Minorities in Turkey#Kyrgyzs

{{Culture of Turkey}}

{{Main article|Abdal of Turkey}}

Groups of nomadic and semi-nomadic itinerants found mainly in central and western Anatolia. They speak an argot of their own and are Alevis.Abdal by Peter Alford Andrews pages 435 to 438 in Ethnic groups in the Republic of Turkey / compiled and edited by Peter Alford Andrews, with the assistance of Rüdiger Benninghaus (Wiesbaden : Dr. Ludwig Reichert, 1989) {{ISBN|3-88226-418-7}}

{{Main|Afghans in Turkey}}

{{See also|Anti-Afghan sentiment}}

Afghans are one of the largest irregular migrant groups in Turkey. From the period 2003–2007, the number of Afghans apprehended were significant, with statistics almost doubling during the last year. Most had fled the War in Afghanistan. In 2005, refugees from Afghanistan numbered 300 and made a sizeable proportion of Turkey's registered migrants.{{Cite web|url=http://www.unhcr.org/home/PUBL/4492678ae.pdf |title=UNHCR Global Report |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061017155856/http://www.unhcr.org/home/PUBL/4492678ae.pdf |accessdate=18 February 2024|archive-date=17 October 2006 }} Most of them were spread out over satellite cities with Van and Ağrı being the most specific locations.{{cite web |url=http://www.worldrefugeesurvey.org/images/b/bb/TurkeyMap.jpg |title=Archived copy |access-date=2010-02-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100601183426/http://www.worldrefugeesurvey.org/images/b/bb/TurkeyMap.jpg |archive-date=2010-06-01}} In the following years, the number of Afghans entering Turkey greatly increased, second only to migrants from Iraq; in 2009, there were 16,000 people designated under the Iraq-Afghanistan category. Despite a dramatic 50 percent reduction by 2010, reports confirmed hundreds living and working in Turkey.{{cite web |title=Number of Iraqi, Afghan refugees in Turkey halved last year |url=http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=205790 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120914110929/http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?load=detay&link=205790 |archive-date=14 September 2012 |access-date=14 October 2023}} As of January 2010, Afghans consisted one-sixth of the 26,000 remaining refugees and asylum seekers.{{Cite web|url=http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49e48e0fa7f.html|title=Republic of Türkiye|work=UNHCR |accessdate=18 February 2024}} By the end 2011, their numbers are expected to surge up to 10,000, making them the largest population and surpass other groups.

{{Main article|Afro Turks}}

Beginning several centuries ago, a number of Africans, usually via Zanzibar as Zanj and from places such as Niger, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Kenya and Sudan,{{cite web|url=http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=141522 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080827055914/http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=141522|archive-date=27 August 2008 |title=Turks with African ancestors want their existence to be felt|work=Today's Zaman |date= 11 May 2008 |access-date= 28 August 2008 |publisher=Todayszaman.com}} came to the Ottoman Empire settled by the Dalaman, Menderes and Gediz valleys, Manavgat, and Çukurova. African quarters of 19th-century İzmir, including Sabırtaşı, Dolapkuyu, Tamaşalık, İkiçeşmelik, and Ballıkuyu, are mentioned in contemporary records.{{cite web|url=http://www.radikal.com.tr/Default.aspx?aType=Detay&ArticleID=896230&Date=30.08.2008&CategoryID=79 |title=Afro-Türklerin tarihi, Radikal, 30 August 2008, retrieved 22 January 2009 |publisher=Radikal.com.tr |date=2008-08-30 |access-date=2012-05-03}} Due to the slave trade in the Ottoman Empire that had flourished in the Balkans, the coastal town of Ulcinj in Montenegro had its own black community.{{cite web|url=http://www.cyber-adventures.com/yugo.html|title=Yugoslavia – Montenegro and Kosovo – The Next Conflict?|access-date=2018-03-03|archive-date=2016-11-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118043317/http://www.cyber-adventures.com/yugo.html|url-status=dead}} As a consequence of the slave trade and privateer activity, it is told how until 1878 in Ulcinj 100 black people lived.{{cite web|url=http://www.visit-montenegro.com/cities-ulcinj-h.htm|title=ULCINJ – HISTORY|author=dBO Advertising Agency – dbo@cg.yu|access-date=3 March 2018|archive-date=19 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819153026/http://www.visit-montenegro.com/cities-ulcinj-h.htm|url-status=dead}} The Ottoman Army also deployed an estimated 30,000 Black African troops and cavalrymen to its expedition in Hungary during the Austro-Turkish War of 1716–18.Dieudonne Gnammankou, [http://www.cwo.com/~lucumi/russia2.html "African Slave Trade in Russia"], in La Channe et le lien, Doudou Diene, (id.) Paris, Editions UNESCO, 1988.

{{main article|Albanians in Turkey}}

A 2008 report from the Turkish National Security Council (MGK) estimated that approximately 1.3 million people of Albanian ancestry live in Turkey, and more than 500,000 recognizing their ancestry, language and culture. There are other estimates, however, that place the number of people in Turkey with Albanian ancestry and or background upward to 5 million.{{cite book|last=Saunders|first=Robert A.|title=Ethnopolitics in Cyberspace: The Internet, Minority Nationalism, and the Web of Identity|year=2011|location=Lanham|publisher=Lexington Books|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vM5hZEsdz94C&pg=PA98|isbn=9780739141946|page=98}}

However, these assumptions of the Turkish government are contested by many scholars who claim they are without any basis.{{cite journal|author=Bernard Lewis|title=The Emergence of Modern Turkey|journal=The Geographical Journal |date=1961 |volume=127 |issue=4 |page=82|doi=10.2307/1792817 |jstor=1792817 |bibcode=1961GeogJ.127..509B }}{{request quotation|date=September 2017}}

{{Main|Arabs in Turkey}}

{{Further|Iraqis in Turkey|Syrians in Turkey}}

Arabs in Turkey number around 2 million, and they mostly live in provinces near the Syrian border, particularly the Hatay region, where they made up two fifths of the population in 1936.{{cite book|last=Brandell|first=Inga|title=State Frontiers: Borders and Boundaries in the Middle East|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8GBxQvqTZEAC|access-date=30 July 2013|year=2006|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-1-84511-076-5|page=144}}

However, including recent Syrian refugees, they make up to 5.3%{{citation needed|date=September 2017}} of the population. Most of them are Sunni Muslims.{{citation needed|date=September 2017}} However, there is a small group of Alawis, and another one of Arab Christians (mostly in Hatay Province) in communion with the Antiochian Orthodox Church.{{citation needed|date=September 2017}}

Turkey experienced a large influx of Iraqis between the years of 1988 and 1991 due to both the Iran–Iraq War and the first Gulf War,{{cite web |title=Catholic Relief Agency Sheltering Iraqi Chaldean Refugees in Turkey |url=http://www.christiansofiraq.com/caritaschaldeandec16.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071128042955/http://www.christiansofiraq.com/caritaschaldeandec16.html |archive-date=28 November 2007 |access-date=14 October 2023}} with around 50,000 to 460,000 Iraqis entering the country.{{cite web |title=The Iraqi Refugee Crisis and Turkey: a Legal Outlook |url=http://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/11298 |author1=Kaya, Ibrahim |access-date=14 October 2023}}

Syrians in Turkey include migrants from Syria to Turkey, as well as their descendants. The number of Syrians in Turkey is estimated at over 3.58 million people as of April 2018,{{Cite web|url=https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/syria/location/113|title=Situation Syria Regional Refugee Response|website=data2.unhcr.org|access-date=2018-05-13}} and consists mainly of refugees of the Syrian Civil War.

