Author: thearabchildren » Wed May 11, 2011 2:31 pm
For the record, my assessment is that Zazaki is one language, Soranî and Kurmancî are two dialects of one Kurdish language.
However, even if Zazaki, Soranî and Kurmancî are three different languages, it makes absolutely no difference to whether or not Zazas are Turks (they are not until they forget their own language and speak only Turkish), and therefore the Turks should basically stop worrying about Zazas, because they're still a minority in the Republic of İnönü, and they can't silence them all. Once I was ranting about Kurdish rights to a particularly backward old-guard Kemalist (votes CHP, speaks French, hates everyone who isn't exactly like her in every way, believes the AKP is the first bad government in Turkish history because she thinks it wants to snatch the vodka from her hands, but doesn't mind that her government tries to beat Kurdish from the tongues of Kurdish children, you know the type), and she said "Well we can't give the Kurds any linguistic rights, because then what about the Zazas? Did you know it's not Kurdish!" (she believes she knows more about Turkey than me just because I'm a foreigner, and yet she didn't even know the Laz language existed. If it was up to her, Turkey's only neighbour would be France.) To which I replied "Yes. You're right. Zaza is not Kurdish, but that has absolutely no bearing on whether or not the Kurds have rights. All it means is that you've got to treat the Zazas with the same respect you treat Turks also."
For their Kurdishness, they feel very Kurdish themselves. Perhaps we can view it something like being Scottish. There are Scottish people who speak Scots and Scottish people who speak Gaelic. They're not that close, but they have a lot of culture in common due to the region and their own self-perception and history, plus they both lack all the filthy French influence on English (it really is a disgusting language spoken by unwashed infidels, not sure whether I'm referring to English or French here). Sunni Kurds I meet generally view themselves as Kurdish. Alevi ones, however, are a whole other situation. They are fiercely resistant of the system in Turkey, even those who no longer speak Zaza. I'll put it this way: I hate Kılıçdaroğlu. I think he's a sell-out and a Kemalist and a supporter of the fascists and a puppet of the Americans and everything else. And just by being an Alevi Zaza, he scares the hell out of a lot of old-guard Kemalists. That's how far-left Alevi Zazas are. Their Kemalists scare regular Kemalists just by existing.
I am myself very fond of Alevi Zazas, they have always been friendly to me. Allow me to tell a story.
Once the wife and I were at an airport in the third worst city in Turkey (all three are in the West and they know what they've done). We were hungry and so we went to the airport Burger King, and the whole airport was basically empty, so naturally they only had one guy working the Burger King. He was preparing the food and manning the register. He was an Alevi Zaza, and while we were small-talking I asked him where he was from. He said "Tunceli" and I got very excited and of course asked "Are you Alevi?" and he smiled and nodded. My wife explained to him that, though I am Jewish, I feel a great affinity for Shi'as in general and Alevis in particular, because their culture is so sympathetic. He was very happy to hear that. Then he asked if she was Shi'a. She said no, she was Sunni, as she comes from Kars, but she is a Kurd. He then asked "Do you speak Kurdish?" and she said "I understand it but I respond in Turkish." to which he nodded knowingly and said "Because of the assimilation". She got visibly upset at that, and then I jumped in and said "Don't worry my friend, if I have any say, all our kids will speak Kurdish". He shook my hand and then gave us a bunch of food we didn't order for free. He also translated some Kurmancî phrases I knew at that point into Zazaki, and I must say it is a very beautiful tongue.
I need to get ahold of some Zaza books.
Anyway, most Zazas I meet remind me of him, very few remind me of any kind of Kemalist. Even the Sunnis I've met in Stenbol view themselves more or less as Kurds, probably because the filthy attitude Stenbol has to pretty much everyone who is not fantastically rich reminds them that they are a kind of "other".
Another short story. One time we went into a guy's shop in Stenbol and there was a huge South African flag on his wall. We asked him what that was about and he said "Well, I can't hang the Kurdish flag..." and then drifted off. I was pleased with that, and showed him how to change his facebook from Turkish into Kurdish (he was unaware). Then he invited me for whiskey, but we had other plans. These are the people who bravely persevere in the face of Kemalist tyranny, and when the revolution comes, they will teach Kurdish classes to the Turks, whether the Turks like it or not. Anyone who refuses to say they are proud to be a Kurd will be smacked on the wrist with a ruler. Nationalities other than Turks and Kurds (such as Arabs, Laz, Circassians, Zazas, Assyrians, Slavs, Gypsies, Georgians, Greeks and Armenians) will be exempt from these classes, unless they want to attend, of course. They will also all get their own classes.
