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Turkey is a very large and populous country.
And therefore, its social reality is very diverse, both in terms of both ethnicity and demographics.
En esta página intentamos abordar las cuestiones principales para que comprendas mejor cómo es la población que te rodeará y con la que interactuarás durante tu viaje.
Before analyzing the different ethnic groups, the general data of Turkish society are interesting to know its reality and identity.
In total terms, in Turkey there are a little more than 85 million inhabitants (as of June 2023).
Of which, more than 75% of the population lives in urban areasThis has led to really high population density in some cities, Istanbul being the most paradigmatic case, with almost 2,700 inhabitants/m2, and with other no less striking examples, such as the almost 1,800 inhabitants/m2 in the capital, Ankara.
Today, it is a fairly young society, with more than 22% of people between the ages of 0 and 14 and less than 10% over the age of 64.
However, there is stagnation: the fertility rate for women is around 2%.
And unlike other Muslim countries, its population growth rate has been dropping in recent decades, with some occasional increases, such as in the first years of the 2010s.
But already in the first years of the 2020s, this rate was less than 1%.
In any case, part of this population growth is due to the increase in life expectancy at birth. increase in life expectancy at birthThe average age of the population has risen considerably in recent decades.
At present, women’s age is around 82 years, while men’s is around 76 years, for an average of approximately 79 years.
Although the majority of Turkey’s inhabitants are ethnic Turks, there are many other people with other social identities in this country: more than a dozen, as shown below.In this country there are many other people with other social identities: more than a dozen, as we show below.
In Turkish society there is a large majority of Turks, understood from an ethnographic point of view (since the Constitution refers to “Turks” as all those who have citizenship).
However, if we talk about ethnic Turks, the different figures that are handled talk about some 65 million Turks in the country.
The distinctive element of the modern Turkish people is their language, Turkish their language, Turkishfrom a Turkic family.
The other major identity trait is the Muslim religion of the Sunni branchThere are also people who profess the Shiite (Alevi) branch and other religions or who do not show a special religious significance.
The modern Turks come from the Turkic peoples, who were originally nomadic and later settled in Asia Minor in the Middle Ages. originally nomadic and later settled in Asia Minor in the Middle Ages..
La primera mención que se hace de ellos se remonta al siglo VI, cuando fuentes chinas los sitúan en Mongolia.
Pero hace aproximadamente un milenio se fueron desplazando hacia Occidente, absorbiendo tradiciones y rasgos culturales de otros pueblos con los que entraron en contacto, especialmente los persas, de quienes tomaron la religión islámica, y el gran mosaico de pueblos y civilizaciones de Asia Central.
The Seljuks were the first Turkics to establish a major political entity, creating a true empire, and were later replaced by the Ottomans. OttomansThey were later replaced by the Ottomans, also Turkic but with a greater vocation for integration and interbreeding with other dominated peoples.
A further twist came in the early 20th century with Mustafa Kemal 20th century, with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (which literally means “father of the Turks”), who promoted the Republic of Turkey and a and a great process of identity assimilation. with that of the new homeland.
Until then, the term “Türk” was used rather for the rural population, but later it took on a positive connotation and was eventually used for everyone.
However, it is interesting to know that Turks are not only present in Turkey: due to different population movements, there are millions of Turks in other countries. millions of Turks in other countries.
En especial, en Germanywhere they emigrated en masse in the 50’s and where it is estimated that there are about 4 million.
Other countries with large Turkish populations are the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria or Switzerland, due to emigration, as well as others due to their proximity and even certain cultural and historical links, such as Macedonia, Greece, Bulgaria or Ukraine.
There are also important populations in other bordering countries to the east, such as Georgia, Iraq or Syria.
In addition, other ‘autochthonous’ Turks are those of the Turkish Republic of Cyprus (a state with limited international recognition).
In the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), which sealed the borders of modern Turkey after World War I and the Greek-Turkish war (called the War of Independence by Turkey), it speaks of three minorities: Greeks, Armenians and Jews..
Pero lo cierto es que su situación actual ha variado mucho desde aquel momento.
