Turkish people

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

Turks
Türkler
Map of the Turkish people around the world
Total population
c. 80 million
Regions with significant populations
 Turkey  60,000,000 to 65,000,000
 Northern Cyprus  315,000a
Modern Turkish diaspora: 
 Germany3,000,000 to over 7,000,000
 United States1,000,000–3,000,000
 Netherlands500,000 to over 2,000,000
 Franceover 1,000,000
 United Kingdom500,000b
 Austria360,000–500,000
 Belgium250,000–500,000
 Australia320,000c
 Kazakhstan250,000d
 Sweden185,000e
 Russia109,883–150,000
 Azerbaijan130,000d
  Switzerland120,000
 Canadaover 100,000
 Denmark70,000–75,000
 Kyrgyzstan55,000d
 Italy50,000
 Uzbekistan25,000d
 Norway16,500
 Ukraine8,844–15,000
 Turkmenistan13,000
 Finland10,000
 Poland5,000
 New Zealand3,600–4,600f
 Ireland2,000–3,000
 Brazil2,000-6,300
 Liechtenstein1,000
Turkish minorities in the MENA: 
 Iraq3,000,000–5,000,000
 Syria1,000,000–1,700,000g
 Libya1,000,000–1,400,000h
 Egypt100,000–1,500,000
 Lebanon280,000i
 Saudi Arabia270,000–350,000
 Yemen10,000-100,000
 Jordan50,000
Turkish minorities in the Balkans: 
 Bulgaria588,318–800,000
 North Macedonia77,959–200,000
 Greece49,000–130,000
 Romania28,226–80,000
 Kosovo18,738–60,000
 Bosnia and Herzegovina1,108
 Serbia850
 Albania714
 Croatia367
 Montenegro104
Languages
Turkish
Religion
Predominantly Islam
(Sunnism, Alevism, non-denominational)
Minority Irreligion
Related ethnic groups
Azerbaijanis and Turkmens

a Approximately 200,000 are Turkish Cypriots and the remainder are Turkish settlers.
b Turkish Cypriots form 300,000 to 400,000 of the Turkish-British population. Mainland Turks are the next largest group, followed by Turkish Bulgarians and Turkish Romanians. Turkish minorities have also settled from Iraq, Greece, etc.
c Turkish Australians include 200,000 mainland Turks, 120,000 Turkish Cypriots, and smaller Turkish groups from Bulgaria, Greece, North Macedonia, Syria, and Western Europe.
d These figures only include Turkish Meskhetians. Official censuses are considered unreliable because many Turks have incorrectly been registered as "Azeri", "Kazakh", "Kyrgyz", and "Uzbek".
e The Turkish Swedish community includes 150,000 mainland Turks, 30,000 Turkish Bulgarians, 5,000 Turkish Macedonians, and smaller groups from Iraq and Syria.
f Including 2,000–3,000 mainland Turks and 1,600 Turkish Cypriots.
g This includes the Turkish-speaking minority only (i.e. 30% of Syrian Turks). Estimates including the Arabized Turks range between 3.5 to 6 million.
h Includes the Kouloughlis who are descendants of the old Turkish ruling class.
i Includes 80,000 Turkish Lebanese and 200,000 recent refugees from Syria.

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

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

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