The region where Zazas live in Turkey

The Zazas are an Iranic (Aryan) ethnic group and an ethnic minority in Turkey. They primarily live in the eastern Anatolia provinces, such as Adıyaman, Aksaray, Batman, Bingöl, Diyarbakır (Amed), Elazığ (Xarpêt), Erzurum, Erzincan (Erzıngan), Gumushane, Kars, Malatya, Mus, Sanli Urfa (Rıha), Sivas (Sêvaz), and Tunceli (Dêrsim) provinces. Since Zazas are part of Aryan or Iranic ethnic groups, the culture and language of Zazas show some similarities to Gilakis, Kurds, Mazandaranis, Persians, and other Iranic ethnic groups. ^{[1] [2]} Zazaki (Zazakî, Zazaish) or Dimli is a language closely related to the Persian and Kurdish languages, spoken by the Zaza in eastern Anatolia (Turkey), an ethnic minority related to the Iranians and Kurds. ... For people named Islam, see Islam (name). ... Alevis or Alevi-Bektashis (Kurdish: Alevi, Turkish: Aleviler or Alevilik) are a religious community in Turkey, and they make up some 20% of the population of the country. ... Shi‘as (the adjective in Arabic is شيعى shi‘i; English has traditionally used Shiite) which mean follower in Arabic make up the second largest sect of believers in Islam, constituting about 30%-35% of all Muslim. ... Sunni Islam (Arabic سنّة) is the largest denomination of Islam. ... Iranian peoples are peoples who speak an Iranian language and/or belong to the Iranian stock. ... Gilek or Gilak are the people who are born in Guilan or Mazandaran. ... Kurds are one of the Iranian peoples and speak Kurdish, a north-Western Iranian language related to Persian. ... now. ... The Persians of Iran (officially named Persia by West until 1935 while still referred to as Persia by some) are an Iranian people who speak Persian (locally named Fârsi by native speakers) and often refer to themselves as ethnic Iranians as well. ... Image File history File links Zaza_Map. ... Image File history File links Zaza_Map. ... The Iranian peoples (See[1] for local names) are a collection of ethnic groups defined by their usage of Iranian languages and their descent from ancient Iranian peoples. ... Anatolia and Europe Anatolia (Turkish: from Greek: Ανατολία - Anatolia) is a peninsula of Western Asia which forms the greater part of the Asian portion of Turkey, as opposed to the European portion (Thrace, or traditionally Rumelia). ... Adıyaman is a city in Turkey, capital of the Adıyaman Province. ... Aksaray is a city in Turkey located in middle Anatolia. ... Batman (short for Batı Raman Mountains), also known as Elih or Iluh, is a city on the Batman River in the predominantly Kurdish[1][2] southeast of Turkey. ... shows the Location of the Province Bingöl Bingöl(hazargol) (Turkish for: a thousand lakes) is a town in the Anatolia region of Kurdistan. ... Diyarbakır (Ottoman Turkish: دیاربکر land of the Bekr as derived from Persian; Kurdish Amed; Syriac ; Greek Amida; Armenian Ô±Õ´Õ«Õ¤ Amid) is a major city in the Southeastern Anatolia region of Turkey. ... Elazığ is a city in the Elazığ Province of eastern Turkey and the seat of the province. ... Theodosiopolis redirects here; it is also a name of the ancient city of Apros, Thrace. ... Erzincan (also Erzingan or Erzinjan, ÔµÖ€Õ¦Õ¶Õ¯Õ¡ (Erznka) in Armenian) is the capital of Erzincan Province in the eastern Anatolian region of Turkey. ... Gümüshane, also spelt Gümüsane, is a city in Turkey. ... Kars (Armenian: Ô¿Õ¡Ö€Õ½) is a city in northeast Turkey and the capital of the Kars Province, formerly at the head of a sanjak in the Turkish vilayet of Erzurum. ... Malatia can also be a misspelling of the medical term Malacia. ... Shows the Location of the Province MuÅŸ MuÅŸ (alternative transliteration: Mush) is a province in eastern Turkey. ... Sanli Urfa (in Turkish Åžanlıurfa) is a city in eastern Turkey, and the provincial capital of Sanliurfa Province. ... Sivas is the provincial capital of Sivas Province in Turkey. ... Tunceli (Formerly Kalan; Zazaish and Kurdish: Dêrsîm) is the provincial capital of Tunceli Province in Turkey. ... Aryan (/eÉ™rjÉ™n/ or /ɑːrjÉ™n/, Sanskrit: ) is a Sanskrit and Avestan word meaning noble/spiritual one. ... Iranian peoples are peoples who speak an Iranian language and/or belong to the Iranian stock. ... Gilek or Gilak are the people who are born in Guilan or Mazandaran. ... Kurds are one of the Iranian peoples and speak Kurdish, a north-Western Iranian language related to Persian. ... now. ... The Persians of Iran (officially named Persia by West until 1935 while still referred to as Persia by some) are an Iranian people who speak Persian (locally named Fârsi by native speakers) and often refer to themselves as ethnic Iranians as well. ...

