Turks Türkler
Total population
c. 65 - 70 million
Regions with significant populations
Turkey 55,500,000  Germany 1,800,000 - 2,600,000 [1]  Bulgaria 746,000  France 400,000 [2]  Netherlands 357,900 [3]  United Kingdom 300,000 TRNC 250,000  Uzbekistan 200,000  United States 200,000  Belgium 230,000  Austria 183,445 [4]  Switzerland 60,000 [5]  Russia 92,415  Australia 103,000 ± 33,000 [6][7]  Republic of Macedonia 77,959 [8]  Greece 74,000  Serbia (Kosovo) 30,000 ± 20,000 [9][10]  Azerbaijan 50,000  Sweden 40,000  Canada 38,000 ± 13,000 [11][12]  Romania 32,596  Cyprus (South) 2.200
Languages
Turkish
Religions
Overwhelmingly Muslim or nominally Muslim, predominantly Sunni Islam, followed by Alevis. Small numbers of Eastern Orthodox and Jewish adherents..

The Turks (Turkish: Türkler), or the Turkish people (Türk Halkı), are a nation (Millet) defined more by a sense of sharing a common Turkish culture and having a Turkish mother tongue by citizenship, religion or by being subjects to any particular country. Nevertheless, in the Republic of Turkey, proper Turkishness is also linked to Turkish citizenship, much in the same way as in France. In a historic context the word Turk or Turkish has also a wider meaning, because there are Turks in Balkans, Europe, Eurasia and Central Asia as well as America. Today, the word is primarily used for the inhabitants of Turkey, but may also refer to the members of sizeable Turkish-speaking populations in the Republic of Macedonia, Greece (in particular in Thrace), Kosovo (Serbia^[13]), Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus and other lands of the former Ottoman Empire. Large Turkish communities have also been established in Western Europe (particularly in Germany), North America and Australia.

History

Main article: History of the Turkish people

The name "Turk" first appeared in history in the 6th century in Central Asia.^[14][15] The Göktürks chose Ötüken, as a base and established khanates. The new state called the Göktürk Empire was founded at the foot of the Altai 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.

Anatolia, the landmass that is now Turkey, had been a cradle to a wide variety of civilizations and kingdoms in antiquity. Major civilizations that have settled in or invaded Anatolia include the Amazons, Arabs, Armenians, Assyrians, Celts, Cimmerians, Etruscans, Galatians, Goths,Hattians, Hittites, Greeks, Ionians, Lydians, Mongols, Pelasgians, Persians, Phrygians, Romans, Scythians, Trojans, Urartians, Byzantines, Seljuk Turks and Ottoman Turks

The Oğuz were the main Turkic people who moved into Anatolia after 1071 . A lot 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 large number of Turkic immigrants began to replace minor local populations as their numbers grew. 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 was erected by the Oghuz Turk ethicity in the beginning based at Söğüt, west region of Turkey. But there were many non-Turkic speaking Muslims in the Ottoman Empire particularly in Arab peninsula. Following the Balkan Wars and the Russian conquest of the Caucasus and annexation of Crimea, many Turkic 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 Turks immigrated in different times of the history.

By the late 19th century, Turks were relatively evenly spread throughout Europe and the Balkans. But territorial losses in the Balkans sparked a large scale exodus from that region. This was finalized by a population exchange between Greece and Turkey in the aftermath of World War One involving the transfer a minor part of the native Greek ethnic community in western Turkey to Greece and vice versa, all ethnic Turks in Northern Greece to Turkey.

Turkish phenotypes and diversity

While the majority of Turks do bear a common Euroasian appearance similar to Europeans, Mediterreneans and Central Asians, 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 European looking to Mediterranean looking and Central Asian Turkic looking. 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 some other European countries (e.g. Switzerland, Belgium) 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. Today over 95% of the people in Turkey speaks Turkish as their native language and over 80% of the population are ethnic Turks in Turkey, also according to Turkish constitution, the citizens are described as a Turk, not classified to their ethnic minority description.

The Turks of Turkey can be broken down into a variety of segments and the majority of self-identifying Turks include four main groupings: Balkan Turks who are mostly of Hunnic/Avar origin, Anatolian Turks who compose the Turks found in Anatolia, traces of many ancient civilizations including Celts, (see history section) Central Asian Turks (Oghuz Turks) who remain a sizable segment of the population that has been migrating to Turkey for the last millennium and Eurasian Turks (Kipchak Turks) that has been migrating to Turkey for the last two millenniums from Russia and the Caucasus such as the Kipchak Turks, Tatar Turks and Azerbaijani Turks who have more recent ties with Caucasian Turkic peoples. All These Turks share the same cultures and languages, although with slightly different dialects.