{{Main article|Armenians in Turkey}}

{{Further|Armenian genocide|Hemshin peoples|Hidden Armenians}}Armenians are indigenous to the Armenian Highlands which correspond to the eastern half of modern-day Turkey, the Republic of Armenia, southern Georgia, western Azerbaijan, and northwestern Iran. Although the word Armenia was banned from being used in the press, schoolbooks, and governmental establishments in Turkey in 1880 and although it was subsequently replaced with words like eastern Anatolia or northern Kurdistan, Armenians had maintained much of their cultural heritage.Modern History of Armenia in the Works of Foreign Authors [Novaya istoriya Armenii v trudax sovremennix zarubezhnix avtorov], edited by R. Sahakyan, Yerevan, 1993, p. 15 (in Russian){{cite book|last=Blundell|first=Roger Boar, Nigel|title=Crooks, crime and corruption|year=1991|publisher=Dorset Press|location=New York|isbn=9780880296151|page=[https://archive.org/details/crookscrimecorru0000boar/page/232 232]|url=https://archive.org/details/crookscrimecorru0000boar/page/232}}{{cite book|last=Balakian|first=Peter|title=The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America's Response|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=9780061860171|page=36|date=2009-10-13}}{{cite book |title=The World in arms: timeframe AD 1900-1925 |year=1989|publisher=Time-Life Books|location=Alexandria, Va.|isbn=9780809464708|edition=U.S.|page=[https://archive.org/details/worldinarmstimef00time/page/84 84]|url=https://archive.org/details/worldinarmstimef00time/page/84}}{{cite book|last=K. Al-Rawi|first=Ahmed|title=Media Practice in Iraq.|year=2012|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=9780230354524|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AhMoMFuO--gC&q=armenia%20word%20banned%20abdul&pg=PA9|access-date=16 January 2013|page=9}} The Armenian population of Turkey was greatly reduced following the Hamidian massacres and the Armenian genocide, when over one and a half million Armenians, virtually the entire Armenian population of Anatolia, were massacred. Prior to the start of the Genocide in 1915, the Armenian population of Turkey numbered about 1,914,620.[http://www.armenian- history.com/books/Arm-pop-Ottoman-Emp.pdf THE POPULATION OF THE OTTOMAN ARMENIANS by Justin McCarthy] {{dead link|date=February 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}Raymond H. Kevorkian and Paul B. Paboudjian, Les Arméniens dans l'Empire Ottoman à la vielle du génocide, Ed. ARHIS, Paris, 1992 The Armenian community of the Ottoman Empire before the Armenian genocide had an estimated 2,300 churches and 700 schools (with 82,000 students).{{cite news|last=Bedrosyan|first=Raffi|title=Bedrosyan: Searching for Lost Armenian Churches and Schools in Turkey|url=http://www.armenianweekly.com/2011/08/01/searching-for-lost-armenian-churches-and-schools-in-turkey/|access-date=5 February 2013|newspaper=The Armenian Weekly|date=August 1, 2011}} This figure excludes churches and schools which belonged to the Protestant and Catholic Armenian parishes because the only churches and schools which were counted were the churches and schools which were under the jurisdiction of the Istanbul Armenian Patriarchate and the Apostolic Church. After the Armenian genocide however, it is estimated that 200,000 Armenians remained in Turkey.{{cite news|title=ONLY 200,000 ARMENIANS NOW LEFT IN TURKEY|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0815FA395D16738DDDAB0A94D8415B858DF1D3|access-date=5 February 2013|newspaper=New York Times|date=October 22, 1915}} Today there are an estimated 40,000 to 70,000 Armenians in Turkey, not including the Hamshenis.{{cite web |last=Turay |first=Anna |title=Tarihte Ermeniler |publisher=Bolsohays: Istanbul Armenians |url=http://www.bolsohays.com/webac.asp?referans=1 |access-date=2007-01-04}}{{cite news|url=http://www.taraf.com.tr/Yazar.asp?id=12 |access-date=2008-09-02 |title=Türk Ermenisiz, Ermeni Türksüz olmaz! |work=Taraf |first=Ayşe |last=Hür |date=2008-08-31 |quote=Sonunda nüfuslarını 70 bine indirmeyi başardık. |language=tr |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080902110745/http://www.taraf.com.tr/yazar.asp?id=12 |archive-date=2008-09-02 }}

During the Turkish Republican era, Armenians were subjected to many policies which were designed to abolish Armenian cultural heritage such as the Turkification of last names, Islamification, geographical name changes, confiscation of properties, change of animal names,{{cite news|title=Turkey renames 'divisive' animals|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4328285.stm|access-date=16 January 2013|newspaper=BBC|date=8 March 2005|quote=Animal name changes: Red fox known as Vulpes Vulpes Kurdistanica becomes Vulpes Vulpes. Wild sheep called Ovis Armeniana becomes Ovis Orientalis Anatolicus Roe deer known as Capreolus Capreolus Armenus becomes Capreolus Cuprelus Capreolus.}} changes of the names of Armenian historical figures (i.e. the name of the prominent Balyan family were concealed under an identity of a superficial Italian family called Baliani),{{cite news|title=Yiğidi öldürmek ama hakkını da vermek...|url=http://www.lraper.org/main.aspx?Action=DisplayNews&NewsCode=N000001527&Lang=TR|access-date=16 January 2013|newspaper=Lraper|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021094318/http://www.lraper.org/main.aspx?Action=DisplayNews&NewsCode=N000001527&Lang=TR|archive-date=21 October 2013}}{{cite news|title=Patrik II. Mesrob Hazretleri 6 Agustos 2006 Pazar|url=http://www.bolsohays.com/haberdetay-32339/patrik-ii-mesrob-hazretleri-6-agustos-2006-pazar-kumkapi-daki-surp-asdvadzadzin-meryem-ana-pat.html|access-date=16 January 2013|newspaper=Bolsohays News|date=August 7, 2006|language=tr}} and the change and distortion of Armenian historical events.{{cite book|editor-last=Hovannisian|editor-first=Richard G.|title=The Armenian genocide in perspective|url=https://archive.org/details/armeniangenocide00hova|url-access=registration|year=1991|publisher=Transaction|location=New Brunswick, NJ [u.a.]|isbn=9780887386367|edition=4. pr.}}

Today, the Armenians are mostly concentrated around Istanbul. The Armenians support their own newspapers and schools. The majority belong to the Armenian Apostolic faith, with much smaller numbers of Armenian Catholics and Armenian Evangelicals. The community currently functions 34,{{clarify|reason=34 what? Churches?|date=July 2016}} 18 schools, and 2 hospitals.

{{Main article|Assyrians in Turkey}}

Assyrians were once a large ethnic minority in the Ottoman Empire, but following the early 20th century Assyrian genocide, many were murdered, deported, or ended up emigrating. Those that remain live in small numbers in their indigenous South Eastern Turkey (although in larger numbers than other groups murdered in Armenian or Greek genocides) and Istanbul. They number around 30,000 and are part of the Syriac Orthodox Church, Chaldean Catholic Church and Church of the East.

{{Main article|Australians in Turkey}}

There are as many as 12,000 Australians in Turkey.{{Cite web

|url=http://www.southern-cross-group.org/archives/Statistics/Numbers_of_Australians_Overseas_in_2001_by_Region_Feb_2002.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720101723/http://www.southern-cross-group.org/archives/Statistics/Numbers_of_Australians_Overseas_in_2001_by_Region_Feb_2002.pdf|url-status=dead|title=Estimates of Australian citizens living overseas|archive-date=20 July 2008|website=southern-cross-group.org}} Of these, the overwhelming majority are in the capital Ankara (roughly 10,000) while the remaining are in Istanbul. Australian expatriates in Turkey form one of the largest overseas Australian groups in Europe and Asia. The vast majority of Australian nationals in Turkey are Turkish Australians.

{{Main article|Azerbaijanis in Turkey}}

It is hard to determine how many ethnic Azeris currently reside in Turkey because ethnicity is a rather fluid concept in this country.[https://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/turkey/turkey993-08.htm Human Rights Watch] 1999 Report on Turkey Up to 300,000 of Azeris who reside in Turkey are citizens of Azerbaijan.[http://www.azerbaijantoday.az:8101/life.html Life of Azerbaijanis in Turkey] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031229094340/http://www.azerbaijantoday.az:8101/Life.html |date=2003-12-29 }}. An interview with Sayyad Aran, Consul General of the Azerbaijan Republic to Istanbul. Azerbaijan Today In the Eastern Anatolia Region, Azeris are sometimes referred to as acem (see Ajam) or tat.{{in lang|tr}} [http://www.durna.eu/Arshiv/qarsli.htm Qarslı bir azərbaycanlının ürək sözləri]. Erol Özaydın They currently are the largest ethnic group in the city of Iğdır{{in lang|tr}} Iğdır Sevdası, Mücahit Özden Hun and second largest ethnic group in Kars.{{in lang|tr}} [http://www.milliyet.com.tr/2007/06/23/guncel/gun01.html KARS: AKP'nin kozu tarım desteği]. Milliyet. 23 June 2007. Retrieved 6 December 2008

{{Main article|Bosniaks in Turkey}}

Today, the existence of Bosniaks in the country is evident everywhere. In cities like Istanbul, Eskişehir, Ankara, İzmir, or Adana, one can easily find districts, streets, shops or restaurants with names such as Bosna, Yenibosna, Mostar, or Novi Pazar.{{cite journal|author=Bernard Lewis|title=The Emergence of Modern Turkey|journal=The Geographical Journal |date=1961 |volume=127 |issue=4 |page=87|doi=10.2307/1792817 |jstor=1792817 |bibcode=1961GeogJ.127..509B }} However, it is extremely difficult to estimate how many Bosniaks live in this country. Some Bosnian researchers believe that the number of Bosniaks in Turkey is about two million.{{Cite web |url=http://www.todayszaman.com/news-313388-the-impact-of-bosnians-on-the-turkish-stateby-karol-kujawa-.html |title=Today's Zaman, your gateway to Turkish daily news |access-date=2014-05-13 |archive-date=2014-05-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140514101712/http://www.todayszaman.com/news-313388-the-impact-of-bosnians-on-the-turkish-stateby-karol-kujawa-.html |url-status=dead }}

{{Main article|Britons in Turkey}}

There are at least 34,000 Britons in Turkey.{{Cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/in_depth/brits_abroad/html/europe.stm|title=BBC NEWS | Special Reports | Brits Abroad|website=news.bbc.co.uk|accessdate=18 February 2024}} They consist mainly of British citizens married to Turkish spouses, British Turks who have moved back into the country, students and families of long-term expatriates employed predominately in white-collar industry.{{Cite news|url=http://www.capital.com.tr/the-number-of-expats-has-reached-26000-haberler/20006.aspx|title=The Number Of Expats Has Reached 26,000|work=Capital|first=Hande|last=Yavuz|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110114013411/http://www.capital.com.tr/the-number-of-expats-has-reached-26000-haberler/20006.aspx|archive-date=2011-01-14}}

