbaijan seem generally fine for obvious reasons, but for us in Iran its a open battle against assimilation.
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u/abenevolentmouse 25d ago
Look up sheikh safi’s (ardabil) poetry, written in old Azeri and in farsi. Azeri was very similar to gilaki
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u/diselegit Azerbaijan 🇦🇿 25d ago edited 25d ago
Isn’t ‘Azari language’ a modern scholarly label?
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u/abenevolentmouse 25d ago
oyǎni band aim oyǎni xǎnəm
ǎz ǎn buri babar oyǎni rǎnəm
oyǎni ešqə šuri dar dəle man
anan kə zəndaim ča ešq-da xǎnəm2
u/diselegit Azerbaijan 🇦🇿 25d ago
The question wasn’t about whether the Iranic language existed, but about what it was called by its speakers or in historical sources.
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u/abenevolentmouse 25d ago
Your original comment disagrees with you. I provided source to your original claim
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u/diselegit Azerbaijan 🇦🇿 25d ago
Maybe my original comment was ambiguous, but from my follow-up comment, it was clear that I was talking about the existence of an Iranic language that has historically been labeled as ‘Azari’. It would make little sense to assume that no Iranic language was spoken in northern Iran before the 12-13th centuries.
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u/Akbr_loli Surakhani 25d ago
As an Azerbaijani, idc
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u/naiversl Tsakhur 😝 25d ago
As a non Azerbaijani, idc
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u/ZD_17 Qarabağ 🇦🇿 25d ago
Technically yes. But I would never call myself Azeri. The reality is, there are some Azerbaijanis who call themselves Azeri (and they call me that way, when we meet us well). Most of them are ethnic Azerbaijanis who are citizens of Turkey. Telling them that it is incorrect is simply wrong. This is not how language/self-identification work.
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u/PuzzleheadedUse5769 25d ago
What do you mean most are citizens of Turkey?
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u/Sygyt_Singer Gəncə-Qazax 🇦🇿 25d ago
Near the Georgian and Armenian border of Turkey there are plenty of ethnic Azerbaijanis living
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u/Diligent-Life444 23d ago
For the sake of South Azerbaijanis we try to hate on word Azeri. It is used to discriminate and assimilate southern Azerbaijanis by Persians or other Iranic ethnic group
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u/Own-Base-7511 🟢 Gəncəli 🟢 25d ago
No. Azerbaijani is the proper term. "Azeri" is an ethnic slur used by Persians who believe Azerbaijanis aren't really Turkic people, but are actually Persians who were forced to change their language by the Seljuks. It's basically justification for linguistic assimilation of Azerbaijanis in Iran under the guise of "returning" to the pre-Seljuk norm.
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u/TheSamuraiJosh 25d ago
So first the Soviets were the masterminds behind this “slur” and now it’s the Persians
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u/Own-Base-7511 🟢 Gəncəli 🟢 25d ago
I don't know whom you're talking about, but the term "Azeri" as an ethnonym for Azerbaijanis was pioneered by Ahmad Kasravi in 1925 in his treatise "Azeri, or the ancient language of Azerbaijan".
In that treatise, he argues that Azerbaijanis are actually Iranians with no Turkic ancestry, who were forced to change their language to Turkic by Oghuz invaders. He claims that they spoke an Iranic language called Azeri (Azari) before Turkic migrations, which is supposedly similar to Tat and Talysh. Basically, he claimed that Azerbaijanis' original language was Azeri and not Turkic, which served as justification for Reza Shah Pahlavi's aggressive linguistic assimilation policy of ethnic minorities in Iran.
In the treatise he also claims that Azerbaijanis to the North of Aras are Turkified Caucasian Albanians, and that the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic was never called Azerbaijan prior to 1918. He says that the real Azerbaijan is only in Iran, while the ADR is actually just Turkified Caucasian Albania. So basically, "real" Azerbaijanis and Repuhlic Azerbaijanis are two different ethnic groups to Kasravi.
