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Zazas

Iranic people in eastern Turkey

Zazas

The Zazas, are an Iranian people who speak Zaza, an Iranian language belonging to the Indo-European language family. Zazas live primarily in the Eastern Anatolia and Southeastern Anatolia regions of Turkey. They live in parts of Bingöl, Elazığ, Erzincan, Erzurum, Malatya, Muş, Bitlis and Tunceli provinces in Eastern Anatolia and Adıyaman, Diyarbakır and Şanlıurfa provinces in Southeastern Anatolia. There are also found Zaza communities in provinces such as Kars and Ardahan in Northeastern Anatolia, Kayseri, Sivas and Aksaray in Central Anatolia and Tokat and Gümüşhane in Black Sea regions of Turkey. Outside Turkey, there exists a Zaza diaspora in Western Europe, particularly in Germany.

Zazas

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Zazas
Şarê ma
Zaza men, clad in traditional white garments, stand near the ruins of an old church in Gerger, Ottoman Empire, 1901
Total population
2 to 3 million[1][2][3]
Regions with significant populations
Turkey
Diaspora: approx. 300,000[3][4][5]
Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States
Languages
Zaza, Kurdish,[5] and Turkish
Religion
Majority: Sunni Islam
(Shafi'i majority, large Hanafi minority)
Significant minority: Alevism[6]

The Zazas (Zazaki: Şarê ma, lit. 'Our people'), are an Iranian people[3] who speak Zaza, an Iranian language belonging to the Indo-European language family.[7][8][3] Zazas live primarily in the Eastern Anatolia and Southeastern Anatolia regions of Turkey.[3] They live in parts of Bingöl, Elazığ, Erzincan, Erzurum, Malatya, Muş, Bitlis and Tunceli provinces in Eastern Anatolia and Adıyaman, Diyarbakır and Şanlıurfa provinces in Southeastern Anatolia.[9] There are also found Zaza communities in provinces such as Kars and Ardahan in Northeastern Anatolia, Kayseri, Sivas and Aksaray in Central Anatolia and Tokat and Gümüşhane in Black Sea regions of Turkey.[10][9] Outside Turkey, there exists a Zaza diaspora in Western Europe, particularly in Germany.[3][11]

Zazas are predominantly adherent to Islam,[12] divided internally between the Sunni school and Alevism.[13][14] This sectarian division is manifested in the dialectal variations of the Zaza language; the northern dialect of the language is spoken by Alevi Zazas, the southern dialect by Hanafi Zazas, and the central dialect by Shafi Zazas.[9] The Zaza population is estimated to be approximately 2 to 3 million.[15][16][14][2][3] The language of the Zazas, the Zaza language belongs to the Northwestern Iranian branch of the Iranian languages[7][3] and is closely related to Tati, Talysh, Sangsari, Semnani, Mazandarani and Gilaki.[3][17][18][19]

Etymology and naming

The terms Dımli or Dımıli are often used for the Zaza people and their language. According to the long-proposed theory these terms evolved from the term Dailam or Daila.[3][20][21] Alternatively this region is termed as Dailäm, Daylâm or Dailâm. Thus it is proposed that the origin of the Zaza people lies in the province of Dailam or Daylam in ancient Persia and modern northern Iran, close to the southern Caspian Sea.[20][11] According to Encyclopædia Iranica, the endonym Dimlī or Dīmla was derived from Daylam region in Northern Iran and appears in Armenian historical records as delmik, dlmik, which was proposed to be derived from Middle Iranian *dēlmīk meaning Daylamite. The theory that Dimlī or Dīmla is derived from Daylam and that Zazas are descendants of Daylamites has been supported by scholars such as Friedrich Carl Andreas, Oskar Mann [de], Karl Hadank, Ely Bannister Soane, Arthur Christensen, Richard N. Frye, Vladimir Minorsky, Ehsan Yarshater, Gernot Ludwig Windfuhr, Ferdinand Hennerbichler, Walter Bruno Henning,William Burley Lockwood,[22] Ludwig Paul [de], Clifford Edmund Bosworth,[23] Jos. Schrijnen [nl],[24] David Neil MacKenzie, Garnik Asatrian and Victoria Arakelova[25] and the Daylam thesis has been the most popular thesis regarding the origins of the Zaza people and the Zaza language since the first researchers of the Zaza language.[26][27] Among their neighbors, the people are known mainly as Zāzā, which meant “stutterer” and was used as a pejorative.

Hadank and Mckenzie attribute relative abundance of sibilants and affricates in the Zaza language to explain the semantic etymology of the name.[3] Some have pointed out the phonetic similarity between the terms Dimili and Dunbuli. This connection is supported by several evidences, including the use of the terms Dummel or Zaza in Kurdistan to refer to the Azerbaijani Dunbuli tribe, historical records of the Dunbuli tribe migrating to Dersim during the reign of Shah Ismail, and documented evidence that the Dunbuli tribe in Palu spoke Zazaki. In some regions, the term Dunbuli is still used to refer to the Zazas.[28] According to this view, the term Dimilî may derive from the name of the Dunbulî (also spelled Dumbulî), a Kurdish tribe documented since the 12th century.[29] Karl Hadank, on the other hand, in his prominent work on Zaza, "Mundarten der Zâzâ" (1932), discusses the claimed relationship between Dimli and Dunbuli in detail over several pages, presents evidence from various historical sources and concludes that equating the Dunbuli with the Zaza is impossible, the term Dimli cannot be derived from the term Dunbuli and the Dimli people and the Dunbuli tribe are different.[30] Eberhard Werner, in his anthropological work on Zazas also discusses the Dunbuli topic and concludes that there is little information as to whether the Dunbuli and the Dimili are the same and there is no single reference in Zaza oral traditions about the so-called Dunbuli move.[31]

The endonym Dımli/Dımıli and its derivations are primarily used for Southern Zaza.[32] Zazas living in places such as Aksaray, Şanlıurfa, Siverek, Diyarbakır, Çüngüş, Adıyaman, Gerger and Mutki refer to themselves as Dımli/Dımıli, and refer to the Zaza language as Dımılki/Dımıli. At the same time, the same endonym Dımıl(ki) is also used in various regions among northern Alevi Zazas for the Zaza language.[33] Zazas living in Elazığ, Palu, Maden, Alacakaya, Arıcak, Çermik, Bingöl, Varto, and Sivas-Koçgiri regions refer to themselves as Zaza and refer to the Zaza language as Zazaki. The endonym Zaza is found in all dialects of the Zaza language. While almost all Zazas who speak the central dialect of Zaza refer to themselves as Zaza and refer to their language as Zazaki, in places such as Palu, Bingöl and Dicle, the endonym of Kırd, along with Zaza, is also found to a limited extent. A part of Alevi Zazas refer to themselves as Kırmanc and refer to their language as Kırmancki, even though the endonym Dımılki is also known among the older generation Alevi Zazas. A second part of Alevi Zazas living in regions such as Bingöl, Erzurum and Varto, instead of a special designation, refer to the Zaza language as "zonê ma" which means "our language" and they refer to themselves as "şarê ma", which means "our people".[9][34]

History

Origins and early history

The geographical distribution of Zazas (Dimli, Dilmi) and the historical Deilam (Delm, Dlm) region

