Azari or the Ancient Language of Azerbaijan

Kasravi's motivation for writing the work was political. He published the work in a period of raging controversy between papers based in Iran, Istanbul (i.e. Turkey) and Baku (i.e. Azerbaijan SSR) on the Origin of the Azerbaijanis. Kasravi, after studying both arguments, concluded that the claims of the Turkish journalists were unfounded and non-academic, and the replies of the Iranian journalists were not "founded in a knowledge of history".[6]

In this book, Kasravi first proposed the theory that the language of the region of Azerbaijan in northwestern Iran was a language of the Iranian language family until a few centuries before the Turkic domination in this region. According to historical evidence, he named this language Azeri.[7] This book made Kasravi famous in Iranian studies circles and he became a member of scientific circles abroad. The first edition of the book, and consequently the processing of theory, was based only on historical contexts. Later, Kasravi studied linguistics and in later editions of the book, he also dealt with this theory according to its linguistic foundations.[8]

Kasravi's research motivated researchers to search for the remains of that historical language in different parts of Azerbaijan and find other examples of this language. Iranica adds:[9]

This book was to echo resoundingly among scholars. Nonetheless, it has not been uncontroversial since. Quite aside from the scientific interest of the work, on the political level its publication could be considered an assertion of the irrevocable commitment of Turkish speakers within Iran to Iran. The enthusiastic reception of this book by the intelligentsia of the period clearly shows how any discussion that in any way questioned national unity had galled them. This unity was, theoretically, based in the linguistic unity of all Iranians. If this unity was called into question by reality, it was necessary to search the past to justify its realization in the present. This is how Kasravi contributed to a historiography of national import with the mission of bolstering the ongoing, highly dynamic process of identity construction

Kasravi's historical monuments have been recognized by other scholars.[10] Vladimir Minorsky says about Kasravi: "Kasravi has the spirit of an honest historian. He is meticulous in detail and in presentation"[10] Researchers and writers such as Khosro Naghed praised and supported this book. Kasravi says about the motivation for writing this book: "For years, there were disputes between Iranian and Ottoman writers about the Azerbaijani race; Because you considered the Ottomans to leave Azerbaijan and gave the reason why the language was Turkish. On the other hand, the Iranian writers became angry and wrote harsh words. In order to end that conflict, I did some research on it and found the ancient language of Azerbaijan and showed it with examples… Orientalists, Who have considered Azeri to be Turkish, have slipped from here that the modern language of Azerbaijan is Turkish, and there was no other reason (if it was and is to show) but I have not looked at the present-day Azerbaijan and searched for history and knowledge. I made it clear that the ancient language of Azerbaijan, which is called Azeri in the books, is a branch of Persian and has obtained Persian reasons for this, and I have mentioned examples of the same language, with poetry and prose, obtained in this booklet. "It is for these reasons that European scientists have considered my writings as why and why and all have accepted them."[11]

The treatise Azari or the Ancient Language of Azerbaijan started a new wave in historiography and linguistics in Iran.[12] Since the publication of this treatise, various researches based on this book have been done for the etymology of Azeri language. Later, foreign and Iranian professors, linguists, and orientalists wrote articles in support of the Azeri treatise.[13] Ahmad Kasravi presented other books on linguistics, most of which were written on the etymology of the Azeri language. In confirmation of Kasravi's treatise, Walter Henning wrote: The story of how the Turkic tribes gradually infiltrated these areas and, consequently, the retreat and eventual disappearance of the former Persian language of the region's former historian, the Iranian historian Seyyed Ahmad Kasravi, Has searched for documents and historical monuments. This trend began in the eleventh century AD (fifth century AH) and ended at the beginning of the sixteenth century (tenth century AH). Everyone agrees - and in fact there is no serious doubt about this - that, before the arrival of the Turks, the people of Azerbaijan and Zanjan, like the people of other parts of Iran, spoke one of the Iranian languages. Considering the distribution of Iranian dialects, it can be inferred to which group of Iranian languages the lost language of Azerbaijan belonged.[14]