Turkish people

For a specific analysis of the population of Turkey, see People of Turkey and Demographics of Turkey.
For other uses of "Turkish", see Turk.

Turks
Türkler

File:TurkishPeople1.jpg Mehmed II · Suleiman the Magnificent · Atatürk · Sezen Aksu
Regions with significant populations
Turkey 58,700,000 Germany 2,700,000 Bulgaria 763,000 (2001) France 400,000 Netherlands 357,900 (2005) United Kingdom 300,000 Northern Cyprus 265,000 Uzbekistan 200,000 Austria 183,445 (2001) United States 169,000 ± 51,000 Belgium 120,000 Brazil 150,000 ± 50,000 Russia 96,000 Switzerland 83,312 (2000) Rep. of Macedonia   80,000 Romania 32,596 Australia 87,000 ± 33,000 Greece 54,000 Kosovo 30,000 ± 20,000 Azerbaijan 50,000 Sweden 35,000 Canada 38,000 ± 13,000 Mexico 20,000 Liechtenstein 884
Languages
Turkish
Religion
Muslim or nominally Muslim, predominantly Sunni Islam, followed by Alevis. Small numbers of Eastern Orthodox and Jewish adherents. Many have atheistic or agnostic beliefs.
Related ethnic groups
Other Turkic peoples, Oğuz Turks

The Turks, (Turkish: Türkler), or the Turkish people (Türk Halkı), are a nation (millet) in the meaning an ethnos (Halk in Turkish), defined more by a sense of sharing a common Turkish culture and having a Turkish mother tongue, than by citizenship, religion or by being subjects to any particular country. In a historic context the word Turk or Turkish has also a wider meaning, because—especially in the past—it referred to all Muslim inhabitants of the Ottoman Empire irrespective of their ethnicity. Today, the word is primarily used for the inhabitants of Turkey, but may also refer to the members of sizeable Turkish-speaking populations in Bulgaria, Cyprus and other lands of the former Ottoman Empire, as well as parts of Central Asia and the ex-Soviet Union. Large Turkish communities have also been established in Western Europe (particularly in Germany), North America and Australia.

Etymology

The term Turkish people has several usages. In the most common form it refers to the people of Turkey. It may also be used to refer to those people with Turkish ancestry outside of Turkey. Turkish citizens residing in another country as "foreign" nationals may also be referred to as "Turkish."

The Turkish term, Türk, can also be used with several meanings. In official use, it generally refers to Turkish citizens. Colloquially, it is often used to refer to Turkish ethnicity. The inability or unwillingness to distinguish between the two meanings is a cause of much friction in Turkish society. In Turkish, the word Türk can also mean "Turkish" as, for example, in ''Türk müziği: "Turkish music". The word Türki is used to refer to Turkic elements present in a larger geography, and Türkmen, in Turkey, is not only the name given to brethren in the Caucasus, Middle East and Central Asia, but also, within the borders of Turkey, to those parts of the population, usually rural, who have preserved some kind of attachment with the former semi-nomadic lifestyle (yörüks that live through folklore and traditions, in arts like carpet-weaving, with the continued habit of keeping a yayla house for the summers, sometimes in relation to the Alevi community etc.).

The term Türk first appeared in the Göktürk Inscriptions as a political term. The Turkic peoples (including the ethnic Turks of Turkey who claim to have descended from the Göktürks) readily identify themselves as Turks as their ethnicity. The term Turk had negative connotations in Europe that were established during the Crusades and the period of Ottoman expansion. In medieval Christian European circles, it was used interchangeably with the term Muslim and generally had such derogatory connotations as infidel and savage. It is a neutral term related to ethnicity in Turkic languages.

History

Main article: History of the Turkish people

Turks, who first appeared in history in the 7th century BC at the foot of the Köğmen Mountains, are a society whose language may belong to the disputed Altaic linguistic group. The Göktürks chose Ötüken, as a base and established khanates. The new state called the Göktürk Empire was founded at the foot of the Altay Mountains. Later they spread out and became an empire.

Throughout history, the Turks have established numerous states in various geographical regions on the continents of Asia, Europe and Africa. Turks brought their culture to the places to which they had migrated or invaded and were also affected by the existing cultures of these regions.

File:Ottoman Empire in 1680.gif

The Ottoman Empire c. 1683

Anatolia, the landmass that is now Turkey, had been a cradle to a wide variety of civilizations and kingdoms in antiquity. Major civilizations and peoples that have settled in or invaded Anatolia include the Colchians, Hattians, Luwians, Hittites, Phrygians, Cimmerians, Lydians, Persians, Celts, Tabals, Meshechs, Greeks, Pelasgians, Assyrians, Armenians, Romans, Byzantine Greeks, Goths, Kurds, Mongols, Arabs and Turkic tribes.

