What could speak best of a minority’s cultural tragedy? “We are recovering the lost Laz words,” professor Mehmet Bekaroglu, the head of the Laz Institute, told me when I asked him about the cultural revival of the Laz people. Lost words? They are the words that have disappeared from the daily language after decades of disuse.
Amid the reform process in Turkey, the Laz, too, have embarked on a journey to rediscover their culture. In the eastern Black Sea towns of Pazar, Ardesen, Camlihemsin, Findikli, Arhavi, Hopa and Borcka, the population swells three or four times during the summer as natives of the region return home. The uplands come alive with the sound of kemenche and the rhythm of horon. The hazelnut crop is shelled and legends told. In the autumn, the traditional grape molasse pekmez is boiled. Each stage — the placing of the large saucepans, the mashing of the grapes, the lighting of the fire and the removal of the saucepans — is performed with special sayings.
