The Azerbaijani Turks in Kerman (General Staff, 1923)

The Azerbaijani Turks in Kerman

(b) Kerman. ― The population of Kerman town, consists principally of Persian Muhammedans (Shiahs and Shaikhis) of whom a few non-indigenous families form an aristocracy, while the remainder are mainly carpet-weavers, shop-keepers and merchants. The number of craftsmen i.e., carpenters, blacksmiths, etc., is not very great. There are also a number of Tabrizi Turks who, until the advent of the European firms, controlled the carpet industry. There is also a community of Parsis amounting to about 1,700 who carry on trade, but whose importance in the business world has much declined in recent years. There is also a very small and unimportant community of Persian Jews who are very poor. A few extraneous Armenians, principally clerks and carpenters of Isfahan origin, go to make up the sum total of the peoples of Kerman. The following is a table of the population of Kerman which was in 1902-03, estimated at 50,000.

Shi’ah Muhammedans	37,000
Sunni	70
Babis (Bahai)	3,000
Babis (Azali)	60
Shaikhis	6,000
Sufis	1,200
Jews	160
Zoroastrians (Parsis)	1,700
Hindus	20
Total	49,210

Military report on Persia. Vol. IV, part I. Persian Baluchistan, Kerman and Bandar Abbas. Simla: Central Government Press, 1923, p. 69.