The Oğuz were the main Turkic people who moved into Anatolia after 1072 CE. Small bands of Turks began their migration following the victory of the Seljuks, led by Alp Arslan, against the Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert and this paved the way for Turkish dominance in Anatolia. This also marked the beginning of the decline of the Byzantine empire. In the centuries after Manzikert, the relatively small number of Turkic immigrants began to assimilate local populations as their numbers grew. Anatolia was an ethnic mosaic, a region with a wide variety of peoples, but dominated by the Byzantine Greeks and other prominent regional groups such as Armenians, Kurds, and others.

A Turkish girl, 1837 by Karl Briullov

Over time, as word spread regarding the victory of the Turks in Anatolia, more Turkic ghazis arrived from the Caucasus, Persia and Central Asia. These groups in turn merged with the local inhabitants as a slow process of conversion to Islam took place, thanks in large measure to the efforts of the sufis, that helped to bolster the Turkish-speaking population. Many Sufi orders sprang up and quickly became very popular by means of the numerous Sufi lodges throughout the region. Many people were attracted to this form of Islam (which incorporated local customs and rites) and as a result many people converted to the faith. Adoption of the Turkish language, culture and customs often followed conversion to Islam.

It is to be noted that the Ottoman Empire never recognised a Turkish or any other ethnicity but divided its population by religion (millet). There were many non-Turkic speaking Muslims in the Ottoman Empire particularly in areas outside the core Anatolian and southern Balkan regions. Following the Balkan Wars and the Russian conquest of the Caucasus and annexation of Crimea, many non Turkish speaking Muslims in the North Caucasus, Balkans and Crimea emigrated to the territory of present day Turkey. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire and formation of the Republic of Turkey, these various cultures and languages melded into one supra identity and culture. Therefore modern Turks constitute a melting pot of all Muslims in the former Ottoman Empire.

By the late 19th century, Turks were relatively evenly spread throughout Anatolia and the Balkans. But territorial losses in the Balkans sparked a large scale exodus from that region. This was finalised by a population exchange between Greece and Turkey in the aftermath of World War One involving the transfer of a substantial number of ethnic Greeks in Turkey to Greece and vice versa, ethnic turks in greece to Turkey.

These migrations and later populations movements would continue to impact the modern Turkish people as the rise of the Ottoman Empire made Turkey into a world power and a focal point for a wide variety of peoples.

The modern Turks

Main article: People of Turkey

The Turks of Turkey can be broken down into a variety of segments and the majority of self-identifying Turks include four main groupings: Rumelian Turks who are mostly of Balkan origin, Anatolian Turks who compose the bulk of ethnic Turks found in Anatolia, (see history section) Central Asian Turks who remain a sizable minority segment of the population that has been moving to Turkey for centuries, and Eurasian Turks from Russia and the Caucasus such as the Tatars and Azerbaijanis who have more recent ties with Turkic peoples. These Turks share various similar languages and cultures.

Turkish phenotypes and diversity

File:Istiklal Avenue and the historic tram.jpg

Turks on the busy İstiklal Avenue in downtown Istanbul

While the majority of Turks do bear a common brunette Mediterranean appearance similar to that of neighboring countries, there are large visible exceptions that are a testament to the legacy of population movements into the region. People walking in a Turkish street or watching a Turkish movie can see Turks of most physical types prevalent in the country, from the blond haired and-blue-eyed to Asiatic-looking individuals. Turkey, like so many other vast former imperialist powers such as the Romans and the Persians, in part reflects its imperial past.

Proving the difficulty of classifying ethnicities living in Turkey, there are as many classifications as the number of scientific attempts to make these classifications. Turkey is not a unique example for that and many European countries (e.g. France, Germany) bear a similar ethnic diversity. So, the immense variety observed in the published figures for the percentages of Turkish people living in Turkey (ranging from 75 to 97%) totally depends on the method used to classify the ethnicities. Complicating the matter even more is the fact that the last official and country-wide classification of spoken languages (which do not exactly coincide with ethnic groups) in Turkey was performed in 1965, and many of the figures published after that time remain static estimates.

It is necessary to take into account all these difficulties and be cautious while evaluating the ethnic identity of the Turks.

Possible Genetic Links

A 2003 genetic study shows that some Turkish Anatolian tribes may have some ancestors who originated in an area north of Mongolia at the end of the Xiongnu period (3rd century BCE to the 2nd century CE). According to the study, some modern Anatolian Turks appear to have some common genetic markers with the remains found at the Xiongnu period graves in Mongolia:

Interestingly, this paternal lineage has been, at least in part (6 of 7 STRs), found in a present-day Turkish individual (Henke et al. 2001). Moreover, the mtDNA sequence shared by four of these paternal relatives (from graves 46, 52, 54, and 57) were also found in a Turkish individuals (Comas et al. 1996), suggesting a possible Turkish origin of these ancient specimens. Two other individuals buried in the B sector (graves 61 and 90) were characterized by mtDNA sequences found in Turkish people (Calafell 1996; Richards et al. 2000).

