Turkish people

Turkish people or Turks (Turkish: Türkler) are the largest Turkic people who speak various dialects of the Turkish language and form a majority in Turkey and Northern Cyprus. In addition, centuries-old ethnic Turkish communities still live across other former territories of the Ottoman Empire. Article 66 of the Turkish Constitution defines a "Turk" as: "Anyone who is bound to the Turkish state through the bond of citizenship." While the legal use of the term "Turkish" as it pertains to a citizen of Turkey is different from the term's ethnic definition,[99][100] the majority of the Turkish population (an estimated 70 to 75 percent) are of Turkish ethnicity.[101][102] The vast majority of Turks are Muslims and follow the Sunni and Alevi faith.[83]

Quick facts: Türkler, Total population, Regions with signi... ▼

Turks

Türkler
Map of the Turkish people around the world
Total population
c. 80 million
Regions with significant populations
Turkey  60,000,000 to 65,000,000[1][2]  Northern Cyprus  315,000a[3]
Modern Turkish diaspora:
Germany	3,000,000 to over 7,000,000[4][5][6][7]
United States	1,000,000–3,000,000[8][9][10][11]
Netherlands	500,000 to over 2,000,000[12][13][14][15]
France	over 1,000,000[16][17][18]
United Kingdom	500,000b[19][20]
Austria	360,000–500,000[21][22]
Belgium	250,000–500,000[23][24]
Australia	320,000c[25][26]
Kazakhstan	250,000d[27]
Sweden	185,000e[28][29][30]
Russia	109,883–150,000[31][32]
Azerbaijan	130,000d[27]
Switzerland	120,000[33]
Canada	over 100,000[34]
Denmark	70,000–75,000[35][36]
Kyrgyzstan	55,000d[27]
Italy	50,000[37]
Uzbekistan	25,000d[27]
Norway	16,500[38]
Ukraine	8,844–15,000[39][27]
Turkmenistan	13,000[40]
Finland	10,000[41]
Poland	5,000[42]
New Zealand	3,600–4,600f[43][26]
Ireland	2,000–3,000[44]
Brazil	2,000-6,300[45][46]
Liechtenstein	1,000[47]
Turkish minorities in the MENA:
Iraq	3,000,000–5,000,000[48][49][50]
Syria	1,000,000–1,700,000g[51][52]
Libya	1,000,000–1,400,000h[53][54]
Egypt	100,000–1,500,000[55]
Lebanon	280,000i[56][57]
Saudi Arabia	270,000–350,000[58][59]
Yemen	10,000-100,000[60]
Jordan	50,000[61]
Turkish minorities in the Balkans:
Bulgaria	588,318–800,000[62][63][64]
North Macedonia	77,959–200,000[65][66]
Greece	49,000–130,000[67][68][69][70]
Romania	28,226–80,000[71][72][73]
Kosovo	18,738–60,000[74][75][76]
Bosnia and Herzegovina	1,108[77]
Serbia	850[78]
Albania	714[79]
Croatia	367[80]
Montenegro	104[81]
Languages
Turkish
Religion
Majority Islam (practising and non-practising), mostly Sunni, followed by Alevi or non-denominational. Minority Christianity and Judaism. Many also irreligious.
Related ethnic groups
Azerbaijanis[82] abd Turkmens[82]
a Approximately 200,000 are Turkish Cypriots and the remainder are Turkish settlers.[83] b Turkish Cypriots form 300,000[84] to 400,000[85] of the Turkish-British population. Mainland Turks are the next largest group, followed by Turkish Bulgarians and Turkish Romanians.[86] Turkish minorities have also settled from Iraq,[87] Greece,[88] etc. c Turkish Australians include 200,000 mainland Turks,[25] 120,000 Turkish Cypriots,[26] and smaller Turkish groups from Bulgaria,[89] Greece,[90] North Macedonia,[90] Syria,[91] and Western Europe.[90] d These figures only include Turkish Meskhetians. Official censuses are considered unreliable because many Turks have incorrectly been registered as "Azeri",[92][93] "Kazakh",[94] "Kyrgyz",[95] and "Uzbek".[95] e The Turkish Swedish community includes 150,000 mainland Turks,[28] 30,000 Turkish Bulgarians,[29] 5,000 Turkish Macedonians,[30] and smaller groups from Iraq and Syria. f Including 2,000–3,000 mainland Turks[43] and 1,600 Turkish Cypriots.[26] g This includes the Turkish-speaking minority only (i.e. 30% of Syrian Turks).[96] Estimates including the Arabized Turks range between 3.5 to 6 million.[97] h Includes the Kouloughlis who are descendants of the old Turkish ruling class.[98] i Includes 80,000 Turkish Lebanese[56] and 200,000 recent refugees from Syria.[57]

The ethnic Turks can therefore be distinguished by a number of cultural and regional variants, but do not function as separate ethnic groups.[103][83] In particular, the culture of the Anatolian Turks in Asia Minor has underlain and influenced the Turkish nationalist ideology.[103] Other Turkish groups include the Rumelian Turks (also referred to as "Balkan Turks") historically located in the Balkans;[83][104] Turkish Cypriots on the island of Cyprus, Meskhetian Turks originally based in Meskheti, Georgia;[105] and ethnic Turkish people across the Middle East,[83] where they are also called "Turkmen" or "Turkoman" in the Levant (e.g. Iraqi Turkmen, Syrian Turkmen, Lebanese Turkmen, etc.).[106] Consequently, the Turks form the largest minority group in Bulgaria,[63] the second largest minority group in Iraq,[48] Libya,[107] North Macedonia,[66] and Syria,[96] and the third largest minority group in Kosovo.[75] They also form substantial communities in the Western Thrace region of Greece, the Dobruja region of Romania, the Akkar region in Lebanon, as well as minority groups in other post-Ottoman Balkan and Middle Eastern countries. Mass immigration due to fleeing ethnic cleansing after the persecution of Muslims during Ottoman contraction has led to mass migrations from the 19th century onward; these Turkish communities have all contributed to the formation of a Turkish diaspora outside the former Ottoman lands. Approximately 2 million Turks were massacred between 1870 and 1923 and those who escaped it settled in Turkey as muhacirs.[108][109][110][111] The mass immigration of Turks also led to them forming the largest ethnic minority group in Austria,[112] Denmark,[113] Germany,[114] and the Netherlands.[114] There are also Turkish communities in other parts of Europe as well as in North America, Australia and the Post-Soviet states. Turks are the 13th largest ethnic group in the world.

Turks from Central Asia settled in Anatolia in the 11th century, through the conquests of the Seljuk Turks. This began the transformation of the region, which had been a largely Greek-speaking region after previously being Hellenized, into a Turkish Muslim one.[115][116][117] The Ottoman Empire came to rule much of the Balkans, the South Caucasus, the Middle East (excluding Iran, even though they controlled parts of it), and North Africa over the course of several centuries. The empire lasted until the end of the First World War, when it was defeated by the Allies and partitioned. Following the Turkish War of Independence that ended with the Turkish National Movement retaking much of the territory lost to the Allies, the Movement ended the Ottoman Empire on 1 November 1922 and proclaimed the Republic of Turkey on 29 October 1923.