Getting to know the people and ethnic groups living in Iran
Major Ethnic Minority Groups
They include tribal groups such as Bakhtiaris, Khamseh, Lurs, Qashqai, Gilaki (in Gilan province), Mazandaran (in Mazandaran province), and also have ethnolinguistic minority groups the main ones are Azeris, Kurds, Arabs, Baluchis, turkeman, Armenians, Assyrians and Jews.
But Kurds and Lurs are only the two groups that are both ethnically and linguistically related closely to the Persians.
The remainder of the population comprises small communities of Arabs, Armenians, Assyrians, Baluchians, Georgians, Pashtuns, and others.
According to the CIA World Factbook and other Western sources, ethnicity/race in Iran breaks down as follows: Persian 51%, Azeri 24%, Gilaki and Mazandarani 8%, Kurd 7%, Arab 3%, Lur 2%, Baloch 2%, Turkmen 2%, other 1%.
Azeris
The Azerbaijanis are an ethnic group that likely derives from ancient Iranian tribes and is mainly found in the northwest provinces. They form the largest minority in Iran with about 24% of the population. In the 11th century, the Turkic tribes (of which Azeris are one of their groups) migrated into northwestern Iran and gradually made the maximum percentage of inhabitants in east Azerbaijan province.
Kurds
The Kurds reside mainly in a province in the northwest part of the country and south of western Azerbaijan province. The Kurds are of Iranian origin and their language is from the family of Indo-European languages with several dialects such as Goorani (southern Kurdish) and Zaza (western Kurdish). Although the dialects of people in Sanandaj and Kermanshah are kormanji which is vastly different from the above-stated ones. The most important Kurdish clans are Mokri in the north of Kurdistan, Bani-Ardalan in the south, and Kalhor in the southernmost Kurdistan.
Arabs
Arab tribes, whose presence in Iran stretches back 12 centuries scattered in an area between the Arvandroud, Persian Gulf in the south, and Shush in the north. Their territory is located to the west of Bakhtiyari territory. Bani-kaab is the largest and most important of Arab tribes in Iran with numerous clans that inhabit Khorramshahr, Minoo Island, both sides of the Karun River, and around Ahvaz. Other tribes are Bani-lam, Bani-Saleh, Bani–Torof, etc.
Baluchis
2 % of Iranians are Baluchis who reside in a southeastern province and an area between Iran and Pakistan known as Sistan & Baluchistan. Baluchistan is a dry region that stretches from the Kerman deserts to the Bam and Beshagard Mountains and the western borderline of Sind and Punjab provinces in Pakistan.
Historically, the Baluchis were nomads who never had a centralized government and lived under a tribal system, and then in the 11th century, they moved from Kerman to Makran.
The Baluchis speak Baluchi which is a Western Iranian language of the Indo-European family of languages. Baluchis have two branches of shade which are in the north and Makrani in the south they are divided into several clans the most important of which are Bameri, Balideh, Bozorgzadeh, Riggi, Sardaar Zaie, Shahbakhsh, etc.