The most important theory regarding the origins of the Zazas is that they are originally Daylamites from the Daylam region. Since the first modern studies on the Zaza language and Zazas, this theory has been substantiated by many different scholars.[35] According to this theory, the Zazas migrated from the southern shores of the Caspian Sea to Eastern Anatolia, along with other communities.[3][36] The etymology of the endonym Dimlī and the historical records of migrations and raids of Daylamites to Anatolia in Armenian sources are also adduced as an evidence of Daylamite origins of the Zaza people. Scholars believe that the Zaza-speaking populations relocated from their Daylamite ancestral homeland in northern Iran to their contemporary Anatolian settlements between the 9th/10th and 12th centuries AD, during the extensive Daylamite expansion. During this era, the Daylamites extended their territorial control by launching raids into adjacent regions and migrating deeper into Western Asia. This expansive movement took Daylamite factions well beyond the Caspian littoral. After traversing the borders of Iran, the Daylamites penetrated Azerbaijan, Armenia, Arran, Vaspurakan and Anatolia. Their military campaigns and subsequent territorial conquests extended across a broad geographical continuum, spanning the Black Sea littoral of Lazica and Georgia, modern-day Azerbaijan and Armenia, regions of modern-day Iraq and Syria, including Aleppo and several eastern and southeastern Anatolian localities, namely Van, Kars, Kapetron, Erzurum, Manzikert, Silvan and Diyarbakır.[37] As this process unfolded, numerous Daylamite factions dispersed into neighboring areas. They initially maintained their cultural identity before gradually merging with the indigenous populations.[38][39] Scholarly discourse posits that as a result of this migratory and expansionary phase, the Daylamite populations, including the ancestors of the modern Zazas as a Daylamite faction, progressed westward into the territories they currently inhabit.[40] As documented in Encyclopædia Iranica, the ethnonym Dimlī/Dīmla traces its origins to the Daylam region. This etymology is supported by medieval Armenian historical records, which feature the variants delmik and dlmik, forms derived from the Middle Iranian lexeme *dēlmīk (Daylamite).[3] Throughout historical records, the Daylam region has been designated by the ethnonymic variants dilmik, dilmuk, delum dilm. Diachronically, these forms are posited to have undergone the phonological metathesis of a nasal-liquid cluster, shifting from \(/lm/\) to \(/ml/\), which ultimately resulted in the derived lexical variants Dilmi and Dimli. Dilm, one of the historical designations of the Daylam region, is retained in its unaltered (unmetathesized) phonological form within the contemporary Zaza endonym "Dilmic".[41] Morphologically, the term is a compound of the base "Dilm" and the suffix -ic, which denotes origin and affiliation in the Zaza language and persists in various Caspian languages of the Daylam region with the same attributive function.[42] Etymologically, therefore, "Dilmic" translates to "from Dilm." The Daylamite origin theory is corroborated by linguistic evidence as well. Within the Northwestern Iranian language branch, the profound phylogenetic affinity shared between the Caspian languages spoken in Daylam and Zaza is extensively documented in comparative Iranian studies. Zaza shares a multiplicity of distinct phonological features, morphosyntactic structures, and lexical isolates with these Caspian languages that are conspicuously absent in other Iranian varieties and linguistic evidence put the linguistic homeland of the Zaza language to Northern Iran, especially around the southern Caspian region due to the strong linguistic affinity between the Zaza, Tati, Talysh, Gilaki and Mazanderani languages. [43][17][44][45][46][47] Another significant hypothesis concerning the migration of the Zaza people from Deylem posits that this displacement may have occurred substantially earlier than previously assumed. In this regard, the Byzantine historian Agathias (536–582 CE), writing during the reign of Justinian I (6th century CE), documents the Daylamites (lit. Dilimnites) people in the third book of his historical chronicles. He notes their presence along the Tigris River, a region historically associated with the modern Zaza population, and describes their role as combatants within the Sasanian army fighting against the Byzantine Empire.[48] In the Zoroastrian Pahlavi text Bundahishn, dated to the 8th–9th centuries CE, the ancestral and contemporary geographical habitat of the Zazas, situated at the sources of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, is designated as Dēlamān/Dēlman, a toponym semantically associated with Daylam.[49][50][51] The corroboration across both early medieval documents, which identify contemporary Zaza settlements as Daylam/Daylamite, suggests an earlier migration of the Zazas from the Daylam region than previously hypothesized. A study from 2005, on the other hand, does not support the Northern Iranian theory and rather proposes a closer link between Kurdish and Zaza-speakers compared to Northern Iranian populations.[52] Kurmanji-speaking Kurds and Zazas have for centuries lived in the same areas in Anatolia. The Zaza minstrel tradition goes back to the medieval period, when Zaza-speaking bards composed works both in their mother tongue and in Turkish.[3]

Modern period

Since Armenians and Zazas have for centuries lived in the same areas, the first comprehensive works about the Zazas were produced by their Armenian neighbors. In the late 1800s, the Armenian traveler Adranik visited the Dersim region and published a travelogue containing comprehensive information about the Zaza people, referring to them as dǝmǝli, and about the geography, culture and sociology of the Dersim region. In his work, after discussing the origins of the Zazas, he concludes that the Zazas are descendants of the Daylamites (delmiks) who, as mentioned in Armenian sources of that period, raided Anatolia in the Middle Ages.[53] In the late 1800s, another work about the Zazas, referring to them as dlmikner, was published by an Armenian author named A. Mkrtčʿean. His work contains general information about the Zaza people, their culture, traditions and their attitudes towards Armenians, which, similar to Andranik, was described very hospitable.[54] In the early 20th century, Armenian representatives at the Paris Peace Conference, in the memorandum they submitted to the conference on the Armenian Question, again defined the Zazas as one of the indigenous peoples of Greater Armenia.[55] Similarly, in 1878, following the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878), regarding the Armenians' situation in the peace treaty process, the Zazas are listed as one of the indigenous peoples of Western Armenia again.[56] The fact that Zazas and Armenians have lived together in the same areas for centuries has led to the Zaza language, especially its northern dialect, being influenced by the Armenian language.[57]

About the language, the earliest surviving literary works in the Zaza language are two poems with identical titles, Mawlūd, dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[3] In the 1920s and 1930s, several Zaza rebellions occurred in Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia. In the Koçgiri region, some Alevi Zazas participated in the Koçgiri rebellion in 1920.[58] Later, during the Sheikh Said rebellion in 1925, the Zaza Sheikh Said and his supporters rebelled against the newly established Republic because of its Turkish nationalist and secular ideology.[59] The rebellion was later suppressed. Some Zazas subsequently joined the Kurmanji-speaking Kurdish nationalist Xoybûn, the Society for the Rise of Kurdistan, and other movements, where they often rose to prominence.[60] In 1937, during the Dersim rebellion, Alevi Zazas in the region rebelled against the newly established Republic. The rebellion was led by Seyid Riza and was suppressed by the government of the Republic, ended with a massacre of thousands of Kurmanji-speaking Kurds and Zaza civilians, while many were internally displaced due to the conflict.[61] Sakine Cansız, a Zaza from Tunceli, was a founding member of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and like many Zazas joined the rebels, including the prominent Besê Hozat.[62][63]

Following the 1980 Turkish coup d'état, many intellectual minorities, including Zazas, emigrated from Turkey towards Europe, Australia and the United States.[4]

Demographics and geographical distribution

The distribution of the three primary dialects of the Zaza language in Turkey.