{{Main article|Bulgarians in Turkey}}

{{Further|Pomaks in Turkey}}

People identifying as Bulgarian include a large number of the Pomak and a small number of Orthodox Bulgarians.The Balkans, Minorities and States in Conflict (1993), Minority Rights Publication, by Hugh Poulton, p. 111.Richard V. Weekes; Muslim peoples: a world ethnographic survey, Volume 1; 1984; [https://books.google.com/books?id=aVdIAAAAMAAJ&q=%22pomaks+exist%22 p.612]Raju G. C. Thomas; Yugoslavia unraveled: sovereignty, self-determination, intervention; 2003, [https://books.google.com/books?id=9L6ZayN27PAC&dq=pomaks&pg=PA105 p.105]R. J. Crampton, Bulgaria, 2007, p.8Janusz Bugajski, Ethnic politics in Eastern Europe: a guide to nationality policies, organizations, and parties; 1995, [https://books.google.com/books?id=m_AcqFSfvzAC&dq=pomaks&pg=PA243 p.237] According to Ethnologue at present 300,000 Pomaks in European Turkey speak Bulgarian as their mother tongue.{{cite book|title=Ethnologue: Languages of the World|editor=Gordon, Raymond G. Jr.|publisher=SIL International|location=Dallas, Texas|year=2005|edition=Fifteenth|isbn=978-1-55671-159-6|url=http://www.ethnologue.com|chapter-url=http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=TRE|chapter=Languages of Turkey (Europe)}}

It is very hard to estimate the number of Pomaks along with the Turkified Pomaks who live in Turkey, as they have blended into the Turkish society and have been often linguistically and culturally dissimilated.{{cite news|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/h.php?news=trial-sheds-light-on-shades-of-turkey-2008-06-10 |title=Trial sheds light on shades of Turkey |date=2008-06-10 |newspaper=Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review |access-date=2011-03-23 |archive-date=2013-01-26 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130126211038/http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/h.php?news=trial-sheds-light-on-shades-of-turkey-2008-06-10 |url-status=dead }} According to Milliyet and Turkish Daily News reports, the number of Pomaks along with the Turkified Pomaks in the country is about 600,000.

{{cite web|url=http://www.milliyet.com.tr/default.aspx?aType=SonDakika&Kategori=yasam&ArticleID=873452&Date=07.06.2008&ver=16|title=Milliyet – Turkified Pomaks in Turkey|publisher=www.milliyet.com.tr|access-date=2011-02-08|language=tr}} According to the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Bulgarian Orthodox Christian community in Turkey stands at 500 members.{{Cite web |url=http://www.mfa.bg/bg/pages/view/5360 |title="Българската общност в Република Турция " |access-date=2011-10-19 |archive-date=2012-08-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120808034529/http://www.mfa.bg/bg/pages/view/5360 |url-status=dead }}

Turkey received refugees from among the Pakistan-based Kazakhs, Turkmen, Kirghiz, and Uzbeks numbering 3,800 originally from Afghanistan during the Soviet–Afghan War.{{cite book|title=News Review on South Asia and Indian Ocean|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B5AgAQAAMAAJ&q=kayseri+unhcr+pakistan|date=July 1982|publisher=Institute for Defence Studies & Analyses.|page=861}} Kayseri, Van, Amasra, Cicekdag, Gaziantep, Tokat, Urfa, and Serinvol received via Adana the Pakistan-based Kazakh, Turkmen, Kirghiz, and Uzbek refugees numbering 3,800 with UNHCR assistance.{{cite book|title=Problèmes politiques et sociaux|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pWWzAAAAIAAJ&q=kayseri+unhcr+pakistan|year=1982|publisher=Documentation française.|page=15}}

{{main article|Chechens in Turkey}}

Chechens in Turkey are Turkish citizens of Chechen descent and Chechen refugees living in Turkey. Chechens and Ingush live in the provinces of Istanbul, Kahramanmaraş, Mardin, Sivas, and Muş.{{Citation needed|date=February 2013}}

{{Main article|Circassians in Turkey}}

According to Milliyet, there are approximately 2.5 million Circassians in Turkey. According to the EU reports there are three to five million Circassians in Turkey.{{cite journal|author=Bernard Lewis|title=The Emergence of Modern Turkey|journal=The Geographical Journal |date=1961 |volume=127 |issue=4 |page=94|doi=10.2307/1792817 |jstor=1792817 |bibcode=1961GeogJ.127..509B }} The closely related ethnic groups Abazins (10,000{{cite web|title=Ethnologue: Abasinen|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=abq|access-date=20 November 2014|work=Ethnologue}}) and Abkhazians (39,000{{cite web|title=Ethnologue: Abchasen|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=abk|access-date=20 November 2014|work=Ethnologue}}) are also often counted among them. Circassians are a Caucasian immigrant people, and although the Circassians in Turkey were forced to forget their language and assimilate into Turkish, a small minority still speak their native Circassian languages as it is still spoken in many Circassian villages, and the group that preserved their language the best are the Kabardians.Papşu, Murat (2003). [http://www.kafkasfederasyonu.org/kultursanat/anadil/cerkes_dilleri.htm Çerkes dillerine genel bir bakış Kafkasya ve Türkiye] {{web archive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130610062416/http://www.kafkasfederasyonu.org/kultursanat/anadil/cerkes_dilleri.htm|date=10 June 2013}}. Nart Dergisi, Mart-Nisan 2003, Sayı:35 With the rise of Circassian nationalism in the 21st century, Circassians in Turkey, especially the young, have started to study and learn their language. The Circassians in Turkey are mostly Sunni Muslims of Hanafi madh'hab.Özsaray, Mustafa (20 Şubat 2012). Çerkeslerin İslamlaşması. İz Yayıncılık. ISBN 9789753558716. The largest association of Circassians in Turkey,[https://archive.today/20130417194013/http://adyghepsaleru.88.com1.ru/?p=18893 Адыгэхэм я щыгъуэ-щIэж махуэм къызэрагъэпэща пэкIур Тыркум гулъытэншэу къыщагъэнакъым]. 2012-06-09 (Çerkesçe) KAFFED, is the founding member of the International Circassian Association (ICA).{{cite web|url=http://www.kaffed.org/index.php/kaffed/ilkelerimiz.html|title=Kafkas Dernekleri Federasyonu İlkeleri|access-date=9 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130315112404/http://www.kaffed.org/index.php/kaffed/ilkelerimiz.html|archive-date=15 March 2013|url-status=dead}}

{{Main article|Crimean Tatars in Turkey}}

Before the 20th century, Crimean Tatars had immigrated from Crimea to Turkey in three waves: First, after the Russian annexation of Crimea in 1783; second, after the Crimean War of 1853–56; third, after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78.[https://books.google.com/books?id=xyxpAAAAMAAJ&q=EJ+Klay+Crimean Peter Alford Andrews, Rüdiger Benninghaus,Ethnic groups in the Republic of Turkey], Vol. 2, Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 1989, Wiesbaden, {{ISBN|3-88226-418-7}}, p. 87., Peter Alford Andrews, Türkiye'de Etnik Gruplar, ANT Yayınları, Aralık 1992, {{ISBN|975-7350-03-6}}, s.116–118. The official number{{Citation needed|date=February 2013}} of Crimean Tatars is 150,000 (in the center of Eskişehir) but the real population (in the whole of Turkey) may be a few million. They mostly live in Eskişehir Province{{Cite web|url=https://www.iccrimea.org/scholarly/jankowski.html|title=Crimean Tatars and Noghais in Turkey|website=www.iccrimea.org|accessdate=18 February 2024}} and Kazan-Ankara.

Various ethnic groups from Dagestan are present in Turkey. Dagestani peoples live in villages in the provinces like Balıkesir, Tokat and also scattered in other parts of the country. A majority among them are Nogais; Lezgins and Avars are other significant ethnic groups. Kumyks are also present.{{citation needed|date=September 2012}}

The Dom people, live mostly in Eastern Anatolia Region, also from Syria Dom Refugees came to Turkey.

Approximately 15,000 Dutch live in Turkey.{{cite web|url=http://www.cbs.nl/nr/exeres/E4FCE219-D72D-47C6-A867-7D7EC9ED0BF0.htm |title=CBS - One in eleven old age pensioners live abroad - Web magazine |access-date=2012-08-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205032945/http://www.cbs.nl/nr/exeres/E4FCE219-D72D-47C6-A867-7D7EC9ED0BF0.htm |archive-date=2012-02-05 }}

{{Main article|Filipinos in Turkey}}

There were 5,500 Filipinos in Turkey as of 2008, according to estimates by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas and the Philippine embassy in Ankara.{{cite news|url=http://www.gmanews.tv/story/185635/no-filipino-casualty-in-turkey-quake-dfa|title=No Filipino casualty in Turkey quake – DFA|work=GMA News|date=3 August 2010}} Out of those, most are recorded as maids and "overseas workers" employed in households of diplomatic communities and elite Turkish families.{{cite news|url=http://www.filamimage.com/articles/2009_091709embassy.html|title=PGMA off on a 3-nation swing|work=Pinoy Global Online News|date=2007|access-date=2018-12-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711001617/http://www.filamimage.com/articles/2009_091709embassy.html|archive-date=2011-07-11|url-status=dead}} Moreover, ten percent or approximately 500 Filipinos in Turkey are skilled workers and professionals working as engineers, architects, doctors and teachers. Most of the Filipinos reside in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Antalya and nearby surrounding areas.

{{Main article|Gagauz people}}

{{Main article|Georgians in Turkey}}

There are approximately 1 million people of Georgian ancestry in Turkey according to the newspaper Milliyet. Georgians in Turkey are mostly Sunni Muslims of Hanafi madh'hab. Immigrant Georgians are called "Chveneburi", but autochthonous Muslim Georgians use this term as well. Muslim Georgians form the majority in parts of Artvin Province east of the Çoruh River. Immigrant Muslim groups of Georgian origin, found scattered in Turkey, are known as Chveneburi. The smallest Georgian group are Catholics living in Istanbul.

