Caucasian origin of the Azerbaijanis

The Caucasian origin of the  defines a link between Azerbaijanis and their pre-Turkification and mostly applies to the Azeri's of the Caucasus, most of whom are now inhabitants of the. There is evidence that, despite repeated invasions and migrations, aboriginal s may have been culturally assimilated, first by, such as the , and later by the. Considerable information has been learned about the Caucasian Albanians including their language, history, early conversion to, and close ties to the. Many academics believe that the, still spoken in Azerbaijan, is a remnant of the Albanians' language.

This Caucasian influence extended further south into. During the 1st millennium BCE, another Caucasian people, the (Mannai) populated much of Iranian Azarbaijan. Weakened by conflicts with the, the Mannaeans are believed to have been conquered and assimilated by the Medes by 590 BCE.

Historical accounts
Ancient historians, including, and , mention the Caucasus region as a mixed one, with Iranian and non-Iranian groups, such as the , a Caucasian group that still exists in Azerbaijan.

Strabo states:

At the present time, indeed, one king rules all the tribes, but formerly the several tribes were ruled separately by kings of their own according to their several languages. They have twenty-six languages, because they have no easy means of intercourse with one another

Genetic testing
Although genetic testing proves the Turkification of the region rather than the Azeris being descendants of migrants from Central Asia, it also shows that the region is a mixed one. Though the population of Azerbaijan is culturally diverse, has revealed common genetic markers that support an autochthonous background for most Azeris. A 2003 study found that: " indicate that Indo-European-speaking Armenians and Turkic-speaking Azerbaijanians from the republic are genetically more closely related to their geographic neighbors in the Caucasus than to their linguistic neighbors elsewhere." The authors of this study suggest that this indicates a language replacement of indigenous Caucasian peoples. There is evidence of limited genetic admixture derived from Central Asians (specifically ), notably the, that is higher than that of their neighbors, the and. analysis indicates that the main relationship with Iranians is through a larger West Eurasian group that is secondary to that of the Caucasus, according to a study that did not include Azeris, but Georgians who have clustered with Azeris in other studies. The conclusion from the testing shows that the Azeris of the republic are a mixed population with relationships, in order of greatest similarity, with the Caucasus, Iranians and Near Easterners, Europeans, and Turkmen. Other genetic analysis of and s indicates that Caucasian populations are genetically intermediate between Europeans and Near Easterners, but that they are more closely related to Near Easterners overall. Another study, conducted in 2003 by the Russian Journal of Genetics, compared Iranians in Azerbaijan (the and ) with Turkic Azerbaijanis and found that,

the genetic structure of the populations examined with the other Iranian-speaking populations (Persians and Kurds from Iran, Ossetins, and Tajiks) and Azerbaijanis showed that Iranian-speaking populations from Azerbaijan were more close to Azerbaijanis, than to Iranian-speaking populations inhabiting other world regions.

Conclusion
Whether originally Iranian or Caucasian, it is relatively certain and accepted by most scholars that Azeris are not descendants of Turkic tribes, although they have certainly been affected by them.

Genetic testing has also revealed to group more with other  while Azeris from the Republic of Azerbaijan group more with Caucasian peoples.