The exact number of the Zazas is unknown, due to the absence of recent and extensive census data. The last census on language in Turkey was held in 1965, where 150,644 people ticked Zaza as their first language and 112,701 as their second language.[64] More recent data from 2005 suggests that the Zaza-speaking population varies from approximately 2 to 4 million.[65]

According to a 2015 study that examined the demographics of the voting-age population in the Kurdish inhabited areas in Turkey (Northeast, Central East and Southeast Anatolia statistical regions, n=1918) 12.8% of the people ethnically identified as Zaza, which made Zaza the biggest ethnic identity after Kurdish (73%) in the region. Zaza speakers were more numerous (15%) compared to people who identify with the Zaza ethnic identity, showing that some Zaza speakers identified as other ethnicities, primarily Kurds.[66]

Following the 1980 Turkish coup d'état, many intellectual minorities, including Zazas, emigrated from Turkey towards Europe, Australia and the United States. The largest part of the Zaza diaspora is in Europe, predominantly in Germany.[4]

Culture

Language

Zaza is the ancestral language of the Zaza people and belongs to the Northwestern Iranian branch of the Iranian languages.[7][3] The Zaza language is recognized as a macrolanguage by international linguistic authorities. SIL International classifies the Zaza language as a macrolanguage, including the varieties of Southern Zaza (diq) and Northern Zaza (kiu).[8] Other international linguistic authorities, Ethnologue and Glottolog, also categorize the Zaza language as a macrolanguage composed of two distinct individual languages: Southern Zaza and Northern Zaza.[67][7] In terms of grammar, morphosyntactic structure, core lexicon and diachronic development the Zaza language is closely related to the Tati of Iran, Talysh, Semnani, Sangsari, Gilaki and Mazandarani languages spoken on the shores of the Caspian Sea.[3][17][18][68][19] It is spoken in the east of modern Turkey, with approximately two to three million speakers. There is a division between Northern and Southern Zaza, most notably in phonological and morphological inventory, however, Zaza as a whole forms a dialect continuum, with no recognized standard.[69]

A study published in 2015 that demographically analysed voting-age adults in the Kurdish inhabited regions of Turkey (excluding diaspora) concluded that 96.2% of people who identified as Zaza, but not Kurdish in the region spoke Zazaki as their mother tongue. On the contrary only 58.4% of the surveyed Zaza people declared that their primary home language was Zazaki, and Turkish was the second most popular home language with 38.3% of Zazas speaking it at their homes. 1.9% of the surveyed people who identified as Zaza expressed that their home language was Kurdish. Around 1.4% people belonging to Kurdish ethnic identity also spoke Zazaki as their mother language. Concerning Alevis, which were separately analysed, c. 70% spoke Zazaki, but Turkish (70%) was the dominant household language.[66] Ziflioğlu states that many[quantify] Zazas only speak Kurmanji.[5][dubious – discuss]

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 of Ehmedê Xasi of 1898,[70] and of Osman Efendîyo Babij; both of these works were written in Arabic script.[71] The state-owned TRT Kurdî airs shows in Zaza.[5] During the 1980s, the Zaza language became popular among the Zaza diaspora, followed by publications in Zaza in Turkey.[72]

Religion

Zazas are predominantly Muslims and are divided between Sunni Islam and Alevism. Alevi Zazas share a more homogeneous sectarian affiliation, Sunni Zazas, on the other hand, are divided into the Hanafi and Shafi'i schools of thought.[73] The sectarian divisions among the Zaza people are reflected in the three primary dialects of the Zaza language. The geographical distribution of the primary Zaza dialects aligns closely with the Zaza sectarian divisions.[9] The Southern Zaza group who speak the more archaic Southern Zaza[74] are Sunni Muslims following the teaching of the Hanafi school, similar to Turks and Arabs in the region and in contrast to the Kurds who are predominantly Shafi'i.[75] The eastern group who speak the eastern dialect of Zaza is predominantly Shafi'i, similar to Kurds. Sunni Zazas, similar to Sunni Talysh who speak a related language[76] are mostly Naqshbandi.[77] The northern group who speak the northern dialect of Zaza adheres to the Alevi faith.[14]

The exact number of Hanafi, Shafi'i and Alevi Zazas is unknown. Various field studies conducted in Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia estimate the percentage of Shafi'i Zazas to be between 61.72% and 75.4%; the percentage of Hanafi Zazas to be between 9.8% and 21.12% and the percentage of Alevi Zazas to be between 14.8% and 17,14%.[66][78] Alevism is the second largest Islamic sect among Zazas with 14.8% to 17,14% adhering it and Zazas had the highest Alevi percentage among any group by far, being followed by Turks (5.4%) and Kurds (3.1%).[66][78] It was also reported that around 70% of the Alevis spoke Zaza as their mother language. Alevi Zazas predominantly live in provinces of Tunceli, Erzincan and Sivas.[79][80] Zaza Alevism, as has been long documented, is a heterodox and mystical belief system incorporating many local and natural elements.[54][79][81][11]

Historically, a small Christian Zaza population existed in Gerger.[82]

Festivals

Although Zazas share some common celebrations and special days with neighboring peoples, such as Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, they have their own feasts, celebrations and special days that distinguish them from neighboring peoples. Some of these celebrations are as follows: Gağand, Newe Marti, Kormışkan, Hewtemal, Qereçarseme/Karaçarşamba and Serra Newe.[83][84][85] Gağand and Serra Newe are the New Year celebrations of the Zazas and Kormışkan and Hewtemal are spring festivals of the Zazas.[84] While some of these feasts are celebrated by all Zazas, some are celebrated by Alevi or Sunni Zazas, depending on sectarian difference.[84]

  • Kormışkan and Hewtemal: Both are Zaza spring festivals celebrated in March. Kormışkan is celebrated by the Sunni Zazas and its equivalent, Hewtemal is celebrated by the Alevi Zazas. Hewtemal is divided into three sub-celebrations: the Pil one, the Qıc one, and the Peyen one. During these festivals, the Zaza people celebrate the arrival of spring with various activities, such as going out into nature and having picnics.[83][86]
  • Gağand and Serra Newe: Both are the New Year festivals of the Zazas, celebrated in December/January. Both of the festivals are celebrated throughout all Zaza regions. Serra Newe is celebrated by Sunni Zazas and its equivalent, Gağand is generally celebrated among Alevi Zazas and some Sunni Zazas. During the festival, children, dressed in their finest clothes and accompanied by Khalo Gağan (the Old Man), visit every neighbor's door, greet them and receive gifts.[83][87]

Folklore

Throughout their historical trajectory, the Zazas have practiced settled agriculture and animal husbandry within a rural-feudal structure. They constitute an agrarian and pastoral community historically bound to a sedentary existence, devoid of nomadic traditions; furthermore, their collective cultural heritage and customary practices substantiate a sustained lineage of localized agriculturalists.[88] Throughout their history, the Zaza people have sustained a rural livelihood fundamentally rooted in traditional agro-pastoral systems and horticultural practices.[3] Historically a geopolitical crossroads, the native geography of the Zaza people Eastern Anatolia has been marked by the continuous superimposition of successive state formations and diverse populations. Consequently, owing to these circumstances and the sociocultural intersectionality of their indigenous geography, the Zaza people have maintained sustained cultural exchanges with neighboring communities throughout eastern Anatolia.[89] Traditional Zaza dances include wedding dances such as Zaza halay, Karaçor, Devzer, Çepki, Fadiki, Kılaçep, and the Eagle Dance, which is common in Bingöl.[90][91][92] The Zaza culinary tradition encompasses a diverse gastronomic repertoire, featuring a wide array of meat and vegetable preparations, traditional pastries, distinct desserts and various soups such as Zaza pastry,[93] tava, kavurma, içli köfte, kalbur basması, karnıyarık, gudu faslun, keldaş, klorik, kiremit güveç, dolma, lopik, sörina pel, zerbet, parpar, sarma; germ, tutmaç, germa keşk, kıcı, yeluk and bişi, patile, kılç, kıymalı börek.[94][95] Traditional Zaza music revolves around themes of longing, love and the human condition. Zaza music predominantly explores themes of exile and homesickness, love, brotherhood, the duality of poverty and prosperity and existential reflections on death and eternity. Instruments such as drums, lutes, tambourines, and zurnas are used.[96]

