🌊 Laz People

Tea Growers and Fishermen of Turkey's Misty Black Sea Coast

Who Are the Laz?

The Laz are a South Caucasian (Kartvelian) people indigenous to the southeastern Black Sea coast, primarily inhabiting Turkey's Rize and Artvin provinces with smaller communities in adjacent Georgia. Numbering approximately 500,000-1,000,000 ethnic Laz (exact figures are uncertain as Turkey does not collect ethnicity data), they speak Laz, a language related to Georgian and Mingrelian, though most are now Turkish-dominant. Known for their distinctive culture, tea cultivation, fishing traditions, and Black Sea identity, the Laz maintain a unique position in Turkey's ethnic mosaic.

500K-1MEthnic Laz
~20,000Laz Speakers
3,000+Years in Region
65%of Turkey's Tea

Ancient History

The Laz are descendants of the ancient Colchians, the people of Greek mythology's Golden Fleece, whose kingdom flourished along the Black Sea coast from at least 1000 BCE. Classical sources describe them as skilled metallurgists and shipbuilders. The medieval Laz kingdom (Lazica) played an important role in Byzantine-Persian rivalries before being incorporated into various empires. Throughout this history, the Laz maintained their South Caucasian language and coastal identity.

Islamization occurred gradually from the 15th-17th centuries under Ottoman rule, and today virtually all Turkish Laz are Sunni Muslims. This religious conversion, combined with centuries of Ottoman integration, created a population that is culturally Turkish in many respects while maintaining Laz ethnic consciousness. In Georgia, a small Laz community (mainly in Adjara) remains Christian.

Tea Country

The steep, mist-shrouded hillsides of the Laz homeland produce 65% of Turkey's tea. Tea cultivation began in the 1940s as a government initiative, and the Laz transformed their landscape into emerald terraces of tea bushes. The wet, acidic soils and high rainfall of the Black Sea coast proved ideal for tea, and today the tea industry dominates the regional economy. Tea picking, processing, and trading employ thousands of Laz families.

Beyond tea, the Laz traditionally combined small-scale farming on impossibly steep slopes with fishing in the Black Sea. Hazelnut orchards cover lower elevations. Villages cling to mountainsides so steep that buildings are sometimes built on stilts over slopes, creating the distinctive Black Sea architectural style. This vertical landscape shaped Laz culture: isolation preserved traditions, while difficulty of agriculture encouraged male labor migration to Istanbul and other cities.

Language and Identity

The Laz language (Lazuri) belongs to the South Caucasian (Kartvelian) family, most closely related to Mingrelian, with more distant connections to Georgian. It preserves archaic features lost in Georgian and has developed unique vocabulary reflecting the marine environment and Black Sea lifeways. However, Laz lacks official recognition in Turkey, and systematic language shift toward Turkish over the past century has reduced fluent speakers to perhaps 20,000, mostly elderly.

Laz identity occupies a complex position. Many Laz identify primarily as Turkish, seeing their ethnicity as a regional flavor rather than a separate nationality. Others emphasize distinctiveness and work to preserve language and traditions. Turkish nationalism historically suppressed minority identities, and older Laz remember prohibitions on speaking their language in public. Recent years have seen modest cultural revival, with Laz-language music, websites, and cultural associations.

Character and Stereotypes

The Laz are the subject of countless Turkish jokes, stereotyped as stubborn, hot-tempered, and amusingly illogical. These jokes play on Laz supposed peculiarities—like the apocryphal story of Laz building their homes on steep slopes to create flat roofs. The Laz themselves often embrace this humor with self-deprecating wit, and Laz comedians and characters are popular in Turkish media. Whether these stereotypes harm or reflect affection is debated.

More positively, the Laz are known for distinctive folk music featuring the kemençe (Black Sea fiddle) and tulum (bagpipe), rapid-fire dance rhythms, and circle dances (horon) performed at weddings and festivals. Laz cuisine features seafood, especially anchovies (hamsi), corn-based dishes, and Black Sea greens. This cultural distinctiveness, along with dramatic scenery, draws Turkish domestic tourists seeking authentic experiences.

Contemporary Situation

The Laz today are largely integrated into Turkish society, with many successful in business, politics, and professions (notably, former president Abdullah GĂĽl has Laz heritage). Economic development has brought roads and services to formerly isolated villages while also accelerating cultural change. Young Laz increasingly attend universities in western Turkey and pursue urban careers, weakening ties to ancestral villages.

Whether Laz identity will survive meaningful language loss remains uncertain. Current speakers are mostly over 50; few children learn Laz fluently. Cultural elements—music, dance, cuisine, humor—may persist longer than language, creating an ethnic identity defined by origin and style rather than speech. Preservation efforts continue, but the future likely holds either revitalization or transition to a Turkish regional identity with Laz historical roots.

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