 They currently are the largest ethnic group in the city of Iğdır and second largest ethnic group in Kars, where they constitute majority in the district of Akyaka ().Azerbaijanis first settled in what is now Turkey during the period of Safavi governance over Kars and neighbouring areas.Their numbers grew during the first half of the nineteenth century, when following the Russo-Persian War (1804-1813), the Russo-Persian War (1826-1828) and the respectively out coming Gulistan and Turkmenchay treaties between Persia and Russia, Persia was forced to cede sovereignty over the khanates of Karabakh (1813), Nakhchivan (1828) and Erivan (1828), among others to Russia, and the Treaty of Adrianople gave Christians and Muslims the right to choose a place of residence between Russia and Turkey.