The Azeri or Azerbaijani belong to the Turkic family and most of them live in the former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan and in Iran (The New Encyclopaedia Britannica 1989, 756). The Azeri are predominantly Shia Muslims (ibid.). The 13,000,000 Iranian Azeris are located in the provinces of Azerbaijan-e Gharbi and Azerbaijani-e Sharqi (West and East Azerbaijan), south of the former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan (Ethnologue, 639). For further information on this group, please see the attached documents.

This response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Area Handbook Series: Iran a Country Study 1987. Edited by Helen Chapin Metz. Washington, DC: Secretary of the Army.

Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 1992. 12th ed. Edited by Barbara F. Grimes. Dallas, Texas : Summer Institute of Linguistics.

The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1989. 15th ed., Vol. 1. Edited by Philip W. Goetz. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Area Handbook Series: Iran a Country Study 1987. Edited by Helen Chapin Metz. Washington, DC: Secretary of the Army, pp. 91-92, 302.

Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 1992. 12th ed. Edited by Barbara F. Grimes. Dallas, Texas : Summer Institute of Linguistics, p. 639.

The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1989. 15th ed., Vol. 1. Edited by Philip W. Goetz. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, p. 756.