Ayrums (Azerbaijani: Ayrımlar, in Persian often as Âyromlū) are a Turkic tribe,[1] considered to be a sub-ethnic group of Azerbaijanis after the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.[2][3] They have been historically associated with the area nearby the city of Gyumri (in present-day Armenia).[1]
In 1828, after the signing of the Treaty of Turkmenchay by which Iran lost the khanates (provinces) of Erivan and Nakhchivan, Iranian Crown Prince Abbas Mirza invited many of the Turkic tribes that would be otherwise subjected to rule by the Russian Empire to move inside Iran's newly-established borders.[1] The Ayrumlu were one of them and were settled in Avajiq, a district to the west of Maku.[1] They are associated with numerous villages in Iran's West Azerbaijan Province and are completely sedentary in contemporary times.[1]
There is no relation between Ayrums and the Greek OrthodoxTurkic-speaking Urum people. The confusion is rooted in the lack of the Turkic sound『-ı』in Persian and its consequent representation by "-u". The name Ayrum has various spellings in the English language, such as Eyrum, Eirom and Airom.
^ abcdeOberling, P. (1987). "ĀYRĪMLŪ". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Volume III/2: Awāʾel al-maqālāt–Azerbaijan IV. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 151–152. ISBN978-0-71009-114-7.
^Swietochowski, Tadeusz; Collins, Brian C. (1999). Historical Dictionary of Azerbaijan. Scarecrow Press. p. 28. ISBN978-0-8108-3550-4.
^ abOlson, James Stuart; Pappas, Lee Brigance; Pappas, Nicholas Charles; Pappas, Nicholas C. J. (1994). An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 24–25. ISBN978-0-313-27497-8.
^Mansoori, Firooz (2008). "17". Studies in History,Language and Culture of Azerbaijan (in Persian). Tehran: Hazar-e Kerman. p. 245. ISBN978-600-90271-1-8.
