My visit to Düzce University: Kartvelism is not idle! By İrfan Çağatay

This article was written by İrfan Çağatay, a prominent Laz from Turkey and an influential figure in the preservation and promotion of the Laz language and culture. İrfan Çağatay is one of the authors of the Great Laz Dictionary published in 2006 and has contributed extensively to various Laz publications, including the magazines Skani Nena and Tanura. He also founded the Laz literature magazine Uncire and published the first fully Laz newspaper in Turkey, Ağani Murutsxi. Throughout his career, Çağatay has dedicated himself to strengthening the Laz literary language and has played a key role in the publication and editorship of numerous Laz books.

This article, originally published on his personal blog Lazoba on 3 January 2015, has been translated from Turkish.

While I was in Germany, I received some exciting news through our former foreign minister, Mr Yaşar Yakış. Last winter, we had conducted an interview in Laz with Mr Yakış for Ağani Murutsxi. During the interview, I had mentioned our efforts to establish a "Laz Language and Literature" department at the universities of Rize and Artvin. Mr Yakış asked if we had also approached Düzce University, mentioning that he knew the Rector well and would discuss the matter with her.

Mr Yakış must have spoken with the Rector, as Professor Dr Funda Sivrikaya Şerifoğlu, the Rector, wrote last week expressing their desire to accelerate efforts to open a Laz language department. She mentioned they needed three individuals with doctorates in Laz and asked where such scholars could be found. Mr Yakış then forwarded the Rector's query to me.

In light of these developments, I set out early on Friday, 19 December, for Düzce at the Rector's invitation.

Upon arriving in Düzce, I spent some time in the city centre before catching a bus to the University for my 2 o'clock appointment. Düzce University is quite far from the city, situated in the Konuralp district to the north of Düzce, spread across a vast area. The Konuralp district comprises Laz villages, including Suncuk, Sancakdere, Osmança, Kabalak, Düzköy, and Boğaziçi, settled by Çxala immigrants who were the '93 emigrees' (a term referring to those who migrated following the 1877-78 Russo-Turkish War, known as '93 Harbi' in the old Ottoman calendar. —Ed.).

I arrived at the University precisely at 2 o'clock. Shortly after, the Rector received me in the Rectorate building. During my journey, I pondered who the three individuals with doctorates in Laz might be and whether there could be any flexibility in the requirements. I had also been deliberating whether to mention the claims of Georgian nationalists regarding the Laz people and language. Although it might have seemed inappropriate, I wondered if they ought to be informed about this issue if they were indeed planning to establish the department.

As soon as we sat down and coffee was ordered, we delved into the subject. The Rector said they had been considering opening this department for several years but hadn't been able to realise it. She mentioned that as a university, they had previously established Circassian (Adyghe) Language and Literature and Georgian Language and Literature departments, which were now admitting students. These departments were reportedly doing well. The teachers for the Circassian department were apparently brought from Russia with the help of Circassian associations. Similarly, teachers for Georgian classes were brought from Tbilisi.

The institution they were affiliated with in Tbilisi was საქართველოს საპატრიარქოს წმიდა ანდრია პირველწოდებულის სახელობის ქართული უნივერსიტეტი, or "St. Andrew the First-Called Georgian University of the Patriarchate of Georgia". As the name suggests, this university was affiliated with the Georgian Patriarchate.

At this point, Nigar Demircan-Çakır, a Georgian from Turkey, joined our meeting. A delegation including Ms Nigar and Professor Dr İlhan Genç, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, had attended a meeting in Tbilisi on 17 December, just a few days prior, to discuss cooperation between the two universities. According to the Rector, the planned Laz language department had also been discussed at this meeting.

The Georgian participants in the Tbilisi meeting were: Sergo Vardosanidze, the university's rector, Tariel Putkaradze, Teimuraz Gvantseladze, Mikheil Labadze, Sopo Kekua, and Nana Kacharava (http://sangu.edu.ge/ka/index.php?page=362&news_id=1125&lang=geo).

I assume our colleagues are already familiar with the names Tariel Putkaradze and Mikheil Labadze.

The Rector relayed to me a dialogue from the meeting that she found quite alien. The Georgian nationalists, whom we mentioned earlier, reportedly said:

"We are providing every convenience in finding teachers for Georgian classes and establishing Turkology departments in Georgia. But we have a small request from you. We've heard that you're planning to open a department under the name of Laz Language and Literature. Don't open this department. Or if you do, don't bypass us; open it under the Georgian Language and Literature department. We don't recognise Laz as a language; Laz is a dialect of the Georgian language. Would it be appropriate if a university in Tbilisi opened a department treating a dialect of Turkish as if it were a language? Similarly, it wouldn't be appropriate for us to open a Laz department."

The Rector sincerely asked me whether Laz was indeed a dialect of Georgian or a language in its own right, as she was unfamiliar with the subject. They had known Laz as an independent language and found the Georgians' claims strange.

I listened to the Rector with great astonishment, surprise, and anger at the audacity of these Kartvelists, or Georgian nationalists. I realised once again how crucial this issue was and that such information needed to be shared in every setting, despite my earlier dilemma about whether to broach the subject.

