This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Khoikhoi (talk | contribs) at 00:53, 10 June 2006 (→Social and cultural status: no, I checked, these interwikis are for the language, not the people). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 00:53, 10 June 2006 by Khoikhoi (talk | contribs) (→Social and cultural status: no, I checked, these interwikis are for the language, not the people)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) Ethnic group| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Turkey and Georgia | |
| Languages | |
| Laz | |
| Religion | |
| Sunni Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Georgians |
The Laz are an ethnic group of Georgians who live primarily on the Black Sea coastal regions of Turkey and Georgia. They were once Christians but now almost all of them are Sunni Muslims. They speak the Laz language, a dialect of Georgian. The Laz primarily designated as fisherfolk by the Turkish public (in fact, they are mostly farmers of tea and maize). Under the Ottoman Empire, they lived in the Lazistan vilayet.
Geographical distribution
The ancient kingdom of Colchis was located in the same region the Laz speakers are found in today, and its inhabitants probably spoke an ancestral version of the language. Colchis was the setting for the famous Greek legend of Jason and the Argonauts.
Today most Laz speakers live in Northeast Turkey, in a strip of land along the shore of the Black Sea: in the Pazar (Atina), Ardeşen (Artaşen) and Fındıklı (Viče) districts of Rize, and in the Arhavi (Arkabi), Hopa (Xopa) and Borçka districts of Artvin. There are also communities in northwestern Anatolia (Karamürsel, in Akçakoca, Sakarya, Kocaeli), where many immigrants settled since the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878) and now also in Istanbul and Ankara. Only a few Laz live in Georgia, chiefly in Ajaria (est. 30,000 speakers, about 2000 of them in Sarpi).
Social and cultural status
Laz has no official status in either Turkey or Georgia, and no written standard. It is presently used only for familiar and casual interaction; for literary, business, and other purposes, Laz speakers use their country's official language (Turkish or Georgian). Occasional publications in Laz are written using the corresponding alphabets. Laz speakers seem to be decreasing in number because of rapid assimilation into the mainstream Turkish society, and the language is in danger of extinction.
In recent times, the Laz folk musician Birol Topaloğlu has achieved a certain degree of international success with his albums Heyamo (1997, the first album ever sung entirely in the Laz language) and Aravani (2000).
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