Abdal Groups of nomadic and semi-nomadic itinerants found mainly in central and western
Anatolia. They speak an
argot of their own and are
Alevis.
Afghans 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. Most of them were spread out over satellite cities with
Van and
Ağrı being the most specific locations. 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. As of January 2010, Afghans consisted one-sixth of the 26,000 remaining refugees and asylum seekers. By the end 2011, their numbers are expected to surge up to 10,000, making them the largest population and surpass other groups.
Africans 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, 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. 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. As a consequence of the slave trade and
privateer activity, it is told how until 1878 in Ulcinj 100 black people lived. 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.
Albanians 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. However, these assumptions of the Turkish government are contested by many scholars who claim they are without any basis.
Arabs 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. However, including recent Syrian refugees, they make up to 5.3% of the population. Most of them are
Sunni Muslims. 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. 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, with around 50,000 to 460,000 Iraqis entering the country. 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, and consists mainly of
refugees of the Syrian Civil War.
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. 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. The Armenian community of the Ottoman Empire before the Armenian genocide had an estimated 2,300 churches and 700 schools (with 82,000 students). 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. Today there are an estimated 40,000 to 70,000 Armenians in Turkey, not including the
Hamshenis. 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, 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), and the change and distortion of Armenian historical events. 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, 18 schools, and 2 hospitals. Up to 300,000 of Azeris who reside in Turkey are citizens of
Azerbaijan. In the
Eastern Anatolia region, Azeris are sometimes referred to as
acem (see
Ajam) or
tat. They currently are the largest ethnic group in the city of
Iğdır and second largest ethnic group in
Kars.
Bosniaks 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. 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.
Britons There are at least 34,000 Britons in Turkey. 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.
Bulgarians People identifying as
Bulgarian include a large number of the
Pomak and a small number of Orthodox Bulgarians. According to
Ethnologue at present 300,000 Pomaks in
European Turkey speak Bulgarian as their mother tongue. 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. According to
Milliyet and
Turkish Daily News reports, the number of Pomaks along with the Turkified Pomaks in the country is about 600,000.
Central Asian peoples Turkey received refugees from among the Pakistan-based Kazakhs, Turkmen, Kirghiz, and Uzbeks numbering 3,800 originally from Afghanistan during the
Soviet–Afghan War. 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.
Chechens and Ingush 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.
Circassians According to Milliyet, there are approximately 2.5 million
Circassians in Turkey, most of them settling after the circassian genocide of 1864. The closely related ethnic groups
Abazins (10,000) and
Abkhazians (39,000) 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. 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. The largest association of Circassians in Turkey,
KAFFED, is the founding member of the International Circassian Association (ICA).
Crimean Tatars 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. The official number of
Crimean Tatars is 150,000 (in the center of Eskişehir) but the real population (in the whole of Turkey) may around 6 million. They mostly live in
Eskişehir Province and Kazan-
Ankara.
Dagestani peoples 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.
Dom people The
Dom people, live mostly in Eastern Anatolia Region, also from Syria Dom Refugees came to Turkey.
Dutch Approximately 15,000
Dutch live in Turkey.
Filipinos 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. Out of those, most are recorded as maids and "overseas workers" employed in households of diplomatic communities and elite Turkish families. Moreover, ten percent or approximately 500 Filipinos in
Turkey are skilled workers and professionals working as engineers, architects, doctors and teachers. In addition, many
Turkish Germans have also returned and settled.
Greeks 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 ( 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, 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 -strong Greek minority before the attack to about 7,000 by 1978. 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. According to Milliyet there are 15,000 Greeks in Turkey, 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. 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.
Hindis 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.
Iranians Shireen Hunter noted in a 2010 publication that there were 500,000
Iranians residing in Turkey.
Jews 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. Turkey became home to refugee Kazakhs. The Kazakh Turks Foundation (Kazak Türkleri Vakfı) is an organization of Kazakhs in Turkey. Kazakhs in Turkey came via Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Kazak Kültür Derneği (Kazakh Culture Associration) is a Kazakh diaspora organization in Turkey.
Kurds 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. 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.
Kyrgyz Turkey's
Lake Van area is the home of
Kyrgyz refugees from Afghanistan. Turkey became a destination for
Kyrgyz refugees due to the
Soviet–Afghan War from Afghanistan's Wakhan area 500 remained and did not go to Turkey with the others.
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. 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.
Laz 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.
Levantines 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. Famous people of the present-day Levantine community in Turkey include Maria Rita Epik, Franco-Levantine
Caroline Giraud Koç and Italo-Levantine
Giovanni Scognamillo.
Lom people The
Lom people live in the Black sea Region, and in Kars, Ardahan, and Artvin. They are also named as Poşa, they speak
Lomavren .
Megleno-Romanians Around 5,000 Muslim
Megleno-Romanians live in Turkey.
Meskhetian Turks There is a community of
Meskhetian Turks (Ahiska Turks) in Turkey.
Ossetians 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.
Poles There are only 4,000 ethnic
Poles in Turkey who have been assimilated 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.
Roma The
Roma in Turkey number approximately 700,000 according to Milliyet. while according to a Turkish source, they are only 0.05% of Turkey's population (or roughly persons). The descendants of the Ottoman Roma today are known as
Xoraxane Roma and are of the
Islamic faith.
Russians Russians in
Turkey number about 50,000 citizens. 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.
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.
Uyghurs Turkey is home to 50,000 Uyghurs. A community of Uyghurs live in Turkey.
Kayseri received Uyghurs numbering close to 360 via the UNHCR in 1966–1967 from Pakistan. 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.
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. A community of Uyghurs live in Istanbul. Tuzla and Zeytinburnu mosques are used by the Uyghurs in Istanbul. Piety is a characteristic of among Turkey dwelling Uyghurs. Istanbul's districts of
Küçükçekmece,
Sefaköy and
Zeytinburnu are home to Uyghur communities. Eastern Turkistan Education and Solidarity Association is located in Turkey. Abdurahmon Abdulahad of the East Turkistan Education Association supported Uzbek Islamists who protested against Russia and Islam Karimov's Uzbekistan government. Uyghurs are employed in Küçükçekmece and Zeytinburnu restaurants.
East Turkistan Immigration Association,
East Turkistan Culture and Solidarity Association, and
Eastern Turkistan Education and Solidarity Association are Uyghur diaspora organizations in Turkey.
Uzbeks Turkey is home to 45,000 Uzbeks. 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.
Vallahades The Patriyotlar in
Turkey are ethnic
Macedonians (Greeks) of
Bektashi Order.., 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. The first Generation only speak Greek and not Turkish, yet their descendants speak Turkish.
Zazas The Zazas are a people in eastern
Turkey who natively speak the
Zaza language. Their heartland, the
Dersim region, consists of
Tunceli,
Bingöl provinces and parts of
Elazığ,
Erzincan and
Diyarbakır provinces. 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. == Religious minorities ==