Azerbaijani (آذربایجانجا دیلی / Azərbaycan dili / Азәрбајҹан дили) Azerbaijani is a Turkic language with about 8 million speakers in Azerbaijan, 32 million speakers in north-western Iran, and a further 6 million speakers in Georgia and Russian Dagestan. The language is also known as Azeri, Azari, Azeri Turkish, or Azerbaijani Turkish. The Arabic script was introduced to the Azerbaijan region in the 7th century and continued to be used to write Azerbaijani until the 1920s. Three different versions of the Arabic script were used during this period: the 28-letter Arabic script, the 32-letter Perso-Arabic script and the 33-letter Turkic Arabic script. None of these was ideal for writing Azerbaijani and various reforms were proposed, particularly during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In Iran the Azerbaijani language has always been written with a version of the Arabic script and is know as Azeri Turk. Arabic script for Azerbaijani Latin alphabet for Azerbaijani (1929 version) In 1929 the Latin alphabet, known as Yanalif (new alphabet), was adopted to write Azerbaijani in Soviet northern Azerbaijan. This was essentially an attempt by the Soviet authorities to reduce the influence of Islam in the Turkic republics, all of which used the Arabic script before 1929. Cyrillic alphabet for Azerbaijani (Азәрбајҹан әлифбасы) In 1939 the Cyrillic alphabet was imposed by Stalin and remained in use until 1991. Stalin wanted to discourage contact between the Turkic republics and Turkey and worried about the development of alliances which might undermine the authority of the Soviet Union.