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140-405: Tempelhof-Schöneberg consists of six localities as from north to south: As of 2010, the borough had a population of 335,060, of whom about 105,000 (31%) were of non-German origin. The largest ethnic minorities were Turks constituting 7% of the population; Poles at 4%; Yugoslavians at 3%; Arabs at 2.5%; Afro-Germans at 1.5% and Russians at 1.3%. The governing body of Tempelhof-Schöneberg

280-500: 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 faith. 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,

420-400: A Turkish population in many of these countries because the Turkish government wanted to preserve these communities so that the Turkish character of these neighbouring territories could be maintained. One of the last stages of ethnic Turks immigrating to Turkey was between 1940 and 1990 when about 700,000 Turks arrived from Bulgaria. Today, between a third and a quarter of Turkey's population are

560-572: A campaign which led to the fall of Nicosia in September 1570 and of Famagusta in August 1571. By 1571, about 30,000 Turkish settlers, which included soldiers who were involved in the conquest and their families, or agricultural colonizers, particularly from Konya , were given land on the island. Additionally, many of the islanders converted to Islam during the early years of Ottoman rule due to significant advantages to being Muslim (i.e. taxation). Thus,

700-739: A hundred deaths. Within days, Decision 503 was announced "inviting" the Turks to occupy the empty farms in southern Russia that they had resisted moving to for years and around 17,000 Meskhetian Turks were evacuated to Russia. Meskhetian Turks maintain that Moscow had planned the Uzbek riots. By the early 1990s, of the 70,000 Meskhetian Turks who were still resident in Uzbekistan, approximately 50,000 Turkish Meskhetian refugees went to Azerbaijan due to continued discrimination whilst others went to Russia and Ukraine due to fears of continued violence. The concept of

840-683: A majority in the Kardzhali Province and the Razgrad Province . However, in 2010, an article published by Novinite reported findings from the Center for Demographic Policy and claimed that the Turks numbered 1 million. The Bulgarian constitution of 1991 does not mention any ethnic minorities and the Bulgarian language is the sole official language of the State. However, in accordance with Article 36(2),

980-693: A member of the EU; many Turkish Roma from Bulgaria and Romania (Dobruja) went to Western Europe. At least from the 16th century onwards Ottoman traders settled in western European trading capitals such as Antwerp, Amsterdam and London. Turkish traders in the Netherlands had at least two mosques in Amsterdam in the early 17th century. According to an estimate in the European Union there are 3,7 million ethnic Turks. Turkish Cypriots started to immigrate from Cyprus to

1120-668: A minority language, in accordance with the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , under Part III of the 2007 ratification. Today, the only region left with a Turkish majority population is Dobromir , a commune in the Constanța County . Historically, the Turks also formed a majority on the island of Ada Kaleh , which was submerged during the construction of the Iron Gates hydroelectric plant in 1970. The last Serbian census undertaken in 2011 recorded 647 Turks. With

1260-405: A principle of rotation, and a worker was expected to return home after a year of employment abroad. However, employers wanted to retain workers who had become accustomed to the work; therefore, the rotation principle never became practice. Workers were not permitted to take their families abroad with them, and were housed in group living quarters or dormitories known as "Heim". By the early 1970s,

1400-539: A proposal inviting more Meskhetian Turks to move to villages in southern Russia that had been abandoned by ethnic Russians who were moving to the cities. However, the Meskhetian Turks response was that they would only leave Uzbekistan if the move were to be to their homeland. Then, in 1989, ethnic Uzbeks began a series of actions against the Turks, they became the victims of riots in the Ferghana valley which led to over

1540-647: A report by CIA suggests that 200,000 of the residents of Cyprus are Turkish. Ethnic Turks continue to inhabit certain regions of Greece , North Macedonia , Kosovo , Romania , and Bulgaria since they first settled there during the Ottoman period. As of 2019, the Turkish population in the Balkans is over 1 million. Majority of Balkan Turks were killed or deported in the Muslim Persecution during Ottoman Contraction and arrived to Turkey as Muhacirs . The majority of

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1680-624: A result of forced deportations and discrimination which began in 1944. During World War II , the Soviet Union was preparing to launch a pressure campaign against Turkey and Vyacheslav Molotov , then Minister of Foreign Affairs , formally presented a demand to the Turkish Ambassador in Moscow for the surrender of three Anatolian provinces ( Kars , Ardahan and Artvin ); thus, war against Turkey seemed possible, and Joseph Stalin wanted to clear

1820-629: A separate group from other Roma in Rumelia. Turkish Roma have adopted the Turkish language to establish a Turkish identity and to be more recognized by their host population. The majority Turkish-speaking Muslim Roma in Bulgaria , Dobruja - Romania , Western Thrace - Greece , Northern Cyprus and Turkey declare themselves to be Turks, not Romani people. Gene flow from the Ottoman Turks spilled over in

1960-538: A significant issue. During the Second World War , the number of Turkish run businesses increased which created a demand for more Turkish Cypriot workers. Thus, throughout the 1950s, Turkish Cypriots emigrated to the United Kingdom for economic reasons and by 1958 the number of Turkish Cypriots was estimated to be 8,500. Their numbers increased each year as rumours about immigration restrictions appeared in much of

2100-578: A strong Turkish element was formed in Cyprus' population, which was later reinforced by immigration from Asia Minor. With the expansion of the Ottoman Empire, Turkish-speaking Muslim Roma settled in Rumelia (southeastern Europe) under Ottoman rule. The Ottoman Archives of the 18th century and 19th century told from so-called Türkmen Kıpti ( تركمن قِبْطِيّ‎‎ , who spoke Turkish only with few Romani words, as

2240-554: A wide range of both East Asian and West-Eurasian physical appearances and genetic origins, in part through long-term contact with neighboring peoples such as Iranic , Mongolic , Tocharian , Uralic and Yeniseian peoples. In Central Asia, the earliest surviving Turkic language texts, found on the eighth-century Orkhon inscription monuments , were erected by the Göktürks in the sixth century CE, and include words not common to Turkic but found in unrelated Inner Asian languages. Although

2380-508: Is a claim that it may be connected to Herodotus 's ( c.  484  – c.  425 BC ) reference to Targitaos , ( Ταργιτάος ), a king of the Scythians ; however, Manfred Mayrhofer (apud Lincoln) assigned Iranian etymology for Targitaos: from Old Iranian * darga-tavah , meaning "he whose strength is long-lasting". During the first century A.D., Pomponius Mela refers to the Turcae in

2520-553: Is elected by the Bezirksverordnetenversammlung, and positions in the district government (Bezirksamt) are apportioned based on party strength. Jörn Oltmann of the Greens was elected mayor on 17 November 2021. Since the 2021 municipal elections, the composition of the district government is as follows: Tempelhof-Schöneberg is twinned with: Turkish people Turkish people or Turks ( Turkish : Türkler ) are

