Turkish population
The Turkish population refers to the number of ethnic Turkish people in the world. During the Seljuk and Ottoman eras ethnic Turks were settled across the lands conquered by the two empires. In particular, the Turkification of Anatolia was the result of the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 and the formation of the Sultanate of Rum. Thereafter, the Ottomans continued Turkish expansion throughout the regions around the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. Consequently, today the Turkish people form a majority in Turkey and Northern Cyprus. There are also significant Turkish minorities who still live in the Balkans, the Caucasus, and the Levant, and North Africa.
More recently, the Turkish people have emigrated from their traditional areas of settlement for various reasons, forming a large diaspora. From the mid-twentieth century onwards, unskilled workers from Turkey settled mainly in German and French speaking countries of Western Europe, in contrast, a "brain drain" of skilled workers from Turkey migrated mostly to North America. Moreover, ethnic Turks from other traditional areas of Turkish settlement have emigrated mostly due to political reasons. For example, the Meskhetian Turks were deported to Central Asia from Georgia in 1944; Turkish Cypriots have emigrated mostly as refugees to the English-speaking world during the Cyprus conflict and its immediate aftermath; Cretan Turks have significant populations in the Arab world as a result of being expelled from Greece; etc..
Traditional areas of Turkish settlement
Turkish majorities
| Country | Official State census figures | Other estimates | Constitution recognition | See also |
| N/A. The Turkish census collects data on country of birth but does not collect data on ethnicity. | 60,000,000 – 65,000,000 | The Turkish language is the official language of the Republic of Turkey, under Article 3 of the 1982 Turkish constitution. | Turkish people | |
| 286,257 | 300,000-500,000 | According to Article 2 of the 1985 constitution of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is only recognised by Turkey, the Turkish language is the sole official language of the break-away state. | Turkish Cypriots |
Turkish "communities"
| Country | Official State census figures | Other estimates | Constitution recognition | See also |
| 1,128 | 2,000 Turkish Cypriots remain in the internationally recognized southern region of the Republic of Cyprus. | Under Article 2 of the Cypriot constitution the Turkish Cypriots, alongside the Greek Cypriots, form one of the two "Communities" in Cyprus. The Turkish Cypriots are therefore recognised as equal participants of the Republic rather than as a minority. Furthermore, under Article 3, the Greek and Turkish languages are the two official languages of Cyprus. Despite President Makarios III's attempt to amend the constitution and the aim to weaken the rights of Turkish Cypriots, under the 1963 Akritas plan, the original 1960 constitution is still legally in force today. | Turkish Cypriots |
Turkish minorities
Turkish minorities in the Balkans
| Country | Official State census figures | Other estimates | Constitutional recognition/Minority status | Further information | Lists of Turks by country |
| 267 | 50,000 | 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. | Turks in Bosnia and Herzegovina | ||
| 588,318 | 750,000 | 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, the Turkish minority has the right to study their own language alongside the compulsory study of the Bulgarian language. Moreover, under Article 54, the Turkish minority have the right to "develop their culture in accordance with his ethnic identification". | Turks in Bulgaria | List of Bulgarian Turks | |
| 367 | 2,000 | The Turks are officially recognised as a minority ethnic group, in accordance with the 2010 Constitution of Croatia. | Turks in Croatia | ||
| 179,895 | 150,000 | The Turks of Western Thrace have protected status to practice their religion and use the Turkish language, in accordance with the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. However, the other sizeable Turkish minorities in Greece have no official recognition. | Turks in Greece | ||
