Zaza-dimli

The Zaza-Dimli descend from Iranian peoples who settled in the mountains of eastern Anatolia long before the arrival of the Turks in the region. Isolated by the rugged terrain, they preserved for centuries a language and identity of their own, distinct from both their Kurdish neighbors and the Turks who came to administer the region.

With the Islamization of Anatolia, the Zaza-Dimli followed the Sunni path, unlike other Zaza branches that adopted Alevism in neighboring regions such as Tunceli. Throughout the twentieth century, the formation of the modern Turkish state brought linguistic assimilation policies that pushed Zazaki into the home and reinforced Turkish as the public language, a process that shaped how the people live out their identity today.

Life revolves around the land and the flock: many families raise sheep and goats and farm small plots in the valleys between the mountains, moving seasonally in search of pasture. The extended family and the village are the foundation of social organization, with important decisions made together and hospitality treated as a sacred value.

Illiteracy is still common, especially among the elderly, and Southern Zazaki is passed down mainly through oral tradition, within the home. Community festivals, weddings and respect for elders mark the social calendar, while migration to Turkish cities is gradually introducing, generation after generation, a growing distance from their rural roots.

The Zaza-Dimli follow Sunni Islam, a branch that sets them apart from other Zaza-speaking groups who historically adopted Alevism. Islamic faith is interwoven with ethnic and family identity: being Zaza-Dimli and being a Sunni Muslim go hand in hand in how the community understands and organizes itself.

Religious practice blends with local customs passed down from generation to generation, with the mosque and the community’s religious leadership holding a central role in village life. Abandoning this faith is understood not merely as a personal change but as a rupture with the family and with the people themselves.

Southern Zazaki already has some Bible portions available in digital format and videos about the life of Jesus produced in recent years, along with apps that deliver this content in text and image. Even so, there is no complete Bible translation in this language, and the community’s high illiteracy rate limits the reach of any written material. In a culture of oral tradition, audio and video recordings tend to be the most natural path for God’s Word to reach families in their daily lives.

Among the Zaza-Dimli, religious identity and ethnic identity are intertwined: to belong to the people is to be a Sunni Muslim, and any change of faith is seen as a betrayal of family and community. Geographic isolation in the mountains of eastern Turkey, a semi-nomadic life tied to herding, and the near total absence of churches or believers in their own language make any contact with the gospel rare, all the more so when combined with high illiteracy and the lack of complete Bible material in their heart language.

There is a concrete need for literacy and access to education, especially in rural areas where semi-nomadic life makes it difficult to stay in school. The preservation of Southern Zazaki also concerns the community itself, as Turkish advances among younger generations in the cities.

In the spiritual realm, the need is even greater: there is no known Christian community born from within the people themselves, nor discipleship or accompaniment in the Zaza-Dimli language and culture. Anyone who came to follow Jesus would face it alone, without a shared community of faith among their own people.