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The Persian or Iranian Turks
To be continued…"The Iranian Turks in the widest sense include those of Transcaucasia, who have, however, been grouped above as IV b, 4(p.200) because of their political position as inhabitants of Russian territory. Those of them that live in Persia proper are distributed in the following regions:
1. Azarbaijan, from the Araxed southward along the frontier of Kurdistan past Urmia towards Kirmanshah. Here the Turks are most numerously represented, being pontiguous to their kinsmen in Transcaucasia, from whom they are politcally seperated. They thus form the chief seat of the Turkish element in Persia.
2. Khamseh, the district between Azarbaijan and Tehran, especially in the neighbourhood of Zinjan.
3. The district of Tehran, in the immediate neighbourhood of the capital and in the valleys of Damavand
4. Kirman: in the district bordering on Fars
5. Irak: in the neighbourhood of Hamadan
6. Fars: where they wander between the borders of Isfahan and the sea coast
7. Khorasan: where they are most numerous around Nishapour and Kuchan
Race: Racially and linguistically the Turks of Persia differ little from one another. They are descended from the Turks who under Seljuk came from the north of the sea of Aral. That they are close akin to the Turkmens is shown by the fact that several of their tribes, such as the Khoja-ali and Begdilli in Karabagh, the Kara in Kirman, the Bayat around Nishapour, as well as the Kenger in Transcaucasia, are identical in name with corresponding tribes among the Turkmens of Russian Turkestan. Other tribes are known to be of Turkmen origin, though their names have disappeared from among Turkmens proper. Such are the Avshars, a very numerous tribe, near Urmia, who have become Shiites. Another such tribe are the Kajars, who formerly lived in the steppe bordering on Astarabad and are now scattered about in Persia; from them comes the present dynasty of Persia. Again, the Kashkai in Fars are known to have migrated to the south of Persia during the rule of the Il-Khans. Thus the Turks of Persia ethnically form a connecting link between the Turkmens proper and the Osmans.
Each of the tribes has its own chieftain, who is appointed by the Shah. In former centuries the clans seem to have lived in compact masses, and to have been confined in particular localities; but at the present day neither is the case. Only the large and powerful tribes attach importance to their descent; while the small fragments are very much in the dark as to their origin. Tribes once forming numerous units are scattered across the wide extending from the Paromisus to the Kurdistan mountains and from the Caucasus to the Persian Gulf. Thus members of one and the same tribe may now be found in the Caucasus, in Khorasan, in Hamadan and in Kirman.
The only exceptions are the following four tribes, which are less dispersed and partly occupy their old habitat.
1. The Kajars
2. The Shasevens
3. The Kashkais and Allahverdis
4. Karakoyunlus
Racial Characteristics:
The Turks of Persia have been mixed with various Aryan peoples – Caucasians, Kurds, Armenians, Iranians – as the result of the importation of male and female slaves, which went on for centuries. A distinctively Turkish type can therefore not be looked for among them; but a marked mixed type, the basis of which has left genuine Turkish physical traces, is noticeable as soon as Azarbaijanis are side by side with the relatively pure Persians of Shiraz. According to a close observer, the Iranian Turks compared with the Persians have a less oval skull, a broader and less expressive face, less arched brows, thicker eyelids, a shorter and broader nose, wider cheek-bones and chin, more fleshy lips, a taller and more massive and muscular figure. The description of the Turks of Transcaucasia given by another authority is similar. Vambery, who agrees with these account, adds that along the whole northern frontier of Persia the Turks in Azarbaijan and in Khorasan show far more traces of the national type than, for instances, the Kashkais in the south.
It is natural that a considerable change in customs must have been undergone by a people who, seperated for more than eight centuries from the bulk of their kindred, have so long lived in the midst of old Persian culture, and been strongly influenced by the religious bias of the Shiite sect. Hence the Iranian Turk appears polite and refined compared with his congeners in the north-east and the west. But his native Turkish awkwardness and frankness is still apparent when he is contrasted with the Southern Persian. This difference is still observable among the townsmen of Tebriz, Tehran and Hamadan in spite of the immediate influence of these centres of Persian culture, while the population of the country districts shows still more evident traces of the Turkish national character, some of their customs being clearly reminiscent of those still prevailing among the Turkmens of the steppe.
This similarity extends to various usages of family life, such as certain benedictions, which are almost identical, birth and wedding ceremonies, and particularly the laws of hospitality, which the Iranian Turk observes much more conscientiously than the Persian. The word of the Turk, too, is much more depended on than that of the Iranian. He is also decidedly superior in manly qualities. To these he owes his dominant position for centuries in Persia, where he represents the really warlike element, for the army of the Shah consists predominantly of Turks."
(excuse possible typos. I typed it off from a digital slide of a book.)
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