Approaches to early Turkish history in Azerbaijan

This dissertation focuses on how the understanding of early Turkish history in Azerbaijan. Early Turkish History is aparted into Republican, Soviet and Independence periods and it is researched on the basis of the studies carried out during these periods. With the establishment of a national state in Azerbaijan at the beginning of the 20th century, history was consciously considered as a part of Turkish history. For this reason, we have considered the Republican period as the period when Turkish Historiography started in Azerbaijan. Because this period was politically short, historiography in Azerbaijan was no longer a part of Turkish history in the Soviet period, and it was isolated from Turkish identity as a history of geography and defined as the "History of Azerbaijan People ". Regardless of the short period of the Republic,the studies of this period have examined the Early Turkish History more than the Soviet period and the studies have been evaluated on the basis of the history of the Turkish people. This approach to historiography during the Republican period continued for a year or two after the establishment of the Soviet regime. From the beginning of the 1930s, Soviet ideology was entirely dominant in historiography. Towards the end of the Soviet regime, the history approach was revived in the Republican period. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, in Azerbaijan, as in all areas of life, historiography again entered into the air of nationalism. This is particularly evident in studies carried out in the early years of independence. Beginning from this period, some peoples defined as Iranian language, Caucasian languages and Dagestan languages in the historiography of Soviet period were defined as Turkish peoples in the Republican period.