2660-678: Is located in Asia , has also been defined under the term "Euro-Turks" since the island joined the European Union . It is less frequently applied to Turkic groups speaking a variety of Turkic languages that have lived in Europe before the Ottoman conquest, such as the Gagauz , Crimean Karaites and Urum Greeks , the Krymchaks , and the Dobrujan Tatars . Turks have had a long history in Europe, dating back to when

2800-449: Is possible, it is rather unlikely. As a word in Turkic languages, Turk may mean "strong, strength, ripe" or "flourishing, in full strength". It may also mean ripe as for a fruit or "in the prime of life, young, and vigorous" for a person. In the 19th century, the word Türk referred to Anatolian peasants. The Ottoman ruling class identified themselves as Ottomans , not as Turks. In

2940-526: Is the borough assembly ( Bezirksverordnetenversammlung ). It has responsibility for passing laws and electing the city government, including the mayor. The most recent district council election was held on 26 September 2021, leading to a Green-red coalition ( Zählgemeinschaft ) between the Greens and the Social Democratic Party . The results were as follows: The district mayor ( Bezirksbürgermeister )

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3080-570: The muhacirs ("refugees") who were forced to leave the Balkans before and after the First World War . Also, the number of Turkish Cypriots in the country may exceed 600,000. The Republic of Turkey is a transcontinental country with territory in both Europe and Asia . In its literal sense, the European region of the country is located in Eastern Thrace and includes all the territories of

3220-464: The Aegean coast, from north to south, stretched the beyliks of Karasi , Saruhan , Aydin , Menteşe , and Teke . Inland from Teke was Hamid and east of Karasi was the beylik of Germiyan . To the northwest of Anatolia, around Söğüt , was the small and, at this stage, insignificant, Ottoman beylik. It was hemmed into the east by other more substantial powers like Karaman on Iconium , which ruled from

3360-721: The Akkar region in Lebanon , as well as minority groups in other post-Ottoman Balkan and Middle Eastern countries. 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

3500-794: The Alevis and Bektashis emerged. Furthermore, intermarriage between the Turks and local inhabitants, as well as the conversion of many to Islam, also increased the Turkish-speaking Muslim population in Anatolia. By 1243, at the Battle of Köse Dağ , the Mongols defeated the Seljuk Turks and became the new rulers of Anatolia, and in 1256, the second Mongol invasion of Anatolia caused widespread destruction. Particularly after 1277, political stability within

3640-806: The Armenians during the Armenian genocide and the Greeks during various campaigns of ethnic cleansing and expulsion . In 1918, the Ottoman Government agreed to the Mudros Armistice with the Allies . The Treaty of Sèvres —signed in 1920 by the government of Mehmet VI — dismantled the Ottoman Empire. The Turks, under Mustafa Kemal Pasha, rejected the treaty and fought the Turkish War of Independence , resulting in

3780-537: The Balkans , Caucasus , Crimea , and Mediterranean islands, shifting the center of the Ottoman Empire to Anatolia. In addition to a small number of Jews, the refugees were overwhelmingly Muslim; they were both Turkish and non-Turkish people, such as Circassians and Crimean Tatars . Paul Mojzes has called the Balkan Wars an "unrecognized genocide", where multiple sides were both victims and perpetrators. By 1913,

3920-630: The Fourth Crusade , established a Latin Empire (1204–1261), divided the former Byzantine territories in the Balkans and the Aegean among themselves, and forced the Byzantine Emperors into exile at Nicaea (present-day Iznik ). From 1261 onwards, the Byzantines were largely preoccupied with regaining their control in the Balkans. Toward the end of the 13th century, as Mongol power began to decline,

4060-514: The Great Seljuq Empire after Sultan Tuğrul Bey 's invasion in 1055. For the next 150 years, the Seljuk Turks placed large Turkmen communities along the most valuable routes of northern Iraq. Yet, the largest wave of Turkish migrations occurred under the four centuries of Ottoman rule (1535–1919). In 1534, Suleiman the Magnificent secured Mosul within the Ottoman Empire and it became

4200-520: The Göktürks . The earliest mention of Turk ( 𐱅𐰇𐰺𐰜 , türü̲k̲ ; or 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰚 , türk/tẄrk ) in Turkic languages comes from the Second Turkic Khaganate . In Orkhon inscriptions , kök türü̲k̲ ( 𐰚𐰇𐰚 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰜 ) is also mentioned, potentially referring to " Ashina -led Turks" or "Ashinas and Turks". There are several theories regarding the origin of the ethnonym Turk . There

4340-495: The Iraq and Syrian civil war – especially since the 2015 European migrant crisis . During the rule of the Ottoman Empire (1299–1923), Turkish settlers began to move into territories in Europe as part of the Turkish expansion. Because these communities migrated to these countries during the Ottoman rule, they are not considered part of the modern Turkish diaspora. However, these populations, which have different nationalities, still share

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4480-545: The Kosovo War of 1998–99. Today, approximately 15–20 million Turks living in Turkey are the descendants of refugees from the Balkans; there are also 1.5 million descendants from Meskheti and over 600,000 descendants from Cyprus . The Republic of Turkey continues to be a land of migration for ethnic Turkish people fleeing persecution and wars. For example, there are approximately 1 million Syrian Turkmen living in Turkey due to

4620-636: The Kızılırmak River to the Mediterranean . Although the Ottomans was only a small principality among the numerous Turkish beyliks, and thus posed the smallest threat to the Byzantine authority, their location in north-western Anatolia, in the former Byzantine province of Bithynia , became a fortunate position for their future conquests. The Latins , who had conquered the city of Constantinople in 1204 during

4760-613: 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 ,

4900-706: The Middle East (including Trans-Jordan and Yemen ) North African (such as Algeria and Libya ) and the Soviet Union (especially from Meskheti ). The Turks who remained in the former Ottoman territories continued to face discrimination and persecution thereafter leading many to seek refuge in Turkey, especially Turkish Meskhetians deported by Joseph Stalin in 1944; Turkish minorities in Yugoslavia (i.e., Turkish Bosnians , Turkish Croatians , Turkish Kosovars , Turkish Macedonians , Turkish Montenegrins and Turkish Serbians ) fleeing Josip Broz Tito 's regime in

5040-497: The Muslim conquests , the Turks entered the Muslim world proper as slaves , the booty of Arab raids and conquests. The Turks began converting to Islam after the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana through the efforts of missionaries , Sufis , and merchants. Although initiated by the Arabs , the conversion of the Turks to Islam was filtered through Persian and Central Asian culture. Under

