They also explain that due to the religious practices of the Karapapakh, "there has traditionally been an element of secretiveness and fanaticism to Karapapakh religion". Bennigsen likewise stated that "a certain number of the Karapapakhs are Ali Ilahis, which somewhat hinders their assimilation by the Azeris".
According to Olson et al., which was published in 1994 and specifically deals with the ethnography of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, the Karapapakhs are described as a small ethnic group and a Turkmen tribe, who primarily live in and around Tashkent, the capital of the Uzbek SSR at the time of the book's publication. They add that the Karapapakhs are primarily adherents of the Ali-Illahism syncretic religion.