In the eastern and southeastern areas (near Iranian border and around Lake Van) of the region, the mother tongue of most locals is Kurdish. However most locals, especially younger ones, are also bilingual in Turkish, although heavily accented in most cases.
Local Turkish dialect spoken in northeastern section of the region (around Erzurum, and Kars) is far from the standard Turkish based on Istanbul dialect and is very close to Azerbaijani spoken in the neigbouring country (to the point of being virtually identical in the easternmost parts of the region, around Iğdır close to the border with Nakhchivan), although the written word always uses standard Turkish orthography as is usual.
Zaza, another Indo-Iranian language closely related to Kurdish, may also be heard in certain locales, especially in the central parts of the region around Tunceli and Bingöl.
As in Southeastern Anatolia, it is important to be cautious with whom you are smattering Kurdish or Zaza. Trying to strike up a conversation in those languages with a Turkish official, especially one from military, can have dire consequences.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Eastern Anatolia
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Eastern Anatolia - updated Apr 2024
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Eastern Anatolia Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
