Tsez people

The Tsez (also known as the Dido or the Didoi) are an indigenous people of the North Caucasus. Their unwritten language, also called Tsez or Dido, belongs to the Northeast Caucasian group with some 15,354 speakers. For demographic purposes, today they are classified with the Avars with whom the Tsez share a religion, Sunni Islam, and some cultural traits. They are centered at the Tsunta district of the Republic of Dagestan, Russia. The term “Dido” is sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to the Tsez as well as the Bezhtas, Hinukhs, Khwarshis and Hunzibs, which are also categorized as Avar subgroups. According to the 2002 Russian census, there were 15,256 self-identified Tsez in Russia (15,176 in their homeland), notated as an "Avar subgroup", though the real number is probably slightly greater.