Laz people in Turkey

Laz people
show Place of distribution Lazistan Georgia Turkey Germany
show Religion Sunni Islam Christianity Eparchy of Batumi and Lazeti The Seven Brothers of Lazia Laz Martyrs Churches: Jibistasi, Noghedi, Pironity
show Culture Laz language Laz grammar Barchkhali Dance Cuisine Agani Murutsxi (Newspaper)
show History Colchian culture ancient Colchian tribes Colchis Satrapy of Persia Greek colonisation Pontus Roman rule Kingdom of Lazica Christianization Byzantine rule Trebizond Empire Kingdom of Imereti Ottoman rule
show Related peoples Mingrelians Svans other groups of Georgians
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The Laz people in Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye Lazları, Laz: ლაზეფე თურქონაშ�� Lazepe Turkonaşe) refers to an ethnic group who are native to eastern Black Sea coast of southwestern Georgia, and their descendants. Most Laz people today live in Turkey, but the Laz minority group has no official status in Turkey. Their number today is estimated at 2,250,000.^[1]

Numbers[]

In the census of 1965, 26,007 Turkish citizens spoke Laz as mother language. Proportionally, they were most numerous in Artvin (5.8%), Rize (2.0%) and Sakarya (0.7%). 3,943 of these could only speak Laz. Another 55,158 spoke Laz as their second language.

Terminology[]

The Turkish public sometimes uses the name "Laz" generally to refer to all inhabitants of Turkey's Black Sea provinces east of Samsun, and the word is often associated with certain social stereotypes.^[2] However, the Laz themselves are increasingly keen to differentiate themselves from other inhabitants of these regions.^{[citation needed]} Also, the non-Laz does not want to be called "Laz", preferring to be called Karadenizli ^[3] ("from the Black Sea region"). The Laz language (Lazca in Turkish) is a Kartvelian language, also known as South Caucasian, unrelated to the Black Sea dialect of Turkish language.^[4]

References[]