Laz people

Laz people
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Name	Laz people
Native name	Lazuri
Population	c. 150,000–200,000 (est.)
Regions	Black Sea coast (Turkey), Adjara (Georgia)
Languages	Laz, Turkish, Georgian
Religions	Sunni Islam, Eastern Orthodoxy (historical)
Related	Georgians, Mingrelians, Pontic Greeks

Laz people The Laz are an indigenous South Caucasian ethnic group of the eastern Black Sea littoral concentrated in northeastern Turkey and southwestern Georgia. They speak Lazuri, a Kartvelian language related to Georgian, Mingrelian, and Svan, and have historical connections to medieval polities such as Colchis, Lazica, and the Kingdom of Abkhazia. Their history intersects with empires and states including the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Empire, Imperial Russia, and modern Republic of Turkey and Georgia.

Etymology and Name

Scholars trace the ethnonym to classical and medieval sources: Herodotus and Strabo reference peoples of the eastern Black Sea, later chroniclers mention Lazica and the exonym "Lazi" in Byzantine texts such as those by Procopius and Pliny the Elder. Ottoman administrative records and travelers like Evliya Çelebi used Turkish and Persian forms, while Georgian annals by Vakhtang Gorgasali-era chroniclers preserved Kartvelian endonyms. Modern ethnographers compare the name with terms in Greek and Latin sources and with place-names in the Pontic Alps region.

History

Antiquity and Late Antiquity: The Laz inhabited parts of the classical realm of Colchis and engaged with Achaemenid Empire satrapies, Hellenistic trade networks, and later Roman administration. Between the 5th and 7th centuries the kingdom of Lazica (also called Egrisi in Georgian sources) was a focal point of the Byzantine–Sasanian Wars and the Persian-Byzantine struggle for the Caucasus.

Medieval period: Laz polities participated in the feudal dynamics of the Kingdom of Georgia and the Kingdom of Abkhazia, with nobility and ecclesiastical ties recorded in chronicles by Kartlis Tskhovreba compilers. Contacts with Crusader States, Venetian merchants, and Genoese colonies affected maritime commerce.

Early modern era: Ottoman expansion incorporated much of the Laz coastal zones into the Sanjak of Trabzon and other subdivisions; contemporaneous Russian southward expansion led to conflicts like the Russo-Turkish Wars that altered borders and migration. Travelers and ethnographers such as Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg and regional administrators documented Laz customs.

Modern era: 19th–20th centuries saw population shifts following the Crimean War, the Treaty of Berlin, and the collapse of empires after World War I. The formation of the Republic of Turkey and the Soviet Republics influenced language policy and identity politics; activists and intellectuals emerged in contexts involving figures like Yusuf Ziya Ortaç-era literary circles and Georgian cultural institutions.

Language

Lazuri belongs to the Kartvelian family alongside Georgian, Mingrelian, and Svan. Descriptive grammars reference verbal morphology found in works by linguists such as Georgian Academy of Sciences researchers and comparative studies by Johann Friedrich Blumenbach-era ethnolinguists. The language has several dialects distributed along the coast, with lexemes preserved in oral poetry collected by scholars linked to Istanbul University, Tbilisi State University, and European institutes. Bilingualism with Turkish and Georgian is widespread, and modern revival efforts include publications, broadcasts, and educational materials promoted by NGOs and cultural centers.

Culture and Society

Laz society historically organized around village communities along the Black Sea littoral, engaging in agriculture, fishing, and trade with ports like Trabzon, Rize, Batumi, and Samsun. Folk traditions contain epic songs and laments performed with instruments associated with the region, and performers and cultural figures have been recorded in ethnographic surveys by Lev Gleason-style collectors and regional archives. Architectural traditions include stone houses adapted to steep terrain, similar to vernacular types studied by archaeologists at sites linked to Poti and Hopa. Notable cultural exchanges occurred with Pontic Greeks, Armenians, and Georgian groups via marketplaces and monastery networks such as Gelati Monastery.

Religion and Traditions

Religious history includes early Christianization tied to Eastern Orthodox Church institutions and later conversion to Sunni Islam during Ottoman administration; ecclesiastical records appear in chronicles and in registers of dioceses like Maçka. Syncretic folk practices and seasonal festivals incorporate elements shared with Georgian Orthodox and Turkish communities. Rituals around life-cycle events, maritime patron saints, and harvest rites are documented in studies by folklorists from Bursa, Istanbul, and Batumi research centers.

Demographics and Distribution

Populations are concentrated in Turkey's northeastern provinces—Rize Province, Artvin Province, Trabzon Province—and in Georgia's southwestern region of Adjara and parts of Guria and Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti. Diaspora communities exist in urban centers such as Istanbul, Izmir, Batum-era port cities, and Western European cities following labor migrations to Germany, France, and the Netherlands. Census practices under the Republic of Turkey and Soviet Union varied, complicating precise counts; estimates by scholars associated with Helsinki Watch-type organizations and academic institutes place the total between roughly 150,000 and 200,000.

Politics and Identity

Laz identity has been articulated through cultural associations, literary movements, and political activism involving parties and NGOs operating within Turkey and Georgia, with interactions with institutions such as the European Court of Human Rights on minority rights cases and cultural protection frameworks like UNESCO conventions. Debates about recognition, language education, and local governance engage actors including municipal administrations in Hopa, civil society groups in Batumi, and national parliaments in Ankara and Tbilisi. Intellectuals and activists draw on historical narratives involving Lazica and modern legal instruments such as treaties negotiated at the end of World War I and during post-Soviet transitions.

Category:Ethnic groups in Turkey Category:Ethnic groups in Georgia