Tsakhurs - Orientation

Identification and Location. The Tsakhurs live in the southwestern part of Daghestan (the Rutul District) and in northern Azerbaijan (the Zakatal and Kakh districts). The Daghestanian Tsakhurs occupy a territory that is closed off and difficult of access called Mountain Magai (on the upper reaches of the Samur River). Paths and an automobile road join them to their dosest neighbors, the Rutuls and the Lezgins, and mountain passes over the main Caucasus chain link them to Azerbaijan. The climate is cold: there are snowdrifts and avalanches in the winter, whereas in the summer the rivers sometimes flood. The Azerbaijan Tsakhurs occupy the foothills and plains, areas which have a temperate climate, fertile soil, and good communications.

Demography. The overall population of the Tsakhurs in 1989 was 20,055 (the growth over the preceding ten years had been 48.8 percent). Of this number 5,194 (25.9 percent) lived in the Daghestan ASSR, and 13,318 (66.4 percent) lived in the Azerbaijan SSR. The Tsakhurs belong to the Caspian variant of the Balkano-Caucasian subrace of the Euro-Indian race.

Linguistic Affiliation. Tsakhur belongs to the Lezgin Subgroup of the Daghestanian Group of the Northeast Caucasian (Nakh-Daghestanian) Language Family. In the 1930s A. N. Genko established a Latin-based alphabet, C. A. Dzhafarov wrote several primers, and for two years instruction was carried on in the native language. Literacy did not go any further, however, and the Tsakhur language was not used for writing for the remainder of the Soviet period. Until the beginning of the 1950s the school language was Azerbaijani and, after that, Russian, whereas among the Tsakhurs of Azerbaijan it has continued to be Azerbaijani. Today Russian is widespread among the Daghestan Tsakhurs, as is Azerbaijani among the Tsakhurs of both areas (Daghestan and Azerbaijan). Recently the decision has been made to use Tsakhur once again as a written language.