Identity

The identity of the Zaza people is contested by Zaza, Kurdish and Turkish nationalist ideologies. Both Kurdish and Turkish nationalist ideologies assert the Zaza people as an intrinsic part of their nations. Zaza nationalists, on the other hand, emphasize the unique status of the Zaza people, frequently citing historical, linguistic and cultural differences and self-definition of the Zazas as evidence of their distinctiveness and distinct identity, from both Kurds and Turks.[97][98][99][100][101][102][103] According to Kehl-Bodrogi and Arakelova, "in spite of their distinct national identity and ethnic consciousness, Zazas never claimed their separate existence, as they have for centuries been surrounded by the Kurds, the people with a homogenous language and close culture. Therefore, in the ‘outer world’ they have always been under the shadow of the Kurdish ethnic and national prevalence, and during the last century and a half, it has been totally suppressed by the Kurd's political strivings manifested in numerous movements".[104][105] According to some, Zazas generally consider themselves Kurds,[104][105][6][106][107] and are described as Kurds by some scholars.[108][109][110][111][112] However, many Zazas do not see it that way and emphasize their own Zaza identity distinct from the Kurds.[113][114][115][116][117][118][119][103][120][121][122][123] And various scholars consider Zazas as a separate ethnic group distinct from the Kurds and treat them as such in their academic work.[124][125] According to a national survey conducted by KONDA Research and Consultancy in 2019 around 1.5% of the population state "Zaza" as their ethnic identity, thus forming the fourth largest ethnic identity in the country.[126][127] According to a 2015 survey conducted in Turkish Kurdistan among voting-age adults, the majority of the Zazaki-speakers ethnically identified as "Zaza" in contrast to other options such as Kurdish, Turkish and Arabic.[66]

Politics

Politically, Zazas belonging to Alevism and Sunnism generally hold widely different views from each other. Since 2002 elections Sunni Zazas mostly voted for ruling Justice and Development Party both nationally and locally, meanwhile Alevi Zazas have shown wide support for left-wing or Kurdish-oriented parties, namely HDP and CHP. For the presidential elections Sunni Zazas were reported to be voting for Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in contrast to the Alevis who mostly supported HDP's candidate Selahattin Demirtaş. Alevi-majority Tunceli is the only province in Turkey that has ever elected a mayor belonging to the Communist Party of Turkey.[128] Many Zaza politicians are also to be found in the fraternal Kurdish parties of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and Democratic Regions Party (DBP), like Selahattin Demirtaş, Aysel Tuğluk, Ayla Akat Ata and Gültan Kışanak. On the other hand, Zazas who have publicly stated that they do not consider themselves Kurdish include Hüseyin Aygün, a CHP politician from Tunceli.[129] Especially in recent years, the Zaza language and cultural associations have become widespread, the establishment of the Federation of Zaza Associations and the establishment of the Democracy Time Party have started to adopt Zaza identity more.[130] Selahattin Demirtaş is also Zaza and can speak fluent Zazaki, and identifies as a Zaza Kurd.[131][132] His brother, Nurettin Demirtaş, is a senior PKK member.[133]

The first Zaza-oriented political party in the history of Turkey was established in 2017 under the name "Zaza People's Party" and later changed its name to Democracy Time Party (Turkish: Demokrasi Zamanı Partisi) due to legal restrictions on ethnicity-based parties.[134]

Zaza nationalism

Zaza nationalism is an ideology that supports the preservation of Zaza people between Turks and Kurds in Turkey. Turkish nationalist Hasan Reşit Tankut proposed in 1961 to create a corridor between Zaza-speakers and Kurmanji-speakers to hasten Turkification. In some cases in the diaspora, Zazas turned to this ideology because of the more visible differences between them and Kurmanji-speakers.[135] Zaza nationalism was further boosted when Turkey abandoned its assimilatory policies which made some Zazas begin considering themselves as a separate ethnic group.[136] In the diaspora, some Zazas turned to Zaza nationalism in the freer European political climate. On this, Ebubekir Pamukchu, the founder of the Zaza national movement stated: "From that moment I became Zaza."[137] Zaza nationalists fear Turkish and Kurdish influence and aim at protecting Zaza culture and language rather than seeking any kind of autonomy within Turkey.[138]

According to researcher Ahmet Kasımoğlu, Zaza nationalism is a Turkish and Armenian attempt to divide Kurds.[139]

Genetics

A 2005 study genetically examined three different groups of Zaza (n= 27) and Kurmanji speakers in Turkey and Kurmanji speakers in Georgia. In the study, mtDNA HV1 sequences, eleven Y chromosome bi-allelic markers and 9 Y-STR loci were analyzed to investigate lineage relationship among these Iranian-speaking groups. According to study 8 different Y-DNA haplogroups have been identified among the Zaza speakers; I* (33.3%), R1a1a (25.9%), E* (11.1%) and R1* (11.1%) being the most prevalent ones. Haplogroups P1 and J2, which were found to be prevalent among differing Kurdish populations, were absent in Zaza speakers. Y chromosome data showed somewhat different patterns, indicating some effect of geography. Kurmanji speakers and Zaza speakers in Turkey, who are geographic neighbours, were found to be closer to each other compared to the Georgian and Turkmen Kurds according to Y-DNA data.[52]

MtDNA data indicates close relationships among Zaza speaking groups from Turkey and Kurdish people from Georgia, Iran and Eastern Turkey, meanwhile the examined Kurmanji speakers in Turkey and Turkmenistan were different from these groups and each other maternally. Geographic neighbours of Zazas from South Caucasus are also found to be similar concerning mtDNA results. It was stated that there was no clear geographic or linguistic pattern concerning matrilineal origins of examined Iranian-speakers.[52]

