Summary: Zazaki (also known Kirmançki, Kirdki and Dimli) is a language spoken by a large community mostly residing in Southeastern Anatolia in modern Turkey. Though Zazas have historically inhabited the mountainous regions of Dersim (Tünceli), Bingöl and Siverek, their language shares descent from the Northwest Iranian language branch with other languages such as Gorani and the Caspian languages of Northern Iran such as Gilaki and Mazandarani, meaning that Zazaki is only distantly related to the Kurdish (Kurmanji) and Armenian spoken by its historical neighbors. However, this issue becomes complex when one considers the sociolinguistic milieu of most Zaza speakers and that they have historically been bilingual in Kurdish and many consider themselves to be Kurds. In the political context of modern Turkey, this makes even a straightforward linguistic discussion a sensitive debate touching on issues of identity and the complicated history of Anatolia's ethnolinguistic communities. This podcast, which is largely based on the proceedings of the first International Conference on Zaza Studies, introduces some of these topics.