5180-750: The Netherlands , Belgium , and Austria ; France in 1965; and Sweden in 1967. Furthermore, many Balkan Turks also arrived in these countries under similar labour agreements, thus, since the 1960s there has also been a substantial Turkish Macedonian community in Sweden; Turkish Bulgarian and Turkish Western Thracian communities in Germany, etc. More recently, in the 21st century, Turkish Bulgarians, Turkish Cypriots, Turkish Western Thracians, and Turkish Romanians have used their right as EU nationals to migrate throughout Western Europe. Furthermore, Iraqi and Syrian Turkmen have come to Europe mostly as refugees since

5320-511: The Netherlands . As early as 1997 Professor Servet Bayram and Professor Barbara Seels said that there was 10 million Turks living in Western Europe and the Balkans (excluding Cyprus and Turkey). By 2010, Boris Kharkovsky from the Center for Ethnic and Political Science Studies said that there was up to 15 million Turks living in the European Union . According to Dr Araks Pashayan 10 million "Euro-Turks" alone were living in Germany, France ,

5460-437: The Northern Dobruja region. The only settlement which still has a Turkish majority population is in Dobromir located in the Constanța County . Historically, Turkish Romanians also formed a majority in other regions, such as the island of Ada Kaleh which was destroyed and flooded by the Romanian government for the construction of the Iron Gate I Hydroelectric Power Station . The Turkish Serbians have lived in Serbia since

5600-499: The Ottoman Empire began to conquer and migrate during the establishment of Ottoman territories in Europe (" Rumelia "), which created significant Turkish communities in Bulgaria ( Bulgarian Turks ), Bosnia and Herzegovina ( Bosnian Turks ), Cyprus ( Meskhetian Turks ), Greece ( Cretan Turks , Dodecanese Turks , and Western Thrace Turks ), Kosovo ( Kosovan Turks ), Serbia ( Turks in Serbia ), North Macedonia ( Turks in North Macedonia ), and Romania ( Romanian Turks ). In

5740-455: The Ottoman conquests in the region . They have traditionally lived in the urban areas of Serbia. In 1830, when the Principality of Serbia was granted autonomy, most Turks emigrated as " muhacirs " (refugees) to Ottoman Turkey , and by 1862 almost all of the remaining Turks left Central Serbia , including 3,000 from Belgrade . Today, the remaining community mostly live in Belgrade and Sandžak . The Turkish Azerbaijanis began to settle in

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5880-415: The President of Romania , Traian Băsescu , and Professor David Phinnemore had estimated that the Turkish minority numbered 55,000. Furthermore, in 2008 Professor Daniela-Luminita Constantin, Professor Zizi Goschin and Professor Mariana Dragusin said that the total Turkish population was 80,000 - including the Turkish minority and recent Turkish immigrants. The Turkish language is officially recognized as

6020-414: The Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) followed by the Bolshevik Revolution (1917), and then after Georgia was incorporated into the Soviet Union . During this period, some members of the community also relocated to other Soviet borders, and those who remained in Georgia were targeted by the Sovietisation campaigns. Thereafter, during World War II , the Soviet administration initiated a mass deportation of

6160-407: The Targovishte Province (35.80%), and the Shumen Province (30.29%). They were ethnically cleansed during the Muslim Persecution during Ottoman Contraction and subsequently targeted during the Revival Process that aimed to assimilate them into a Bulgarian identity. The Turkish Croatians began to settle in the region during the various Croatian–Ottoman wars . Despite being a small minority,

6300-402: The Turkish Constitution defines a Turk as anyone who is "bound to the Turkish state through the bond of citizenship ." Anatolia was first inhabited by hunter-gatherers during the Paleolithic era, and was inhabited by various civilizations such as Hattians and ancient Anatolian peoples . After Alexander the Great 's conquest in 334 BC, the area was culturally Hellenized , and by

6440-410: The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) – in 1983. Today Northern Cyprus is populated mostly by Turkish Cypriots and recent Anatolian Turkish settlers. According to the 2011 TRNC census, the population of Northern Cyprus was 286,257. Other estimates suggests that there is between 300,000 and 500,000 Turkish Cypriots and Turkish settlers living in the north of the island. In addition, there

6580-587: The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), which has since remained internationally unrecognised except by Turkey. The division of the island led to an economic embargo against the Turkish Cypriots by the Greek Cypriot controlled Government of Cyprus. This had the effect of depriving the Turkish Cypriots of foreign investment, aid and export markets; thus, it caused the Turkish Cypriot economy to remain stagnant and undeveloped. Due to these economic and political issues, an estimated 130,000 Turkish Cypriots have emigrated from Northern Cyprus since its establishment to

6720-421: The Umayyads , most were domestic servants, whilst under the Abbasid Caliphate , increasing numbers were trained as soldiers. By the ninth century, Turkish commanders were leading the caliphs ’ Turkish troops into battle. As the Abbasid Caliphate declined, Turkish officers assumed more military and political power by taking over or establishing provincial dynasties with their own corps of Turkish troops. During

6860-413: The World War II settled in other parts of the Soviet Union , especially in Azerbaijan , Kazakhstan , Russia , and Ukraine . In the second half of the 20th century, Turkish migration from Turkey to Western and Northern Europe increased significantly when in 1961 Turkish " Gastarbeiter " began to arrive under a "Labour Export Agreement" with West Germany , followed in 1964 by similar agreements with

7000-444: The 10,000 to 30,000 people from Bulgaria living in the Netherlands, the majority, of about 80%, are ethnic Turks from Bulgaria who have come from the south-eastern Bulgarian district of Kurdzhali . Moreover, the Bulgarian Turks are the fastest-growing group of immigrants in the Netherlands. There is also about 30,000 Bulgarian Turks living in Sweden, a growing community in the United Kingdom and Germany, and 1,000 in Austria . In

7140-434: The 11th century, the Seljuk Turks , who were influenced by Persian civilization in many ways, grew in strength and succeeded in taking the eastern province of the Abbasid Empire . By 1055, the Seljuks captured Baghdad and began to make their first incursions into Anatolia . When they won the Battle of Manzikert against the Byzantine Empire in 1071, it opened the gates of Anatolia to them. Although ethnically Turkish,

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7280-417: 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 expanded into parts of West Asia , Southeast Europe , and North Africa over

7420-487: The 1920s and the 1930s, Turks, as well as other Muslims , from the Balkans , the Black Sea , the Aegean islands , the island of Cyprus , the Sanjak of Alexandretta ( Hatay ), the Middle East , and the Soviet Union continued to arrive in Turkey , most of whom settled in urban north-western Anatolia. The bulk of these immigrants, known as " Muhacirs ", were the Balkan Turks who faced harassment and discrimination in their homelands. However, there were still remnants of

7560-435: The 1923 Treaty of Lausanne . Since the mid-1950s the Greek government referred to the ethnic rather than the religious character of the minority, until the governor general of Thrace instructed the local authorities to substitute the word "Turkish" for Muslim". However, Dr Hermann Kandler points out that the minority is "essentially based on a Turkish rather than a Muslim historical consciousness" and that this "extends back to

