Lezgistan represents the national aspiration of the Lezgin people, a high-mountain nation divided between Russia and Azerbaijan by an internal Soviet border that hardened into an international frontier after 1991. The Lezgins speak their own Northeast-Caucasian language and trace cultural continuity back to the ancient Caucasian Albania kingdom.

For much of the Soviet period, borders mattered little, but perestroika’s new freedoms unleashed debates about cultural erosion, linguistic neglect, and divided families.  In early 1990, Lezgin intellectuals in Derbent founded Sadval (“Unity”), a movement demanding cultural equality and eventually a united homeland encompassing Lezgin areas of southern Dagestan and northern Azerbaijan. Within a year, rallies drew tens of thousands and diaspora support from Moscow and Baku. The movement’s call for redrawing the border alarmed both republics: Azerbaijan outlawed Sadval and arrested its leaders, while Russia encouraged the Lezgins to restrict activity to cultural work. The result was a patchwork of organisations—some civic, some nationalist—linked by a shared sense of marginalisation.  Through the 2000s, the focus shifted from territorial sovereignty to cultural and developmental advocacy. The Federal Lezghin National-Cultural Autonomy became the leading legal umbrella in Russia, promoting bilingual education and regional cooperation. It later joined the UNPO, giving Lezgin representatives an international forum to lobby for non-violent solutions.

Today, population estimates range widely—officially about half a million in Russia and fewer than 200 000 in Azerbaijan, though community leaders claim up to 800 000 Lezgins in total. While the dream of an independent Lezgistan has dimmed, the cause remains a symbol of the broader struggle of small Caucasian nations to protect identity and autonomy in the shadow of powerful neighbours.