 Prayer Requests
That the Lord would raise up laborers to share the Gospel with the Azeris of Turkey.
That God would reveal Himself to the Azeris through dreams and visions.
That God would embolden Azeri believers from Azerbaijan to share Christ with their own people.
That the Lord would raise up faithful prayer teams who will begin breaking the soil for the Gospel and taking authority over the spiritual powers that keep the Azeris bound to darkness.
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The Azeris of Turkey
26 Mar 2007
Location
The Azeris of Turkey are concentrated in the province of Kars, bordering Azerbaijan, with other concentrations in the surrounding provinces, centering on Erzurum.
History
Azeris first settled in what is now Turkey during a brief period of Safavi governance over Kars and neighbouring areas during the early 1500’s. Their number grew at the beginning of the 19th century, when according to the Golestan and Turkmanchai treaties Russia gained sovereignty over the khanates of Karabakh (1813), Nakhichevan (1828) and Erivan (1828), among others, and the Treaty of Adrianople gave Christians and Muslims the right to choose a place of residence between Russia and Turkey. Similarly to those of the North Caucasus, large groups of local Muslim population refused to live within Russian boundaries and migrated to Turkey, settling in its eastern regions. 50 years later, in 1878, Russia expanded to Kars, forcing a portion of Azeris to move deeper into Anatolia, to present-day Erzurum and Ağrı. Nowadays descendants of those migrants consider themselves Turks, however the Turkish dialect of Erzurum preserved most of the Azeri vocabulary and grammar, appearing to be the closest of all to the Azeri language.
Spiritual Identity
The Azerbaijani are primarily Shi'ite Muslims, but there are a number of Hanafite Muslims as well. Islam among the Azerbaijani is a reflection of the historical ties that exist between Azerbaijan and Iran. Until the twentieth century, most Azeri identified themselves as Muslims rather than Azerbaijani or Turks. They believe that being a "spiritual community of Islam" was much more important that being a nation.
Status of Christianity
Today most Azeris in Turkey identify themselves as Muslim or non-religious. They are bilingual in Turkish and Azeri or monolingual in Turkish and materials are available for them in both Turkish and Azeri. There are no known believers among the Azeris of Turkey.
Resources for more info – secular or religious (web sites, books, etc)
For more detailed information on the
Azeris of Turkey, visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azeris_in_Turkey |
