The Analysis of individual-Contextual Cultural Identity Elements in Formation and Stability of Ethnic Identity of Turkish People in Iranian Azerbaijan

The purpose of present article is to analyze the individual-contextual cultural identity elements in the formation and stability of ethnic iIdentity of Turkish people in Iranian Azerbaijan. The method of this study is qualitative through snowball sampling method by interviewing with 22 of Turkish experts in Iranian Azerbaijan who are living in Tehran city and other Azeri provinces` centers in 2020. To validate the concepts of interviews, experts` ideas were applied through two consecutive stages. According to the “thematic analysis” obtained from the experts` interviews, from 144 contents, 74 categorized codes and 12 sub- themes and finally four main themes were recognized which are Geography, Language, Individual Attitude, and Biological Characteristics and their indexes were recognized as individual-contextual cultural identity elements in the formation and stability of ethnic iIdentity of Turkish people in Iranian Azerbaijan. Thus, the recognized cultural individual- contextual identity elements were the main features of Azeri nation`s formation and stability, also their continuity and synchronicity had led to the stability of t ethnic iIdentity of Turkish people in Iranian Azerbaijan.