Settlement of Turkic tribes in Azerbaijan and the reflection of this process in the country's toponymy

Studying the problems related to the process of the Azerbaijanian people formation requires a comprehensive analysis of mutual relations of the Turkic tribes - the Huns, the Sabirs and the Khazars - with the local population of Azerbaijan in the early Middle Ages. The article is devoted to the process of penetration of the Huns, the Sabirs and the Khazars to Azerbaijan, their role in the formation of the Azerbaijanian people and the reflection of this process in the country’s toponymy. In the early Middle Ages the process of penetration of Turkic tribes in Azerbaijan from the north, through the Derbent passage, intensified. Primary sources indicate that over the centuries the Huns (3rd - 4th centuries), the Sabirs (5th - 6th centuries) and the Khazars (7th - 8th centuries) made continuous attacks on Azerbaijan and neighboring countries from the north. Upon the arrival of the Turkic tribes in Azerbaijan from the north in the 3rd - 4th centuries, the Turkic language in the country was extensively spread. Just since then the ethnotoponyms “Hun”, “Suvar” and “Khazar” became consolidated in the toponymy of Azerbaijan. Revealing the meaning of toponyms, ethnonyms, town names, hydronyms, introduced in language use in the 3rd - 8th centuries and associated with the aforementioned tribes, has exceptional value for recreating the ethnic view of Azerbaijan of the studied epoch. They let us come to the conclusion that the Huns, the Sabirs and the Khazars were important ethnic elements in the process of ethnogenesis of the Azerbaijanian people.