Urum

Urum may refer to the Urums, a Turkic-speaking ethnic group in the Caucasus and surrounding regions, as well as to their language, known as Urum. The Urums are a minority group primarily found in Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey, with diaspora communities in Russia and Iran. They trace origins to various Turkic populations that settled in the Caucasus during the 18th and 19th centuries, including groups with connections to the Crimean Tatars. The term "Urum" is used by some communities and researchers to distinguish this group from neighboring Armenian, Georgian and Turkish-speaking populations.

The Urum language is a Turkic language of the Oghuz branch. It is related to Azerbaijani and Turkish and has borrowed features from Georgian and Armenian due to contact with multilingual communities. In many places, Urums are bilingual, using the local majority language alongside Urum.

Culturally, the Urums have maintained distinct linguistic traditions and, in some regions, their own religious and ritual practices, though assimilation and intermarriage have led to varying degrees of integration with host societies. Language vitality differs by country and community; in some areas, Urum is endangered or spoken mainly within older generations, while in others it remains vital in daily life and education.

See also Crimean Tatars, Turkic languages, Caucasus.