Historical Approaches to the Issue of Etymology, Statehood and Identity of Azerbaijan

Abstract

Azerbaijan and Iran as neighbouring countries have a very ancient history and rich culture. It is completely wrong approach to equate Azerbaijan and Iran or to consider Azerbaijan an integral part of Iran. Sometimes historians and researchers talk about these two countries separately, and sometimes they consider Azerbaijan as an integral part of Iranian geography. However, if we pay attention to the early days of history, we can see that Azerbaijan and Iran were completely different countries that were not connected. Azerbaijan was formed as geography inhabited by Turks in the early Middle Ages and was not connected to Iran. On the other hand, Iran has a more federal structure and is formed as a multinational geography. If we pay attention to the etymology of the name of Azerbaijan, the history of statehood and the existing historical approaches to its identity, we can see that this country initially has not been a part of Iran and was formed as an independent state.