7700-414: The 1950s; Turkish Cypriots fleeing the Cypriot intercommunal violence of 1955–74; Turkish Iraqis fleeing discrimination during the rise of Arab nationalism in the 1950s and 1970s followed by the Iran–Iraq War of 1980–88; Turkish Bulgarians fleeing the Bulgarisation policies of the so-called " Revival Process " under the communist ruler Todor Zivkov in the 1980s; and Turkish Kosovars fleeing

7840-415: The 1960s and 1970s, when the Thracian tobacco industry was affected by a severe crisis and many tobacco growers lost their income. After Germany, the Netherlands is the most popular destination for Western Thrace Turks, especially in the region of Randstad . There is also an estimated 600–700 Western Thrace Turks living in London , although the total number living outside London is unknown. According to

7980-431: The 19th century, the empire began to decline when ethno-nationalist uprisings occurred across the empire. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, persecution of Muslims during the Ottoman contraction and in the Russian Empire resulted in estimated 5 million deaths, with more than 3 million in Balkans; the casualties included Turks. Five to seven or seven to nine million refugees migrated into modern-day Turkey from

8120-448: The 2010 Constitution of Croatia . The last Greek census which allowed citizens to declare their ethnicity was taken in 1951; it recorded 85,945 Turks, which formed 1.2% of Greece's total population. In 1990 Lois Whitman from Human Rights Watch said that the Turks living the Western Thrace region numbered between 120,000 and 130,000 (i.e. between 33 and 36 percent of the population). More recently, in 2011 Dr Hermann Kandler said that

8260-535: The 2011 census figures is lower than other estimates. The Turkish language is recognized as an official language in the municipalities of Prizren and Mamusha and has minority status in Gjilan , Pristina , Vushtrri , and Mitrovica . The last Montenegrin census taken in 2011 recorded 104 Turks. The last Macedonian census taken in 2002 recorded 77,959 Turks, which formed 3.85% of North Macedonia's total population. Yet, in 1996 Fred Abrahams from Human Rights Watch said that, like other ethnic minority groups in

8400-420: The Balkan Roma and established a higher frequency of the human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups J and E-M215 Horahane means Turks (term for Muslims) in Romani language. Some Turkish citizens who came as Gastarbeiter from Turkey to Europe have Roma backgrounds and are fully assimilated into Turkish European communities. The second wave of Turkish Roma to Western Europe began when Bulgaria and Romania became

8540-401: The Balkans. The colonizers that were brought to the Balkans consisted of soldiers, nomads, farmers, artisans and merchants , dervishes , preachers and other religious functionaries, and administrative personnel. Densely-populated Turkish colonies were established in the frontier regions of Thrace in the valleys of the Maritsa and Tundzha . In addition to voluntary migrations, throughout

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8680-402: The Balkans. Once Albania came under Ottoman rule , Turkish colonization was scarce there; however, some Anatolian Turkish settlers did arrive in 1415–30 and were given timar estates. According to the 2011 census, the Turkish language was the sixth most spoken language in the country (after Albanian , Greek , Macedonian , Romani , and Aromanian ). The Turkish Bosnians have lived in

8820-439: The Cypriot media. Furthermore, the 1950s saw the arrival of many more Turkish Cypriots to the United Kingdom who felt vulnerable as they had cause for concern about the political future of the island. This was first evident when the Greek Cypriots held a referendum in 1950 in which 95.7% of eligible Greek Cypriot voters cast their ballots in supporting a fight aimed at uniting Cyprus with Greece. Hence, Turkish Cypriots fled to

8960-399: The English language was not a problem and where self-employment was a possibility. Once the Greek military junta rose to power in 1967, Greece staged a coup d'état in 1974 against the Cypriot President, with the help of EOKA B , to unite the island with Greece. This led to a military offensive by Turkey who invaded the island . By 1983, the Turkish Cypriots declared their own state,

9100-483: The European regions of the Post-Soviet states (i.e. Azerbaijan , Georgia , Kazakhstan , Russia and Ukraine ). Also, the number of Turkish Cypriots and Turkish settlers living in North Cyprus is around 300,000 to 500,000. In addition, in the Republic of Turkey over 10.6 million people were living in the European areas of the country (according to the 2012 census); furthermore, one-fifth of Turkey's entire population, or around 15–20 million Turks, descend from

9240-526: 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. As an ethnonym , the etymology of Turk is still unknown. In Chinese sources, Turk appears as Tujue ( Chinese : 突 厥 ; Wade–Giles : T’u-chüe ), which referred to

9380-486: The Gastarbeiter involved the agreements between the host country and Turkey which was bound up with policies of the governments involved, with state bureaucracies on both sides ultimately responsible for the dispatch and settlement of the workers. Subsequently, labor agreements were signed with several European countries- with Germany in 1961; with Austria , Belgium , and the Netherlands in 1964; with France in 1965; and with Sweden in 1967. The agreements were based on

9520-401: The Magnificent , further expanded the conquests after capturing Belgrade in 1521 and using its territorial base to conquer Hungary , and other Central European territories, after his victory in the Battle of Mohács as well as also pushing the frontiers of the empire to the east. Following Suleiman's death, Ottoman victories continued, albeit less frequently than before. The island of Cyprus

9660-444: The Mongols occupied more lands in Asia Minor, the Turks moved further into western Anatolia and settled in the Seljuk-Byzantine frontier. By the last decades of the 13th century, the Ilkhans and their Seljuk vassals lost control over much of Anatolia to these Turkoman peoples . A number of Turkish lords managed to establish themselves as rulers of various principalities , known as " Beyliks " or emirates . Amongst these beyliks, along

9800-401: The National Statistical Institute of Bulgaria, Bulgarian Turks make up 12% of short term migrants, 13% of long term migrants, and 12% of the labour migrants. However, it is unlikely that this generalisation shows a true indication of the ethnic make-up of Bulgarian citizens living abroad because Bulgarian citizens of Turkish origin make up entire majorities in some countries. For example, out of

9940-526: The Netherlands and Belgium in 2012. Yet, there are also significant Turkish communities living in Austria , the UK , Switzerland , Italy , Liechtenstein and the Scandinavian countries. As for Eastern Europe , Professor Oya Dursun-Özkanca said in 2019 that there was over 1 million Turks living in the Balkan countries (i.e. Bosnia and Herzegovina , Bulgaria , Croatia , Greece , Kosovo , Montenegro , North Macedonia , Romania and Serbia ); meanwhile, approximately 400,000 Meskhetian Turks live in

