Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire
{{Short description|Descendants of Ottoman-Turkish settlers living outside of the modern borders of Turkey}}
{{Infobox archaeological culture|name=Ottoman Empire|map=OttomanEmpireIn1683.png|mapalt=|altnames=Ottoman civilization|horizon=|region=Balkans, Caucasus, Middle East, North Africa |period=|dates=1299 – 1922|typesite=|majorsites=Constantinople, Smyrna, Adrianople|extra=Throughout the centuries of Ottoman rule, hundreds of thousands of Turkish settlers were sent to various regions of the Ottomans, including regions of the Balkans, Caucasus, Mesopotamia, Hejaz, Cyprus, Levant and North Africa}}
The Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire refers to ethnic Turks, who are the descendants of Ottoman-Turkish settlers from Anatolia and Eastern Thrace, living outside of the modern borders of the Republic of Turkey and in the independent states which were formerly part of the Ottoman Empire. Thus, they are not considered part of Turkey's modern diaspora, rather, due to living for centuries in their respective regions (and for centuries under Turkish rule), they are now considered "natives" or "locals" as they have been living in these countries prior to the independence and establishment of the modern-nation states.
Today, whilst the Turkish people form a majority in the Republic of Turkey and Northern Cyprus, they also form one of the "Two Communities" in the Republic of Cyprus, as well as significant minorities in the Balkans, the Caucasus, the Levant, the Middle East and North Africa. Consequently, the Turkish ethnicity and/or language is officially recognised under the constitutional law of several states, particularly in the Balkans.
Turkish communities
=Cyprus=
According to the 1960 Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus (Articles 2 and 3) the Turkish Cypriots are recognised as one of the "Two Communities" of the Republic (alongside the Greek Cypriots). Hence, legally, they have equal power-sharing rights with the Greek Cypriots and are not defined as a "minority group", despite being fewer in numbers (numbering 1,128 in the south of the island in the 2011 census{{cite web |author=Republic of Cyprus Statistics Service|year=2011|title=Population Enumerated with Cypriot Citizenship, By Ethnic/Religious Group, Age and Sex (1.10.2001)|url=http://www.cystat.gov.cy/mof/cystat/statistics.nsf/populationcondition_22main_en/populationcondition_22main_en?OpenForm&sub=2&sel=2|access-date=2016-04-26}}). The Turkish language is an official language of the republic, alongside the Greek language.{{cite web |author=Presidency of the Republic of Cyprus|title=The Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus |url=http://www.presidency.gov.cy/presidency/presidency.nsf/all/1003AEDD83EED9C7C225756F0023C6AD/$file/CY_Constitution.pdf|access-date=2016-04-26|quote=Article 1...the Greek and the Turkish Communities of Cyprus respectively...}}{{citation |last1=Hajioannou|first1=Xenia|last2=Tsiplakou|first2=Stavroula|year=2016|chapter=Language policy and language planning in Cyprus|title=Language Planning in Europe: Cyprus, Iceland and Luxembourg|editor-last1=Kaplan|editor-first1=Robert B.|editor-last2=Baldauf|editor-first2=Richard B.|editor-last3=Kamwangamalu|editor-first3=Nkonko|publisher=Routledge|page=81|isbn=978-1136872808|quote=The Cyprus Constitution (Articles 2 and 3) recognizes two communities (Greek and Turkish) and three minority religious groups: the Maronites, who belong to the Eastern Catholic Church; the Armenian Cypriots; and the Latins, who are Roman Catholics of European or Levantine descent.}} However, due to the Cyprus crisis of 1963–64, followed by the Greek-led 1974 Cypriot coup d'état and then the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus, the northern half of the island was occupied by Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots declared their own "state" - the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), recognized only by Turkey - in 1983. Today it is partly populated by Turkish Cypriots and mostly by Turkish settlers. According to the 2011 "TRNC" census, the population of Northern Cyprus was 286,257.{{cite web |author=TRNC State Planning Organization|year=2011|title= Nüfus ve Konut Sayımı|url=http://www.devplan.org/Nufus-2011/nufus%20son_.pdf|page=4}} Other estimates suggests that there is between 300,000-500,000 Turkish Cypriots and Turkish settlers living in the north of the island.{{cite web|author=International Crisis Group|year=2010|title=CYPRUS: BRIDGING THE PROPERTY DIVIDE|url=http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/europe/turkey-cyprus/cyprus/210%20Cyprus%20-%20Bridging%20the%20Property%20Divide.ashx|publisher=International Crisis Group|page=2|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111103083632/http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/europe/turkey-cyprus/cyprus/210%20Cyprus%20-%20Bridging%20the%20Property%20Divide.ashx|archive-date=2011-11-03}}{{Harvnb|Cole|2011|loc=95}}.
