Turks settled in Azerbaijan; furthermore, approximately 50,000 Meskhetian Turkish refugees came to Azerbaijan due to continued discrimination when the Meskhetian Turks living in Uzbekistan became the victims of riots by the ethnic Uzbeks in the Ferghana valley which led to over a hundred deaths. Most of the first wave of Meskhetian Turkish refugees from the Ferghana Valley settled in the Saatli and Sabirabad region and the regions of Khachmaz, Beylagan and Baku. Some 5,000 Meskhetian Turks have also arrived to Azerbaijan from Russia during the 1990s, and a few hundred arrived from Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan proper during the 1991-1994 war. Mainland Turkish migration Azerbaijan has witnessed increasing numbers of immigrants from Turkey. By 2009, 17,577 Turkish citizens were living in Azerbaijan. Migration from the Turkish diaspora In recent years, there has been migration to Azerbaijan from the Turkish diaspora communities. This has been particularly noticeable with the number of Turkish Germans which have acquired Azerbaijani citizenship to play from the Azerbaijani national football team (e.g. Ufuk Budak, Tuğrul Erat, Ali Gökdemir, Taşkın İlter, Cihan Özkara, Uğur Pamuk, , and Fatih Şanlı). Demographics The Meskhetian Turks are settled mostly in rural areas and in the cities of Baku, Beylagan, Khachmaz, Saatli, and Sabirabad. Those living in urban areas tend to be better off than those in agricultural areas. Population According to the 2009 Azerbaijani population census there were 38,000 Turks living in Azerbaijan. However, official data regarding the Turkish community in Azerbaijan is unlikely to provide a true indication of the population as much of the community is officially registered as "Azerbaijani". Furthermore, no distinction is made in the census between Meskhetian Turks and Turks from Turkey who have become Azerbaijani citizens, both groups are classified in the official census as "Turks" or "Azerbaijani". Approximately 19,000 descendants of Ottoman Turkish migrants are still living in Azerbaijan and practice Sunni Islam. However, since the twentieth century a new wave of Turkish migrants arrived from Georgia (Meskhetia) and Turkey. In the late 1950s and 1970s approximately 25,000 to 30,000 Meskhetian Turks settled in Azerbaijan and a further 50,000 Meskhetian Turkish refugees arrived from Uzbekistan in 1989. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees 100,000 Meskhetian Turks were living in Azerbaijan in 1999 Academic estimates have suggested that the Meskhetian Turkish community of Azerbaijan numbers 90,000 to 110,000. In addition, as of 2009, there were 17,577 Turkish citizens living in Azerbaijan. Notable