Demographics

The exact number of Zaza people is unknown, due to an absence of recent and extensive census analysis. The fact that some Zazas have mixed into other regional ethnic groups has also contributed to the uncertainty. Many Zazas live outside their homeland. Apart from widespread suppression and wholesale evacuation of villages, the economically miserable situation of the Zaza areas forces the local population to emigrate into Turkish or European metropoles. There are many Zazas living in Turkish metros, such as Istanbul, Ankara, and İzmir. Moreover, there are some Zaza diaspora both in Europe (mainly in Germany) and in other countries (U.S., Canada, etc.) According to estimated figures, the Zaza population should be somewhere between 2 to 4 million. ^[3] Istanbul (Turkish: , Greek: , historically Byzantium and later Constantinople; see other names) is Turkeys most populous city, and its cultural and financial center. ... Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the countrys second largest city after Ä°stanbul. ... Ä°zmir, historically Smyrna, is the third most populous city of Turkey and the countrys largest port after Ä°stanbul. ... For other uses, see Diaspora (disambiguation). ... Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from...

According to a March 2007 survey published by a Turkish newspaper which is open to controversy of its objectivity, Kurds and Zazas together comprise an estimated 13.4% of the adult population, and 15.68% of the whole population in Turkey.^[4]. The ethnic divisions of Turkey is highly controversial and often difficult to understand due to Turkification, historic interpretation of the sociological definition of ethnicity (e.g. the Alevi definition as ethnicity) and the Turkish governments suppression to other ethnicities in the region. Kurds are one of the Iranian peoples and speak Kurdish, a north-Western Iranian language related to Persian. ... Turkification is a term used to describe a cultural change in which something or someone non-Turkish is made to become Turkish. ... Alevis or Alevi-Bektashis (Kurdish: Alevi, Turkish: Aleviler or Alevilik) are a religious community in Turkey, and they make up some 20% of the population of the country. ...

Historic roots of the Zaza people

Main article: History of the Zaza people

The first mention of the word Zaza appears on the Behistun Inscription. The text of the inscription is a statement by Darius I of Persia. In the inscription Darius says, “there (is) a town Zazana by name along the Euphrates…” ^[5] However, the connection between the Zazas and the town Zazana referred to by Darius is questionable. The Behistun Inscription, carved into a cliffside, gives the same text in three languages, telling the story of King Darius The first mention of the word Zaza appears on the Behistun Inscription. ... The Behistun Inscription, carved into a cliffside, gives the same text in three languages, telling the story of King Darius conquests, with the names of twenty-three provinces subject to him. ... Darius the Great (c. ...

Linguistic studies shows that the Zazas might immigrated to their modern day homeland from the southern shores of the Caspian Sea. Some Zazas use the word Dimli (Daylami) to describe their ethnic identity. The word Dimli (Daylami) also describes a region of Gilan Province in today’s Iran. Some linguists connect the word Dimli with the Daylamites in the Alborz Mountains near the shores of Caspian Sea in Iran and believe that the Zaza have migrated from Daylam towards the west. Today the Iranian languages are still spoken in southern regions of Caspian Sea (also called the Caspian languages) like Sangsarī, Māzandarānī, Tātī (Herzendī), Semnānī, Tāleshī, and they are grammatically and lexically very close to Zazaki; this supports the argument that Zazas immigrated to eastern Anatolia from southern regions of Caspian Sea.^[6] On the other hand, a recent genetic analyses claims that genetically Zazas are closer to Kurds.^[7] Zazas also live in a region close to the Kurds, who are also another Iranic ethnic group. But, historic sources such as the Zoroastrian holy book, Bundahishn, places the Dilaman (Dimila/Zaza) homeland in the headwaters of the Tigris, as it is today. This points to that the Dimila/Zaza migrated to the Caspian sea and not the other way around. The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the worlds largest lake or a full-fledged sea. ... Gilan (Persian: گیلان, locally known as Guilan) is one of the 30 provinces of Iran, known during ancient times as part of Hyrcania, with a population of approximately 2 million and an area of 14,700 sq. ... Alborz Mountains underneath clouds seen from Tehran Alborz (in Persian البرز), also written as Alburz or Elburz, is a mountain range in northern Iran, stretching from the borders of Armenia in the north-west to the southern end of the Caspian Sea, where also Tehran and... The Iranian languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family. ... Languages Kurdish Religions Predominantly Sunni Muslim also some Shia, Yazidism, Yarsan, Judaism, Christianity Related ethnic groups other Iranian peoples (Talysh Baluch Gilak Bakhtiari Persians) The Kurds are an ethnic group who consider themselves to be indigenous to a region often referred to as Kurdistan, an area which includes adjacent parts...

