Comments by "Yılmaz İrden Yazıcı" (@ylmazirdenyazc8393) on "Casual Earth" channel.

  1. Dude, the fact that you bring out Pontic Greeks when speaking about the history of the Black Sea and not the Laz People, possibly the Oldest Surviving People in Anatolia wich have survived whilst Hatti's, Hittites and Urartu's Didnt for the sole reason of living in the most rugged, mountainous and Forested region of the Black Sea, i woulld have loved to hear about them.
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  2. @@welatparez1kurd İDK where did you heard these weird news, however the situtation isnt as drastic as you guys make out to be. Whilst the Linguistic decline is a thing, it is only as terrible as you say in Mixed areas like Çxala (Borçka) or Xopa (Hopa) where Laz who speak the local Dialects, the Laz who speak the Coastal dialects, Hemshins and Adjaran Georgians live in close proximity, resulting in Secondary languages like Turkish to be able to much more easily penetrate the area. however the Coastal dialects (wich are also the majority of the Laz population lives and whose regions and Majority Laz) like Artasheni (Ardeşen), Vitze (Fındıklı), Atina (Pazar) and Arkabi (Arhavi), are still spoken by its Peoples very actively (especialy in Rural Areas) and no, it is true the Laz are among the most Patriotic members of the society (mostly as a result of the massacres of the Russian and its Voluntery Armenian units in the area during WW1) however a good chunk do not deny their Laz identity. the Language is in threat but you can still find much more Endangered Languages in larger numbers in Dagestan or even in some European Countries (Tsakonian in Greece, Bessarabian Bulgarian Dialect in Moldova and Ukraine)
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  3.  @georgekech4903  Though it is True that the Urbanisation in Eastern Black Sea was mainly fueled by Greek Colonists, you can find the origins of numerous Coastal Towns there to be originated from Greek Settlers, (most obvious is the town of Atina (Pazar)) however even though many cities like Batumi, Trebizond, Phasis were Greek Settlements, those settlements werent older than the People living there, those Settlements existed for the express purpose of Trading with Locals, and those Locals were Colchians, Paphlagonians, Schytians and many other peoples İnhabiting the shores of the Black Sea.
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  4.  @casualearth-dandavis  İt wasnt sadly one sided though as all of you make it out to be First of all the Demographics of the Vilayet of Trebizond is far more complicated than the "Only Pontic Greeks and Armenians lived there" within the four Sanjaks of the Vilayet only Sanjak the Pontic Greeks had a Majority was the Sanjak of Trebizond, in wich Christian Pontic Greeks were the Minority whilst the Muslim Pontic Greeks were the Majority with many muslims Speaking Turkish or Roumeika, the Sanjak of Gümüşhane was Muslim Majority with Muslims being Turkish and Chritians being Greek, The Sanjak of Canik had the Largest Christian population with Greek and Armenians being one half (the majority of the Christians in the Region just like Muslim Greeks of Trebizond were also Turkish speaking, after the population exchange most of them were Mocked as Baphriots) and Muslims mostly Chepni Turks being the other half, the Sanjak of Lazistan on the other hand was almost Entirely Muslim with Laz people (the oldest surviving people in Anatolia BTW) being the Majority and Hemshins (Local Muslim Western Armenians) being the Minority, with small numbers of Orthodox Greeks generally concentrated on few Coastal towns. And the Population exchange wasnt the eviction of all the Greek speaking peoples but was the eviction of all Christians, Orthodox Karaman Turks and Muslim Vallahades Greeks were also Deported from their homelands. Not to mention that Ottomans werent the only invaders there, during 1887-88 Russo-Turkish war Russians armies occupied the region between Batumi to Kars and evicted a good chunk of the Muslim Adjaran Georgians and Laz (my ancestors were among them) as well as many local Muslims. With the Cossack regiments noted for their brutality. And during WW1 Russians and their Armenian Voluntary groups were busy Looting and Burning every single Village they come accross whilst showing little regard for their inhabitans, many either being Muslim Greeks, Laz or Hemshins, these invasions have resulted in really large portions of our populations to settle in especialy Northwestern Anatolia likely contributing to why Laz Langauge retreated from Sürmene (Sourmena) all the way to east of Çayeli (Mapavri) the remaining populations simply armed themselves and organized Gangs simulteniously with the Local Christians both to defend themsleves from eachother causing lots of Ethnic conflict in wich both sides lost their lives. İt was a Clusterf.ck of Ethnic Violence that poisoned and traumatized each side instead of a one sided Genocide, as all of you westerners accuse us, whilst saying that we Muslims either never suffered losses and even if we did we either deserved it or was a unwanted consequence an accident so these literatures says.
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  5. @@welatparez1kurd dude you are Kurdish, your People are majority in Eastern and Southern Turkey because of Ottoman Sultan Selim I didnt wanted to see your Sunni people getting thorougly persecuted by Shia Safavids and gave you shelter, not to mention how Nomadic Kurdish tribes were among the most important reasons why Tehcir law of 1915 evolved in to one of the most horrible Human Catastrophies in the History of Eastern Anatolia.
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  6.  @georgekech4903  Laz People may not have formed at this time, but their Direct Ancestors the Colchians have been inhabiting the region for Centuries at this time, there are inscriptions of the King of Urartu Sarduri II launching attacks against their Tribes inhabiting Chorokh valley conquering them, aside from that you have Colchian Drulei tribe mentioned in Xenophon that have been living in the Eastern Black Sea long time and had been a Eternal enemies of the Colony of Trebizond, they had a capital so well Fortified that 10K Hoplites of Xenophon was unable to take it, even though they might have reached the areas around Trebizond Later than Colonists of Miletus they have been inhabiting the East of Trebizond Centuries before they were ever written, plus there were numerous other Anatolian İndo-Europeans inhabiting Anatolia before Greek came in and later assimilated the area, dont get me wrong Pontic Greeks are old, but they arent the first peoples to inhabit this region.
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  7.  @georgekech4903  Hemshins are True, even though their modern name have been given by a Ancient Armenian prince name Shapuh Amotuni around the 8th century as a result of them fleeing the Arab invasions there were populations of Armenians long before Shapuh made his journey. Still Laz were already inhabiting the Area Long before that too, granted in the end it means little, Eastern Black sea is our home, be they Roum, Laz, Hemshin, Georgian, Chepni or later Muhacirs from Balkans (in Bafra there is a Albanian speaking population for example) they all have a place in this Old and Ancient Soil.
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  8. @@welatparez1kurd i doubt you have met much Laz in your lifetime dude (no offense), i am living in the Historical borders of the Sanjak of Lazistan, try traveling between Atina (Pazar) and Xopa (Hopa) you can find numerous Speakers especialy in the Rural Areas (in Artasheni (Ardeşen), Vitze (Fındıklı) and Arķabi there are many speakers in Cities too, wich are basicaly oversized Villages where everyone knows everyone), İn Mixed areas Decline is real and even then people do not deny their identities. You speak by Stereotypes Turkish Goverment and later Western Nationalists have propogated, i speak by personal experience of being a Laz living in the old Historical borders of the Sanjak of Lazistan.
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  9. @@welatparez1kurd BTW im not a Expert in Laz studies either, im just a Young University student with a fascination on History since Childhood, and a love for the History and Cultures of Caucasus and Black Sea for the Last 5 Years. Everything i know is what i have researched on my own freetime from either computer or nowadays from Books (a Nice perk of studying in a Big city, there are many Libraries) whenever the Farm Labour of the Day was over.
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  10.  @maciejbala477  then he shouldnt have bothered talking about its History in the first place, especialy when its such a heavy Topic for so many
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