Laz people

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The Laz (Lazi (ლაზი) or Lazepe (ლაზეფე) in Laz, Lazlar in Turkish, Lazi (ლაზი) or Č’ani (ჭანი) in Georgian) are an ethnic group who live primarily on the Black Sea coastal regions of Turkey and Georgia. They speak a language, related to Mingrelian and to Georgian (South Caucasian languages). In Georgia, they are frequently designated as a "territorial-cultural group" of the Georgian people. Some Laz living in Turkey do not accept the umbrella term "Kartvelian" and consider themselves as a part of a greater (Lazo-Mingrelian) Zan ethnos of Colchis that excludes Georgians (Iberians). However, most scholars who link Laz people linguistically, traditionally, and historically to Mingrelians consider the latter as an ethnographic group of the Georgian people.

Laz were converted to Christianity while living under the Byzantine Empire and Georgian kingdom. With Ottoman rule, the vast majority of Laz became Sunni Muslims of Hanafi madh'hab. There is also a very limited number of Christian Laz in Georgia. The majority of Laz speak the Laz language. The Laz are primarily designated as fisherfolk by the Turkish public (in fact, they are mostly farmers of tea and maize) because anchovies constitute an important part of their diet. Under the Ottoman Empire, they lived in the Lazistan sanjak.

History of Lazona

The Laz people live in a geographic area which they refer to as Lazona (ლაზონა). Today, the entire area is part of the Republic of Turkey. Its history dates back to at least the 6th century B.C. when the first Georgian state in the west was the Kingdom of Colchis which covered modern western Georgia and modern Turkish provinces of Trabzon and Rize. Between the early 2nd century, B.C. and the late 2nd century A.D., the Kingdom of Colchis together with the neighbor countries, become an arena of long and devastating conflicts between major local powers Rome, Kingdom of Armenia and the short-lived Kingdom of Pontus. As a result of the brilliant Roman campaigns of generals Pompey and Lucullus, the Kingdom of Pontus was completely destroyed by the Romans and all its territory including Colchis, were incorporated into Roman Empire as her provinces.

The former Kingdom of Colchis was re-organized by the Romans into the province of Lazicum ruled by Roman legati. The Roman period was marked by further Hellenization of the region in terms of language, economy and culture. For example, since the early 3rd century, Greco-Latin Philosophical Academy of Phasis (present-day Poti) was quite famous all over the Roman Empire. In the early 3rd century, newly established Roman Lazicum was given certain degree of autonomy which by the end of the century developed into full the independence and formation of a new Kingdom of Lazica (covering the modern day regions of Mingrelia, Adjaria, Guria and Abkhazia) on the basis of smaller principalities of Zans, Svans, Apsyls and Sanyghs. Kingdom of Lazica survived more than 250 years until in 562 AD it was absorbed by the Byzantine Empire. In the middle of the 4th century, Lazica adopted Christianity as her official religion. That event was preceded by the arrival of St. Simon the Canaanite (or Kananaios in Greek) who was preaching all over Lazica and met his death in Suaniri (Western Lazica). According to Moses of Chorene, the enemies of Christianity cut him in two halves with a saw.

The re-incorporation of Lazica with the Kingdom of Aphkhazeti into Byzantine Empire in 562 AD was followed by 150 years of relative stability that ceased in the early 7th century when the Arabs appeared in the area as a new regional power.

Geographical distribution

The ancient kingdom of Colchis and its successor Lazica (locally known as Egrisi) 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. They form the majority in the Pazar (Atina), Ardeşen (Artaşen) and Fındıklı (Viče) districts of Rize, and in the Arhavi (Arkabi), Hopa (Xopa) and districts of Artvin. They live as minorities in the neighbouring Çamlıhemşin (Vijadibi) and Borçka districts. There are also communities in northwestern Anatolia (Karamürsel in Kocaeli, Akçakoca in Düzce, Sakarya, Zonguldak, Bartın), 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 Adjara (est. 30,000 speakers of Laz language, about 2,000 of them in Sarpi). Laz are also present in Germany where they have migrated from Turkey since the 1960s.

Terminology

The general Turkish public use the name "Laz" for all inhabitants of Black Sea provinces to the east of Samsun. The name Lazca (Laz language) usually indicates the Trabzon dialect of Turkish to the non-Laz, although it actually is a South Caucasian language, unrelated to Turkish. On the other hand, Laz are keen to differentiate themselves from other inhabitants of the region. Also non-Laz refuse the naming, preferring to call themselves as Karadenizli ("from the Black Sea").

Notes

References

Andrews, Peter (ed.). 1989. Ethnic Groups in the Republic of Turkey. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag. pp. 497-501.
Benninghaus, Rüdiger. 1989. "The Laz: an example of multiple identification". In: Ethnic Groups in the Republic of Turkey, edited by P. Andrews.
Bryer, Anthony. 1969. The last Laz risings and the downfall of the Pontic Derebeys, 1812-1840, Bedi Kartlisa 26. pp. 191-210.
Hewsen, Robert H. Laz World Culture Encyclopedia. Accessed on September 1, 2007.
Negele, Jolyon. [[25 June] 1998 Turkey: Laz Minority Passive In Face Of Assimilation. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Links

First documentary film about history of the Laz people

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