{{Main article|Germans in Turkey}}

There are over 50,000 Germans living in Turkey, primarily Germans married to Turkish spouses, employees, retirees and long-term tourists who buy properties across the Turkish coastline, often spending most of the year in the country.{{cite web|first=Cem |last=Şentürk |url=http://www.turkofamerica.com/index.php?Itemid=174&id=177&option=com_content&task=view |title=The Germans in Turkey |publisher=Turkofamerica |date=2007-10-15 |access-date=2010-11-30}} In addition, many Turkish Germans have also returned and settled.

{{Main article|Greeks in Turkey|Pontic Greeks}}

{{Further|Pontus (region)}}

The Greeks constitute a population of Greek and Greek-speaking Eastern Orthodox Christians who mostly live in Istanbul, including its district Princes' Islands, as well as on the two islands of the western entrance to the Dardanelles: Imbros and Tenedos ({{langx|tr|Gökçeada}} and Bozcaada). Some Greek-speaking Byzantine Christians have been assimilated over the course of the last one thousand years.

They are the remnants of the estimated 200,000 Greeks who were permitted under the provisions of the Treaty of Lausanne to remain in Turkey following the 1923 population exchange,{{cite book|author=European Commission for Democracy through Law|title=The Protection of National Minorities by Their Kin-State|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bROQZazNy-UC&pg=PA142|access-date=2 February 2013|year=2002|publisher=Council of Europe|isbn=978-92-871-5082-0|page=142|quote=In Turkey the Orthodox minority who remained in Istanbul, Imvros and Tenedos governed by the same provisions of the treaty of Lausanne was gradually shrunk from more than 200,000 in 1930 to less than 3,000 today.}} which involved the forcible resettlement of approximately 1.5 million Greeks from Anatolia and East Thrace and of half a million Turks from all of Greece except for Western Thrace. After years of persecution (e.g. the Varlık Vergisi and the Istanbul Pogrom), emigration of ethnic Greeks from the Istanbul region greatly accelerated, reducing the 119,822

{{cite web |title=Η μειονότητα των Ορθόδοξων Χριστιανών στις επίσημες στατιστικές της σύγχρονης Τουρκίας και στον αστικό χώρο |trans-title=The minority of Orthodox Christians in the official statistics of modern Turkey and in the urban area |url=http://www.demography-lab.prd.uth.gr/DDAoG/article/cont/ergasies/tsilenis.htm |language=Greek |access-date=14 October 2023 |archive-date=9 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509003818/http://www.demography-lab.prd.uth.gr/DDAoG/article/cont/ergasies/tsilenis.htm |url-status=dead }} -strong Greek minority before the attack to about 7,000 by 1978.{{cite news|url=http://arsiv.sabah.com.tr/2008/09/07/haber,033E2E8B399A4A638FCD099591F11DD4.html|access-date=2008-12-25|title=Sermaye nasıl el değiştirdi?|first=Ecevit|last=Kilic|work=Sabah|language=tr|date=2008-09-07|quote=6–7 Eylül olaylarından önce İstanbul'da 135 bin Rum yaşıyordu. Sonrasında bu sayı 70 bine düştü. 1978'e gelindiğinde bu rakam 7 bindi.}} The 2008 figures released by the Turkish Foreign Ministry places the current number of Turkish citizens of Greek descent at the 3,000–4,000 mark.{{cite news|url=http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=161291|access-date=2008-12-15 |title=Foreign Ministry: 89,000 minorities live in Turkey |date=2008-12-15 |work=Today's Zaman |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100501063653/http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=161291 |archive-date=2010-05-01}}

According to Milliyet there are 15,000 Greeks in Turkey, while according to Human Rights Watch the Greek population in Turkey was estimated at 2,500 in 2006.Lois Whitman Denying Human Rights and Ethnic Identity: The Greeks of Turkey. Human Rights Watch, September 1, 1992 – 54 pages. Page 2 [https://books.google.com/books?id=SdubdhMwM1YC&q=greeks+in+turkey+human+rights+watch] According to the same source, the Greek population in Turkey was collapsing as the community was by then far too small to sustain itself demographically, due to emigration, much higher death rates than birth rates and continuing discrimination. In recent years however, most notably since the economic crisis in Greece, the trend has reversed. A few hundred to over a thousand Greeks now migrate to Turkey yearly for employment or educational purposes.[http://www.eurasianet.org/node/62990 Turkey: Istanbul's Greek Community Experiencing a Revival] (Eurasianet, 2 March 2011)[http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/jobseekers-from-greece-try-chances-in-istanbul.aspx?pageID=238&nid=11009 Jobseekers from Greece try chances in Istanbul] (Hurriyet Daily News, 9 January 2012)

Christian Greeks were forced to migrate as per the 1923 population exchange agreement. Muslim Greeks live in Turkey today. They live in cities of Trabzon and Rize. Pontic Greeks have Greek ancestry and speak the Pontic Greek dialect, a distinct form of the standard Greek language which, due to the remoteness of Pontus, has undergone linguistic evolution distinct from that of the rest of the Greek world. The Pontic Greeks had a continuous presence in the region of Pontus (modern-day northeastern Turkey), Georgia, and Eastern Anatolia from at least 700 BC until 1922.

Since 1924, the status of the Greek minority in Turkey has been ambiguous. Beginning in the 1930s, the government instituted repressive policies forcing many Greeks to emigrate. Examples are the labour battalions drafted among non-Muslims during World War II as well as the Fortune Tax levied mostly on non-Muslims during the same period. These resulted in financial ruination and death for many Greeks. The exodus was given greater impetus with the Istanbul Pogrom of September 1955 which led to thousands of Greeks fleeing the city, eventually reducing the Christian Greek population to about 7,000 by 1978 and to about 2,500 by 2006 before beginning to increase again after 2008.

There are 3000 so called Hindis in Turkey, ca. 1,850 in and around Istanbul and 250 in Ankara. The rest are spread all over the country. They are the descendants of Indian, Afghan, Uzbek - Sufi-Dervish travelers who settled in the 14th to 19th centuries in Ottoman Empire and established there several Sufi Lodges.{{cite web | url=https://www.dailysabah.com/opinion/op-ed/india-turkey-bound-together-by-sufi-connection | title=India-Turkey: Bound together by Sufi connection | Opinion | website=Daily Sabah | date=16 December 2021 }}{{cite web | url=https://www.booksonturkey.com/indian-cultural-heritage-in-turkey-indian-sufis-and-lodges-in-ottoman-geography/ | title=Indian Cultural Heritage in Turkey: Indian Sufis and Lodges in Ottoman Geography | date=2 January 2023 }}{{cite web | url=https://items.ssrc.org/from-our-fellows/hindis-in-istanbul-field-notes-on-the-making-of-an-archival-subject-2/ | title="Hindis" in Istanbul: Field Notes on the Making of an Archival Subject }}{{cite web | url=https://maktab.substack.com/p/the-indian-sufis-of-istanbul-between | title=The Indian Sufis of Istanbul: Between 1453-2023 | date=27 October 2023 }}{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44158302 | jstor=44158302 | title=The Hajj and the Hindi: The ascent of the Indian Sufi lodge in the Ottoman empire | last1=Choudhury | first1=Rishad | journal=Modern Asian Studies | date=2016 | volume=50 | issue=6 | pages=1888–1931 | doi=10.1017/S0026749X15000530 }}{{cite web | url=https://memorients.com/articles/the-mughals-of-ottoman-jerusalem | title=The Mughals of Ottoman Jerusalem }}

{{Main article|Iranian diaspora}}

Shireen Hunter noted in a 2010 publication that there were 500,000 Iranians residing in Turkey.{{cite book |last1=Hunter |first1=Shireen |author-link=Shireen Hunter|title=Iran's Foreign Policy in the Post-Soviet Era: Resisting the New International Order |date=2010 |publisher=ABC-CLIO | page=160|isbn=9780313381942 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wLtA_J3VUt4C&pg=PA160}}

{{Main article|History of the Jews in Turkey}}

{{Further|Antisemitism in Turkey}}

There have been Jewish communities in Asia Minor since at least the 5th century BC and many Spanish and Portuguese Jews expelled from Spain came to the Ottoman Empire (including regions part of modern Turkey) in the late 15th century. Despite emigration during the 20th century, modern-day Turkey continues to have a small Jewish population of about 20,000.

Karachay people live in villages concentrated in Konya and Eskişehir.

