Beluch

The Beluch or Beluchi (also Baluch, Baluchi, Baludzh, Baludzhi, Beludzhi, Beludzh, Baludj, Baludji, Baluj, Baluji) are a people who live primarily in Turkmenistan. They immigrated from Afghanistan and Iran primarily between 1923 and 1928. They are closely related to the Baloch of Pakistan but have also assimilated people from the Brahui ethnicity. As late as the 1980s some people still spoke the Brahui language in Turkmenistan.

In 1926 the Baluchi numbered 9,974. Their numbers fell to 7,842 by 1959 but then rose to 12,582 by 1970 and 18,997 by 1979.

The Beluch are primarily Muslims. They mostly reside in Mariy Oblast in Turkmenistan.

ources

Wixman, Ronald. "The Peoples of the USSR: An Ethnographic Handbook". (Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe, Inc., 1984) p. 25-26.