10080-581: The Ottoman capital, that the Ottoman Empire developed considerably. In 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe and established a foothold on the Gallipoli Peninsula while at the same time pushing east and taking Ankara . Many Turks from Anatolia began to settle in the region which had been abandoned by the inhabitants who had fled Thrace before the Ottoman invasion. However, the Byzantines were not

10220-470: The Ottoman conquest of Meskheti in Georgia, hundreds of thousands of Turkic invaders had settled in the region from the thirteenth century. At this time, the main town, Akhaltsikhe , was mentioned in sources by the Turkish name "Ak-sika", or "White Fortress". Thus, this accounts for the present day Turkish designation of the region as "Ahıska". Local leaders were given the Turkish title "Atabek" from which came

10360-523: The Rumelian/Balkan Turks are the descendants of Ottoman settlers. However, the first significant wave of Anatolian Turkish settlement to the Balkans dates back to the mass migration of sedentary and nomadic subjects of the Seljuk sultan Kaykaus II (b. 1237 – d. 1279/80) who had fled to the court of Michael VIII Palaiologos in 1262. The Turkish Albanians are one of the smallest Turkish communities in

10500-467: The Seljuk Turks appreciated and became carriers of Persian culture rather than Turkish culture . Nonetheless, the Turkish language and Islam were introduced and gradually spread over the region and the slow transition from a predominantly Christian and Greek -speaking Anatolia to a predominantly Muslim and Turkish-speaking one was underway. In dire straits, the Byzantine Empire turned to

10640-516: The Seljuk territories rapidly disintegrated, leading to the strengthening of Turkoman principalities in the western and southern parts of Anatolia called the " beyliks ". When the Mongols defeated the Seljuk Turks and conquered Anatolia , the Turks became the vassals of the Ilkhans who established their own empire in the vast area which stretched from present-day Afghanistan to present-day Turkey . As

10780-614: The Turkish and Greek Cypriots , known as the " Cyprus conflict ", the Greek Cypriot government conducted a census in 1973, albeit without the Turkish Cypriot populace. A year later, in 1974, the Cypriot government's Department of Statistics and Research estimated the Turkish Cypriot population was 118,000 (or 18.4%). A coup d'état in Cyprus on 15 July 1974 by Greeks and Greek Cypriots favoring union with Greece (also known as " Enosis ")

10920-465: The Turkish homeland. The Turkish identity became the unifying force when, in 1923, the Treaty of Lausanne was signed and the newly founded Republic of Turkey was formally established. Atatürk's presidency was marked by a series of radical political and social reforms that transformed Turkey into a secular , modern republic with civil and political equality for sectarian minorities and women. Throughout

11060-593: The Turkish language was used officially where Turks formed a majority in the Centar Župa Municipality and the Plasnica Municipality . Since the 2001 amendment to the constitution, the Turkish language is officially used where Turks form at least 20% of the population and hence it is also an official language of Mavrovo and Rostuša . The last Romanian census taken in 2011 recorded 28,226 recorded Turks, which formed 0.15% of Romania's total population. However, in 2006,

11200-486: The Turkish minority has the right to study their own language alongside the compulsory study of the Bulgarian language. Moreover, under Article 54(1), the Turkish minority have the right to "develop their culture in accordance with his ethnic identification". The last Croatian census taken in 2011 recorded 367 Turks. Although a small community, the Turks are officially recognized as a minority ethnic group, in accordance with

11340-466: The Turkish minority numbered 150,000 (about 50 percent of the population of Greek Thrace ). Due to economic reasons, some Western Thrace Turks have migrated to Athens and Thessaloniki . In addition, there is around 5,000 Turks in the Dodecanese islands of Rhodes and Kos . The Turks of Western Thrace have protected status to practice their religion and use the Turkish language, in accordance with

11480-490: The Turkish minority's cultural, religious, educational, social, economic, and political freedoms. The Turks of Bulgaria form the largest Turkish community in the Balkans as well as the largest ethnic minority group in Bulgaria . According to the 2011 census, they form a majority in the Kardzhali Province (66.2%) and the Razgrad Province (50.02%), as well as substantial communities in the Silistra Province (36.09%),

11620-622: The Turkish provinces of Edirne , Tekirdağ and Kırklareli , as well as those territories on the European continent of the provinces of Çanakkale and Istanbul . The land borders of East Thrace were defined by the Treaty of Constantinople (1913) and the Bulgarian-Ottoman convention (1915) , and were reaffirmed by the Treaty of Lausanne . According to the 2012 census, there was 10,620,739 people living in Eastern Thrace. In addition, due to

11760-577: The Turkoman chiefs assumed greater independence. Under its founder, Osman I , the nomadic Ottoman beylik expanded along the Sakarya River and westward towards the Sea of Marmara . Thus, the population of western Asia Minor had largely become Turkish -speaking and Muslim in religion. It was under his son, Orhan I , who had attacked and conquered the important urban center of Bursa in 1326, proclaiming it as

11900-666: The Turks are among the 22 officially recognized national minorities in Croatia. The Turkish Kosovars are the third largest ethnic minority in Kosovo (after the Serbs and Bosniaks ). They form a majority in the town and municipality of Mamuša . The Turkish Montenegrins form the smallest Turkish minority group in the Balkans. They began to settle in the region following the Ottoman rule of Montenegro . A historical event took place in 1707 which involved

12040-488: The United Kingdom due to the EOKA terrorists and its aim of Enosis . By the 1960s, inter-ethnic fighting broke out and by 1964 some 25,000 Turkish Cypriots became internally displaced, accounting to about a fifth of their population; furthermore, approximately 60,000 Turkish Cypriots were forcefully moved into Turkish Cypriot enclaves within Cyprus. This period in Cypriot history resulted in an exodus of more Turkish Cypriots to

12180-721: The United Kingdom in the early 1910s when the British Empire annexed Cyprus in 1914 and the residents of Cyprus became subjects of the Crown. Many Turkish Cypriots went to the United Kingdom as students and tourists whilst others left the island due to the harsh economic and political life during the British Colony of Cyprus. Emigration to the United Kingdom continued to increase when the Great Depression of 1929 brought economic depression to Cyprus, with unemployment and low wages being

12320-954: The United Kingdom. In 2011, the House of Commons, Home Affairs Committee suggested that there are now about 300,000 Turkish Cypriots living in the UK. The Meskhetian Turks, originally living in Meskheti (now known as Samtskhe-Javakheti ) which is a part of southern Georgia, are widely dispersed throughout the former Soviet Union (150,000 live in Kazakhstan , 90,000–110,000 in Azerbaijan , 70,000–90,000 in Russia, 50,000 in Kyrgyzstan , 15,000 in Uzbekistan and 10,000 in Ukraine ) as

12460-473: The United Kingdom. Many of these early migrants worked in the clothing industry in London, where both men and women could work together- sewing was a skill which the community had already acquired in Cyprus. Turkish Cypriots were concentrated mainly in the north-east of London and specialised in the heavy-wear sector, such as coats and tailored garments. This sector offered work opportunities where poor knowledge of