There are about 30,000 Kazakh people living in Zeytinburnu-Istanbul. It is known that there are Kazakh people in other parts of Turkey, for instance Manisa, Konya. In 1969 and 1954 Kazakhs migrated into Anatolia's Salihli, Develi and Altay regions.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RCkkAQAAIAAJ&q=kayseri+diaspora+pakistan |title=Espace populations sociétés |publisher=Université des sciences et techniques de Lille, U.E.R. de géographie |year=2006 |page=174}} Turkey became home to refugee Kazakhs.{{cite book |author=Andrew D. W. Forbes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IAs9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA156 |title=Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: A Political History of Republican Sinkiang 1911–1949 |date=9 October 1986 |publisher=CUP Archive |isbn=978-0-521-25514-1 |pages=156–}}{{cite book |author=Andrew D. W. Forbes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IAs9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA236 |title=Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: A Political History of Republican Sinkiang 1911-1949 |date=9 October 1986 |publisher=CUP Archive |isbn=978-0-521-25514-1 |pages=236–}} The Kazakh Turks Foundation (Kazak Türkleri Vakfı) is an organization of Kazakhs in Turkey.{{cite web |title=Kazak Türkleri Vakfı Resmi Web Sayfası |url=http://www.kazakturklerivakfi.org/index.php?limitstart=118 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160913180046/http://www.kazakturklerivakfi.org/index.php?limitstart=118 |archive-date=2016-09-13 |website=Kazak Türkleri Vakfı Resmi Web Sayfası}} Kazakhs in Turkey came via Pakistan and Afghanistan.{{cite book |author=Dru C. Gladney |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mzxSNM3_vCEC&pg=PA184 |title=Dislocating China: Muslims, Minorities, and Other Subaltern Subjects |date=1 April 2004 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-29776-7 |pages=184–}} Kazak Kültür Derneği (Kazakh Culture Associration) is a Kazakh diaspora organization in Turkey.{{cite web |title=Kazak Kültür Derneği |url=http://www.kazakkultur.org/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120620215736/http://www.kazakkultur.org/ |archive-date=20 June 2012}}

{{Main article|Kurds in Turkey|Turkish Kurdistan}}

{{Further|Human rights of Kurdish people in Turkey}}

File:Kurdish population by region (KONDA 2010).pngFile:Kurdish mother & child Van 1973.jpg

Ethnic Kurds are the largest minority in Turkey, composing around 20% of the population according to Milliyet, 19% of the total populace or c. 14 million people according to the CIA World Factbook, and as much as 23% according to Kurdologist David McDowall.CIA World Factbook: [https://web.archive.org/web/20210110073821/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/turkey Turkey]David McDowall. A Modern History of the Kurds. Third Edition. I.B.Tauris, May 14, 2004 – 504 pages, page 3. Unlike the Turks, the Kurds speak an Iranian language. There are Kurds living all over Turkey, but most live to the east and southeast of the country, from where they originate.

In the 1930s, Turkish government policy aimed to forcibly assimilate and Turkify local Kurds. Since 1984, Kurdish resistance movements included both peaceful political activities for basic civil rights for Kurds within Turkey, and violent armed rebellion for a separate Kurdish state.{{cite web |date=2007-03-22 |title=Kurdistan-Turkey |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/kurdistan-turkey.htm |access-date=2007-03-28 |work=GlobalSecurity.org}}

Turkey's Lake Van area is the home of Kyrgyz refugees from Afghanistan.{{cite book |author=Lonely Planet |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3DWvAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT29 |title=Great Adventures |date=1 June 2014 |publisher=Lonely Planet Publications |isbn=978-1-74360-102-0}} Turkey became a destination for Kyrgyz refugees due to the Soviet–Afghan War from Afghanistan's Wakhan area{{cite journal |last=Finkel |first=Michael |date=February 2013 |title=Wakhan Corridor |url=http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/02/wakhan-corridor/finkel-text |url-status=dead |journal=National Geographic |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130119071212/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/02/wakhan-corridor/finkel-text |archive-date=19 January 2013 |access-date=30 August 2016}} 500 remained and did not go to Turkey with the others.{{cite book |author=David J. Phillips |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=54gyRnhIugkC&pg=PA314 |title=Peoples on the Move: Introducing the Nomads of the World |publisher=William Carey Library |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-87808-352-7 |pages=314–}} Friendship and Culture Society of Kyrgyzstan (Кыргызстан Достук жана Маданият Коому) (Kırgızistan Kültür ve Dostluk Derneği Resmi Sitesi) is a Kyrgyz diaspora organization in Turkey.{{cite web |title=Kırgızistan Dostluk ve Kültür Derneği Resmi Sitesi |url=http://www.kyrgyzstan.org.tr/tr.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131008052336/http://www.kyrgyzstan.org.tr/tr.html |archive-date=2013-10-08 |website=Кыргызстан Достук жана Маданият Коому (Kırgızistan Kültür ve Dostluk Derneği Resmi Sitesi)}}

They were airlifted in 1982 from Pakistan where they had sought refugee after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan at the end of 1979. Their original home was at the eastern end of the Wakhan Corridor, in the Pamirs, bordering on China. It is not known how many Kyrgyz still live in Van and how many have moved on to other parts of Turkey.

{{Main article|Laz people in Turkey}}

Most Laz people today live in Turkey, but the Laz minority group has no official status in Turkey. The Laz are Sunni Muslims. Only a minority are bilingual in Turkish and their native Laz language which belongs to the Kartvelian group. The number of the Laz speakers is decreasing, and is now limited chiefly to the Rize and Artvin areas. The historical term Lazistan — formerly referring to a narrow tract of land along the Black Sea inhabited by the Laz as well as by several other ethnic groups — has been banned from official use and replaced with Doğu Karadeniz (which also includes Trabzon). During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, the Muslim population of Russia near the war zones was subjected to ethnic cleansing; many Lazes living in Batumi fled to the Ottoman Empire, settling along the southern Black Sea coast to the east of Samsun.

{{Main article|Levantines (Latin Christians)|Turkish Levantine}}

Levantines continue to live in Istanbul (mostly in the districts of Galata, Beyoğlu and Nişantaşı), İzmir (mostly in the districts of Karşıyaka, Bornova and Buca), and the lesser port city Mersin where they had been influential for creating and reviving a tradition of opera.[http://www.radikal.com.tr/haber.php?haberno=222567 Mersin'in bahanesi yok] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019125610/http://www.radikal.com.tr/haber.php?haberno=222567 |date=2012-10-19 }}, Radikal, 26 May 2007 Famous people of the present-day Levantine community in Turkey include Maria Rita Epik, Franco-Levantine Caroline Giraud Koç and Italo-Levantine Giovanni Scognamillo.

The Lom people live in the Black sea Region, and in Kars, Ardahan, and Artvin. They are also named as Poşa, they speak Lomavren .

Around 5,000 Muslim Megleno-Romanians live in Turkey.{{cite journal |last=Kahl |first=Thede |author-link=Thede Kahl |year=2006 |title=The Islamisation of the Meglen Vlachs (Megleno-Romanians): The Village of Nânti (Nótia) and the "Nântinets" in Present-Day Turkey |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/nationalities-papers/article/abs/islamisation-of-the-meglen-vlachs-meglenoromanians-the-village-of-nanti-notia-and-the-nantinets-in-presentday-turkey/5F6519A83C83DD0B9728A22F58100384 |journal=Nationalities Papers |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=71–90 |doi=10.1080/00905990500504871 |s2cid=161615853}}

There is a community of Meskhetian Turks (Ahiska Turks) in Turkey.{{cite web |url=http://www.ahiska.org.tr/ |website=BİZİM AHISKA DERGİSİ WEB SAYFASI |language=Turkish |title=AHISKA TURKS |access-date=14 October 2023}}

{{Main article|Ossetians in Turkey}}

Ossetians emigrated from North Ossetia since the second half of the 19th century, end of Caucasian War. Today, the majority of them live in Ankara and Istanbul. There are 24 Ossetian villages in central and eastern Anatolia. The Ossetians in Turkey are divided into three major groups, depending on their history of immigration and ensuing events: those living in Kars (Sarıkamış) and Erzurum, those in Sivas, Tokat and Yozgat and those in Muş and Bitlis.[http://www.worldbulletin.net/author_article_print.php?id=1804 World Bulletin] {{dead link|date=February 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}

There are only 4,000 ethnic Poles in Turkey who have been assimilated{{Citation needed|date=February 2013}} into the main Turkish culture. The immigration did start during the Partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Józef Bem was one of the first immigrants and Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski founded Polonezköy in 1842. Most Poles in Turkey live in Polonezköy, Istanbul.

{{Main article|Roma in Turkey}}

The Roma in Turkey number approximately 700,000 according to Milliyet. Sulukule is the oldest Roma settlement in Europe. By different Turkish and Non-Turkish estimates the number of Romani is up to 4 or 5 million"Türkiye’deki Çingene nüfusu tam bilinmiyor.[http://webarsiv.hurriyet.com.tr/2005/05/08/639714.asp Article from Hürryet] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091007144251/http://webarsiv.hurriyet.com.tr/2005/05/08/639714.asp |date=7 October 2009 }}Romani, according to latest estimations of some experts, number between 4 and 5 million. [http://www.erionet.org/site/basic100094.html European Roma Information Office] while according to a Turkish source, they are only 0.05% of Turkey's population (or roughly persons).{{cite web |title=toplumsal yapı araştırması 2006 |quote="Bu düzenlemeyle ortaya çıkan tabloda Türkiye’de yetişkinlerin (18 yaş ve üstündekilerin) etnik kimliklerin dağılımı ... % 0,05 Roman ... şeklindedir." |url=http://www.konda.com.tr/html/dosyalar/ttya_tr.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101030012326/http://konda.com.tr/html/dosyalar/ttya_tr.pdf |archive-date=2010-10-30 |access-date=2023-10-14}} The descendants of the Ottoman Roma today are known as Xoraxane Roma and are of the Islamic faith.Elena Marushiakova, Veselin Popov (2001) "Gypsies in the Ottoman Empire", {{ISBN|1902806026}}University of Hertfordshire Press

• Original: Елена Марушиакова, Веселин Попов (2000) "Циганите в Османската империя". Литавра, София (Litavra Publishers, Sofia).{{in lang|bg}}

{{Main article|Russians in Turkey}}

Russians in Turkey number about 50,000 citizens.«Получить точные статистические данные относительно численности соотечественников в Турции не представляется возможным… в целом сегодня можно говорить примерно о 50 тыс. проживающих в Турции россиян». // Интервью журналу «Консул» № 4 /19/, декабрь 2009 года [http://www.mid.ru/ns_publ.nsf/cb8e241d18a8904ec3256fc7002ddc0e/a26c797ba51042d2c32576800031670a?OpenDocument на сайте МИД РФ] Russians began migrating to Turkey during the first half of the 1990s. Most were fleeing the economic problems prevalent after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. During this period, many Russian immigrants intermarried and assimilated with Turkish locals, giving rise to a rapid increase in mixed marriages. There is a Russian Association of Education, Culture and Cooperation which aims to expand Russian language and culture in Turkey as well as promote the interests of the community.

