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Iran
Other Groups
Many other Turkic-speaking groups are scattered throughout Iran,
but mainly along the northern tier of provinces. In the northeastern
part of East Azarbaijan live some fifty tribes collectively called
the Ilsavan (formerly known as Shahsavan). The Ilsavan, who may
number as many as 100,000, are pastoral and take their flocks
to summer pastures on the high slopes of Mount Sabalan and to
winter pastures in the Dasht-e Moghan, adjacent to the Aras River,
which forms the frontier between Iran and the Soviet Union. The
Ilsavan first appeared in Iranian history as staunch supporters
of the Safavid dynasty, which originated during the fifteenth
century in Ardabil, a town located in a valley on the south side
of Mount Sabalan. The Qajars, from whom came the royal family
that Reza Shah dethroned, form a Turkic-speaking enclave among
the Mazandarani. Some are settled agriculturists while others
are pastoral nomads. In the northeastern part of Mazandaran, in
a region known as the Turkoman Sahra, live several tribes of Turkomans,
some of which are sections of larger tribes living across the
border in the Soviet Union. In 1986 the number of Turkomans in
Iran was estimated to be about 250,000. Several small, nomadic,
Turkic-speaking groups, including Qarapakhs and Uzbeks, live in
Khorasan. Small numbers of Qarapakhs also live in northwestern
Iran along the southern shore of Lake Urmia.
The Afshars are one of the most scattered of the Turkic-speaking
groups. A seminomadic people who speak a dialect akin to Azarbaijani,
they are found along the shore of Lake Urmia, around Zanjan, along
the borders of Kurdistan, south of Kerman, and in Khorasan. These
separated groups are estimated to total 100,000, but they do not
share any consciousness of a common identity nor do they have
any political unity. Nevertheless, they all refer to themselves
as Afshars and differentiate themselves from other groups, both
Turk and non-Turk, that surround them.
Data as of December 1987
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