Footprints of Albanians in Qara Dagh Region of Azerbaijan

Before the arrival of Islam in the Azerbaijan region, the population of North Azerbaijan was mainly Christian. Creation of the Albanian alphabet, improvement of the Albanian line, establishment of schools, translation of religious literature from Syriac and Greek to Albanian, the privilege of the Albanian rulers to Christian churches and clergy played a major role in the spread and establishment of Christianity. Albanians followed the Byzantines against the Sasanians. With the arrival of Islam, due to the fact that the Albanians did not become subjects of the caliphanians did not become subjects of the caliph, the policies that were the continuation of the Sassanid policy make the situation more complicated. Meanwhile, after the introduction of Islam, most of the Albanians became Muslims and remained in their Azerbaijani and Turkish identity, as they are mentioned in the findings under the name (children of Aghvan). On the other hand, most of the Albanians who did not convert to Islam eventually became assimilated, or Armenians, or Georgians, and in the continuation of this assimilation, in 1911-1910, the works and documents belonging to the Albanians, which were in the hands of the Russians, were destroyed in order to identify the Armenians. According to some sources, Babak Khorrami was of Albanian origin and his followers sought refuge in Byzantium after Babak. During the Safavid period, Shah Ismail supported the Armenians against the Albanians, especially against the Albanians who were present in the Qara Dagh region, which shows the presence of the Albanians in the Qara Dagh region. Al-Magdisi, a famous geographer, also noted that there are Albanians around the Araz river.