{{Main article|Serbs in Turkey}}

In the 1965 Census 6,599 Turkish citizen spoke Serbian as a first language and another 58,802 spoke Serbian as a second language.Demographics of Turkey#1965 census

{{Main article|Turkish Cypriots}}

Turkish Cypriots or Cypriot Turks are a group of Turks that arrived in Turkey in different waves from 1878 to the current. Currently the Turkish Cypriot population is estimated to be between the 300,000 to over 650,000.

{{See also|Turkistan Islamic Party}}

Turkey is home to 50,000 Uyghurs.{{cite news |date=April 9, 2015 |title=ISIL recruits Chinese with fake Turkish passports from Istanbul |url=http://national.bgnnews.com/isil-recruits-chinese-with-fake-turkish-passports-from-istanbul-haberi/4968 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925213242/http://national.bgnnews.com/isil-recruits-chinese-with-fake-turkish-passports-from-istanbul-haberi/4968 |archive-date=September 25, 2015 |newspaper=BGNNews.com |location=Istanbul}} A community of Uyghurs live in Turkey.{{cite news |last=Blanchard |first=Ben |date=July 11, 2015 |title=China says Uighurs being sold as 'cannon fodder' for extremist groups |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-turkey-idUSKCN0PL08520150711 |newspaper=Reuters |location=BEIJING}}{{cite news |date=July 11, 2015 |title=Uyghurs sold as 'cannon fodder' for extremist groups: China |url=https://asiatimes.com/2015/07/uyghurs-being-sold-as-cannon-fodder-for-extremist-groups-china/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200221011636/https://asiatimes.com/2015/07/uyghurs-being-sold-as-cannon-fodder-for-extremist-groups-china/ |archive-date=February 21, 2020 |newspaper=Asia Times}} Kayseri received Uyghurs numbering close to 360 via the UNHCR in 1966–1967 from Pakistan.{{cite book |author1=Yitzhak Shichor |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IR4tAQAAIAAJ&q=kayseri+unhcr+pakistan |title=Ethno-diplomacy, the Uyghur hitch in Sino-Turkish relations |author2=East-West Center |publisher=East-West Center |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-932728-80-4 |page=16}} The Turkey-based Uyghur diaspora had a number of family members among Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan based Uyghurs who stayed behind while the UNHCR and government of Turkey had Kayseri receive 75 Uyghurs in 1967 and 230 Uyghurs in 1965 and a number in 1964 under Alptekin and Bughra.{{cite book |author1=Barbara Pusch |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yFYOAQAAMAAJ&q=kayseri+unhcr+pakistan |title=Facetten internationaler Migration in die Türkei: gesellschaftliche Rahmenbedingungen und persönliche Lebenswelten |author2=Tomas Wilkoszewski |publisher=Ergon-Verlag |year=2008 |isbn=978-3-89913-647-0 |page=221}} We never call each other Uyghur, but only refer to ourselves as East Turkestanis, or Kashgarlik, Turpanli, or even Turks.- according to some Uyghurs born in Turkey.{{cite book |author=Dru C. Gladney |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mzxSNM3_vCEC&q=central+asian+features+turkish+popular+blood&pg=PA183 |title=Dislocating China: Muslims, Minorities, and Other Subaltern Subjects |date=1 April 2004 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-29776-7 |pages=183–}}{{cite book |author1=Touraj Atabaki |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KwZpAAAAMAAJ&q=central+asian+features+turkish+popular+blood |title=Post-Soviet Central Asia |author2=John O'Kane |date=15 October 1998 |publisher=I. B. Tauris |isbn=978-1-86064-327-9 |page=305}}

A community of Uyghurs live in Istanbul.{{citation needed|date=June 2019}} Tuzla and Zeytinburnu mosques are used by the Uyghurs in Istanbul.{{cite book |author=S. Frederick Starr |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XuvqBgAAQBAJ&q=community+mosques+zeytinburnu&pg=PA391 |title=Xinjiang: China's Muslim Borderland |date=4 March 2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-45137-2 |pages=391–}}{{cite book |author1=J. Craig Jenkins |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fm-ZG42HZgwC&q=community+mosques+zeytinburnu&pg=PA108 |title=Identity Conflicts: Can Violence be Regulated? |author2=Esther E. Gottlieb |date=31 December 2011 |publisher=Transaction Publishers |isbn=978-1-4128-0924-5 |pages=108–}} Piety is a characteristic of among Turkey dwelling Uyghurs.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7oKvcP_FFTYC&q=Istanbul+community+mosques+zeytinburnu |title=Exploring the Nature of Uighur Nationalism: Freedom Fighters Or Terrorists? : Hearing Before the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundred Eleventh Congress, First Session, June 16, 2009 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |year=2009 |page=52}}{{cite book |author=United States. Congress. House. Committee on Foreign Affairs. Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gpqOZyk2yUUC&q=community+mosques+zeytinburnu |title=Exploring the nature of Uighur nationalism: freedom fighters or terrorists? : hearing before the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundred Eleventh Congress, first session, June 16, 2009 |publisher=U.S. G.P.O. |year=2009 |isbn=9780160843945 |page=52}}

Istanbul's districts of Küçükçekmece, Sefaköy and Zeytinburnu are home to Uyghur communities.{{cite news |date=8 January 2015 |title=Uygur Ajan Rabia Kadir, Doğu Türkistanlı Mücahidleri İhbar Etti |url=http://www.islahhaber.net/uygur-ajan-rabia-kadir--dogu-turkistanli-mucahidleri-ihbar-etti-42554.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160203131834/http://www.islahhaber.net/uygur-ajan-rabia-kadir--dogu-turkistanli-mucahidleri-ihbar-etti-42554.html |archive-date=3 February 2016 |access-date=31 August 2016 |newspaper=ISLAH HABER "Özgür Ümmetin Habercisi"}} Eastern Turkistan Education and Solidarity Association is located in Turkey.{{cite journal |last1=Zenn |first1=Jacob |date=10 October 2014 |title=An Overview of Chinese Fighters and Anti-Chinese Militant Groups in Syria and Iraq |url=http://www.jamestown.org/regions/middleeast/single/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=42944&tx_ttnews[backPid]=49&cHash=266cbf52f118868715823bbffd809caf#.VX3kqEZGR9g |url-status=dead |journal=China Brief |publisher=The Jamestown Foundation |volume=14 |issue=19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150618235954/http://www.jamestown.org/regions/middleeast/single/?tx_ttnews#.VX3p_EZGR9g |archive-date=18 June 2015 |access-date=14 June 2015}} Abdurahmon Abdulahad of the East Turkistan Education Association supported Uzbek Islamists who protested against Russia and Islam Karimov's Uzbekistan government.{{cite web |last1=YoSIN |first1=Muhammad |date=2015-11-01 |title=Истанбулда Туркистонлик муҳожирларга қилинаётган қотилликларга қарши норозилик намойиши бўлди (Kирил ва Лотинда) |url=http://turkistanlilar.org/%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B1%D1%83%D0%BB%D0%B4%D0%B0-%D1%82%D1%83%D1%80%D0%BA%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BA-%D0%BC%D1%83%D2%B3%D0%BE%D0%B6%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B3/ |website=Uluslararası Türkistanlılar Dayanışma Derneği}} Uyghurs are employed in Küçükçekmece and Zeytinburnu restaurants.{{cite news |date=29 November 2015 |title=China entered into Istanbul, Turkey with her 150 Spies |url=http://www.doguturkistanbulteni.com/2015/11/29/china-entered-into-istanbulturkey-with-her-150-spies/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160119103212/http://www.doguturkistanbulteni.com/2015/11/29/china-entered-into-istanbulturkey-with-her-150-spies/ |archive-date=19 January 2016 |newspaper=EAST TURKESTAN BULLETIN NEWS AGENT/ News Center}}{{cite news |date=20 November 2015 |title=Çin İstihbaratı, 150 Ajan İle İstanbul'a Giriş Yaptı |url=http://www.doguturkistanbulteni.com/2015/11/20/cin-istihbarati150-ajani-ile-istanbula-giris-yapti/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151128040543/http://www.doguturkistanbulteni.com/2015/11/20/cin-istihbarati150-ajani-ile-istanbula-giris-yapti/ |archive-date=28 November 2015 |newspaper=DOĞU TÜRKİSTAN BÜLTENİ HABER AJANSI / Haber Merkezi}} East Turkistan Immigration Association,{{cite web |title=Doğu Türkistan Göçmenler Derneği, türkistan, dogu turkistan |url=http://www.doguturkistan.com.tr/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508011959/http://www.doguturkistan.com.tr/ |archive-date=2016-05-08 |access-date=2016-09-01 |website=DOĞU TÜRKİSTAN GÖÇMENLER DERNEĞİ}} East Turkistan Culture and Solidarity Association,{{cite web |title=|| Gökbayrak Dergisi |url=http://www.gokbayrak.com/# |website=Doğu Türkistan Kültür ve Dayanışma Derneği Genel Merkezi}} and Eastern Turkistan Education and Solidarity Association are Uyghur diaspora organizations in Turkey.{{cite web |title=Doğu Türkistan Maarif Derneği |url=http://maarip.org/tr/ |website=Doğu Türkistan Maarif ve Dayanışma Derneği}}

