LEZGI
(Own name: Lezgi, earlier: Kyurin)

A Caucasian Mountain people, approximately half of whom live in Dagestan, and the other half in the newly independent Republic of Azerbaijan on both sides of the Samur River. In 1989 their total number was officially given as 171.395 in Azerbaijan and 204,370 in Dagestan but today it is estimated to be a million. I.ezgi estimates talk of some additional 2 million hidden or assimilated Lezgi. In older books and maps Lezgi are described as the biggest group in the area.
These maps and descriptions show Tsakhur, Rutul, Tabasaran, Lek and Dargin, and many others who have now disappeared, which represents the entire group of Dagestani peoples speaking Caucasian languages. Today, only one of the former tribes is called Lezgi. Islam became the dominant religion following the Arab invasion in the eighth century. The Lezgi then joined in a
free tribal union, while individual tribes in turn came under Armenian and Georgian Christian influence. Attempts to convert the Lezgi to Christianity failed. In the fourteenth century they sought protection from the Mongol invaders, under which role Islam assumed its definite consolidation. In the sixteenth century they in turn came under Ottoman and Persian role. After a revolt against Turkey and Persia in 1707, they experienced regular shifts between independence and dependency on Russia, Persia and the Turks. In 1802-4 they opted for Russia. When the Russian Empire reorganized her internal administrative structure in 1860, Lezgistan was divided along the river Samur between the Provinces (gubernü) of Derbent and Baku, a partition which was taken over by the Soviet system of republics: former Derbent Guberniya became Dagestan, former Baku Guberniya-Azerbaijan. Although there were great differences in the assimilation pressure and the possibilities for cultural development and participation of Lezgi in the two republics the partition has became a serious political issue as the area known as I.ezgistan has became an international border between independent Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. While Dagestani Lezgi had the right to cultural development and political participation, Azerbaijani Lezgi were increasingly forced to assimilate from the year 1930. The first movement for a reunion of all Lezgi and guarantees for their rights was formed in Dagestan in 1959. The Communist Party then issued a 1963 decree on Lezgi cultural rights (native language schools and newspapers) but never implemented this decree. Since 1965 Lezgi have claimed a reunited and autonomous I.ezgistan. 1990 saw the foundation of Sadval (Unity), a Lezgi democratic movement for a unified Lezgistan with territorial indigenous rights in a federated Dagestan. In 1992 tens of thousands of Lezgi rallied against the new state borders with its customs control and visa requirements. The Lezgi see border agreements between Dagestan and Azerbaijan without their involvement as a violation of their rights, although they have so îar secured an open border. The closely related Agul (some 15.000 thousand in 21 villages) and Tsakhur (13 villages) live mostly in high isolated mountain regions in Southern Dagestan, the latter together with the Rutul (22 villages) partly in Azerbaijan. The 80.000 Tabasaran are also closely related but were singled out, when they withstood the fifteenth century pressure from Persians and Turks and formed a small but strong regional power due to the strategic location at the passage south of Derbent.

Editor note: This information is taken from "The North Caucasus: Minorities at a Crossroads" written by Helen Krag and Larsh Funch.