Turkic tribal groups in Iran

In Iran there are many Turkic tribal groups, almost all are descendants of Oghuz Turks. This article examines the several Turkic tribes in Iran.

## Qashqais

Ths **Qashqais** (Persian: قشقایی) are a tribal confederation of mostly Turkic origin, but there are also Kurds, Lurs and Arabs in Qashqai confederation. Almost all of them speak Qashqai, a Turkic language from Oghuz sub-branch. They are found in the area of Shiraz to the north of the Persian Gulf. Their population is around 300.000.

The Qashqai, in general, believe that their ancestors came to Iran from Turkestan in the vanguard of the armies of Hulagu Khan () or Timur (). However, it seems more probable that they arrived during the great tribal migrations of the 11th century.

## Afshars

The **Afshars** (Persian: افشار) are a tribe of Turkic origin that split into several groups in Iran, Turkey, and Afghanistan. There is an important Afshar group in Urmia and its vicinity, West Azerbaijan. There are also Afshar groups in the southern Azerbaijan, in the region around Zanjan, vicinity of Tehran, Mazandaran, north of Mashad, Kermanshah, southwest Iran, as well as small Afshar groups in Fars and Kerman. The some Afshars joined the Qashqai confederation.

Afshar tribe of historically important as one of the Qizilbash tribes, which established the Safavid dynasty in Iran, and as descent group of the Afsharid dynasty. Nader Shah (), the founder of Afsharid dynasty, was from Qirqlu branch of the Afshar tribe.

The Afshars are originally belongs to _Bozok_ branch of the Oghuz Turks, and are ninth of the twenty-four Oghuz Turkic tribes.

## Bayats

The **Bayats** (Persian: بیات) are an important Turkic tribe, into several groups in Syria, Turkey (Anatolia), Iraq and Iran. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Bayats lived in three branches: in Azerbaijan with 5.000 people, around Tehran with 3.000 people, and around Shiraz in Fars with 3.000 people. Today they are entirely sedentary and live mainly around Zanjan. The some Bayats joined the Qashqai confederation.

An important branch of the Bayats migrated to Iran in the last quarter of the 15th century upon the Aq Qoyunlu conquest. Some of them settled in Azerbaijan and a significant part in the southeast of Hamadan. Since Abbas the Great () considered it inconvenient for the Bayats to live together, he dispersed them by appointing some of their beys to sanjaks in Azerbaijan.

The Bayats are originally belongs to _Bozok_ branch of the Oghuz Turks, and are second of the twenty-four Oghuz Turkic tribes.

## Shahsevan

The **Shahsevan** (Persian: شاهسون) are a number of Turkic tribal groups in various parts of northwestern Iran, notably in the Mughan and Ardabil districts of eastern Azerbaijan and in the Karaqan and Khamsa districts between Zanjan and Qazvin. Most of Shahsevan are of Turkic origin and the Turkic identity and culture are overwhelmingly dominant among them, though the ancestors of several component tribes were of Kurdish or other origins. They are Shia Muslims and spoke Azerbaijani.

By the late 17th century the name Shahsevan, often as a military title in addition to Qizilbash tribal names such as Afshar and Shamlu (and Shamlu components such as Beydili or Begdeli, Inallı or Ināllu, Ajirli or Ajirlu).

## Ayrums

The **Ayrums** (Persian: آیرملوها) are a Turkic tribe of western Azerbaijan. Following the treaty of Turkmenchay in 1828 through which Iran lost the provinces of Yerevan and Nakhchivan, Abbas Mirza, the crown prince, who valued the fighting ability of Turkic tribesmen, encouraged several Turkic tribes which dwelled in the ceded provinces to settle down south of the Aras river, offering them fertile lands and lush pastures as a reward. One of these was the Ayrum tribe tribe, which moved from its ancestral holdings in the vicinity of Gyumri to the west of Maku.