ĀYRĪMLŪ (in Persian often Āyromlū), Turkic tribe of western Azerbaijan. Following the treaty of Torkamāṇčāy (q.v.) in 1243/1828 through which Iran lost the provinces of Īravān (Erevan) and Naḵjavān, ʿAbbās Mīrzā, the crown prince, who valued the fighting ability of Turkic tribesmen, encouraged several Turkic tribes which dwelled in the ceded provinces to settle down south of the Aras (Araxes) river, offering them fertile lands and lush pastures as a reward. One of these was the Āyrīmlū tribe, which moved from its ancestral holdings in the vicinity of Gümrü (later Alexandropol, and later still Leninakan) to Āvājīq, a district to the west of Mākū (cf. Stewart, Through Persia, p. l83). The Āyrīmlūs were described by at least two nineteenth-century travelers, Fraser (A Winter’s Journey I, pp. 327-28) and de Gobineau (Trois ans II, pp. 266-69). Their principal village is Kalīsā Kandī. Other villages occupied by them are Qara Bolāḡ, Pīr Aḥmad Kandī, Sīāh Čašma, Sangī Tapa, ʿArab Dīzačī, Jamāl Kandī, and Beyg Kandī. They are now completely sedentary (cf. Oberling, The Turkic Peoples, p. 63). Ḥājjī Mīrzā Āqāsī, the prime minister of Moḥammad Shah Qājār, and General Moḥammad Ḥosayn Āyrom, the commander-in-chief of the Iranian police under Reżā Shah Pahlavī, were members of the Āyrīmlū tribe.
Bibliography:
C. E. Stewart, Through Persia in Disguise, London, 1911.
J. B. Fraser, A Winter’s Journey from Constantinople to Tehran, London, 1838.
J.-A. de Gobineau, Trois ans en Asie de 1855 à 1858, Paris, 1922.
P. Oberling, The Turkic Peoples of Iranian Azerbayjan, American Council of Learned Societies, 1964.
Search terms:
آیریملو | ayrimlu | aarimlu | ayromlu |
(P. Oberling)
Originally Published: December 15, 1987
Last Updated: August 18, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. III, Fasc. 2, pp. 151-152