First of all, it talks about the GreeksThe Turkish government, who had previously exercised their dominion over a large part of the Turkish territory.
But from then on, what was called the ‘ stock exchangeThe aim was to avoid social problems for those who remained in ‘contrary’ territory after the Greek-Turkish war.
For that reason, very many Turks returned to the country from their European neighbor, but also many Greeks left the country at that time.
At present it is difficult to know how many Greeks live in Turkey, as there are no official censuses on the subject, but they must be limited to a few thousand.
As for the Armenians Armeniansthe situation is no less tense.
Quite the contrary, especially in the wake of the episode (not recognized by Turkey, at least in its entirety) called ‘ Armenian genocide’.In the death throes of the Ottoman Empire, when a very high number of Armenians (more than 1 million, according to some sources) were executed or forcibly deported.
Because of this situation, the Armenian population in Turkey is not significant in quantitative terms either, and the border between the two countries remains closed indefinitely (2023).
A different situation has been experienced by the Jewish people in Turkey: the Ottoman Empire was one of the few Muslim political entities that protected the Jews and welcomed them with open arms, like the Spanish Sephardim expelled in 1492, knowing the capacity and preparation of this people.
Since then, they settled effectively in different parts of the empire, especially in Istanbul.
And although many Jews emigrated to the newly created state of Israel in the mid-twentieth century, they still live here. tens of thousands of JewsThe Jewish community in Turkey is one of the largest Jewish communities outside Israel.
In the section dedicated to religion, you can learn more about the Jews in Turkey.
These three minorities, therefore, are not numerous, but they are important in legal terms: the Constitution, by the fact of having this ‘minority’ status, prohibits discrimination against those who belong to them.
There are an estimated 15 million Kurds in Turkey.
La mayoría habitan las regiones montañosas del sureste del país, en una amplia zona que va desde Malatya y Elazig al este, Erzurum y Kars al norte y las fronteras con Armenia, Irán, Irak y Siria al sureste, con el Lago Van y la ciudad de Diyarbakir como epicentros icónicos.
Thus, in numerical terms, it makes them the second largest ethnic group is the Kurds.
But this is a matter of debate and even controversy for many, since officially and unofficially, the Kurds have not received this minority considerationThey have largely been considered “mountain Turks”, despite the historical claims of the Kurdish community, who do not feel this way.
The Kurdish people are Iranian in characterThe Kurdish language family is Kurdish.
To a large extent they are Sunni Muslimsalthough there are also Kurds who maintain the traditional Kurdish religion, which is Yazidism. YazidismAlthough it is monotheistic and has some aspects in common with Islamic Sufism, it also shows influences from Persian Zoroastrianism and other Mesopotamian religions.
The population of this ethnic group is between 35 and 45 million people between 35 and 45 million people, distributed among different countries, especially those located in Asia Minor and the Middle East: Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey.The Kurdish population is spread across different countries, especially those located in Asia Minor and the Middle East: Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey, the latter being the country with the largest number of Kurds in its territory.
The minimum demands of the Kurds in Turkey is the recognition of their language and other concessions related to their culture and history.
And the ultimate aspiration of the Kurdish people is to achieve an independent state of their own, Kurdistan, a desire which in Turkey has been channeled by the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party)founded in 1978, but being a party with a military wing that has not renounced armed struggle to achieve its goals, it was declared a ‘terrorist organization’ by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
In addition to Greeks, Armenians, Jews and Kurds, there are other ethnic and social groups with a presence in Turkey, the result of different historical processes and spread across different cities and regions, as the case may be.
Here is a list of the most important ones:
It is important not to confuse the Syriac Catholics, who have been present in Turkey for a long time, with the Syrian refugees. Syrian refugees who, as a result of the civil conflict their country has been experiencing since 2016, were forced to leave their homes and seek protection here.
In fact, Turkey is the country that has taken in the largest number of refugees from this country, with more than 2 milliona figure to be taken into account for its impact on society.
Moreover, according to UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) data, it is the country that has received the most refugees in its territory, with 3.6 million (also from other countries with social tensions, such as Iraq and Afghanistan), which reflects the hospitable nature of Turkish society.
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