| 18,738 | 30,000 to 50,000 | The Turkish language is recognized as an official language in the municipalities of Prizren and Mamuša and has minority status in Gjilan, Pristina, Vučitrn, and Mitrovica. | Turks in Kosovo | ||
| 77,959 | 170,000–200,000 | 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 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. | Turks in Macedonia | ||
| 104. | Turks in Montenegro | ||||
| 28,226 | 55,000 to 80,000 | The Turkish language is officially recognized as a minority language, in accordance with the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, under Part III of the 2007 ratification. | Turks in Romania | ||
| 647 | Turks in Serbia | ||||
| Total | N/A | 1,300,000 | Turks in the Balkans |
Turkish minorities in the Caucasus
| Country | Official State census figures | Other estimates | Constitutional recognition/ Minority status | Further information | Lists of Turks by country |
| 731 | 15,000 | Turks in Abkhazia | |||
| Turkish minority N/A. Although the USSR censuses recorded a small number of Turks: 19 in 1970, 28 in 1979, and 13 in 1989, they were not recorded in the 2001 Armenian census. | Turks in Armenia | ||||
| Turkish minority N/A. The 2009 Azeri census recorded 38,000 Turks; however, it does not distinguish between the Turkish minority, Meskhetian Turks who arrived after 1944, and recent Turkish arrivals. | 19,000 | Turks in Azerbaijan | |||
| *Pre-World War II: 137,921. The Turkish population was not recorded in later censuses; nonetheless, it is estimated that 200,000 Turks from Meskheti were deported to Central Asia in 1944. *Post-World War II: The Meskhetian Turkish population in the USSR was published for the first in the 1970 census. However, by this point, the Turkish minority in Georgia had already diminished to several hundred due to the forced deportation of 1944. There were 853 Turks in Georgia in 1970, 917 in 1979, and 1,375 in 1989. *Post-USSR: Although a small number has returned to Georgia, they have not been recorded in the 2002 Georgian census. | 1,500 | Meskhetian Turks |
Turkish minorities in the Levant
| Country | Census figures | Alternate estimates | Legal recognition | Further information | Lists of Turks by country |
| 567,000 or 9% of the total Iraqi population | 3,000,000 | In 1925 the Turks were recognised as a constitutive entity of Iraq, alongside the Arabs and Kurds, however, the minority were later denied this status. In 1997 the Iraqi Turkoman Congress adopted a Declaration of Principles, Article Three of which states the following: "The official written language of the Turkomans is Istanbul Turkish, and its alphabet is the new Latin alphabet." | Iraqi Turkmens | List of Iraqi Turks | |
| N/A | N/A | N/A | Turks in Israel | ||
| N/A | Turkish minority: Palestinian-Turkish refugees: 55,000 in Irbid 5,000 near Amman 5,000 in El-Sahne 3,000 in El-Reyyan 2,500 in El-Bakaa 1,500 in El-Zerkaa 1,500 in Sahab | N/A | Turks in Jordan | List of Jordanian Turks | |
| N/A | 80,000 | N/A | Turks in Lebanon | List of Lebanese Turks | |
| N/A | est. West Bank: 35,000 to 40,000 total Palestinian-Turkish community: est.400,000 to 500,000 | N/A | Turks in Palestine | ||
| N/A | 500,000–3.5 million | N/A | Syrian Turkmens | List of Syrian Turks |
Turkish minorities in North Africa
| Country | Census figures | Alternate estimates | Legal recognition | Further information | Lists of Turks by country |
| N/A | 5% to 25% of Algeria's population 600,000 to 2 million up to 9.5 million | N/A | Turks in Algeria | List of Algerian Turks | |
| N/A | 1,000000 to 1.200000 plus 100,000 Cretan Turks | N/A | Turks in Egypt | List of Egyptian Turks | |
| 35,062 or 4.7% of Libya's population | 1,500,000 plus 100,000 Cretan Turks | N/A | Turks in Libya | List of Libyan Turks | |
| N/A | up to 25% of Tunisia's population estimates: 500,000-2,000,000 | N/A | Turks in Tunisia | List of Tunisian Turks |
Other Arab countries
Turkish diasporas
Central Asia
| Country | Official State census figures | Other estimates | Further information | Lists of Turks |
| 97,015 -180,000 | Turks in Kazakhstan | |||
