Ilkhchi

For the administrative subdivision, see Ilkhchi District. For other places, see Ilkhchi (disambiguation).

Ilkhchi ایلخچی
city
Ilkhchi
Coordinates:
Country	Iran
Province	East Azerbaijan
County	Osku
Bakhsh	Ilkhchi
Population (2006)
• Total	13,927
Time zone	IRST (UTC+3:30)
• Summer (DST)	IRDT (UTC+4:30)

Ilkhchi (Persian: ایلخچی‎‎, also Romanized as Īlkhchī; Azerbaijani: Ilxıçı) is a town in and the capital of Ilkhchi District, in Osku County, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran. According to year 2006 nationwide census, its population has been reported approximately 13,927 people and 4,014 families.

Etymology

The name Ilkhchi (also spelled as Ilkhichi and Ilkhechi) is a Turkic word consisting of two parts: 1-"Ilkhi" meaning wild horse, and 2-"chi" which is a grammatical suffix meaning "attributed to". Altogether, the complete name means horse tamer. That itself attests to the fact that in ancient eras this town was a place for horse domestication by Turkic residents. Similar variants of the words Ilkhichi or Ilkhi can be seen among other Turkic languages: For example, Yılkı and Yılkıcı in Turkish, or жылқы in Kazakh Language which is equivalent to Ilkhi.

Geographical Location

Ilkhchi is located at the south east of Tabriz, the capital city of East Azerbaijan Province, Iran.

Language

Like many other places located in Azerbaijani provinces, the mother tongue of the residents is Azerbaijani, a western Turkic language that belongs to the branch that also includes Turkish.

Religion

Almost the entire population of the town are Muslim and more specifically, they are mostly followers of the Alevi sect of Islam.

Economy

The main economic and occupational activities of the residents revolve around agriculture. The town's iconic statue of a giant onion has become a memorable symbol emphasizing the intertwined old history of Ilkhichi with agriculture.