Lezgistan is an ethnic homeland of the Lezgins, as well as the area of distribution of the Lezgin language.[1]
Historical toponym
While ancient Greek historians, including Herodotus, Strabo, and Pliny the Elder, referred to Legoi people who inhabited Caucasian Albania, Arab historians of 9-10th centuries mention the kingdom of Lakz in present-day southern Dagestan.[2] Al Masoudi referred to inhabitants of this area as Lakzams (Lezgins),[3] who defended Shirvan against invaders from the north.[4]
The first notion of an autonomous Lezgin territory, that is, "Lezgistan", was voiced in 1936 during Joseph Stalin's reign.[6]
Independence projects
After the dissolution of USSR there was an irredentist project to create a unified Lezgistan on Lezgin-inhabited areas of Azerbaijan and RussianRepublic of Dagestan.[7] In December 1991, various Lezgin groups held the All-National Congress of Lezgins. During it, they adopted a declaration calling for the creation of an independent Lezgistan, which would be a national entity uniting the Lezgins of Dagestan and Azerbaijan.[8]Sadval movement[9][10] and Federal Lezgian National and Cultural Autonomy, Samur[11] are the main political organisations seeking separatism.
^Sayfutdinova, Leyla (2022). "Ethnic Boundaries and Territorial Borders: On the Place of Lezgin Irredentism in the Construction of National Identity in Azerbaijan". Nationalities Papers. 50 (4): 799. doi:10.1017/nps.2021.3. hdl:10023/23933. S2CID236600082.
Note: Forms of nationalism based primarily on ethnic groups are listed above. This does not imply that all nationalists with a given ethnicity subscribe to that form of ethnic nationalism.