| 39,133 | 50,000 to 70,000 | Turks in Kyrgyzstan | ||
| 1,360 | Turks in Tajikistan | |||
| 13,000 | Turks in Turkmenistan | |||
| 106,302 | 15,000-38,000 | Turks in Uzbekistan |
Europe
| Country | Official State census figures | Other estimates | Further information | Lists of Turks |
| N/A. The Austrian census collects data on country of birth but does not collect data on ethnicity. | 350,000-500,000 | Turks in Austria | List of Austrian Turks | |
| 38,000 | 90,000–110,000 | Turks in Azerbaijan | ||
| 55 | ||||
| N/A. The Belgian census collects data on country of birth but does not collect data on ethnicity. | 200,000 to 250,000 | Turks in Belgium | List of Belgian Turks | |
| 1,700 | ||||
| N/A. The Danish census collects data on country of birth but does not collect data on ethnicity. | 70,000 80,000 | Turks in Denmark | ||
| 544 | ||||
| 10,000 | Turks in Finland | |||
| N/A. The French census collects data on country of birth but does not collect data on ethnicity. | 800,000- 1,000,000 plus thousands of Algerian Turks | Turks in France | List of French Turks | |
| N/A. The German census collects data on country of birth and citizenship but does not collect data on ethnicity. | 3,500,000 4,000,000 2,000 Turkish Cypriots | Turks in Germany | List of German Turks | |
| 1,565 | 2,500 | Turks in Hungary | ||
| 68 | ||||
| N/A. The Irish census collects data on country of birth but does not collect data on ethnicity. | 3,000 | Turks in Ireland | ||
| N/A. The Italian census collects data on country of birth but does not collect data on ethnicity. | 30,000–40,000 | Turks in Italy | ||
| 142 | :lv:Turki Latvijā | |||
| 1,000 | Turks in Liechtenstein | |||
| 35 | ||||
| 450 | ||||
| 53 | ||||
| Turks in Moldova | ||||
| 57 | ||||
| N/A. The Dutch census collects data on country of birth but does not collect data on ethnicity. | 400,000-500,000 to 627,000 Plus 10,000–30,000 Bulgarian Turks. | Turks in the Netherlands | List of Dutch Turks | |
| N/A. The Norwegian census collects data on country of birth but does not collect data on ethnicity. | 16,000 | Turks in Norway | ||
| 2,500 | Turks in Poland | |||
| 250 | ||||
| Recorded 105,058 Turks and 4,825 Meskhetian Turks | 120,000–150,000 | Turks in Russia | ||
| 150 | ||||
| 259 | ||||
| N/A. The Spanish census collects data on country of birth but does not collect data on ethnicity. | 4,000 | Turks in Spain | ||
| N/A. The Swedish census collects data on country of birth but does not collect data on ethnicity. | 100,000-125,000 Plus 30,000 Bulgarian Turks | Turks in Sweden | ||
| N/A. The Swiss census collects data on country of birth but does not collect data on ethnicity. | 100,000-120,000 | Turks in Switzerland | List of Swiss Turks | |
| Recorded 8,844 Turks and 336 Meskhetian Turks | 10,000 | Turks in Ukraine | ||
| N/A. The British census collects data on country of birth but does not collect data on ethnicity. | 500,000 | Turks in the United Kingdom | List of British Turks | |
| Total | 9 to 10 million |
North America
| Country | Official State census figures | Other estimates | Further information | Lists of Turks |
| 55,430 | 100,000 Plus 1,800 Turkish Cypriots | Turkish Canadians | List of Turkish Canadians | |
| 230,342 | 500,000 Plus 16,000 Meskhetian Turks Plus 5,000 Turkish Cypriots | Turkish Americans | List of Turkish Americans |
Oceania
| Country | Official State census figures | Other estimates | Further information | Lists of Turks |
| 66,919 | 150,000 to 200,000 Plus 40,000–120,000 Turkish Cypriots | Turkish Australians | List of Turkish Australians | |
| 957 | 2,000–3,000 Plus 1,600 Turkish Cypriots | Turks in New Zealand |
Other regions
| Country | Official State census figures | Other estimates | Further information | Lists of Turks by country |
| N/A. The Indian census collects data on country of birth but does not collect data on ethnicity. but Turk peoples in India Have their organisation to protect their culture, they are mainly reside in the area of west Uttar Pradesh consisting district of Moradabad, Sambhal, Amroha, Rampur, Turks are in majority in Sambhal town about 50%–60% | 2,000 | Turks in India | ||
| 12,000 |