Another phenomenon found in the research was that Zazas are closer to Kurdish groups (matrilineally South Caucasian groups, patrilineally Kurmanji speakers in Turkey) rather than peoples of Northern Iran, where ancestral Zaza language hypothesized to be spoken before its spread to Anatolia. It was also stated that "the genetic evidence of course does not preclude a northern Iranian origin for the Zazaki language itself."[52]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Andrews (1989), p. 221.
  2. 1 2 Paul (2009), p. 545.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Asatrian (1995).
  4. 1 2 3 Arakelova (1999), p. 400.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Ziflioğlu (2011).
  6. 1 2 Kehl-Bodrogi, Otter-Beaujean & Kellner-Heikele (1997), p. 13.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin (eds.). "Zaza". Glottolog . Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  8. 1 2 "639 Identifier Documentation: zza". SIL International. 2008. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Keskin (2015), pp. 94–95.
  10. ↑ Bozbuğa (2014), p. 56-57.
  11. 1 2 3 Arakelova, Victoria (2022). "Христианские элементы в религии заза-алевитов" [Christian Elements in the Zaza-Alevit Religion]. Kavkaz-Forum. 11 (18): 25–29. doi:10.46698/VNC.2022.18.11.002.
  12. ↑ Bozbuğa (2019), p. 131.
  13. ↑ Werner (2012), pp. 24 & 29.
  14. 1 2 3 Andrews (1989), pp. 169, 171.
  15. ↑ Aktan, Sertaç (3 May 2019). "KONDA'dan dikkat çeken araştırma: Türkiye'nin nüfusu 100 kişi olsaydı". Euronews. Archived from the original on 23 December 2023. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
  16. ↑ Yetkin, Murat (18 November 2019). "Türkiye'de kaç Kürt, kaç Sünni, kaç Alevi yaşıyor?" (in Turkish). Yetkin Report. Archived from the original on 23 December 2023. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
  17. 1 2 3 Paul (1998).
  18. 1 2 Windfuhr, Gernot (2009). The Iranian Languages. New York: Routledge. pp. 19–21. ISBN 978-0-7007-1 131-4.
  19. 1 2 Ehsan Yar-Shater (1990). Iranica Varia: Papers in Honor of Professor Ehsan Yarshater. Leiden: E. J. Brill. p. 267. ISBN 90-6831-226-X.
  20. 1 2 Werner (2017), p. 70.
  21. ↑ Windfuhr, Gernot (2009). The Iranian Languages. New York: Routledge. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-7007-1 131-4.
  22. ↑ Lockwood, William Burley (1972). A Panorama of Indo-European Languages. London: Hutchinson. p. 244. The Zaza people are descended from immigrants from Dailam on the southern shore of the Caspian Sea and have in part retained the language of their ancestors, which they themselves call Dimli.
  23. ↑ Bosworth, Clifford Edmund (1977). The Medieval History of Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia. London: Variorum Reprints. p. 74.
  24. ↑ Schrijnen, Jos. (1921). Poland, Franz (ed.). "Einführung in das Studium der indogermanischen Sprachwissenschaft". Philologische Wochenschrift. 42 (16): 366.
  25. ↑ Arakelova 1999, pp. 397:"The emergence of the Zazas on the present inhabited territories is connected with the waves of migrations from Daylam, the highlands of Gilan, during the 10-12 centuries which is reflected in their ethnonym - Dim(i)Iī. The theory of the Caspian origin of the Zazas is substantiated both linguistically (the Zaza language is a North-West Iranian dialect close to Talishi, Azari, Gilyaki, etc.) and historically (there are authentic historical data about the migration of the Daylamits to Central Anatolia)."
  26. ↑ Werner (2017), p. 99-101.
  27. ↑ Kanat, Yılmaz (2019). Batı Kaynaklarında Zazalar ve Zazaca [Zazas and Zazaish in the Western sources] (Master's thesis) (in Turkish). Bingöl: Bingöl Üniversitesi.
  28. ↑ Bozarslan, Hamit; Gunes, Cengiz; Yadirgi, Veli (2021). The Cambridge history of the Kurds. Cambridge University Press. pp. 666–668. ISBN 978-1-108-47335-4.
  29. ↑ Karim, Shuan Osman; Gholami, Saloumeh, eds. (2024). Gorani in its historical and linguistic context. Trends in linguistics mdocumentation. de Gruyter Mouton. p. 253. ISBN 978-3-11-116868-5.
  30. ↑ Hadank (1932), p. 2-5.
  31. ↑ Werner (2017), p. 75-76.
  32. ↑ Selcan, Zülfü (1998). Grammatik der Zaza-Sprache, Nord-Dialekt (Dersim-Dialekt). Berlin: Wissenschaft und Technik Verlag. p. 121.
  33. ↑ Aratemür, Yaşar (2025). Sprachatlas Der Zaza-Sprache: Lautgeographie Des Zazaki. Leiden: Brill. p. 323. ISBN 978-90-04-74621-3.
  34. ↑ Eren, Hıdır (2019). "Zazaların Kendilerini Adlandırmaları Üzerine Kısa Bir Deneme". In Çağlayan, Hüseyin; Özcan, Mesut (eds.). Tarihsel ve Sosyolojik Gelişimi İle Zazaca, Tarih-Edebiyat-Coğrafya-Folklor. Ankara: Kalan Yayınları. pp. 87–93. ISBN 978-605-4915-08-8. Archived from the original on 16 January 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  35. ↑
    • Asatrian 1995: "The people call themselves Dimlī or Dīmla, apparently derived from Deylam...The Deylamite origin of the Dimlīs is also indicated by the linguistic position of Dimlī."
    • Arakelova 1999, pp. 397:"The emergence of the Zazas on the present inhabited territories is connected with the waves of migrations from Daylam, the highlands of Gilan, during the 10-12 centuries which is reflected in their ethnonym - Dim(i)Iī. The theory of the Caspian origin of the Zazas is substantiated both linguistically (the Zaza language is a North-West Iranian dialect close to Talishi, Azari, Gilyaki, etc.) and historically (there are authentic historical data about the migration of the Daylamits to Central Anatolia)."
    • Lockwood, William Burley (1972). A Panorama of Indo-European Languages. London: Hutchinson. p. 244. The Zaza people are descended from immigrants from Dailam on the southern shore of the Caspian Sea and have in part retained the language of their ancestors, which they themselves call Dimli.
    • MacKenzie, David Neil (1961). "The Origins of Kurdish". Transactions of the Philological Society. Austin & Sons: 86. ...the Zaza people, who are known to have come originally from Dailam on the southern shore of the Caspian.
    • Carlo G., Cereti (1995). The Zand ī Wahman Yasn. Serie Orientale Roma, Vol. LXXV. Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente. p. 198. the Zaza people, originally from Dēlam, live today, and lived probably as far back as the late Sasanian period in an area near the springs of the Tigris and that even today their language is known as Dimili.
    • Schrijnen, Jos. (1921). Poland, Franz (ed.). "Einführung in das Studium der indogermanischen Sprachwissenschaft". Philologische Wochenschrift. 42 (16): 366. Ẓāẓā (Dimlī), die Sprache deilemitischer Stämme, die ursprünglich in den Tälern westlichen Elburzgebirges Saẞen. [Ẓāẓā (Dimlī), is the language of Daylamite tribes who originally lived in the valleys of the western Alborz Mountains.]
    • Grigoryan, Kristine (2018). Migrations of the Dailamites from Dailam according to Armenian Historiographers (10th-12th centuries). Erivan: Institute of Oriental Studies Russian-Armenian University - Institute of Empirical Linguistics Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main. In the course of large waves of migrations, approximately in the 10th – 12th centuries, the Dailamites migrated to the west and settled in Central Anatolia... Dailamites are the direct ancestors of the Zaza (Dimli) people, presently inhabiting the province of Tunceli (historical Dersim) and the adjoining regions in nowadays Turkey.
