Ayrums

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Ayrums (Azeri: ayrım; Armenian: այրում) were a Turkic-speaking tribe in the Caucasus. They became assimilated by Azeris and possibly Armenians in the late 19th century. Some Azeris from the Gazakh-Agstafa region may still be aware of their Ayrum roots. Toponyms derived from the word "Ayrum" still exist (or existed until recent decades) in northwestern Azerbaijan and northeastern Armenia, e.g. Mets Ayrum, Pokr Ayrum, Baganis-Ayrum, Polad-Ayrum, Gushchu-Ayrum, etc.

[edit] History

Some ethnographers, such as Veniamin Kobychev and Alasgar Alakbarov, believed that those Azeris from Azerbaijan's Gazakh and Agstafa districts, as well as from Armenia's Tavush province, who are referred to by a sub-ethnic term "Ayrum", in fact descend from Hayhurums and Greek Orthodox Caucasian Albanians, who were lated Islamized.^[1] However this theory was challenged by theories advanced by Vladimir Minorsky, Ivan Meshchaninov and Mammad-Hasan Valiyev (Baharli)^{[citation needed]}, who argued that Ayrums were originally Turkic-speaking late migrants from either Persia or the Ottoman empire.