Azerbaijani language

Azerbaijani belongs to the Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages and is very close to Turkish, Turkmen and Gagauz. It is the state language of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the mother tongue of tens of millions in north-western Iran — South Azerbaijan — as well as in Georgia, Russia, Türkiye and elsewhere.

Its written literary history goes back to the 13th–14th centuries, with Hasanoghlu, Nasimi, Fuzuli and Khatai writing in it. The script has changed several times: Arabic for centuries, Latin in 1929–1939, Cyrillic in 1939–1991, and Latin again since 1991.

From 1 August 2001 all official writing switched entirely to the Latin script, and the date is celebrated as the Day of the Azerbaijani Alphabet and Language.