Turks in the Arab world

A map of the Arab world. This is based on the standard territorial definition of the Arab world which comprises the states and territories of the Arab League.

The Turks in the Arab world refers to ethnic Turkish people who live in the Arab world. There are significant Turkish populations scattered throughout North Africa, the Levant, and the Arabian Peninsula.

In Libya, some groups identify themselves as Turkish, or descendants of Turkish soldiers who settled in the area in the days of the Ottoman Empire[1] There is also a significant Turkish minority in Egypt.[2]

In the Levant, the Turks live across the region. In Iraq and Syria the Turkish minorities are commonly referred to as "Turkmen", "Turkman" and "Turcoman"; historically, these terms have been used to designate Turkish speakers in Arab areas, or Sunni Muslims in Shitte areas.[3] The majority of Iraqi Turkmen and Syrian Turkmen are the descendants of Ottoman Turkish settlers.[4][5][6][7] and share close cultural and linguistic ties with Turkey, particularly the Anatolian region.[8][7] There are also Turkish minorities located in Jordan and in Lebanon. The Lebanese Turks live mainly in the villages of Aydamun and Kouachra in the Akkar District, as well as in Baalbek, Beirut, and Tripoli.

In the Arabian Peninsula, there are Turkish minorities who have lived in the region since the Ottoman era. The Turks live predominately in Saudi Arabia and in Yemen.

Population of Turkish minorities

See also: Turkish population
Country Current est. Turkish population Further information Lists of Turks
 Egypt 1,500,000 (1993 estimate)[9]
(150,000 in Arish, plus 100,000 Cretan Turks)[10]
Approximately 3% of Egyptians originate from Asian Minor (approx. 2.8 million)[11]		 Turks in Egypt
 Iraq 3,000,000 (2013 Iraqi Ministry of Planning estimate)[12][13] Iraqi Turkmens[a]
 Jordan 60,000[9]

plus Palestinian-Turkish refugees:
55,000 in Irbid[14]
5,000 near Amman[14]
5,000 in El-Sahne[14]
3,000 in El-Reyyan[14]
2,500 in El-Bakaa[14]
1,500 in El-Zerkaa[14]
250 in Sahab[14]		 Turks in Jordan
 Lebanon 80,000[15]
plus 125,000 to 150,000 Syrian Turkmen refugees[16]		 Turks in Lebanon
 Libya 4.7% of Libya's population (1936 census)[17]
100,000 Cretan Turks only (1971 estimate)[10]
Approximately 350.000 today based on official data from the 1936 census.		 Turks in Libya
 Palestinian territories West Bank: 35,000 to 40,000[18]
Turks in Palestine
 Saudi Arabia 200,000[19] Turks in Saudi Arabia
 Syria estimates range from hundreds of thousands to 3.5 million[20] Syrian Turkmens
 Tunisia est. 500,000[9]-2,000,000[21] Turks in Tunisia
 United Arab Emirates 10,000[22] Turks in the United Arab Emirates
 Yemen 10,000 to 100,000[23] or more than 200,000[19] Turks in Yemen

See also

Notes

^ a: The Iraqi Turkmen are the descendants of various waves of Turkic migration to Mesopotamia dating from the 7th century until Ottoman rule. Most of today's descendants of the 7th century migrants have been assimilated into the local Arab population.[4] Thus, the majority of today's Iraqi Turkmen are the descendants of the Ottoman soldiers, traders, and civil servants who were brought into Iraq during the rule of the Ottoman Empire.[24][25][26][4]