Turkey is home to 45,000 Uzbeks.[http://evrenpasakoyu.wordpress.com Evrenpaşa Köyü | Güney Türkistan'dan Anadoluya Urfa Ceylanpınar Özbek Türkleri] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190623021104/http://evrenpasakoyu.wordpress.com/|date=2019-06-23}}. Evrenpasakoyu.wordpress.com. Retrieved on 2013-07-12. In the 1800s Konya's north Bogrudelik was settled by Tatar Bukharlyks. In 1981 Afghan Turkestan refugees in Pakistan moved to Turkey to join the existing Kayseri, Izmir, Ankara, and Zeytinburnu based communities. Turkish based Uzbeks have established links to Saudi-based Uzbeks.{{cite journal |last=Balcı |first=Bayram |date=Winter 2004 |title=The Role of the Pilgrimage in Relations between Uzbekistan and the Uzbek Community of Saudi Arabia |url=https://cess.memberclicks.net/assets/cesr2/CESR3/article%203%20v3n1.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Central Eurasian Studies Review |volume=3 |issue=1 |page=17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304045534/https://cess.memberclicks.net/assets/cesr2/CESR3/article%203%20v3n1.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2016 |access-date=30 August 2016}}

The Patriyotlar in Turkey are ethnic Macedonians (Greeks) of Bektashi Order.{{cite web |title=Folk songs |url=https://www.oeaw.ac.at/de/vlach/collections/greek-varieties/macedonian-greek/video-collection/folk-songs//}}., they converted to Islam during the time of the Ottoman empire, once lived in the Sanjak of Serfiğe. Because of their pro-Turkish attitude, at the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922), this Group of Vallahades were called Patriyotlar (Vatanseverler), sometimes called as "Rumyöz". At the Population exchange between Greece and Turkey in 1923, they moved to Turkey and settled in Edirne, Lüleburgaz, Çorlu and Büyükçekmece in East Thrace and Samsun and Manisa in Anatolia.{{cite web |date=5 January 2020 |title=Patriyotlar Kısa Belgesel (Elbasan) - YouTube |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IitfYvD9Qw0// |website=YouTube}} The first Generation only speak Greek and not Turkish, yet their descendants speak Turkish.{{cite web |date=8 May 2016 |title=Trakya'da Az Bilinen Etnik Bir Grup; PATRİYOTLAR – Trakya Gezi |url=https://www.trakyagezi.com/trakyada-az-bilinen-etnik-bir-grup-patriyotlar//}}

{{Main article|Zaza people}}

The Zazas are a people in eastern Turkey who natively speak the Zaza language.Tahta, Selahattin 2002: Ursprung und Entwicklung der Zaza-Nationalbewegung im Lichte ihrer politischen und literarischen Veröffentlichungen. Unpublished Master Thesis. Berlin. Their heartland, the Dersim region, consists of Tunceli, Bingöl provinces and parts of Elazığ, Erzincan and Diyarbakır provinces.{{Cite web |url=https://zaza-democratic-movement.com/english |title=Zaza people and Zaza language |access-date=2020-04-29 |archive-date=2019-01-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190131211118/https://zaza-democratic-movement.com/english |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.calameo.com/read/001695923509c0f9c7096|title=Malmisanıj - Kırd, Kırmanc, Dımıli veya Zaza Kürtleri|website=calameo.com|accessdate=18 February 2024}} Their language Zazaki is a language spoken in eastern Anatolia between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. It belongs to the northwest-Iranian group of the Iranian language branch of the Indo-European language family. The Zaza language is related to Kurdish, Persian and Balōchi. An exact indication of the number of Zaza speakers is unknown. Internal Zaza sources estimate the total number of Zaza speakers at 3 to 6 million.ıdır EREN, “Dil İle İnsan Sferi Arasındaki İlişkiAndrews, Peter Alford 1989: Ethnic Groups in the Republic of Turkey. Wiesbaden

{{Main article|Religion in Turkey}}

{{See also|Freedom of religion in Turkey}}

In Turkey, atheism is the biggest group after Islam. The percentage of atheists according to polls apparently rose from about 2% in 2012{{cite web |url=http://www.wingia.com/web/files/news/14/file/14.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2015-11-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021065544/http://www.wingia.com/web/files/news/14/file/14.pdf |archive-date=2013-10-21 }} to approximately 3% in 2018 KONDA Survey.{{Cite web|url=https://tr.euronews.com/2019/01/03/konda-nin-toplumsal-degisim-raporuna-gore-turkiye-de-inancsizlik-yukseliste|title = KONDA Toplumsal Değişim Raporu: Türkiye'de inançsızlık yükselişte|date = 3 January 2019}}

File:House-Bahaullah-Edirne.jpg stayed in, Edirne]]

{{Main article|Bahá'í Faith in Turkey}}

Turkish cities Edirne and Istanbul are in the holy places of this religion. Estimate Bahá'í population in Turkey is 10,000 (2008) {{Cite web|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2008/108476.htm|title=Turkey|website=U.S. Department of State|accessdate=18 February 2024}}

{{Main|Christianity in the Ottoman Empire|Christianity in Turkey}}

{{Further|Persecution of Christians#Turkey}}

File:Istanbul asv2021-11 img71 StAnthony of Padua Church.jpg in Istanbul.]]

Christianity has a long history in Anatolia which, nowadays part of the Republic of Turkey's territory, was the birthplace of numerous Christian Apostles and Saints, such as Apostle Paul of Tarsus, Timothy, St. Nicholas of Myra, St. Polycarp of Smyrna and many others. Two out of the five centers (Patriarchates) of the ancient Pentarchy were located in present-day Turkey: Constantinople (Istanbul) and Antioch (Antakya). All of the first seven Ecumenical Councils which are recognized by both the Western and Eastern churches were held in present-day Turkey. Of these, the Nicene Creed, declared with the First Council of Nicaea (İznik) in 325, is of utmost importance and has provided the essential definitions of present-day Christianity.

In 2022, Christians were seen as being 0.2% of the population. Estimates included 90,000 Armenian Orthodox, 25,000 Roman Catholics, 25,000 Syrian Orthodox, 150,000 Eastern Orthodox (largely due to an influx of an estimated 60,000 Russians and 40,000 Ukrainians), 2,000-3,500 Armenian Catholics, fewer than 3,000 Chaldean Christians, 7,000 to 10,000 members of Protestant and evangelical Christian, fewer than 2,500 Greek Orthodox and small groups of Bulgarian Orthodox and Georgian Orthodox Christians.{{Cite web|url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-report-on-international-religious-freedom/turkey/|title=Turkey (Türkiye)|accessdate=18 February 2024}}

File:Agia Triada Greek Orthodox Church, İstanbul.jpg in Beyoğlu, Istanbul]]

{{Main article|Eastern Orthodox Christianity in Turkey}}

Orthodox Christianity forms a tiny minority in Turkey, comprising far less than one tenth of one percent of the entire population. The provinces of Istanbul and Hatay, which includes Antakya, are the main centres of Turkish Christianity, with comparatively dense Christian populations, though they are very small minorities. The main variant of Christianity present in Turkey is the Eastern Orthodox branch, focused mainly in the Greek Orthodox Church.

{{Main article|Catholic Church in Turkey}}

File:Tarsus Ecclesia Sancti Pauli Apostoli.jpg

There are around 35,000 Catholics, constituting 0.05% of the population. The faithful are of the Latin Church, Melkite Greek Catholic Church, Armenian Catholic Church, Syriac Catholic Church, and Chaldean Catholic Church. Most Latin Catholics are Levantines of mainly Italian or French background, although a few are ethnic Turks (who are usually converts via marriage to Levantines or other non-Turkish Catholics). Byzantine, Armenian, Syriac, and Chaldean Catholics are generally members of the Greek (and Syrian), Armenian, Syrian, and Assyrian minority groups respectively. Turkey's Catholics are concentrated in Istanbul.{{Citation needed|date=February 2013}}

In February 2006, Catholic priest Andrea Santoro, an Italian missionary working in Turkey for 10 years, was shot twice at his church near the Black Sea.{{cite web|date=February 6, 2006 |title=Priest's killing shocks Christians in Turkey |work=Catholic World News |url=http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=42255 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060211165101/http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=42255 |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 11, 2006 |access-date=2006-06-26 }} He had written a letter to the Pope asking him to visit Turkey.{{cite web | date= February 9, 2006| title=Priest Slain in Turkey Had Sought Pope Visit | website=The New York Times | agency=Reuters | url=https://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/09/international/europe/09vatican.html&OQ=_rQ3D1Q26nQ3DTopQ252fReferenceQ252fTimesQ2520TopicsQ252fOrganizationsQ252fRQ252fRomanQ2520CatholicQ2520ChurchQ2520&OP=789afff8Q2FQ3DQ2AdUQ3DcN_PQ27NNibQ3Db77(Q3D7bQ3D7TQ3DQ24aidQ27auiQ24NauxQ3DdSQ27NQ3FdQ3D7TQ5DuiQ24_ua2Q7CiQ51x | access-date=2006-06-26}} Pope Benedict XVI visited Turkey in November 2006.{{cite web | date= February 9, 2006| title= Confirmed: Pope to visit Turkey in November | work=Catholic World News | url=http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=42328 | access-date=2006-06-26}} Relations had been rocky since Pope Benedict XVI had stated his opposition to Turkey joining the European Union.{{cite web | author=Donovan, Jeffrey | date= April 20, 2005| title= World: New Pope Seen As Maintaining Roman Catholic Doctrinal Continuity | work=Radio Free Europe | url=http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/04/b1b15b4e-bf68-4fc8-bd03-c6552f9d067a.html | access-date=2006-06-26}} The Council of Catholic Bishops met with the Turkish prime minister in 2004 to discuss restrictions and difficulties such as property issues.{{cite web | date= September 15, 2004| title=Turkey | work=International Religious Freedom Report 2004| url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2004/35489.htm | access-date=2006-06-26}} More recently, Bishop Luigi Padovese, on June 6, 2010, the Vicar Apostolic of Turkey, was killed.

