Turkey: Information on the Laz minority
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 April 1993 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | TUR13564 |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Turkey: Information on the Laz minority, 1 April 1993, TUR13564, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6aca83c.html [accessed 22 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
According to the French publication Documentation-Réfugiés, the Laz form a small moslem minority which, as well as the Arab and Kurdish minorities, are denied national identity by the Turkish authorities on the grounds of the "homogeneity of the Turkish nation" (17 Dec. 1992-5 Jan. 1993, 15). The New Encyclopaedia Britannica indicates that the Laz language is spoken along the Black Sea coast, from the Chorokh River in Georgia to the south of Pazar in Turkey (1989, 737). The language remains unwritten since Georgian is the written language used in Georgia, and Turkish is the language used in Turkey (Ibid.). Laz, as well as Georgian, Mingrelian and Svan, belongs to the Kartvelian (South Caucasian) language family and the speakers of these languages form the Georgian nation (Ibid., 736).
No additional information on this particular topic is currently available to DIRB in Ottawa.
References
Documentation-Réfugiés [Paris]. 17 December 1992/5 January 1993. Supplement to No. 205-206. "La Turquie."
The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1989. Macropaedia. 15th ed. Vol. 22. Chicago : Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc.
Attachments
Documentation-Réfugiés [Paris]. 17 December 1992-5 January 1993. Supplement to No. 205-206. "La Turquie."
The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1989. Macropaedia. 15th ed. Vol. 22. Chicago : Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc.
