In many references, Azerbaijanis are designated as a
Turkic people, due to their
Turkic language.
[72][73]However, modern-day Azerbaijanis are believed to be primarily the descendants of the
Caucasian Albanian[74][75] and
Iranian peoples who lived in the areas of the Caucasus and northern Iran, respectively, prior to
Turkification. Historian
Vladimir Minorsky writes that largely Iranian and Caucasian populations became Turkic-speaking:
In the beginning of the 5th/11th century the Ghuzz hordes, first in smaller parties, and then in considerable numbers, under the Seljuqids occupied Azerbaijan. In consequence, the Iranian population of Azerbaijan and the adjacent parts of Transcaucasia became Turkophone while the characteristic features of Ādharbāyjānī Turkish, such as Persian intonations and disregard of the vocalic harmony, reflect the non-Turkic origin of the Turkicised population.
[76]
Thus, centuries of Turkic migration and turkification of the region helped to formulate the contemporary Azerbaijani ethnic identity.