{{Main article|Protestantism in Turkey}}

Protestants comprise far less than one tenth of one percent of the population of Turkey, or less than 10,000 people. Even so, there is an Alliance of Protestant Churches in Turkey.{{cite web|title=World Evangelical Alliance |url=http://www.worldevangelicalalliance.com/members/europe.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203003227/http://www.worldevangelicalalliance.com/members/europe.htm |archive-date=2013-12-03 }}{{cite web|title=German Site on Christians in Turkey |url=http://www.kirche-in-not.de/01_aktuelles/meldungen_2006_tuerkische_christen_fuer_eu_beitritt.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928002647/http://www.kirche-in-not.de/01_aktuelles/meldungen_2006_tuerkische_christen_fuer_eu_beitritt.php |url-status=dead |archive-date=2007-09-28 }}

The constitution of Turkey recognizes freedom of religion for individuals. The Armenian Protestants own three Istanbul Churches from the 19th century.

On 4 November 2006, a Protestant place of worship was attacked with six Molotov cocktails.{{cite news | title=Christian Persecution Info | newspaper=Christian Persecution Information | date=10 November 2006 | url=http://www.christianpersecution.info/news/turkey-attackers-firebomb-protestant-church/ }}

Turkish media have criticized Christian missionary activity intensely.{{cite web | title=Christianity Today | url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/juneweb-only/32.0b.html/ }}

There is an ethnic Turkish Protestant Christian community most of them came from recent Muslim Turkish backgrounds, rather than from ethnic minorities.{{Cite web|url=https://www.christiancentury.org/article/2011-03/turkish-protestants-still-face-long-path-religious-freedom|title=Turkish Protestants still face "long path" to religious freedom|website=The Christian Century|accessdate=18 February 2024}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/|title=Turkish News - Latest News from Turkey|website=Hürriyet Daily News|accessdate=18 February 2024}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6gajAgAAQBAJ&dq=turkish+protestant+muslim&pg=PA93|title=Muslim Nationalism and the New Turks: Updated Edition|first=Jenny|last=White|date=27 April 2014|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-5125-6 |accessdate=18 February 2024|via=Google Books}}{{Cite web |url=http://churchinchains.ie/node/743 |title=TURKEY: Protestant church closed down |access-date=2014-10-12 |archive-date=2016-08-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822005706/http://churchinchains.ie/node/743 |url-status=dead }}

{{Main|History of the Jews in the Ottoman Empire|History of the Jews in Turkey}}

{{Further|Antisemitism in Turkey}}

Jewish communities have lived in Asia Minor since at least the 5th century BC and many Spanish and Portuguese Jews who were expelled from Spain were allowed to settle in the Ottoman Empire (including regions which were located in parts of modern Turkey) in the late 15th century. Despite emigration during the 20th century, modern-day Turkey continues to have a small Jewish population.

There is a small Karaite Jewish population which numbers around 100. Karaite Jews are not considered Jews by the Turkish Hakham Bashi.

{{Main|Islam in the Ottoman Empire|Islam in Turkey}}

{{Main article|Alawites in Turkey}}

The exact number of Alawites in Turkey is unknown, but there were 185 000 Alawites in 1970.{{Cite book | title=State and rural society in medieval Islam: sultans, muqtaʻs, and fallahun | year=1997 | publisher=E.J. Brill | location=Leiden | isbn=90-04-10649-9 | pages=162}} As Muslims, they are not recorded separately from Sunnis in ID registration. In the 1965 census (the last Turkish census where informants were asked their mother tongue), 180,000 people in the three provinces declared their mother tongue as Arabic. However, Arabic-speaking Sunni and Christian people are also included in this figure.

Alawites traditionally speak the same dialect of Levantine Arabic with Syrian Alawites. Arabic is best preserved in rural communities and Samandağ. Younger people in Çukurova cities and (to a lesser extent) in İskenderun tend to speak Turkish. Turkish spoken by Alawites is distinguished by Alawites and non-Alawites alike with its particular accents and vocabulary. Knowledge of Arabic alphabet is confined to religious leaders and men who had worked or studied in Arab countries.

File:Alevis.png

{{Main article|Alevi}}

Alevis are the biggest religious minority in Turkey. Nearly 15%Structure and Function in Turkish Society. Isis Press, 2006, p. 81).-25% of all Turkish population is in this group. They are mainly Turk but there are significant Kurd and Zaza populations who are Alevi"The Alevi of Anatolia", 1995.

{{main article|Ithnā‘ashariyyah|Shia Islam in Turkey|Ja'fari jurisprudence|Theology of Twelvers}}

Twelver Shia population of Turkey is nearly 3 million and most of them are Azeris. Half million of Ja'faris live in Istanbul.

{{Cite web|url=http://www.minorityrights.org/4408/turkey/caferis.html|title=minorityrights.org, Caferis|accessdate=18 February 2024}}

=== Yazidi ===

{{Main|Yazidism in Turkey}}

Yazidis in Turkey is in the area of the Yazidi homeland, along with Syria and Iraq. The Yazidi population in Turkey was estimated at around 22.000 in 1984.{{cite book|last=Issa|first=Chaukeddin|title=Das Yezidentum : Religion und Leben, p.180|year=2008|publisher=Dengê Êzîdiyan|location=Oldenburg|isbn=978-3-9810751-4-4}} Earlier figures are difficult to obtain and verify, but some estimate there were about 100.000 Yazidi in Turkey in the early years of the 20th century.Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker: Yezidi. 1989

Most Yazidis left the country and went abroad in the 1980s and 1990s, mostly to Germany and other European countries where they got asylum due to the persecution as an ethnic and religious minority in Turkey. The area they resided was in the south eastern area of Turkey, an area that had/has heavy PKK fighting. Now a few hundred Yazidi are believed to be left in Turkey.

In intellectual circles in Turkey, more and more Turkish people are turning to Tengrism. As an example, a lawyer who possessed an ID card which states that Tengrism is a religion won a court case.{{Cite web |date=2022-06-14 |title=Turkish man wins lawsuit to change religion to Tengrism in official records |url=https://www.duvarenglish.com/turkish-man-wins-lawsuit-to-change-religion-to-tengrism-in-official-records-news-60927 |access-date=2023-10-09 |website=Duvar English |language=tr}}{{Cite journal |last=Aykanat |first=Fatma |date=2020-01-01 |title=The Contemporary Reflections of Tengrism in Turkish Climate Change Fictions |url=https://www.academia.edu/48174317 |journal=Chapter 1 in Turkish Ecocriticism: From Neolithic to Contemporary Timescapes. Eds. Serpil Oppermann and Sinan Akıllı}}{{Cite web |title=Turkish Beliefs {{!}} TOTA |url=https://www.tota.world/article/747/ |access-date=2023-10-09 |website=tota.world}}

• Demographics of Turkey
• Languages of Turkey
• Geographical name changes in Turkey
• Human rights in Turkey
• Racism and discrimination in Turkey
• Religion in Turkey
• Freedom of religion in Turkey
• Turkish Kurdistan
• Western Armenia
• Turkish minorities in the former Ottoman Empire
• Black people in the Ottoman Empire
• Turks in the former Soviet Union
• Black people in Turkey
• Afghans in Turkey
• Albanians in Turkey
• Arabs in Turkey
• Armenians in Turkey
• Assyrians in Turkey
• Australians in Turkey
• Britons in Turkey
• Canadians in Turkey
• Chinese people in Turkey
• Greeks in Turkey
• Iraqis in Turkey
• Japanese people in Turkey
• Laz people in Turkey
• Russians in Turkey
• Yörüks

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{cite web|url=http://turkishpolicy.com/files/articlepdf/freedom-of-religion-and-non-muslim-minorities-in-turkey-winter-2015-en.pdf|title=Freedom of religion and non-Muslim minorities in Turkey|work=Beylunioğlu, Anna Maria|publisher=Turkish Policy Quarterly 13.4 (2015): 139-147.}}
• Bardakci, Mehmet, et al. Religious minorities in Turkey: Alevi, Armenians, and Syriacs and the struggle to desecuritize religious freedom. Springer, 2017.

{{Demographics of Turkey}}

{{Europe topic|Ethnic minorities in}}

{{Asia topic|Ethnic minorities in}}

Category:Ethnic groups in Turkey

Turkey

az:Türkiyə əhalisinin etnik tərkibi