12600-484: The United Kingdom. Other reasons for the continued migration to the United Kingdom was because of the economic gap which was widening in Cyprus. The Greek Cypriots were increasingly taking control of the country's major institutions causing the Turkish Cypriots to become economically disadvantaged. Thus, the political and economic unrest in Cyprus after 1964 sharply increased the number of Turkish Cypriot immigrants to

12740-741: The West for help, setting in motion the pleas that led to the First Crusade . Once the Crusaders took Iznik , the Seljuk Turks established the Sultanate of Rum from their new capital, Konya , in 1097. By the 12th century, Europeans had begun to call the Anatolian region Turchia or Turkey , the land of the Turks. The Turkish society in Anatolia was divided into urban, rural and nomadic populations; other Turkoman (Turkmen) tribes who had arrived into Anatolia at

12880-655: The abortion of that text, never ratified, and the abolition of the Sultanate . Thus, the 623-year-old Ottoman Empire ended. Once Mustafa Kemal led the Turkish War of Independence against the Allied forces that occupied the former Ottoman Empire , he united the Turkish Muslim majority and successfully led them from 1919 to 1922 in overthrowing the occupying forces out of what the Turkish National Movement considered

13020-486: The ancient Turks were nomadic , they traded wool, leather, carpets, and horses for grain, silk, wood, and vegetables, and also had large ironworking stations in the south of the Altai Mountains during the 600s CE. Most of the Turkic peoples were followers of Tengrism , sharing the cult of the sky god Tengri , although there were also adherents of Manichaeism , Nestorian Christianity , and Buddhism . However, during

13160-680: The capital of the Ottoman Empire in 1365, they opened their way into Bulgaria and Macedonia in 1371 at the Battle of Maritsa . With the conquests of Thrace , Macedonia, and Bulgaria, significant numbers of Turkish emigrants settled in these regions. This form of Ottoman-Turkish colonization became a very effective method to consolidate their position and power in the Balkans . The settlers consisted of soldiers, nomads, farmers, artisans and merchants , dervishes , preachers and other religious functionaries, and administrative personnel. In 1453, Ottoman armies, under Sultan Mehmed II , conquered Constantinople . Mehmed reconstructed and repopulated

13300-892: The chief province ( eyalet ) responsible for administrative districts in the region. The Ottomans encouraged migration from Anatolia and the settlement of Turks along northern Iraq. After 89 years of peace, the Ottoman–Safavid War (1623–1639) saw Murad IV recapturing Baghdad and taking permanent control over Iraq which resulted in the influx of continuous Turkish settlers until Ottoman rule came to an end in 1919. Turks in Europe The Turks in Europe (sometimes called Euro-Turks ; Turkish : Avrupa'daki Türkler or Avrupa'da yaşayan Türkler or Avrupa Türkleri ) refers to Turkic peoples living in Europe , particularly those of Turkish origin . Generally, "Euro-Turks" refers to

13440-506: The city, and made it the new Ottoman capital. After the Fall of Constantinople , the Ottoman Empire entered a long period of conquest and expansion with its borders eventually going deep into Europe , the Middle East , and North Africa . Selim I dramatically expanded the empire's eastern and southern frontiers in the Battle of Chaldiran and gained recognition as the guardian of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina . His successor, Suleiman

13580-445: The completion of the conquest and remained overwhelmingly Muslim in composition into the eighteenth century, and in some areas such as Macedonia and Bulgaria well into the nineteenth century. However, in the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, many Turks were displaced and ethnically cleansed, most of them fleeing to Anatolia and East Thrace. At present, there are still significant Turkish minorities living in Bulgaria ,

13720-571: The country, leaders of the Turkish community claim higher numbers than the censuses show; for example, Erdogan Saraç of the Democratic Party of Turks had estimated that between 170,000 and 200,000 ethnic Turks were living in the country. Initially the 1988 draft constitution spoke of the "state of the Macedonian people and the Albanian and Turkish minority". Once the 1991 constitution came into force

13860-456: The course of several centuries. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, persecution of Muslims during the Ottoman contraction and in the Russian Empire resulted in large-scale loss of life and mass migration into modern-day Turkey from the Balkans, Caucasus , and Crimea ; the immigrants were both Turkish and non-Turkish people, and overwhelmingly Muslim. The empire lasted until the end of

14000-668: 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

14140-502: The current Syrian civil war . The Turkish Cypriots are the ethnic Turks whose Ottoman Turkish forebears colonized the island of Cyprus in 1571. About 30,000 Turkish soldiers were given land once they settled in Cyprus, which bequeathed a significant Turkish community. In 1960, a census by the new Republic's government revealed that the Turkish Cypriots formed 18.2% of the island's population. However, once inter-communal fighting and ethnic tensions between 1963 and 1974 occurred between

14280-508: The descendants of these immigrants. The ethnic Turks are the largest ethnic group in Turkey and number approximately 60 million to 65 million. Due to differing historical Turkish migrations to the region, dating from the Seljuk conquests in the 11th century to the continuous Turkish migrations which have persisted to the present day (especially Turkish refugees from neighboring countries), there are various accents and customs which can distinguish

14420-566: The dominant Shia sect in the country). Since the Second World War , the Turkish Azerbaijani community has increased significantly due to the mass wave of Turkish Meskhetian refugees who arrived during the Soviet rule . The Turkish Abkhazians began to live in Abkhazia during the sixteenth century under Ottoman rule. Today, there are still Turks who continue to live in the region. Prior to

14560-645: The establishment of the Republic of Cyprus in 1960, the Cypriot constitution (Articles 2 and 3) recognized the Turkish Cypriots as one of the "Two Communities" of the republic (alongside the Greek Cypriots ). Hence, legally, they were given equal power-sharing rights with the Greek Cypriots and were not defined as a "minority group"; furthermore, the Turkish language was also recognized as an official language of

14700-504: The ethnic Turks by geographic sub-groups. For example, the most significant are the Anatolian Turks in the central core of Asiatic Turkey whose culture was influential in underlining the roots of the Turkish nationalist ideology. There are also nomadic Turkic tribes who descend directly from Central Asia , such as the Yörüks ; the Black Sea Turks in the north whose "speech largely lacks

14840-619: The fifteenth century name of one of the four kingdoms of what had been Georgia, Samtskhe-Saatabago , "the land of the Atabek called Samtskhe [Meskhetia]". In 1555 the Ottomans gained the western part of Meskheti after the Peace of Amasya treaty, whilst the Safavids took the eastern part. Then in 1578 the Ottomans attacked the Safavid controlled area which initiated the Ottoman–Safavid War (1578–1590) . Meskheti