Genetic evidence

A 2003 genetic study in the Y chromosomes of 523^[16] individuals 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, most modern Anatolian Turks appear to have common genetic markers with the original inhabitants of Central Asia.

The researchers found that evolution of Europeans and Asians occurred in Central Asia much earlier than previously thought. They also found DNA sequences similar to those in present-day Turks, supporting the idea that most of the Turks originated in Central Asia. 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(female linkeage) 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).[17][18]

According to the National Geographic's research done on to find the origins of Blonde Amazon Warrior Women who fiercely fought against ancient Greeks at the side of Trojans(Truva), once lived at Northeastern Turkey by black sea, brought up the reality that their origins were traced back to ancient Turks at Central Asia-Mongolia before they had migrated to Turkey 3000 years ago.[https://www.thirteen.org/pressroom/pdf/sod/amazon/SOTDAmazonWarriorRelease.pdf]. Per Chinese records, Kirghiz Turks were the last Turks left ancient Mongolia due to massive Mongol settlement from east 600 A.D. Kirghiz Turks possessed lighter hair color(including reddish), lighter eye colors and they were taller in height and strong people. [1]]. A 10 years long worldwide research, performed by National Geographic's Genographic Project, with thousands of samples; this worldwide research(data used by University of Illinois) revealed that as much as 75%(subgroups of Central Asian haplogroup K) of Turks in Turkey have varying degrees of Central Asian ancestry. The rest 25%(subgroups of middle Eastern haplogroup J)of Turks in Turkey have middle-eastern ancestry. Like most of the Europeans, Asians including Indians and native Americans, most Turks in Turkey share the same Central Asian ancestry. [2]. Today a great number of Turks share the M9 haplogroup which was originated in Central Asia. Genetic studies performed in across modern Turkey have demonstrated the majority of Central Asian origins. From the latest genetical findings of Dr. Spencer Wells, ancient or proto Turks(haplogroup K) are considered to be the origins of European and Asian race, which gives a very good reason of why Turks carry racial features of both races. According to an article by N. Al-Zahery et al., the potentially paraphyletic haplogroup K*-M9(xK2, O, P) occurs at a fairly high frequency among the modern population of Turkey and Turkestan(Central Asia). The results of genetic researches done on Turkey's population show that over 77% of today's Turkish people in Turkey belong to M9(K) haplogroup which originated in Central Asia over 35000 years ago. Per Genographic Project, a worldwide genetic research performed by Dr. Spencer Wells as the head of group of scientists at National Geographic, a Turk named Niyazov(Niyazoglu), living at Kazakhstan by Kirghizistan and Uzbekistan, was discovered to be the only person carrying the ancient people's exactly the same gene lived 40000 years ago who was the father to nearly 90% of the world population including Central Asians, Europeans, Euroasians, Eastern Asians(Chinese, etc.), South Asians (Indians, etc.) and Native Americans. This genetic discovery gives Turks the privilege to state that ancient Turks are the fathers to most people on world and fathers to most civilizations on earth.[3]

Geographic distribution

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, America and Australia. Sizable populations are (note that these are figures for Turkish nationals) also found in France (400,000^[19]), the Netherlands (350,000^[20]), the United Kingdom (300,000^[21]), Austria (250,000^[22]), Belgium (120,000^[23]), Saudi Arabia (120,000^[24]), Switzerland (80,000^[25]), Denmark (35,000-50,000^[26][27]), Sweden (35,000)^[28] Italy (11.077)^[29]) and Liechtenstein (884)^[30]).

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

Culture

Main article: Culture of Turkey

The culture of Turkey is a diverse one, derived from various elements of the Ottoman Empire, European, and the Islamic traditions.

Because of the different historical factors playing an important role in defining a Turkish identity, the culture of Turkey is an interesting combination of clear efforts to be "modern" and Western, alongside a desire to maintain traditional religious and historical values.

Language

Main article: Turkish language

The Turkish language is a member of the ancient Oghuz subdivision of Turkic languages, which in turn is a branch of the proposed Altaic language family.^[31][32][33] 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 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.

Music

See also:

Turkey is a country in western Asia and Southeast Europe and on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, and is a crossroads of cultures from across Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, the Caucasus and South and Central Asia. The music of Turkey includes elements of Central Asian folk music, Arabic, Persian classical music, ancient Greco-Roman music and modern European and American popular music. Turkey, rich in musical heritage, has developed this art in two areas, Turkish classical music (similar to Greco- Roman) and Turkish folk music (Similar to Central Asian). The biggest Turkish pop star of the 20th century was probably Sezen Aksu, known for overseeing the Turkish contribution to the Eurovision Song Contest and was known for her light pop music.