Turkish minorities
=Balkans=
=Caucasus=
=Levant=
In the Levant the Turks are scattered throughout the region. In Iraq and Syria the Turkish minorities are commonly referred to as "Turkmen", "Turkman" and "Turcoman"; these terms have historically been used to designate Turkic (Oghuz) speakers in Arab areas, or Sunni Muslims in Shitte areas.{{citation |last=Peyrouse|first=Sebastien|year=2015|title=Turkmenistan: Strategies of Power, Dilemmas of Development|page=62|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0230115521|quote=Many Turkic peoples who have lived for centuries in the Middle East have been called Turkmen, Turkman, and Turkoman without being seen a part of the Turkmen nation in the Turkmenistani meaning of the term... The majority of "Turkmen" in Iraq, Syria, and Turkey have been established there for several centuries and have no relationship with contemporary Turkmenistan. "Turkmen" is often used to designate Turkic-speakers in Arab areas, or Sunnis in Shitte areas. In this case, "Oghuz" more accurately identifies the common genealogical and linguistic ties.}} Indeed, today, the majority of Iraqi Turkmen and Syrian Turkmen are the descendants of Ottoman Turkish settlers.{{citation |last=Taylor|first=Scott|year=2004|title=Among the Others: Encounters with the Forgotten Turkmen of Iraq|publisher=Esprit de Corps|isbn=1-895896-26-6|page=31|quote=The largest number of Turkmen immigrants followed the army of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent when he conquered all of Iraq in 1535. Throughout their reign, the Ottomans encouraged the settlement of immigrant Turkmen along the loosely formed boundary that divided Arab and Kurdish settlements in northern Iraq.}}{{citation |last=Jawhar|first=Raber Tal'at|year=2010|chapter=The Iraqi Turkmen Front|chapter-url=http://ifpo.revues.org/1115|title=Returning to Political Parties?|editor1-last=Catusse|editor1-first=Myriam|editor2-last=Karam|editor2-first=Karam|publisher=The Lebanese Center for Policy Studies|pages=313–328|isbn=978-1-886604-75-9|quote=There’s a strong conflict of opinions regarding the origins of Iraqi Turkmen, however, it is certain that they settled down during the Ottoman rule in the northwest of Mosul, whence they spread to eastern Baghdad. Once there, they became high ranked officers, experts, traders, and executives in residential agglomerations lined up along the vast, fertile plains, and mingled with Kurds, Assyrians, Arabs, and other confessions. With the creation of the new Iraqi state in 1921, Iraqi Turkmen managed to maintain their socioeconomic status.}}{{citation|last=International Crisis Group|year=2008|url=http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/Middle%20East%20North%20Africa/Iraq%20Syria%20Lebanon/Iraq/81Turkey%20and%20Iraqi%20Kurds%20Conflict%20or%20Cooperation.ashx|title=Turkey and the Iraqi Kurds: Conflict or Cooperation?|publisher=International Crisis Group|quote=Turkomans are descendents of Ottoman Empire-era soldiers, traders and civil servants... The 1957 census, Iraq’s last reliable count before the overthrow of the monarchy in 1958, put the country’s population at 6,300,000 and the Turkoman population at 567,000, about 9 per cent...Subsequent censuses, in 1967, 1977, 1987 and 1997, are all considered highly problematic, due to suspicions of regime manipulation.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110112131324/http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/Middle%20East%20North%20Africa/Iraq%20Syria%20Lebanon/Iraq/81Turkey%20and%20Iraqi%20Kurds%20Conflict%20or%20Cooperation.ashx|archive-date=12 January 2011}}{{cite news|author=The New York Times|year=2015|title=Who Are the Turkmens of Syria?|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/25/world/middleeast/who-are-the-turkmens-of-syria.html?