Avars or Varkoni can refer to:

• Iverians
• Bulgars

The earliest mention of the Avars in European history is by Priscus, who declared in 463 AD that a mixed Saragur, Urog and Unogur embassy asked Byzantium for an alliance, having been dislodged by Sabirs in 461 due to the Avars' drive towards the west. The Caucasian Avars migrated to their present location from Khurasan, which was originally populated by the Alarodian Hurrians from Subartu (to the south of Transcaucasian Iberia). The Y-Chromosomal J Haplogroups typical of Avar men are still common today in the area of ancient Subartu. The Avar invasion of the Caucasus resulted in the establishment of an Avar ruling dynasty in Sarir, a Christian state in the Dagestani Highlands, where the Caucasian Avars now live. It is not clear whether or in what way these Avars are related to the early "Pseudo-Avars" of the Dark Ages, but it is known that with the mediation of Sarosios in 567, the Göktürks requested Byzantium to distinguish the Avars of Pannonia as "Pseudo-Avars" as opposed to the true Avars of the east, who had come under Göktürk hegemony. The modern Arab Encyclopaedia states that the Magyars originated in this area.