European classical composers in the 18th century were fascinated by Turkish music, particularly the strong role given to the brass and percussion instruments in Ottoman Janissary bands called Mehter who were the fist marching military band in History. Joseph Haydn wrote his Military Symphony to include Turkish instruments, as well as some of his operas. Turkish instruments were also included in Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony Number 9. Mozart wrote the "Ronda alla turca" in his Sonata in A major and also used Turkish themes in his operas. Although this Turkish influence was a fad, it introduced the cymbals, bass drum, and bells into the symphony orchestra, where they remain. For details, see Turkish music (style).

Jazz musician Dave Brubeck wrote his "Blue Rondo á la Turk" as a tribute to Mozart and Turkish music.

Turkish pop music boasts numerous mainstream artists with large followings since the 1960s like Ajda Pekkan and Sezen Aksu, and younger pop stars like Sertab Erener, Tarkan, Serdar Ortac and Mustafa Sandal. Underground music and the genres of electronica, hip-hop, rap and dance music saw an increased demand and activity following the 1990s.

Turkish rock music, sometimes referred to as Anatolian rock, initiated during the 1960s by individuals like Cem Karaca, Barış Manço, and Erkin Koray, has seen wide-range success and has grown a considerable fan base. A few of the more mainstream Turkish rock bands include Mor ve Ötesi, Duman, and maNga. Individual rock performers like Şebnem Ferah, Özlem Tekin, and Teoman have substantial fan-bases. Turkey also boasts numerous large-scale rock festivals and events. Annually held rock festivals include Barışarock, Rock'n Coke, during many of which internationally renowned bands / artists frequently take the stage together with Turkish artists.

In 2003, a Turkish singer Sertab Erener won the Eurovision Song Contest with her song Everyway That I Can.

Literature

Main article: Turkish literature

The history of Turkish literature is traced back to Orkhon inscriptions. Most of the Turkish literature before the adaptation of Islam was verbal literature. With the adaptation of Islam, Turks were influenced with Persian culture and they developed literature using the Persian structures, such as mesnevi, gazel etc. With the 19th century and tanzimat period, artists began to use western structures. The republican period is dominated with western forms of literature.

Poetry

Main article: Turkish poetry

Prose

See also:

The backgrounds of current novelists can be traced back to "Young Pens" (Genç Kalemler) journal in Ottoman period. Young Pens was published in Selanik under the Ömer Seyfettin, Ziya Gökalp ve Ali Canip Yontem. They covered the social and political concepts of their time with the nationalistic perspective. They became the core of a movement which will be called national literature.

With the declaration of republic, Turkish literature becomes interested in folkloric styles. This was also the first time the literature was escaping from the western influence and begin to mix western forms with other forms. During the 1930s Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoglu and Vedat Nedim Tor begin to publish KADRO. KADRO was revolutionary in its look at the life.

Orhan Pamuk is a leading Turkish novelist of post-modern literature. He is hugely popular in his homeland, but also with a growing readership around the globe. As one of Europe's most prominent novelists, his work has been translated into more than twenty languages. He is the recipient of major Turkish and international literary awards. The most recent of his novels is "Snow." Pamuk is the winner of Nobel Prize for Literature in 2006, with his melancholic point of view to various cultures in Istanbul. However, a big debate is goning on in Turkey about Pamuk's winning; many Turks think that he won the prize by his political ideas.

Religion

See also:

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%, though some reports indicate 10%^[34]). 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. Secularization and other political influences mean that religious identity may be based more on cultural tradition and heritage more than actual belief in religious dogma. Nevertheless, many Turks today increasingly acknowledge Islam's tremendous role in shaping Turkish history and society.

See also

List of Turks Turkish diaspora Turks in Bulgaria Turkish Cypriots Turkish-Australian Turkish-American

Turkish Jews German Turks Cretan Turks Afro-Turks Meskhetian Turks Yörük

References and notes

• 55 milyon kişi 'etnik olarak' Türk
• 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
• [https://www.thirteen.org/pressroom/pdf/sod/amazon/SOTDAmazonWarriorRelease.pdf]
• http://www.turkgenealogy.com/content/TheJourneyofMan.htm
• http://hpgl.stanford.edu/publications/HG_2004_v114_p127-148.pdf
• http://www.ancestrybydna.com/welcome/productsandservices/eurodna/manual/
• http://www.turkgenealogy.com/content/TheJourneyofMan.htm