14980-750: The first century BC it is generally thought that the native Anatolian languages , themselves earlier newcomers to the area, following the Indo-European migrations , became extinct. According to historians and linguists, the Proto-Turkic language originated in Central-East Asia, potentially in Altai-Sayan region , Mongolia or Tuva . Initially, Proto-Turkic speakers were potentially both hunter-gatherers and farmers; they later became nomadic pastoralists . Early and medieval Turkic groups exhibited

15120-820: The first half of the 20th century, immigration of Turks to Western Europe began with Turkish Cypriots migrating to the United Kingdom in the early 1910s, when the British Empire annexed Cyprus in 1914 and the residents of Cyprus became British subjects . However, Turkish Cypriot migration increased significantly in the 1940s and 1950s due to the Cyprus conflict . Similarly, Turkish Algerians and Turkish Tunisians mainly emigrated to France after Algeria and Tunisia came under French colonial rule. Conversely, in 1944, Turks who were forcefully deported from Meskheti in Georgia during

15260-780: The forests north of the Sea of Azov , and Pliny the Elder lists the Tyrcae among the people of the same area; yet English archaeologist Ellis Minns contended that Tyrcae is "a false correction" for Iurcae / Iurkai ( Ἱύρκαι ), a people who dwelt beyond the Thyssagetae , according to Herodotus ( Histories , IV. 22) There are references to certain groups in antiquity whose names might have been foreign transcriptions of Tür(ü)k such as Togarmah , Turukha / Turuška , Turukku and so on; but according to American historian Peter B. Golden , while any connection of some of these ancient peoples to Turks

15400-416: The formation of modern nation states the 19th and 20th centuries, millions of Turkish communities from the former Ottoman provinces fled persecution and arrived in Turkey as muhacirs ("refugees"). Today, approximately one-fifth of the Turkish population, or around 15–20 million Turks, is estimated to have Balkan origins. Most arrived from Bulgaria , Greece , Romania and Yugoslavia . In addition, there

15540-501: The founding of the first of four western Thracian republics in the summer of 1913" which existed for only 55 days. The other sizable Turkish minorities living throughout Greece have no official recognition. The last Kosovan census taken in 2011 recorded 18,738 Turks, which formed 1.1% of Kosovo's total population. However, the OSCE in 2010 suggest that there was 30,000 Kosovo Turks. The European Centre for Minority Issues Kosovo also said that

15680-514: The fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, the Ottoman authorities also used mass deportations ( Ottoman Turkish : سوركون‎ , romanized :  sürgün , lit.   'banishment, exile') as a method of control over potentially rebellious individuals. One of the greatest impacts of the Ottoman colonization process of the Balkans was felt in the urban centres, many towns became major centres for Turkish control and administration, with most Christians gradually withdrawing to

15820-696: The government of the Committee of Union and Progress started a program of forcible Turkification of non-Turkish minorities. By 1914, the World War I broke out, and the Turks scored some success in Gallipoli during the Battle of the Dardanelles in 1915. During World War I, the government of the Committee of Union and Progress continued to implement its Turkification policies, which affected non-Turkish minorities, such as

15960-503: The killing of the Turks in Montenegro as well as the murder of all Muslims. This early example of ethnic cleaning features in the epic poem The Mountain Wreath (1846). After the Ottoman withdrawal, the majority of the remaining Turks emigrated to Istanbul and İzmir . Today, the remaining Turkish Montenegrins predominantly live in the coastal town of Bar . The Turkish Macedonians form

16100-602: The large Turkish diasporas living in Central and Western Europe as well as the Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire and those living in Russia and other European Post-Soviet states . When the term "Euro-Turks" is taken in its most literal sense, Turkish people living in the European portion of Turkey are also included in the term. Even more broadly, the Turkish Cypriot community for people living in Cyprus , which

16240-420: 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 Constitution of Turkey defines a Turk as anyone who is a citizen of Turkey. While the legal use of the term Turkish as it pertains to

16380-409: The largest waves of ethnic Turkish migration came from the Balkans during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the Balkan Wars led to most of the region becoming independent from Ottoman control. The largest waves of muhacirs came from the Balkans (especially Bulgaria , Greece , Romania and Yugoslavia ); however, substantial numbers also came from Cyprus, the Sanjak of Alexandretta ,

16520-405: The late 19th century, as the Ottoman upper classes adopted European ideas of nationalism , the term Türk took on a more positive connotation. During Ottoman times, the millet system defined communities on a religious basis. In the early 20th century, the Young Turks abandoned Ottoman nationalism in favor of Turkish nationalism , while adopting the name Turks , which was finally used in

16660-444: The majority of Turkish emigration to Western Europe was for the purpose of family reunification . Furthermore, by the 1990s, migration mainly by way of marriage continued to be one of the principal reasons for settling in Western Europe. About 25,000 to 40,000 Turks of Western Thrace, who are the ethnic Turks who live in the north-eastern part of Greece, have emigrated to Western Europe . Between 12,000 and 25,000 moved to Germany in

16800-529: The mountains. The Ottomans embarked on creating new towns and repopulating older towns that had suffered significant population decline and economic dislocation during the wars preceding the Ottoman conquests. Major Balkan towns, especially those on or near transportation and communication routes, were the focal point of Ottoman colonization in the Balkans. Most urban centres in the Balkans, especially in Thrace, Macedonia , Thessaly , and Moesia , achieved Muslim/Turkish majorities or substantial minorities soon after

16940-472: The name of the new Turkish Republic. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk defined the Turkish nation as the "people ( halk ) who established the Turkish republic". Further, "the natural and historical facts which effected the establishment ( teessüs ) of the Turkish nation" were "(a) unity in political existence, (b) unity in language, (c) unity in homeland, (d) unity in race and origin ( menşe ), (e) to be historically related and (f) to be morally related". Article 66 of

17080-449: The northwest to the east at the middle of Iraq with Kirkuk placed as their cultural capital. Historically, Turkic migrations to Iraq date back to the 7th century when Turks were recruited in the Umayyad armies of Ubayd-Allah ibn Ziyad followed by thousands more Turkmen warriors arriving under the Abbasid rule. However, most of these Turks became assimilated into the local Arab population. The next large scale migration occurred under

17220-446: The only ones to suffer from the Ottoman advance for, in the mid-1330s, Orhan annexed the Turkish beylik of Karasi . This advancement was maintained by Murad I who more than tripled the territories under his direct rule, reaching some 100,000 square miles (260,000 km ), evenly distributed in Europe and Asia Minor . Gains in Anatolia were matched by those in Europe; once the Ottoman forces took Edirne ( Adrianople ), which became

17360-445: The post- Ottoman countries, Turkish Cypriots (alongside recent Anatolian settlers) form a majority in Northern Cyprus ; furthermore, in the Balkans , the Turks are the second largest ethnic group in Bulgaria , and the third largest ethnic group in North Macedonia . In the diaspora (i.e. outside the former territories of the Ottoman Empire), the Turkish people form the second largest ethnic group in Austria , Denmark , Germany and

