Azeri

Azeri

The Azeri language, sometimes called Azerbaijani (az?rbaycanca in Azeri), belongs to the Turkic group of the Altaic language family. It is spoken south of the Caucasus in the Caspian basin, predominantly in the Republic of Azerbaijan and northern Iran. In Azerbaijan it is written with a modified Latin script similar to the one used for Turkish. In Iran it is written in the Arabic alphabet, though there is no standardized form.  

Under the Soviets the official language of Azerbaijan was Russian, while Azeri had co-official status as the "titular" language of the republic. At that time Azeri was written in a modified Cyrillic script.

In 1991 the Azerbaijani parliament adopted a new law stipulating the use of the Latin alphabet in all schools, universities and state institutions.