Their dominance over various tribes can be seen from xenonyms used in Caucasus. This xenonym practice also stems from mindset of nations. Unlike Armenians who calls us just “Turks”, many Caucasus people call us in many names. In my opinion it is because how Armenian saw themselves. There are no any brotherly ethnicity to Armenians, no linguistic cousins, just Armenians. So it would be logical for them to call bunch of horse riding dudes who all speak same language in one word – “Turk”. It is same for Russians who used to call us “tatar” and Georgians – “tatrebi”.

In reality, Azerbaijanis are composed of many tribes and subtribes:

1. EL – it is the biggest denomination. Direct translation to English would be “state” or “people”. It is the highest order of tribal hierarchy. One of historical examples is “Afshar”. Some people might remember this name from famous dynasty in Iran which followed Safavids. However, Afshar is just a name for an “el”. Dynasty itself was a branch of “Qiriqlu”, an “oymaq” of the “el”.
2. OYMAQ – it is the second order after an “el”. It is the equivalent of “clan”. For example, khans of Yerevan, Ganja and shahs of Iran were all Qajars, but were from different clans. Ganja and Yerevan khans were of “Ziyadli” clan, however Qajar shahs were members of “Qoyunlu” clan. Irans ambassador to Germany and Ottoman empire – Mirza Mahmud khan Qajar was born to “Davali” clan.An “oymaq” could become an “el” over the course of history. Such as “el” of Javanshir. Initially they were a clan of “Otuziki”. However, they went numerous in size and became an “el” on their own right. Karabakh khans were of “Sarijali” stock,  a clan of Javanshir. Vice-versa could also be possible. “Otuziki” was downgraded to be clan of “Javanshir” in time.
3. TAYFA – “Tayfa”s were subgroups of “oymaq”s. They were often named after a common ancestor.
4. TIRA (tirə) – Direct translation into English would be “ridge”. They were smaller groups who often lived in neighboring villages.
5. TÖRƏK – Direct translation would be “descendant”. They were often superfamilies whose members often lived together in a village.
6. AİLƏ – It is a basic family which is composed of direct members like your mother, son and cousin.

For example, Valiyev family is a member of Nurmammadli torak, which is part of Khalafli tira, which member of Havsalli tayfa, which is a subgroup of Yaghlavand oymaq, which is clan of Javanshir el. This type of classification helped people to keep track of genealogy even though there were not a written tradition about it.

Dynamics of nomadic life often led some subclans to rise and be an “el” – a state in their own right; should they fall down, they would often disintegrate or be a part of rising clan. This provided a trouble for turkologists – because same clan would be shown as a part of many different “el”s. If gets stronger, they would even claim the spoken language as their own. Same goes for Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan was a melting pot many different Turkic tribes thanks to Seljuk and Mongol invasions. Many people (including my family) in Azerbaijan who live in rural villages still consider themselves a part of a tribe or clan – Ayrum, Shahsevan, Javanshir, Qarapapaq, Qushchu or Padar (latter two were rival clans who migrated to Azerbaijan during Mongol conquests, I belong to the last one, which is an “el” now, not a clan).

I would like to say “neither”! In my opinion, “nation” is a West-centered term and it causes many troubles in academia and society. All these tribes speak same language yet they do not have a single identity to carry. Even Turkmens in Syria and Iraq call themselves with different names – “Mosullu”, “Pornak” or “Dhulqadar” – yet linguistically they speak exactly same language as I speak.