Laz Activist Demands Return of Location Names

Adem Kuyumcu, founding member of Laz Culture Association, submitted an official request to the Prime Minister’s Office for the return of location names in the Balck Sea Region which were once coverted from Laz language. 

Previously, Aydınlar district in Siirt province regained its Kurdish name Tillo after the government announced a series of reforms last month regarding the Kurdish issue. 

Acting upon the name return, Turkey’s Laz people also took action to urge the government to return the names of their villages.  

“We are worried that our mother tongue is facing the danger of extinction. The return of location names will contribute to our struggle to preserve our heritage,” Kuyumcu wrote in his request. 

He also attached a copy of the book “Svacoxo- Laz Yer Adları Sözlüğü” - a list of location names in the Black Sea Region that were converted from Laz language. 

Some of the these names included:

Rize’s Pazar district: Atina

Ardeşen district: Art’aşeni (Artdaşeni)

Çamlıhemşin  district: Vija

Fındıklı district: Vitze

Artvin’s Arhavi district: Arkabi

Hopa district: Xopa (Khopa)

Laz language facing disappearance  

Kuyumcu also cited series of location where the Turkish versions had little to do with the real nature of where they are representing. 

Member of Southern Caucasus Languages family, Laz language marks as one of the most ancient languages of Anatolia. It is also listed as “Absolutely under danger of distinction” in UNESCO’s “Languages Under Danger” atlas. 

More than 30,000 locations renamed 

With the Turkish government policies in 1921, roughly 30,280 location names were changed to Turkish from Kurdish, Armenian, Greek, Laz\ Assyrian, Arabic and Circassian with around 12,000 being villages. 

In 1940, Interior Ministry legislated the renaming of locations under Law No 8589 regarding “The renaming of locations with a foreign name to Turkish in order to resolve confusion issues”. 

The Turcofication process affected the Black Sea Region and Southeastern Region of Turkey. It also turned out that the original name of Güneysu, PM Erdoğan’s hometown, is also Potamya. (NV/BM)