But the fact that Kirmancki (Zazaki) people call themselves "Kird" (Kurd), that the related Gurani speakers also consider themselves as Kurds, that the Gilaki people of Northern Iran was called "The Kurds of Tabaristan" in historical sources, and that both the Kirmancki and Kurmanci tribes of the Ottoman Empire is recorded as "Ekrad" (meaning Kurds in Arabic) and the fact that there are dousins of Kirmancki/Kurmanji mixed tribes indicates that the emigration has taken place from Kurdistan to Northern Iran. Image File history File links Unbalanced_scales. ... Gorani (also Gurani) is a dialect spoken by several hundreds of thousands of Kurds in the province of Kurdistan and province of Kermanshah in Iran, and in the Halabja region in Iraqi Kurdistan and the Hewraman mountains between Iran and Iraq. ... Kurds are one of the Iranian peoples and speak Kurdish, a north-Western Iranian language related to Persian. ... Gilaki or Guilaki (گیلکی) is one of the North-western Iranian languages spoken in Irans Gilan province. ... For other uses, see Kurdistan (disambiguation). ...

Religion

Half of the Zazas are Alevis. The other half of them is Sunni Muslim. The Alevi-Zazas live in the northern part of the Zaza region, whereas the Sunni Zazas inhabit the southern Zaza region. Alevis or Alevi-Bektashis (Kurdish: Alevi, Turkish: Aleviler or Alevilik) are a religious community in Turkey, and they make up some 20% of the population of the country. ... Sunni Islam (Arabic سنّة) is the largest denomination of Islam. ...

Language

Main article: Zazaki language

The first written statements in the Zaza language were compiled by the linguist Peter Lerch in 1850. Two other important documents are the religious writings (Mewlıd) of Ehmedê Xasi of 1899, and of Usman Efendiyo Babıc (published in Damascus in 1933); both of these works were written in the Arabic alphabet. Zazaki (Zazaish) is a language spoken by Zazas in eastern Anatolia (Turkey). ...

Zazaki written in Latin letters only became popular in the diaspora after meager efforts in Sweden, France and Germany at the beginning of the 1980s. This was followed by the publication of magazines and books in Turkey, particularly in Istanbul. The efforts of Zaza intellectuals to advance the comprehensibility of their native language by alphabetizing were not fruitless: the number of publications in Zaza increased many times. The rediscovery of the native culture by Zaza intellectuals not only caused a renaissance of Zaza language and culture, it also triggered feelings among younger generations of Zazas (who unfortunately, rarely speak Zaza as a mother tongue anymore) in favor of modern western in the Zaza language, and thus their interest in the most important inheritance of their ancestors. In diaspora, a limited amount of Zaza-language broadcasts are realized. Moreover, after restrictions are removed on local languages in Turkey due to the pressure of the European Union, the state owned TRT television lanched a Zazaki TV program and a radio program on Fridays. Istanbul (Turkish: , Greek: , historically Byzantium and later Constantinople; see other names) is Turkeys most populous city, and its cultural and financial center. ... TRT Headquarters in Ankara TRT, the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (Türkiye Radyo ve Televizyon Kurumu), was founded in 1964, it is the national public broadcaster of Turkey. ...

Notes

This article is about the corporation. ... is the 319th day of the year (320th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 319th day of the year (320th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

References

• Raymond Gordon, Jr., Editor. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Fifteenth Edition. (Classification of Zazaki Language.)
• Bozdağ, Cem and Üngör, Uğur. Zazas and Zazaki. (Religion and the recent situation of Zaza People.)
• Paul, Ladwig. (1998) The Position of Zazaki Among West Iranian languages. (Classification of Zazaki Language.)
• Blau, Gurani et Zaza in R. Schmitt, ed., Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum, Wiesbaden, 1989, ISBN 3-88226-413-6, pp. 336-40 (About Daylamite origin of Zaza-Guranis)
• Extra, Guus. and Gorter Durk. The Other Languages of Europe. (About Demography of Zazas.)

External links

• zazaki.de - Zazas and Zazaki
• zazaki-institut.de - Zazaki Language Institute (In German, Zazaki, and Turkish)
• ZazaPress: journal of zaza language and culture (In Zazaki, Swedish, English and Turkish)
• Iremet Publishing (iremet publishing was created in order to principally protect, develop and promote the Zaza language.)
• zazaki.org
• ethnologue
• Ethnic Differentiation among the Kurds: Kurmancî, Kizilbash and Zaza
• "Next: Free Zazaistan?" from World War 4 Report