While most historians believe that the actual migration of Turks was relatively small, a genetic testing carried out on a small sample revealed that as much as 30% of Turks have varying degrees of Central Asian ancestry. Although, result of another genetic testing carried out on a much larger sample suggests that the actual Central Asian ancestry could be less than 9%.

Geographic distribution

File:Turkisch-day-in-Berlin.jpg

Turkish parade in Berlin featuring a recreated Ottoman military band

See also: Turkish diaspora

Turks primarily live in Turkey. Significant minorities of Turks live in neighboring Bulgaria (see Turks in Bulgaria), Cyprus (see Turkish Cypriots), the Western Thrace region of Greece, Republic of Macedonia, the Dobruja region of Romania and Kosovo (especially in Prizren).

Immigration in the 20th century has resulted in large Turkish communities in Germany, North America and Australia. Sizable populations are (note that these are figures for Turkish nationals) also found in France (400,000 ), the Netherlands (350,000 ), the United Kingdom (300,000 ), Austria (250,000 ), Belgium (120,000 ), Saudi Arabia (120,000 ), Switzerland (80,000 ), Denmark (35,000-50,000 ), Sweden (35,000) and Liechtenstein (884)).

In the United States, the largest Turkish communities are found in New York City, Chicago, Miami, and Los Angeles.

Culture

Traditional Turkish coffee is ubiquitous in Turkish homes

Main article: Culture of Turkey

Language

Main article: Turkish language

The Turkish language is a member of the Oghuz subdivision of Turkic languages, which in turn is thought by some to be a branch of the proposed Altaic language family. Turkish is for the most part, mutually intelligible with other Oghuz languages like Azeri, Crimean Tatar, Gagauz, Turkmen and Urum, and to a lesser extent with other Turkic languages.

Modern Turkish differs greatly from the Ottoman Turkish language, the administrative and literary language of the Ottoman Empire, which was influenced heavily by Arabic and Persian. During the Ottoman period, the language was essentially a mixture of Turkish, Persian, and Arabic, differing considerably from the everyday language spoken by the empire's Turkish subjects, to the point that they had to hire arzıhâlcis (request-writers) to communicate with the state. After the proclamation of the Turkish Republic in early 20th century, many of the foreign borrowings in the language were replaced with Turkic equivalents in a language reform by the newly founded Turkish Language Association. Almost all government documents and literature from the Ottoman period and the early years of the Republic are thus unintelligible to today's Turkish-speaker without translation.

Historically, there were many dialects of Turkish that were spoken throughout Anatolia and the Balkans that differed significantly from each other. After the proclamation of the Republic, the Istanbul dialect was adopted as the standard. There is no official effort to protect regional dialects, and some are currently under threat of disappearing as they face the standard language used in the media and educational system.

Religion

Main article: Islam in Turkey

The vast majority of Turks are at least in a nominal sense, Muslim. The most popular sect is Sunnism of the Hanafite school, which was the type that was officially espoused by the Ottoman Empire. There are also however, a significant number who adhere to Alevism (estimated at 15-20%). Historically Sufism has been a significant influence on Turkish culture (notably the Mevlevi and Nakshbandi orders) and played a large role in the conversion of Turks to Islam. Today, secularization and other modern influences mean that religious identity often tends to be based more on cultural tradition and heritage more than actual belief in religious dogma. Despite this, many Turks acknowledge Islam's tremendous role in shaping Turkish history and it's not uncommon for a person with privately Atheistic or Agnostic beliefs to associate with the religion.

See also

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References

• Bosworth, Clifford E. The History of the Seljuq Turks: From the Jami al-Tawarikh.
• Findley, Carter Vaughn. The Turks in World History.
• Petkova, Lilia. The Ethnic Turks in Bulgaria: Social Integration and Impact on Bulgaria-Turkish Relations, 1947-2000.
• Shaw, George Stanford. History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey.
• Ethnologue report for the Turkish language
• DNA Diversity in Turkey
• Germany's Second Doubts Abouts its Turkish population
• Mitochondrial DNA sequence variation in the Anatolian Peninsula (Turkey)
• Excavating Y-chromosome haplotype strata in Anatolia
• The NGM Study "Who were the Phoenicians" and the Return of the Phoenicians (includes links of modern Turks and some ties to the Ancient Phoenicians)
• Turkey: Country Studies from the US Library of Congress
• BBC News Country Profile for Turkey
• Cultural Exchange Programs in Turkey
• Council of Europe's Turkey Page