Laz, Lazuri

The Laz (self-name Lazi) are a Kartvelian people, close kin of Georgia's Mingrelians, whose language, Lazuri, is related to Georgian, Mingrelian and Svan. They descend from the peoples of ancient Colchis and the kingdom of Lazica (from the 3rd century), which adopted Christianity in the 5th century and was fought over by Byzantium and Persia; Pliny is the first to name the Lazi. Their coast later belonged to the Empire of Trebizond, fell to the Ottomans in 1461-1547 and became the sanjak of Lazistan, and most Laz became Sunni Muslims by the 17th century. When Batum passed to Russia in 1878, many Muslim Laz moved to western Anatolia. The 1921 border left a few Laz villages (Sarpi) in Georgia, where Soviet authorities later deported many to Central Asia. Laz is divided into dialects that are hard to understand across each other: Atinuri (Pazar), Vitze-Arkabuli (Fındıklı-Arhavi), Xopuri (Hopa) and Çxaluri (Borçka).

Laz culture is rooted in the steep, rainy Black Sea coast: wooden houses and serender granaries on stilts, terraced tea and hazelnut gardens, and summer pastures (yayla) in the Kaçkar mountains shared with the Hemshinli. They were famed sailors, shipbuilders and fishermen, and the hamsi (anchovy) is central to their cooking, alongside cornbread, black cabbage soup, muhlama and dairy. Music features the kemençe fiddle, the tulum bagpipe (guda) and the horon line dance; the singer Kâzım Koyuncu (1971-2005) and bands such as Zuğaşi Berepe, Marsis and Gormot brought Laz songs to a national audience. Laz society values education and mobility: literacy has long been above the Turkish average.

The Laz were among the first Christian peoples of the Caucasus and converted to Sunni Islam late, mostly in the 16th and 17th centuries; ruined churches survive in Laz villages. Laz observers describe a relaxed, unmystical faith with few Sufi orders or saints' tombs (one türbe in Ardeşen), mosque attendance and Ramadan as community customs, and a strong secular-left current in Pazar, Fındıklı and Hopa. The Laz of Georgia are Orthodox Christians.

The Gospel of Luke has been published in Laz (2018-2020) and is on Bible.is and YouVersion through the Bible Society in Turkey; Global Recordings Network has audio, and a LUMO Gospel film exists. No New Testament or JESUS Film exists in Laz. Because the dialects differ and nearly all Laz read Turkish, Turkish Scripture is their main access.