17500-618: The province of East Macedonia and Thrace in Northern Greece , Kosovo , North Macedonia , and Romania . The Meskhetian Turks, also known as Ahiska Turks, reside or used to reside in Meskheti, which is in the southwestern region of Georgia. The region came under Ottoman rule in the sixteenth century up until 1829. Today, approximately 600 to 1000 Meskhetian Turks are still living in Georgia. The population drastically decreased in 1944, when Joseph Stalin deported approximately 100,000 of these Turks to Eastern Europe and Central Asia . The Ottoman Turks conquered Cyprus in 1571 when they began

17640-430: The region during the Ottoman rule, which lasted between 1578 and 1603. By 1615, the Safavid ruler, Shah Abbas I , solidified control of the region and then deported thousands of people from Azerbaijan. In 1998, there was still approximately 19,000 Turks living in Azerbaijan who descended from the original Ottoman settlers; they are distinguishable from the rest of Azeri society because they practice Sunni Islam (rather than

17780-452: The region since the Ottoman rule of Bosnia and Herzegovina . Thus, the Turks form the oldest ethnic minority in the country. The Turkish Bosnian community decreased dramatically due to mass emigration to Turkey when Bosnia and Herzegovina came under Austro-Hungarian rule. In 2003 the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted the "Law on the Protection of Rights of Members of National Minorities" which officially protected

17920-525: The remaining 115,000 Turkish Meskhetians in 1944, forcing them to resettle in the Caucasus and the Central Asian Soviet republics. Thus, today hundreds of thousands of Turkish Meskhetians are scattered throughout the Post Soviet states (especially in Kazakhstan , Azerbaijan , Russia , Kyrgyzstan , Uzbekistan and Ukraine ). Moreover, many have settled in Turkey and the United States . Attempts to repatriate them back to Georgia saw Georgian authorities receive applications covering 9,350 individuals within

18060-445: The republic, alongside the Greek language . However, due to the Cyprus crisis of 1963–64 , followed by the Greek -led 1974 Cypriot coup d'état (which sought to achieve Enosis and establish the "Hellenic Republic of Cyprus" by ethnically cleansing the Turkish Cypriots under the Akritas plan also known as "the blueprint to genocide"), and then the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus , the Turkish Cypriots declared their own state –

18200-406: The same ethnic, linguistic, cultural and religious origins as today's Turkish nationals. The conquest of the Balkans by the Ottomans set in motion important population movements of Turks brought over from Anatolia to Rumelia, establishing a firm Turkish base for further conquests in Europe. Thus, the Ottomans used colonization as a very effective method to consolidate their position and power in

18340-400: The same time as the Seljuks kept their nomadic ways. These tribes were more numerous than the Seljuks, and rejecting the sedentary lifestyle, adhered to an Islam impregnated with animism and shamanism from their Central Asian steppeland origins, which then mixed with new Christian influences. From this popular and syncretist Islam, with its mystical and revolutionary aspects, sects such as

18480-454: The second largest Turkish community in the Balkans as well as the second largest minority ethnic group in North Macedonia . They form a majority in the Centar Župa Municipality and the Plasnica Municipality as well as substantial communities in the Mavrovo and Rostuša Municipality , the Studeničani Municipality , the Dolneni Municipality , the Karbinci Municipality , and the Vasilevo Municipality . The Turkish Romanians are centered in

18620-601: The slogan: "Georgia for Georgians" and that the Meskhetian Turks should be sent to Turkey "where they belong". Joseph Stalin deported the Meskhetian Turks to Central Asia (especially to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan), thousands dying en route in cattle-trucks, and were not permitted by the Georgian government of Zviad Gamsakhurdia to return to their homeland. In the late 1970s, the Stavropol and Krasnodar authorities in Russia visited various regions of Uzbekistan to invite and recruit Meskhetian Turks to work in agriculture enterprises in southern Russia. By 1985, Moscow issued

18760-405: The strategic Turkish population (especially those situated in Meskheti) located near the Turkish-Georgian border which were likely to be hostile to Soviet intentions. In 1944, the Meskhetian Turks were forcefully deported from Meskheti in Georgia and accused of smuggling, banditry and espionage in collaboration with their kin across the Turkish border. Nationalistic policies at the time encouraged

18900-436: The two-year application period (up until 1 January 2010). Commonly referred to as the Iraqi Turkmens , the Turks are the second largest ethnic minority group in Iraq (i.e. after the Kurds ). The majority are the descendants of Ottoman settlers (e.g. soldiers, traders and civil servants) who were brought into Iraq from Anatolia . Today, most Iraqi Turkmen live in a region they refer to as " Turkmeneli " which stretches from

19040-530: The vowel harmony valued elsewhere"; the descendants of muhacirs (Turkish refugees) who fled persecution from former Ottoman territories in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; and more recent refugees who have continued to flee discrimination and persecution since the mid-1900s. Initially, muhacirs who arrived in Eastern Thrace and Anatolia came fleeing from former Ottoman territories which had been annexed by European colonial powers (such as France in Algeria or Russia in Crimea ); however,

19180-420: Was conquered, in 1571, bolstering Ottoman dominance over the sea routes of the eastern Mediterranean . However, after its defeat at the Battle of Vienna , in 1683, the Ottoman army was met by ambushes and further defeats; the 1699 Treaty of Karlowitz , which granted Austria the provinces of Hungary and Transylvania , marked the first time in history that the Ottoman Empire actually relinquished territory. By

19320-403: Was followed by military intervention by Turkey whose troops established Turkish Cypriot control over the northern part of the island. Hence, census's conducted by the Republic of Cyprus have excluded the Turkish Cypriot population that had settled in the unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus . Between 1975 and 1981, Turkey encouraged its own citizens to settle in Northern Cyprus;

19460-402: Was fully secured into the Ottoman Empire in 1639 after a treaty signed with Iran brought an end to Iranian attempts to take the region. With the arrival of more Turkish colonizers, the Turkish Meskhetian community increased significantly. However, once the Ottomans lost control of the region in 1883, many Turkish Meskhetians migrated from Georgia to Turkey. Migrations to Turkey continued after

19600-599: Was significant migration waves from the island of Cyprus ; today the Turkish Cypriot population in Turkey may exceed 600,000. The last Bosnian census taken in 2013 recorded 1,108 Turks. The Turkish language is officially recognized as a minority language, in accordance with the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , under Article 2, paragraph 2, of the 2010 ratification. Other estimates suggests that there are more than 50,000 Turks. The last Bulgarian census taken in 2011 recorded 588,318 Turks (i.e. 8.8% of Bulgaria's total population), and showed that they formed

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