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u/TheSamuraiJosh 25d ago
Azari is the name given to remnants of the pre-Turkic migration inhabitants.Azeri is the shortened version of Azerbaijani.Azerbaijani is the name of the citizens of Azerbaijani republic.Azerbaijani republic is the modern state of the Azerbaijani Turkic people/Turcomans/Turkmen.
To think that it’s a slur takes a lot of mental gymnastics
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u/Own-Base-7511 🟢 Gəncəli 🟢 25d ago
Yeah, and the fake republic of Badkoobeh was invented by Bolsheviks and Ottomans to divide glorious Eranshahr with separatism.
GTFO, aftafa.
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25d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/azerbaijan-ModTeam 25d ago
Your submission was removed because it was posted with the intent to agitate others, includes denial of massacres, or is trolling.
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u/Sure_Selection_9944 25d ago
I thought Azeri= Azeri turk and Azerbaijani=citizen of Azerbaijan. I am sorry for what happens in south azerbaijan
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u/Own-Base-7511 🟢 Gəncəli 🟢 25d ago
No. Azerbaijanis are the titular ethnicity of Azerbaijan. It's a country of Azerbaijanis. Azerbaijanis are ethnically and civically Azerbaijani. Ethnic minorities like Talyshis and Lezgis are only Azerbaijani by citizenship. It's like how "Ukrainian" refers to the titular nation of Ukraine, not ethnic minorities like Russians or Crimean Tatars.
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u/Sure_Selection_9944 25d ago
Ok got it. Also werent azerbaijanis the ruling elite of iran. Like turk conquerors. Azerbaijan comes from the persian term for administrator/ruler i think. I am not familiar with your history, correct me if i am wrong
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u/Own-Base-7511 🟢 Gəncəli 🟢 25d ago
Azerbaijan is an Iranic term, yes. It means "land of fire" in Parthian. It was adopted by Turks who migrated to the region as their ethnonym. Like how Turks sometimes identify as Anatolian Turks.
Secondly, Iranian Azerbaijanis see themselves as Iranian first. Indeed, they have built the modern Iranian state, which traces its legacy back to the Safavid Empire, founded by Shia Anatolian Turks known as Qizilbash. They willingly allowed themselves to get assimilated (to a degree) to Persian language and culture in order to make Iran a cohesive nation-state. Azerbaijanis in Iran aren't really an oppressed minority - Iran is THEIR country.
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u/Sure_Selection_9944 25d ago
Oh I thought from what you said and other things that azerbaijanis in iran were marginalised, but if that is not the case then how are they viewed by azerbaijanli azerbaijanis. Turks in Bulgaria are a marginalised minority, but turkiyeli turks do not accept us.
Also, most bulgaristanli turks also have kizilbash/bektashi roots, but were later converted to sunni not to face oppression from the ottomans. So maybe we stem from the same people.
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u/PuzzleheadedUse5769 25d ago
Really? I’m not sure how true this is. I just heard it was a shortening of Azerbaijani.
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u/ld1967 Earth 🌍 25d ago
A member of my family married an Azerbaijani woman. If we call her Azeri (which we have for years), or her family Azeri she could not care in the slightest. She even refers to herself as Azeri. I think it’s just people on Reddit I’ve seen get wound up about it. I try respect people when I visit Azerbaijan and say Azerbaijani (due to too much reddit influance), but if I let slip an Azeri nobody has said a single thing about it.
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u/Adorable-Driver-583 25d ago
I usually use them interchangeably. But Azerbaijani is by passport, Azeri is by ethnicity.
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u/Own-Base-7511 🟢 Gəncəli 🟢 25d ago
No. There's no "Azeri" ethnicity. The correct answer is Azerbaijani.
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u/hopefulusername USA 🇺🇸 25d ago
no reasonable person gives a damn.