_r=1|quote=In the context of Syria, though, the term ["Turkmen"] is used somewhat differently, to refer mainly to people of Turkish heritage whose families migrated to Syria from Anatolia during the centuries of the Ottoman period — and thus would be closer kin to the Turks of Turkey than to the Turkmens of Central Asia...Q. How many are there? A. No reliable figures are available, and estimates on the number of Turkmens in Syria and nearby countries vary widely, from the hundreds of thousands up to 3 million or more.}}{{citation|last1=Öztürkmen|first1=Ali|last2=Duman|first2=Bilgay|last3=Orhan|first3=Oytun|year=2015|title=Suriye'de Değişimin Ortaya Çıkardığı Toplum: Suriye Türkmenleri|url=http://suriyeturkmenmeclisi.org/files/file1.pdf|journal=Ortadoğu Stratejik Araştırmalar Merkezi|volume=83|page=5|quote=Yavuz Sultan Selim, 1516 yılında Mercidabık’ta Memlukluları yenerek bugünkü Suriye topraklarını Osmanlılara bağlamıştır. 1516’dan sonra yönetimi Osmanlı Devleti’ne geçen bölge 1918 yılına kadar kesintisiz olarak 402 yıl boyunca Türklerin hakimiyeti altında kalmıştır. Bu dönemde Suriye’de Türkmen yerleşimi artarak devam etmiş ve bölgede önemli bir Türk nüfusu oluşmuştur...Suriye’de Türkçe konuşan Türkmen sayısının yaklaşık bir buçuk milyon, Türkçeyi unutmuş Türkmenlerle beraber sayının 3,5 milyon civarında olduğu belirtilmektedir.}} and, therefore, share close cultural and linguistic ties with Turkey, particularly the Anatolian region.{{cite news|author=BBC|title=Who's who in Iraq: Turkmen |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3770923.stm|date=June 18, 2004|access-date=2011-11-23|quote=The predominantly Muslim Turkmen are an ethnic group with close cultural and linguistic ties to Anatolia in Turkey.}} There is also Turkish minorities located in Jordan (Turks in Jordan) and Lebanon (Turks in Lebanon). In Lebanon, they live mainly in the villages of Aydamun and Kouachra in the Akkar District, as well as in Baalbek, Beirut, and Tripoli.
=North Africa=
In North Africa there is still a strong Turkish presence in the Maghreb, particularly in Algeria{{citation |year=1954|title=Current Notes on International Affairs|publisher=Department of Foreign Affairs (Australia)|volume=25|issue=7–12|page=613|quote=In Algeria and Tunisia, however, the Arab and Berber elements have become thoroughly mixed, with an added strong Turkish admixture.}}{{citation |year=1984|title=Algeria: Post Report, Foreign Service Series 256|publisher=U.S. Department of State (9209)|page=1|quote=Algeria's population, a mixture of Arab, Berber, and Turkish in origin, numbers nearly 21 million and is almost totally Moslem.}}{{citation|last=Rajewski|first=Brian|year=1998|title=Africa, Volume 1: Cities of the World: A Compilation of Current Information on Cultural, Geographical, and Political Conditions in the Countries and Cities of Six Continents|publisher=Gale Research International|page=[https://archive.org/details/citiesofworldcom0000unse/page/10 10]|isbn=081037692X|quote=Algeria's population, a mixture of Arab, Berber, and Turkish in origin, numbered approximately 29 million in 1995, and is almost totally Muslim.|url=https://archive.org/details/citiesofworldcom0000unse/page/10}} Libya,{{citation |last1=Malcolm|first1=Peter|last2=Losleben|first2=Elizabeth|year=2004|title=Libya|publisher=Marshall Cavendish|pages=62|quote=There are some Libyans who think of themselves as Turkish, or descendants of Turkish soldiers who settled in the area in the days of the Ottoman Empire.}}{{citation |last=Ahmida|first=Ali Abdullatif|year=2011|title=Making of Modern Libya, The: State Formation, Colonization, and Resistance, Second Edition|volume=10|publisher=SUNY Press|pages=44|isbn=978-1438428932|quote=The majority of the population came from Turkish, Arab, Berber, or black backgrounds,...Some inhabitants, like the Cologhli, were descendants of the old Turkish ruling class}}{{citation|year=1983|chapter=Libya|title=The New Encyclopaedia Britannica|volume=10|publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica|pages=[https://archive.org/details/newencyclopaedia09chic_1/page/878 878]|isbn=085229400X|quote=The population of the west is far more cosmopolitan than that of the east and includes a higher proportion of people with Berber, Negro, and Turkish origins.