    • Russell, James R. (2011). "An Armenian Magico-Medical Manuscript (Bzhshkaran) in the NAASR Collection". Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies. 20 (1): 112. The city is in the Dersim region of Western Armenia, a stronghold of the Zaza people. These are speakers of the dialect of Dailam in northern Iran and call their speech dilmi.
    • Williams, Victoria R. (2020). "Zaza". Indigenous Peoples: An Encyclopedia of Culture, History, and Threats to Survival. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. p. 1193. ISBN 9781440861185. The early Zazas, called the Dailamites..
    • Hakobian, Gohar (2017). "Lexical similarities of Zāzāki and Ṭālešī". In Arslan, Zeynep (ed.). Zazaki - yesterday, today and tomorrow: Survival and standardization of a threatened language. Graz: Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz. p. 33. ISBN 978-3-901600 46-3. Despite their migration in the 10th-12th centuries and the fact that for almost a millennium the Zāzā people had no direct contact with their closest linguistic relatives, the language of this people has preserved numerous phonetic, morphological, and lexical isoglosses with the South-Caspian Iranian dialects...
    • Werner 2017, p. 97-101.
    • Bosworth, Clifford Edmund (1977). The Medieval History of Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia. London: Variorum Reprints. p. 74. ...Zaza, the only true Dailami dialect we have...
    • Koymaz, Alina (2005). Das Volk und die Sprache der Zaza – vom Aussterben bedroht?. Eine wissenschaftliche Untersuchung BA-Vertiefungsseminar Linguistik Sommersemester 2005. s. 5. ...sollen die Zaza ursprünglich in den Gebieten Daylam, Mazandaran und dem Gebirge Demave an der Südwest-Küste des Kaspischen Meeres beheimatet gewesen sein...
    • Paul 1998, pp. 397...Zazaki may still have been spoken at this period around the ancient region of Daylam south of the Caspian Sea. In the west Zazaki was driven more to the north and northwest by Kurdish, but still remained in contact with the northern chain of NW dialects (Āz.-Tāl.-Semn.- Casp.) for some time."
    • Andranik, Tersim (Dersim), Tblisi, 1900.
    • Windfuhr, Gernot (2009). The Iranian Languages. New York: Routledge. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-7007-1 131-4. Zazaki: Its earlier location in the mountainous region of Gilan known as Deylam has long been suggested, reinforced by the endonym Dim(i)li. The Deylamites (Gk. Dolomitai) are first mentioned in Classical sources in the late second century BC.
    • Grigorian, Kristine; Arakelova, Victoria. "The Halvori Vank': An Armenian Monastery and a Zaza Sanctuary". Iran and the Caucasus. 17 (4). Brill: 384. The Daylamits, direct ancestors of the Zazas, had most probably preserved a considerable pre-Islamic layer in their authentic...
    • Minorsky, Vladimir (1932). La domination des Dailamites. Publications de la Société des Études Iraniennes et de L'art Persan. Paris: E. Leroux. p. 17.
    • Christensen, Arthur (1921). Les dialectes d'Awromān et de Pāwä: Textes recueillis par Age Meyer Benedictsen (in French). Vol. VI. KØBENHAVN: Bianco Lunos Bogtrykkeri. p. 8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
    • Shoup, John A. (2011). Ethnic groups of Africa and The Middle East An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 337. The Zaza are also called Dimli, which supposedly comes from the ancient name Daylam or Dailam for the region to the south of the Caspian Sea.
    • Mkrtchian, A. (1999). Asatrian, Garnik (ed.). "THE DELMIKS". Iran and the Caucasus. 3–4 (1). Brill: 409–410.
    • Henning, Walter Bruno (1954). "The Ancient Language Of Azerbaijan". Transactions of the Philological Society. 53 (1): 174–175.
    • Bozbuğa 2014, pp. 52: "Consequently, after Muslim conquest, Daylamite dynasties controlled majority area of the contemporary Iran and Iraq. During the Daylamites' expansion, Zaza and other Daylamite groups migrated to the west."
    • Hadank, Karl (1930). Mundarten der Zâzâ: Hauptsächlich aus Siwerek und Kor (in German). Berlin: Verlag der Preussischen Akademie. pp. 1–6.
    • Shapira, Dan (1999). "Pahlavi References To Armenia". Iran and the Caucasus. 3–4. Brill: 144.
    • Andranik 2023, p. 9-13, 195-196
    • Шалджян, С. (1941). "Дейлемиты и их набеги на Армению". Известия Армянского филиала АН СССР (5–6): 114–115.
    • Mkrtčʿean, A. (1898). "Dlmikner". Lumay. Tbilisi: 49–50.
  36. ↑ Werner (2017), p. 97-101.
  37. ↑
    • Felix, Wolfgang; Madelung, Wilferd (1995). "DEYLAMITES". Encyclopædia Iranica. VII (4): 342–347. The Deylamite expansion also reached northwest to Azarbaijan and beyond.
    • Yuzbashyan, Karen N. (1962). "The Daylamites in the History of Aristakes Lastivertc'i". Armenian Review. 31: 378–384.
    • Attaleiates, Michael (2012). Kaldellis, Anthony; Krallis, Dimitris (eds.). The History. Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library: Byzantine Greek. London: Harvard University Press. p. 271.
    • Beihammer, Alexander Daniel (2017). Byzantium and the Emergence of Muslim-Turkish Anatolia, ca. 1040–1130. New York: Routledge. pp. 419–420. ISBN 978-1-351-98386-0.
    • Arakelova 1999, pp. 397:"The theory of the Caspian origin of the Zazas is substantiated both linguistically (the Zaza language is a North-West Iranian dialect close to Talishi, Azari, Gilyaki, etc.) and historically (there are authentic historical data about the migration of the Daylamits to Central Anatolia)."
    • Khoperia, Nika (2022). "The Daylamite Involvement in the Lazic War (541-562)". Historia i Świat. 11: 167–170. ISSN 2299-2464.
    • Yahya ibn Said al-Antaki (1925). The History J. Kratchkovsky and A. Vassiliev (Ed.) In Patrologia Orientalis Tomus XVIII, Paris. p. 88.
    • Theotokis, Georgios (2024). The Campaign and Battle of Manzikert, 1071 (War and Conflict in Premodern Societies). Leeds: Arc Humanities Press. pp. 87, 116, 133. ISBN 978-1641894357. Manzikert was subsequently garrisoned by a strong contingent of Daylamis from northern Iran...
    • Minorsky, Vladimir (1993). Bosworth, C.E.; E. Van, Donzel; Heinrichs, W. P; Pellat, Ch. (eds.). "Musāfirids (Kangarids - Sallārids)". The Encyclopaedia of Islam. VII. Leiden-New York: Brill: 655.
    • Holmes, Catherine (2005). Basil II and the Governance of Empire (976-1025). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 308.
    • Garrood, William. "The Byzantine Conquest of Cilicia and the Hamdanids of Aleppo, 959–965". Anatolian Studies. 58: 127–140. doi:10.1017/s006615460000870x. ISSN 0066-1546. JSTOR 20455416.
    • Wortley, John (2010). The Chronicle of John Skylitzes: A Synopsis of Byzantine History, 811-1057. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 422–424.
    • Canard, Marius & Cahen, Claude (1965). "Diyār Bakr". In Lewis, B.; Pellat, Ch. & Schacht, J. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Volume II: C–G. Leiden: E. J. Brill. p. 344. OCLC 495469475.
    • Artsruni, Thomas (1985). History of the House of the Artsrunik. Thomson. Translated by Thomson, Robert W. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. p. 365.
    • Andranik 2023, p. 9-13
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    • Matthew of Edessa (1993). Dostourian, Ara Edmond (ed.). The Chronicle of Matthew of Edessa. New York: University Press of America. p. 24.
  38. ↑ Minorsky, Vladimir (1991). "Daylam". In Lewis, B.; Pellat, Ch.; Schacht, J. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition. Vol. II. p. 193. Isolated colonies of Daylamites survived in many places before they were absorbed by the local populations.
