The
Turkish people, or the
Turks, (
Turkish: Türkler), are a Turkic ethnic group primarily living in
Turkey, and in the former lands of the
Ottoman Empire where
Turkish minorities have been established.
The area now called Turkey has been inhabited since the paleolithic, and housed various
Ancient Anatolian civilizations and peoples of
Thrace during
Antiquity.
Modern Turkish people largely descend from these ancient indigenous
Anatolian groups, but their ancestry includes neighboring peoples (e.g.,
Balkans and
Caucasus) and
Turkic peoples, albeit to a small degree. They speak a
Turkic language (the
Turkish language), which was adopted by the local populations who predominantly had spoken
Indo-European languages prior to a cultural transformation that took place after the invasion of a Turkic-speaking minority from
Central Asia.
Turkic languages may date back to 600
BCE, and the first mention of the ethnonym "
Turk" may date from
Herodotus' reference to "Targitas" or from
Classical Latin references to people in the forests north of the
Sea of Azov.
Chinese sources in the sixth century also use "
Tujue" to refer to the
Göktürks. However, the arrival of
Seljuk Turks also brought the Turkish language and
Islam into
Anatolia in the
11th century, which started the Turkification of various peoples in the region. The
Ottoman beylik united Anatolia, which had been previously divided among dozens of small
Anatolian beyliks, starting from the late
13th century and created the Ottoman Empire. Turkish identity strengthened with the rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire, and the migration of some 7--9 million Turkish
Muslim refugees from the lost territories of the Caucasus,
Crimea, Balkans, and the
Mediterranean islands into Anatolia and
Eastern Thrace during the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.
Turkish nationalism consolidated with the
Turkish War of Independence and the subsequent proclamation of the
Republic of Turkey.
Turkey has a very diverse culture that is a blend of various elements of the
Oghuz Turkic, indigenous Anatolian,
Greek, Islamic, Ottoman, and
Western cultures. Due to the Ottoman past, the Turkish minorities are the second largest ethnic groups in
Bulgaria and
Cyprus. In addition, as a result of modern migration, a
Turkish diaspora has been established, particularly in
Western Europe , where large communities have been formed in
Austria,
Belgium,
France,
Germany,
Switzerland, the
Netherlands and the
United Kingdom. There are also significant Turkish communities living in
Australia, the former
Soviet Union and
North America.
The ethnonym "Turk" may be first mentioned in Herodotus' (c. 484--425 BCE) work "Targitas"; furthermore, during the first century CE.,
Pomponius Mela refers to the "Turcae" in the forests north of the Sea of Azov, and
Pliny the Elder lists the "Tyrcae" among the people of the same area. The first definite reference to the "Turks" come mainly from Chinese sources in the sixth century. In these sources, "Turk" appears as "Tujue" (Chinese: 突厥; Wade--Giles: T'u-chüe), which referred to the Göktürks. Although "Turk" refers to Turkish people, it may also sometimes refer to the wider language group of Turkic peoples
.
In the 19th century, the word Türk only referred to Anatolian villagers. The Ottoman elite identified themselves as
Ottomans, not usually as Turks
. In the late 19th century, as the Ottoman elite adopted
European ideas of nationalism—and as it became clear that the Turkish-speakers of Anatolia were the most loyal supporters of
Ottoman rule—the term Türk took on a much more positive connotation.
In Ottoman times, the millet system defined communities on a religious basis, and a residue of this remains in that Turkish villagers commonly consider as Turks only those who profess the
Sunni faith, and consider Turkish-speaking
Jews, Christians, or even
Alevis non-Turks. On the other hand, Kurdish-speaking or Arabic-speaking
Sunnis of eastern Anatolia are sometimes considered Turks. The imprecision of the appellation Türk can also be seen with other ethnic names, such as Kürt (
Kurd), which is often applied by western
Anatolians to anyone east of
Adana, even those who speak only Turkish. In recent years, centrist Turkish politicians have attempted to redefine this category in a more multi-cultural way, emphasizing that a Türk is anyone who is a citizen of the Republic of Turkey.
Currently, article 66 of the
Turkish Constitution defines a "Turk" as anyone who is "bound to the Turkish state through the bond of citizenship." Currently, a new constitution is being written, which may address citizenship and ethnicity issues
Anatolia was first inhabited by hunter-gatherers during the
Paleolithic era, and in antiquity was inhabited by various ancient
Anatolian peoples. After
Alexander the Great's conquest in 334 BC, the area was Hellenized, and -by the first century BC- it is generally thought that the native
Anatolian languages had become extinct.
- published: 25 Jan 2014
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