|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/newencyclopaedia09chic_1/page/878}} and Tunisia{{citation |publisher=The Rotarian|year=1969|title=Focus of Tunisia|volume=115|number=6|page=56|quote=The population [of Tunisia]...is made up mostly of people of Arab, Berber, and Turkish descent}} (see Algerian Turks, Libyan Turks, and Tunisian Turks). They live mainly in the coastal cities (such as in Algiers, Constantine, Oran and Tlemcen in Algeria; Misurata and Tripoli in Libya; and Djerba, Hammamet, Mahdia, and Tunis in Tunisia). In these regions, people of partial Turkish origin have historically been referred to as Kouloughlis ({{langx|tr|kuloğlu}}) due to their mixed Turkish and central Maghrebi blood.{{citation |last=Stone|first=Martin|year=1997|title=The Agony of Algeria|page=29|publisher=C. Hurst & Co. Publishers|isbn=1-85065-177-9}}.{{cite web|author=Milli Gazete|title=Levanten Türkler|url=http://www.milligazete.com.tr/makale/levanten-turkler-153681.htm|access-date=2012-03-19|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100223132907/http://www.milligazete.com.tr/makale/levanten-turkler-153681.htm|archive-date=2010-02-23}}{{citation |last=Ahmida|first=Ali Abdullatif|year=1994|title=The Making of Modern Libya: State Formation, Colonization, and Resistance |place =Albany, N.Y |publisher=SUNY Press|type=Print|isbn=0791417611|page=189|quote=Cologhli or Kolughli. from Turkish Kolughlu, descendants of intermarriage between Turkish troops and local North African women }} Consequently, the terms "Turks" and "Kouloughlis" have traditionally been used to distinguish between those of full and partial Turkish ancestry.{{citation |last=Miltoun|first=Francis|year=1985|title=The spell of Algeria and Tunisia|page=129|publisher=Darf Publishers|quote=Throughout North Africa, from Oran to Tunis, one encounters everywhere, in the town as in the country, the distinct traits which mark the seven races which make up the native population: the Moors, the Berbers, the Arabs, the Negreos, the Jews, the Turks and the Kouloughlis… descendants of Turks and Arab women.|isbn=1850770603}} In addition, there is also a notable Turkish minority in Egypt. Prior to the Egyptian revolution in 1919, the ruling and upper classes were mainly Turkish, or of Turkish descent, which was part of the heritage from the Ottoman rule of Egypt.{{citation|last=Abdelrazek|first=Amal Talaat|year=2007|title=Contemporary Arab American women writers: hyphenated identities and border crossings|publisher=Cambria Press|isbn=978-1-934043-71-4|page=37|quote=This interiorized rejection of things local and Arabic in part derives from the fact that the ruling and upper classes in the years before the revolution were mainly Turkish, or of Turkish descent, part of the heritage from the Ottoman rule in Egypt. If one was not really Western, but belonged to the elite, one was Turkish. Only the masses, the country folk, were quite simply Egyptian in the first place, and possibly Arabs secondarily. }}
=Other countries=
| class="wikitable sortable" | |||||
| Country | Census figures | Alternate estimates | Legal recognition || Further information | Lists of Turks by country | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| {{flag|Saudi Arabia}} | N/A | 200,000 | N/A | Turks in Saudi Arabia | List of Saudi Arabian Turks |
| {{flag|Yemen}} | N/A | 10,000 to 100,000{{cite web|publisher= Union of NGOs of The Islamic World|year=2014|title=Yemen Raporu|page=26|quote=Bu noktadan hareketle, bölgede yaklaşık 10 bin ila 100 bin arasında Türk asıllı vatandaş bulunduğu tahmin edilmektedir.}} or more than 200,000 | N/A | Turks in Yemen | List of Yemeni Turks |