The native language of 30,000 speakers who predominately live in the northeastern provinces of Rize and Artvin, Laz is classified by UNESCO’s atlas of endangered languages as a “critically endangered language.” The Lazebura Foundation, which promotes Laz culture through the publication of a dual Turkish-Laz online newspaper, believes that the government must help protect the diminutive 30,000 speaker community of Laz through founding an institute for the protection of Laz, offering the language as a course in primary schools in Laz regions, and listing Laz place names on roadways. Without such measures, the foundation says, the language may easily disappear within the next few generations.
The Anatolia news agency reported in a report on Monday that the organization has also stated its desire to see Laz and other minority languages recognized in the upcoming constitution as official languages of Turkey.
A written statement on the Lazebura Foundation’s website cited Turkey’s increasingly democratic atmosphere as a reason to hope that official recognition and government aid could help preserve the language’s shrinking pool of speakers, stating that minority languages have long been neglected in favor of promoting Turkish as a sole national language. “In Turkey there are at least eight or nine spoken minority languages, and one of every three people in Turkey possesses a native language which is not Turkish,” the written statement declared.