  39. ↑ Minorsky, Vladimir (1965). "Daylam". In Lewis, B.; Pellat, Ch. & Schacht, J. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Volume II: C–G. Leiden: E. J. Brill. p. 193. OCLC 495469475.
  40. ↑ Arakelova 1999, pp. 397:"The emergence of the Zazas on the present inhabited territories is connected with the waves of migrations from Daylam, the highlands of Gilan, during the 10-12 centuries which is reflected in their ethnonym - Dim(i)Iī. The theory of the Caspian origin of the Zazas is substantiated both linguistically (the Zaza language is a North-West Iranian dialect close to Talishi, Azari, Gilyaki, etc.) and historically (there are authentic historical data about the migration of the Daylamits to Central Anatolia)."
  41. ↑ Keskin, Mesut (2025). Identitätsdynamik und Ethnizität der Zaza-sprachigen Bevölkerung zwischen Fremdzuschreibung und Selbstverortung. Berlin: Verlag. p. 122. ISBN 978-3-643-15771-3.
  42. ↑ Borjian, Habib (2013). Is There Continuity between Persian and Caspian: Linguistic Relationships in the South-Central Alborz. New Haven: American Oriental Society. p. 33. ISBN 978-0940490857.
  43. ↑ Asatrian 1995: "For almost a millennium the Dimlīs had no direct contact with their closest linguistic relatives. Nevertheless, their language has preserved numerous isoglosses with the dialects of the southern Caspian region, and its place in the Caspian dialect group of Northwest Iranian is clear."
  44. ↑ Henning, Walter Bruno (1954). "The Ancient Language of Azerbaijan". Transactions of the Philological Society. 53 (1): 174–175.
  45. ↑ Lecoq, P. (1989) Le classement des langues irano-aryennes occidentales, in: C.-H. de Fouchecour I Pb. Gignoux (Hg.), Etudes irano-aryennes offertes a Gilbert Lazard, Paris pp. 247-264.
  46. ↑ Asatrian, Garnik; Gevorgian, K. H. (1988). W. Sundermann, W.; Duchesne-Guillemin, J.; Vahman, F. (eds.). "Zāzā Miscellany: Notes on some religious customs and institutions". Acta Iranica: Encyclopédie Permanente des Études Iraniennes. 12 (2): 501.
  47. ↑ Korn, Agnes (2019). "Isoglosses and subdivisions of Iranian". Journal of Historical Linguistics. 9 (2): 241, 244–246. doi:10.1075/jhl.17010.kor.
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  51. ↑ Behramgore Tehmuras, Anklesaria (1956). Zand-Akasih: Iranian or Greater Bundahisn. Bombay: Feeroze Madressa. p. 96.
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  53. ↑ Andranik (2023), p. 4, 195.
  54. 1 2 Mkrtchian, A. (1999). Asatrian, Garnik (ed.). "THE DELMIKS". Iran and the Caucasus. 3–4 (1). Brill: 409–410.
  55. ↑ Aharonean, Awetis; Nubar, Boghos; Hay, Azgayin Patuirakutïwn (February 26, 1919). The Armenian Question Before the Peace Conference, 1919: A Memorandum. New York: Press Bureau, the Armenian National Union of America. pp. 21, 53.
  56. ↑ Stommel, Dr. Cuno (1878). Die Balkan-Halbinsel 1877/78: Skizzen und Korrespondenzen aus dem Russisch-Türkischen Kriege und dem Berliner Kongress (in German). Berlin: Verlag von B. Behr's Buchhandlung. p. 231.
  57. ↑ Gippert, Jost (2008). "Zur dialektalen Stellung des Zazaki". Die Sprache. 47 (1): 101–103.
  58. ↑ Lezgîn (2010).
  59. ↑ Kaya (2009), p. IX.
  60. ↑ Kasımoğlu (2012), pp. 653–657.
  61. ↑ Cengiz (2011).
  62. ↑ Milliyet (2013).
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  65. ↑ Endangered Language Alliance.
  66. 1 2 3 4 5 Yeğen, Mesut (January 2015). "Kürt Seçmenlerin Oy Verme Dinamikleri: Kuzeydoğu-Ortadoğu ve Güneydoğu Anadolu Alt Bölgelerinde Seçmenin Siyasal Tercihlerinin Sosyolojik Analizi" (PDF). yada.org.tr (in Turkish). pp. 36–52. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 June 2021.
  67. ↑ "Zaza". Ethnologue (Free All). Ethnologue. 2024. Archived from the original on 9 March 2023. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  68. ↑ "Northwestern/Adharic/Zaza". Glottolog. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
  69. ↑ Arslan, İlyas. "Zaza Dilinde Lehçe Farklılıkları" [The Dialectological Differences of Zaza Language]. Bingöl Üniversitesi Yaşayan Diller Enstitüsü Dergisi. 4 (7): 55.
  70. ↑ Malmîsanij (1996), pp. 1–2.
  71. ↑ Keskin (2015), p. 108.
  72. ↑ Bozdağ & Üngör (2011).
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  77. ↑ Kalafat (1996), p. 290.
  78. 1 2 Akyürek, Salih (2011). Kürtler ve Zazalar Ne Düşünüyor? Ortak Değer ve Sembollere Bakış. Istanbul: Bilgesam Yayınları. p. 3.
  79. 1 2 Arakelova, Victoria; Grigorian, Kristine (2013). "The Halvori Vank': An Armenian Monastery and a Zaza Sanctuary". Iran and the Caucasus. 17. Brill: 384–385.
  80. ↑ Sönmez, Hıdır (2023). "Dersim Zaza Alevilerinde İnanç ve Ritüellerin Değişimi". In Ertit, Volkan (ed.). Alevilerin Dönüşümü İnanç, Ritüel ve Topluluk(lar) üzerine Saha Araştırmaları (in Turkish). Adana: Karahan. p. 138. ISBN 978-605-72705-6-6.
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  82. ↑ Werner (2012), p. 25.
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  84. 1 2 3 Bozbuğa (2019), p. 144.
  85. ↑ Karataş, Kenan (2016). Anadolunun Kadim Halkı Zazalar ve Zazaca. Istanbul: Fam. p. 108. ISBN 978-6055293420.
  86. ↑ Bozbuğa (2019), p. 150-153.
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  91. ↑ Varol, Murat (2019). Mektebo Miyanin Zazaki: Kıtabê Musnayişi. Ankara: Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı Yayınları. p. 119.
  92. ↑ Irmak, Yılmaz (2016). "Mitten efsaneye bir halk oyunu: Bingöl kartal oyunu" [A folk dance from myth to legend: Bingöl eagle dance]. Studies of the Ottoman Domain. 6 (10): 94–96.
  93. ↑ "Bayram sofralarını süsleyen asırlık lezzet: Zaza böreği". Haberler.com. 2 April 2023. Retrieved 21 May 2026.
  94. ↑ Yılmaz, Irmak (2019). "Bingöl Mutfak Kültürü ve Gastronomi Turizmi". Bingöl Araştırmaları Dergisi. 6 (1): 113–145.
  95. ↑ Işık, Yüksel (2012). Tunceli Mutfağı. Ankara: Anıt Yayınları.
  96. ↑ Werner (2017), pp. 332, 340.
  97. ↑ Kehl-Bodrogi (1999), p. 444.
  98. ↑ Bozbuğa (2014), p. 58.
  99. ↑ Arakelova (1999), p. 401-402.
  100. ↑ Çağlayan, Hüseyin (2020). "Türkiye Toplumunda Zazaların Sosyolojik ve Demografik Durumu" [Zazas in Turkish Political Life]. The Journal of Academic Social Science. 8 (111): 146, 151–152.
  101. ↑ Kehl-Bodrogi, Krisztina (1998). "„Wir sind ein Volk!" Identitätspolitiken unter den Zaza (Türkei) in der europäischen Diaspora". Sociologus. 48 (2). Duncker & Humblot GmbH: 115–116.
  102. ↑ Arslan, Zeynep. "Zazaca ve Zaza kimliğinin algılanması ve yansımaları üzerine bir tartışma" [A discussion on perceptions and reflections on Zazaki and Zaza identity]. Border Crossing. 8 (1): 296. ISSN 2046-4436.
  103. 1 2 Bozbuğa 2019, pp. 161–163:"In summary, it is observed that in the perception of Zaza identity by Zaza intellectuals and activists, elements that distinguish Zazas from others or from the "other" are highlighted. In this context, it is understood that elements such as Zaza History, Zaza Language, Zaza Culture, and Zaza personality are coded as the boundaries of Zaza identity."
  104. 1 2 Kehl-Bodrogi (1999), p. 442.
  105. 1 2 Arakelova (1999), p. 397.
  106. ↑ Mosaki (2012).
  107. ↑ Postgate (2007), p. 148.
  108. ↑ Malmîsanij (1996), p. 1.
  109. ↑ Taylor (1865), p. 39.
  110. ↑ van Bruinessen (1989), p. 1.
  111. ↑ Özoğlu (2004), p. 35.
  112. ↑ Kaya (2009).
  113. ↑ Hennerbichler, Ferdinand (2004). Die Kurden (Geschichte des kurdischen Volkes). Mosonmagyaróvár: Fhe-Ed. p. 46. ISBN 963-214-575-5. Considerable residential areas of ethnic groups such as Dimili/Zaza speakers in northwestern Anatolia are not considered Kurdish by linguistic research, but are included by most Kurdish authors in maps of Kurdistan because they identify as Kurdish. Many Zaza/Dimili, however, do not see it that way and emphasize their own "distinct identity".