Yes, the Georgian nationalists, the Kartvelists, were not idle. They were trying to undermine the cultural, linguistic, and political gains of the Laz at every opportunity to further their own interests.

But what were we, the Laz, doing? How seriously were we taking this issue? I recall that during our experience with the Laz intellectuals' declaration against Georgian nationalism in recent years, some individuals refused to stand with us for trivial reasons. Some Laz and supposedly democratic Georgians from Turkey even accused us of misunderstanding Georgian policy and being anti-Georgian.

We tried to explain that our conflict was not with Georgians but with Georgian nationalists, that the claims of these groups led by the Church were false and wrong, but they didn't want to understand...

Taking a deep breath, I attempted to inform the Rector about this unfamiliar subject, which she was likely hearing for the first time, starting from the beginning. I spoke about Georgia's territorial demands during World War I, the open letter by Simon Janashia and Nikoloz Berdzenishvili during the Soviet era, and the Church's activities after 2002. I mentioned that renowned Georgian linguists recognised Laz and Megrelian as separate languages, including Arnold Chikobava, after whom the Georgian Language Institute is named. I also noted that other Georgian scholars like Nikolay Marr, Guram Kartozia, Ioseb Kipshidze, as well as Europeans like George Dumézil, shared the same opinion. I expressed that no one in their right mind, except for some nationalist Georgians, agreed with the opposing view.

Furthermore, I pointed out the absurdity of Georgia's intervention in a department to be opened in Turkey, explaining that nearly 99% of the Laz population is of Turkish origin, with only a few thousand Laz living in the half-village of Sarp in Georgia (according to the 2012 census, the population of Sarp village in Georgia was 1,120). I explained that Georgia was trying to fill the void created by Turkey's lack of a Laz policy. The Laz send representatives to the Turkish parliament, pay taxes to Turkey, and hold positions in Turkish bureaucracy, but Turkey has no official Laz policy. I stated that what the Kartvelists were doing was blatant insolence and amounted to claiming rights over the Laz people.

I explained to the Rector, to the best of my ability, that the Laz people were greatly disturbed by this attitude of Georgian nationalists, that they never accepted being Georgian, that there was no such information in the traditional memory of the Laz, and that these claims were the product of an artificial ideology created during Georgia's nation-building process. I elaborated that Georgian nationalists equated the Laz and Megrelians as Georgians, and consequently, by accepting the Laz as Georgian, they viewed the region up to Trabzon, which they considered as Lazistan (Lazeti), as a historical part of Georgia, essentially creating their own "Megali Idea".

I added that a Laz Language and Literature department formed with Georgian instructors could be used as a base for importing and spreading Georgia's aforementioned ideology to Turkish Laz, and that this should be strongly opposed.

The Rector said she had never heard this perspective before and that she would write a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to inquire about the official policy of the Republic of Turkey on this matter, if any existed. I offered to write a brief report outlining the Laz people's approach to the issue before leaving the rectorate.

As I was leaving, the Rector mentioned that I could also meet with Professor Dr İlhan Genç, the dean of the relevant Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and that Maka Salia and Nana Kacharava, the Georgian language instructors, were also in the rectorate building.

I knew Nana Kacharava from Georgia, and I was familiar with Maka Salia from her work on the "Dictionary of Laz and Megrelian Fishing Terms".

Mr İlhan welcomed me very kindly in the rectorate building. Ms Maka was already there, and Ms Nana joined shortly after. The Rector had mentioned that Ms Maka, who is originally Megrelian, knew Laz in addition to Megrelian. She spoke some Megrelian with me, but it was clear she didn't know Laz.

This, too, was a policy. As I mentioned earlier, the Kartvelists claimed that Laz and Megrelian were the same, and that someone who knew Laz would naturally know Megrelian and vice versa. They didn't distinguish between Megrelians and Laz, thereby including Megrelians in the matter and asserting the existence of a large Laz population in Georgia who accepted being Georgian. They were tolerant of the Turkish Laz who disagreed, attributing it to their ignorance. Moreover, they could manipulate those unfamiliar with the issue, such as the university administration.

I strongly opposed this approach and explained the Kartvelist theses to the dean in the dean's office, where the Georgian instructors were also present.

While the Georgian instructors continued with friendly rhetoric like "brotherhood, being of the same blood, friendship", they also stated that they were not against opening a Laz department and would be delighted by it. But a second later, they would add: "How will you teach literature when Laz has no literature!"

After debating all day, I returned to Istanbul by evening bus. The Kartvelists, who attacked the Laz [language] and the Laz people at every opportunity, both domestically and abroad, were confronting us everywhere and trying to hinder our gains. They were trying all propaganda possibilities, pushing all the doors opened by being a state, and doing everything in their power to have the Laz accepted as Georgian and Laz as Georgian.

I arrived in Istanbul at night, wondering what I had gone to discuss and what I had ended up dealing with.

Now, I want to say this clearly: O Laz people of Turkey, be it Megrelian, Georgian, or Laz, keep this situation in mind in your relations with anyone from Georgia. Behind the words of brotherhood that you assume, this intention may lie. Protect your Laz identity, and respond to those who deny your language and identity or attempt to reshape you. Personal relationships are one thing, but don't allow them to import their ideology to you!

Skidas Lazuri nena! (Long live the Laz language!)