The article below is by Professor Pierre Oberling. This originally appeared in the CAIS (Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies) venue. The CAIS site is hosted by Shapour Suren-Pahlav. 

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A Kurdish tribe in Western Azerbaijan province. Its territory borders that of the Jalâli tribe. Its winter quarters are on or near the southern bank of the Aras river, in the rural districts (dehestâns) of Sâri-subâsâr, Aras-kanâr, Chây-bâsâr and Gechlarât, from northeast to southeast of Mâku (Razmârâ IV, pp. 26, 196, 258, 401, 443, 463). Its summer quarters are in the mountains on the Turkish-Persian border, southwest of Mâku (Razmârâ, 463; Irânshahr, I, p. 119).

The clans (tiras) of the Milân tribe are: Sheykh kânlu, Dudkânlu, Dalâ’i, Beruki, ‘Amu’i, Mandula, Kânlu, Kechlânlu, Qardu’i, Beru’i, Kalikânlu, K¨ezu’i, and Qeliki (Irânshahr, I, p. 119). According to the same source, the tribe comprised some 2,030 households in 1963 (p. 119). Iraj Afshâr-Sistâni, in his remarks on the Milân tribe, gives us much information on their daily life and customs (pp. 141-48). The Milân are Sunni and speak Kurdish.

There is a Kurdish tribe by the name of Milânlu in Khorasan (Afshâr-Sistâni, p. 1000). It is possible that this tribe is related to the Milân tribe of Azerbaijan.

Bibliography

Iraj Afshâr-Sistâni, Ilhâ, châdorneshinân wa tÂawâyef-e ‘ashâyeri-e Irân, Tehran, 1987, p. 1079. 

Komisiun-e melli-e Yunesko (UNESCO) dar Irân, Pub. no. 22, Irânshahr, 2 vols., Tehran, 1963-65. 

Hosayn-‘Ali Razmârâ, Farhang-e jogrâfiâ’i-e Irân. Âbâdihâ, 10 vols., Tehran, 1949-54.