Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
June 6 2008
Ethnic composition of Turkey’s population made public
[ 06 Jun 2008 15:32 ]
Ankara-APA. In accordance with the instructions of Turkish National
Security Council, a group of scientists prepared a report on ethnic
groups in the country.
APA reports quoting Turkish media that the report prepared by the
teachers of Erciyez, Elazig, Malatya and Firat universities contains
exact information about the ethnic composition of the country
population and their roots.
Turks. According to the document, this group includes Turkmen, Azeri,
Tatar, Terekeme, Karacay, Yoruk, Taxtaci and others and their number
is above 50 million. This figure reached 55 million including the
representatives of other ethnic groups, who are on the stage of
becoming Turks.
Kurds. The second biggest ethnic group in Turkey is Kurds. Their
number is 3 million. Their number reaches 12.6 million if zazas are
included into this group. But about 2.5 million of Kurds are on the
stager of becoming Turks and in some places people do not consider
themselves Kurds.
Cerkez. About 2.5 million Cerkezs live in various places of
Turkey. But 80% of them forgot their language.
Georgians. People of Georgian-origin in Turkey have settled in Ordu,
Artvin, Samsun regions and Marmara. The majority of them do not the
Georgian language. But these people are tending to become Georgians
after Georgia gained its independence.
Bosnians. There are about 2 million Bosnians in Adapazari, Izmir and
Manisa.
Albans. The number of Albans exceeds 1.3 million in Turkey. But half
of them became Turks and forgot their mother tongue.
Arabs. Arabs in Turkey settled in Siirt, Mardin, Shirnak, Diyarbakir,
Shaliurfa, Hatai, Adana and Istanbul. Arabian population size is 870
thousands.
Pomaks. Pomaks – Turk-origin for some sources and Slavic for other
sources – are 600 thousands and became completely Turkic people.
Lazs. Most of population in Black Sea region of Turkey is considered
Lazs incorrectly. Lazs are 80 thousands and live in several villages
of Riza and Artvin.
Other ethnic groups. A number of other ethnic groups in Turkey is more
than one million. The largest one among them is Gypsy, which size is
700 thousands. 60 thousands Armenians, 20 thousands Jews, 15 thousands
Greeks, 13 thousands Hamshins and few Suryanis live in Turkey.
85 per cent of 70 millions Turkish populations are Sunnite
Muslims. There are about 11 millions Alawis (modern stream of Shiite)
mostly South Azerbaijan-origin in the country.