References

  1. ^ Malcolm, Peter; Losleben, Elizabeth (2004), Libya, Marshall Cavendish, p. 62, There are some Libyans who think of themselves as Turkish, or descendants of Turkish soldiers who settled in the area in the days of the Ottoman Empire.
  2. ^ Nkrumah, Gamal (2016). "Did the Turks sweeten Egypt's kitty?". Al-Ahram Weekly. Retrieved 2016-10-30. Today, the number of ethnic Turks in Egypt varies considerably, with estimates ranging from 100,000 to 1,500,000. Most have intermingled in Egyptian society and are almost indistinguishable from non-Turkish Egyptians, even though a considerable number of Egyptians of Turkish origin are bilingual.
  3. ^ Peyrouse, Sebastien (2015), Turkmenistan: Strategies of Power, Dilemmas of Development, Routledge, p. 62, ISBN 978-0230115521
  4. ^ a b c Taylor, Scott (2004), Among the Others: Encounters with the Forgotten Turkmen of Iraq, Esprit de Corps, p. 31, ISBN 1-895896-26-6, The largest number of Turkmen immigrants followed the army of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent when he conquered all of Iraq in 1535. Throughout their reign, the Ottomans encouraged the settlement of immigrant Turkmen along the loosely formed boundary that divided Arab and Kurdish settlements in northern Iraq.
  5. ^ Jawhar 2010: "There’s a strong conflict of opinions regarding the origins of Iraqi Turkmen, however, it is certain that they settled down during the Ottoman rule in the northwest of Mosul, whence they spread to eastern Baghdad. Once there, they became high ranked officers, experts, traders, and executives in residential agglomerations lined up along the vast, fertile plains, and mingled with Kurds, Assyrians, Arabs, and other confessions. With the creation of the new Iraqi state in 1921, Iraqi Turkmen managed to maintain their socioeconomic status."
  6. ^ International Crisis Group 2008, p. 55, L: "Turkomans are descendents of Ottoman Empire-era soldiers, traders and civil servants... The 1957 census, Iraq’s last reliable count before the overthrow of the monarchy in 1958, put the country’s population at 6,300,000 and the Turkoman population at 567,000, about 9 per cent...Subsequent censuses, in 1967, 1977, 1987 and 1997, are all considered highly problematic, due to suspicions of regime manipulation."
  7. ^ a b The New York Times (2015). "Who Are the Turkmens of Syria?". In the context of Syria, though, the term ["Turkmen"] is used somewhat differently, to refer mainly to people of Turkish heritage whose families migrated to Syria from Anatolia during the centuries of the Ottoman period — and thus would be closer kin to the Turks of Turkey than to the Turkmens of Central Asia...Q. How many are there? A. No reliable figures are available, and estimates on the number of Turkmens in Syria and nearby countries vary widely, from the hundreds of thousands up to 3 million or more.
  8. ^ BBC (June 18, 2004). "Who's who in Iraq: Turkmen". Retrieved 2011-11-23. The predominantly Muslim Turkmen are an ethnic group with close cultural and linguistic ties to Anatolia in Turkey.
  9. ^ a b c Akar, Metin (1993), "Fas Arapçasında Osmanlı Türkçesinden Alınmış Kelimeler", Türklük Araştırmaları Dergisi, 7: 94–95, Günümüzde, Arap dünyasında hâlâ Türk asıllı aileler mevcuttur. Bunların nüfusu Irak'ta 2 milyon, Suriye'de 3.5 milyon, Mısır'da 1.5, Cezayir'de 1 milyon, Tunus'ta 500 bin, Suudî Arabistan'da 150 bin, Libya'da 50 bin, Ürdün'de 60 bin olmak üzere 8.760.000 civarındadır. Bu ailelerin varlığı da Arap lehçelerindeki Türkçe ödünçleşmeleri belki artırmış olabilir.
  10. ^ a b Rippin, Andrew (2008). World Islam: Critical Concepts in Islamic Studies. Routledge. ISBN 978-0415456531.
  11. ^ "National Geographic's DNA Analysis Concludes That Egyptians Are Only 17% Arab". Cairo Scene. January 16, 2017. 68% Native North Africans, 17% Arabs, 4% Jewish Diaspora, 3% Eastern Africa, 3% Asia Minor, 3% Southern Europe
  12. ^ Bassem, Wassim (2016). "Iraq's Turkmens call for independent province". Al-Monitor. Archived from the original on 2016-10-17. Turkmens are a mix of Sunnis and Shiites and are the third-largest ethnicity in Iraq after Arabs and Kurds, numbering around 3 million out of the total population of about 34.7 million, according to 2013 data from the Iraqi Ministry of Planning.
  13. ^ Triana, María (2017), Managing Diversity in Organizations: A Global Perspective, Taylor & Francis, p. 168, ISBN 978-1317423683, Turkmen, Iraqi citizens of Turkish origin, are the third largest ethnic group in Iraq after Arabs and Kurds, and they are said to number about 3 million of Iraq's 34.7 million citizens according to the Iraqi Ministry of Planning.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g El-Hatip, Alyaa (2014), "Filistin Türkmenlerinin Genel Durumu", Ortadoğu Türkmenlerİ Sempozyumu, ORSAM, p. 96
  15. ^ Al-Akhbar. "Lebanese Turks Seek Political and Social Recognition". Retrieved 2012-03-02.
  16. ^ Ahmed, Yusra (2015), Syrian Turkmen refugees face double suffering in Lebanon, Zaman Al Wasl, retrieved 2016-10-11
  17. ^ Pan, Chia-Lin (1949), "The Population of Libya", Population Studies, 3 (1): 100–125, doi:10.1080/00324728.1949.10416359
  18. ^ El-Hatip, Alyaa (2014), "Filistin Türkmenlerinin Genel Durumu", Ortadoğu Türkmenlerİ Sempozyumu, ORSAM, p. 95, Batı Şaria Türkmenlerinin sayısı 35-40 bini bulmaktadır.
  19. ^ a b Güzel, Hasan Celâl (2016). "Orta Doğuda Türk/Türkmen Varlığı" (PDF). Yeni Turkiye. p. 150. Bunların dışında, Suudî Arabistan'da 150 bin Türk nüfusu, Mısır'da 150 bin civarında Ariş Türkleri, Yemen'de en az 200 bin Türk, Ürdün'de çok sayıda Türk asıllı nüfus yaşamaktadır. Mısır nüfusunun üçte birinin, yani 25 milyon nüfusun Türk asıllı olduğu ileri sürülmektedir.
  20. ^ BBC (2015). "Who are the Turkmen in Syria?". There are no reliable population figures, but they are estimated to number between about half a million and 3.5 million.
  21. ^ Sertoglu, Sedat (1998), Haftaya Bakış, vol. 7, Bakış Basın Yayın Organizasyon, p. 35, Bugün Tunus'ta Türk kökenli 2 milyon insan yaşadığı bildirilmekte ve Dunlardan 60-70 yaşın üzerindekiler Türkçe bilmektedirler..
  22. ^ Turks living in the UAE vote in presidential elections
  23. ^ Yemen Raporu, Union of NGOs of The Islamic World, 2014, p. 26, Bu noktadan hareketle, bölgede yaklaşık 10 bin ila 100 bin arasında Türk asıllı vatandaş bulunduğu tahmin edilmektedir..
  24. ^ International Crisis Group 2008, 16.
  25. ^ Library of Congress, Iraq: Other Minorities, Library of Congress Country Studies, retrieved 2011-11-24
  26. ^ Jawhar 2010, 314.

Bibliography