Famous Laz People

A 5th-century Laz monk and theologian, born in Lazica, who became a founder of Christian monasticism in Jerusalem and the lifelong companion of Peter the Iberian.

Kazim Koyuncu (1971-2005), the Che Guevara of the Black Sea: the iconic Laz musician and activist who became the voice of modern Laz identity.

Volkan Konak, the Black Sea singer whose music carried the sound of the eastern Black Sea to audiences across Turkey.

Birol Topaloglu, the Laz musician and researcher who collected and recorded the traditional tulum and kemence music of Lazistan.

Gubazes II, king of Lazica during the Lazic War between Byzantium and Sassanid Persia, and his murder by Byzantine commanders in 555 AD.

Wolfgang Feurstein, the German ethnologist who devised a Laz alphabet and spent his life documenting the Lazuri language.

Iskender Tzitashi, the Laz teacher and writer who built a Laz alphabet and school system in the Soviet Union before his execution in 1938.