Azerbaijanis in Russia - Dagestan

Dagestan

130,919 Azeris lived in the Dagestan Republic as of 2010, which makes them the region's sixth largest ethnic group and 4.5% of its total population. Most of them are natives of the city of Derbent living in the historical quarter Mahal and making up about ⅓ of the city's population. Azeris constitute 55% of the population of the Derbent rayon (over twenty towns and villages), 18% of that of the Tabasaran rayon 4% in the Rutul rayon and 3% in the Kizlyar rayon (villages of Bolshoy Bredikhin and Persidskoye). The rest live in the cities of Makhachkala, Khasavyurt, Buynaksk and Kizlyar.

Among cultural benefits, available to Dagestani Azeris, there are newspapers and magazines printed in the Azeri language, 72 public schools where Azeri is taught as a second language, and the Azeri Folk Theater in Derbent, founded in 1904. Historically Azeris of Dagestan were engaged in carpet weaving, currying, jewellery- and copper utensils making. Rural Azeris were occupied in farming. Most Azeris of Dagestan are Shia Muslim, although Hanafi and Shafi'i Sunnis are found among the rural population. There is a small number of Naqshbandi Sufism adherents.

In 2000, in a presidential decree, Azeris along with 13 other ethnic groups of Dagestan received the status of a native community of Dagestan. As of 2011, there are four Azeri members of the Dagestan State Council.