  114. ↑ Keskin, Mesut (2025). Identitätsdynamik und Ethnizität der Zaza-sprachigen Bevölkerung zwischen Fremdzuschreibung und Selbstverortung. Berlin: Verlag. p. 158. ISBN 978-3-643-15771-3. The question whether Zaza and Kurmanji speakers form a single people was answered "no" by 69%, "yes" by 20%, "I do not know" by 2.7%..".
  115. ↑ Aratemür, Yaşar (2025). Sprachatlas Der Zaza-Sprache: Lautgeographie Des Zazaki. Leiden: Brill. pp. 42, 75. ISBN 978-90-04-74621-3. The participants ranged in age from 65 to 106, with an average age of 77.In total, slightly over 500 people participated in the interviews, including 101 primary sources... Participants were asked whether they identified themselves directly with other groups, whether they considered themselves as different from Turks and Kurds, or whether they consider these groups as different or foreign. All of our participants gave clear answers to these questions. They consciously distinguish themselves from other ethnic groups. None of the participants identified themselves with the neighboring Kurdish people in such a way that they would regard themselves as a single people.
  116. ↑ Torgut, Furkan (2019). Etnik Kimlik İnşasında Mezhep Farklılığının Oynadığı Rol: Zazalar Örneği [The Role of Mezhep Difference in the Construction of Ethnic Identity: The Case of Zazas] (Master's thesis) (in Turkish). Van: Van Yüzüncü Yıl Üniversitesi / Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü. Retrieved 30 December 2025. ...Alevi Zazas and Sunni Zazas, who are divided into different sects, have shown the same behaviors in terms of ethnic identity. Both groups have stated that they are ethnically different. Alevi and Sunni Zazas do not accept the claim that Zaza is a dialect of Kurdish; they do not consider themselves ethnically Turkish or Kurdish.
  117. ↑ Rençber, Fevzi (2013). "Within The Scope of Religion-Identity Discussıons, An Evaluation for Ethnic Identities Of Alawi People Speaking Zazaki". The Journal of Academic Social Science Studies. 6 (6): 952–953. [As a result of the research, a large majority of the subjects, 70% (560), identified themselves as "Zaza" Alevis. In contrast, 20% (160) stated that they considered themselves "Turkish" Alevis, while 10% (80) stated that they considered themselves "Kurdish" Alevis." "In conclusion, we can say that the vast majority of Alevis who speak Zazaki consider themselves Zaza.]
  118. ↑ Çetkin, Süreyya (2016). "Search of Zazaki Speaking Individuals For Identity". Bingöl Üniversitesi Yaşayan Diller Enstitüsü Dergisi. 2 (4): 51. The ones who claim Zaza people are a separate ethnic group highlight that though they were identified as Turkish or Kurdish until a certain point, they have a language, religion and culture of their own that distinguish them from other two nations and this is supported by the researches.
  119. ↑ Tasci, Hülya (2010). "Funktion von Zazaki und der kurmancî Sprache im Kontext der alevitischen Identität". In Hunner-Kreisel, Christine; Andresen, Sabine (eds.). Kindheit und Jugend in muslimischen Lebenswelten: Aufwachsen und Bildung in deutscher und internationaler Perspektive. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. pp. 150, 152. ISBN 978-3-531-16751-0. Zazaki is not described as a Kurdish language by most Zazaki-speaking Alevis. However, it is considered a Kurdish language by Kurmanji-speaking Alevis." "Some Zazaki-speaking Alevis consciously distinguish themselves from Kurmanji-speaking Alevis and/or Turkish-speaking Alevis.
  120. ↑ Baydaş, Ayşe (2022). Zaza Kültüründe Değerlerin Değişimi ve Kuşaklar Arası Aktarımı Üzerine Nitel Bir Araştırma [A Qualitative Research on the Change and Intergenerational Transmission of Values in Zaza Culture] (MSc thesis). Ankara: Ankara Üniversitesi. pp. 33, 38, 92. It was found that there was a strong emphasis on identifying themselves as Zaza among the participants and the older generation was found to be more sensitive on this issue." "When the participants' opinions on their Zaza origins were examined, it was found that four out of five participants in the older age group considered the Zazas as having a distinct culture." "It has been found that the Zazas consider themselves as a people in their own right and that the Zaza community, like other communities, sees itself as unique.
  121. ↑ Selcan, Zülfü (1994). Zaza Milli Meselesi Hakkında. Ankara: Zaza Kültürü Yayınları. pp. 29–30.
  122. ↑ Kaya, Ali (2010). Başlangıcından Günümüze Dersim Tarihi. Istanbul: Demos Yayınları. p. 78. ISBN 9789944387286.
  123. ↑ Selcan, Zülfü (2011). "Zaza Dilinin Tarihi Gelişimi" [Historical Development of Zaza Language] (PDF). I. Uluslararası Zaza Dili Sempozyumu. 127-129. Retrieved 27 December 2025.
  124. ↑ Keskin, Mesut (5 October 2025). "Alevilik Bağlamında Zazaca". Alevi Ansiklopedisi. Retrieved 9 May 2026. In addition to doctoral theses, there are many master's theses and scientific articles that recognize the Zazas as an independent ethnic group: Hüseyin Çağlayan (1995, 2020), Kahraman Gündüzkanat (1997), Krisztina Kehl-Bodrogi (1998), Kazım Aktaş (1999), Victoria Arakelova (1999), Selahattin Tahta (2002), Hülya Taşçı (2006), Gülsün Fırat (2010: 139), Yaşar Aratemür (2011, 2014), Eberhard Werner (2012, 2015, 2017, 2021), Esther Schulz-Goldstein (2013), Garry Trompf (2013), Zeynep Arslan (2016), Gohar Hakobyan (2017), Maria Philipp (2017), Rasim Bozbuğa (2019), Annika Törne (2020) ve Mesut Asmên Keskin (2025).
  125. ↑ Keskin 2015, p. 95: "Besides two doctoral theses, there are numerous master's theses and scientific articles consider the Zazas as a distinct ethnic group,: Kazım Aktaş (1999), Hüseyin Çağlayan (1995), Kahraman Gündüzkanat (1997), Krisztina Kehl-Bodrogi (1998), Selahattin Tahta (2002), Hülya Taşçı (2006), Gülsün Fırat (2010: 139), Eberhard Werner (2012), Esther Schulz-Goldstein (2013)."
  126. ↑ "Murat Yetkin: Türkiye'de kaç Kürt, kaç Sünni, kaç Alevi yaşıyor?". gazeteduvar.com.tr (in Turkish). 2019-11-19. Retrieved 2021-09-09.
  127. ↑ Türkiye'de Toplumsal Cinsiyet Raporu. KONDA. November 2019
  128. ↑ Kaçer, Murat; Bi̇Ngöl, Yılmaz (2018-04-22). "AK PARTİ DÖNEMİ SÜNNİ VE ALEVİ ZAZALARIN SEÇMEN DAVRANIŞLARI". Bingöl Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi. 8 (15): 65–88. doi:10.29029/busbed.362173. ISSN 1309-6672.
  129. ↑ Haber Türk (2013).
  130. ↑ Interview about Zaza and Zaza language
  131. ↑ "Demirtaş'tan Kürtçe açıklaması: Ben Zazayım, Zazaca biliyorum". Timeturk. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
  132. ↑ "Demirtaş'tan Kürtçe bilmiyor haberlerine açıklama". Cumhuriyet. 25 September 2016. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
  133. ↑ "Barzani asks PKK to quit Iraqi Kurdish enclave". France 24. 2015-08-01. Retrieved 2022-11-01.
  134. ↑ "Siyasette bir ilk: Zazalar parti kuruyor". birgun.net (in Turkish). Retrieved 2020-09-12.
  135. ↑ van Wilgenburg, Wladimir (28 January 2009). "Is Ankara Promoting Zaza Nationalism to Divide the Kurds?". Terrorism Focus. 6 (3). Retrieved 1 April 2017.
  136. ↑ Indigenous Peoples: An Encyclopedia of Culture, History, and Threats to . Victoria R. Williams
  137. ↑ Arakelova (1999), p. 401.
  138. ↑ Zulfü Selcan, Grammatik der Zaza-Sprache, Nord-Dialekt (Dersim-Dialekt), Wissenschaft & Technik Verlag, Berlin, 1998, p. 23.
  139. ↑ Kasımoğlu (2012), p. 654.

Notes

Bibliography

Further reading