The Zazas (Zazaki: Şarê ma, lit. 'Our people'), also known as Kird, Kirmanc, or Dimili, are an Iranian people who speak Zazaki, a language of the Indo-European language family. They mostly live in the Eastern Anatolia and Southeastern Anatolia regions of Turkey. Zazas generally consider themselves Kurds, and are often described as Zaza Kurds by scholars.
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👉 Zazas in the context of Sheikh Said Rebellion
The Sheikh Said rebellion (Kurdish: Serhildana Şêx Seîd; Turkish: Şeyh Said İsyanı) was a Kurdish nationalist and Islamist rebellion in Southeast Anatolia in 1925 led by Sheikh Said and with support of the Azadî movement and local religious and feudal leaders against the newly-founded secular Turkish Republic. The rebellion was mostly led by Zaza speakers, but also gained support among some of the neighboring Kurmanji-speaking Kurds in the region.
The religious and nationalist background of the Sheikh Said rebellion has been debated by the scholars. The rebellion was described as "the first large-scale nationalist rebellion by the Kurds" by Robert W. Olson.
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Zazas in the context of Ethnic groups in the Middle East
Ethnic groups in the Middle East are ethnolinguistic groupings in the "transcontinental" region that is commonly a geopolitical term designating the intercontinental region comprising West Asia (including Cyprus) without the South Caucasus, and also comprising Egypt in North Africa. The Middle East has historically been a crossroad of different cultures and languages. Since the 1960s, the changes in political and economic factors (especially the enormous oil wealth in the region and conflicts) have significantly altered the ethnic composition of groups in the region. While some ethnic groups have been present in the region for millennia, others have arrived fairly recently through immigration. The largest ethnic groups in the region are Arabs, Turks, Persians, Kurds, and Azerbaijanis but there are dozens of other ethnic groups that have hundreds of thousands, and sometimes millions of members.
Other indigenous, religious, or minority ethnic groups include: Antiochians, Armenians, Assyrians, Arameans in the Qalamoun Mountains, Baloch, Copts, Druze, Gilaks, Greeks (including Cypriots and Pontians), Jews, Kawliya, Laz, Lurs, Mandaeans, Maronites, Mazanderanis, Mhallami, Nawar, Samaritans, Shabaks, Talysh, Tats, Yazidis and Zazas.
Zazas in the context of Sheikh Said
Sheikh Said (Kirmanjki: Şêx Seîd; c. 1865 – 29 June 1925) was a Zaza Kurd religious leader, one of the leading sheikhs of the Naqshbandi order and the head of the Sheikh Said rebellion.
He was born around 1865 in Hınıs or Palu, into an influential family of the Naqshbandi order, where his grandfather was an influential sheikh. Sheikh Said studied religious sciences at the madrasa led by his father Sheikh Mahmud Fevzi as well from several Islamic scholars in the region. Later he was involved in the local tekke set up by his grandfather Sheikh Ali. His grandfather was a respected leader of the religious community and his grave was visited by thousands of pilgrims. He became the head of the religious community after his father Sheikh Mahmud died. In 1907 he toured the neighboring provinces in the east and he established contacts with officers from the Hamidiye cavalry.
Zazas in the context of Tunceli
Tunceli (Armenian: Մամիկի, romanized: Mamiki; Kurdish: Kalan; Zazaki: Mamekiye) is a municipality (belde) in Tunceli District and capital of Tunceli Province, Turkey. The city has a Zaza majority. It had a population of 35,161 in 2021.
Zazas in the context of Zaza language
Zaza (endonym: Zazakî, Dimlî, Dimilkî, Kirmanckî, Kirdkî, or Zonê ma, lit. 'Our language') is a Northwestern Iranian language spoken primarily in eastern Turkey by the Zazas, who are mostly considered as Kurds, and in many cases identify as such. The language is a part of the Zaza–Gorani language group of the northwestern group of the Iranian branch. The glossonym Zaza originated as a pejorative. According to Ethnologue, Zaza is spoken by around 1.48 million people, and the language is considered threatened due to a declining number of speakers, with many shifting to Turkish. Nevins, however, puts the number of Zaza speakers between two and three million.