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The new Turkish Republic inherited what was left of the Ottoman Empire after the Balkan Wars (1911-13) and then World War I (1914-18). These wars reduced the Ottoman Empire primarily to its core Anatolian terrtory and a small area in Europe across the Dardanelles. This included Constantinople/Istambul. Even within Anatolia there were also minorities, including Greek Orthodox Christians, Armenian Christians, and Muslim Kurds in the east. There were also small numbers of Jews. Turkey after World War I and the Young Turks Armenian Genocide emerged as a much more ethnically pure country. The Turks eliminated the Armenians Christians in the Armenian Genocide during the War, calculated it would be lost in the fog of war, much as the NAZIs planned with the Jews. The killing was done during the Ottoman period, but by the same military leadership that organized the new Republic of Turkey. After the murder of the Armenians, the only important Christian minority left in Turkey was the Greeks. And they were mostly expelled after the Greco-Turkish War (1919-22). The Turks did not move as brutally toward the Kurds, perhaps because they were fellow Muslins. The Kurds in eastern Anatolia, however, have proved a continuing problem as Turkey attempts to Turkify them and the Kurds resist.
The African slave trade was an important part of Arab economies. There was both an Indin Ocean and Saharn trade. Bpth the Byzantine Empire and the Turkic empires partiipated in this trade. With the Ottoman conquest of the arab lands it became more direcly nvolved, epecially in the Indian Ocean slave trade. Slaves were called Zanj from the Arab word. The Africans as far as we know have been assimilated.
We are not sure about the origins of ethnic Albanians in Turkey. We suspect that this was a function of ethnic mixing in alarge multi-ethnic empire. The Albanians were rthe Balkan population most likely to move into other regions of the empire because they were the most Islamacized of the Balkan peoples. There is something of a mystery about the size of the ethnic Albanians. There is an amazing discrepany as to to the numbers, we have seen estimates varying from 0.5-6.0 million individuals. The Turkish Govrnment provides the 0.5 million figure and that some perhapssome 0.8 million people have Albanian origins, but havebeen assimilated. Scholars working in his area beliee that the Government seriously underestimates the size of the Albanian community. [Lewis, p. 82.]
Some 0.8-1.0 millions are believed to live in Turkey. They are mostly found in the provinces along the Syrian border, especially the Hatay region. One estimate suggested that arabs were something like two thirds of the population (1939). [LOC, p. 140.] More recent assessments are not available because the Turkisg Goverment supresses information about ethnic minorities and manioulates data. The tragedy of Syria beginning with the Arab Spring (2010). Since that times Syrian Arabs have sought refuge in Turkey from the terrible violence in their country which has targeted civilians. There were some 2.7 million registered Surian refugees in Turkey, most living outside the Government camps. The actual number is believed to be substantially mumber. The future of these tragic people is unclear. Most are like the Turish population in general are Sunni Muslims. There are also Alawis who follow an Islamic tradition more Shi'ite oriented. There are also Arab Christian refugees, primarily in Hatay Province. Most are in communion with the Antiochian Orthodox Church.
Turkey after World War I and the Young Turks Armenian Genocide emerged as a much more ethnically pure country. The Turks eliminated the Armenians Christians in the Armenian Genocide during the War, calculated it would be lost in the fog of war, nuch as the NAZIs planned with the Jews. The killing was done during the Ottoman period, but by the same military leadership that organized the new Republic of Turkey. This devestated the Armenian people who are no longer a major minority in Turkey. Contemprary press reports indicated only 0.2 million Armenians were left alive. ["Only 200,000 Armenians] Many Armenians have since emigrated. There are believed to be some 50,000 Armenians left in Turkey with some estimates much lower. Most live in Constaninople/Istambul. [Turay]
People identifying as Bulgarian are mostly the Pomaks (Muslim Balkan people mostly Bulgarians) and a small number of Orthodox Bulgarians. [Poulton, p. 111.] Bulgaria unlike Greece was a World War I Central Power ally. Some 0.3 Pomaks who live in European Turkey are believed to speak Bulgarian. There are no precise statistic as is generally the case of etnic groups in Turkey. The number of Muslim Bulgars that have generally been asimilated and Turkified may be about 0.6 million. ["Trial sheds ...]
The Greeks have a long history in Anatolia and the Black Sea/Eastern Medterranean area even before the Greek-Persian Wars which flared as a result of Persian efforts to doimate the Ionian Greek City staes of western Anatolia. Over this long history, Greeks have intermariated and assimilated with the larger anatolian populations, and this included the Turkish population that moved into Anatolia even before the arrival of the Ottomans. It would be the Greeks that would launch the Balkan independence movement from the Ottoman Empire (1820s). We will address the historic issues in the Ottoman Section. After the Ottoman/Turkish murder of the Armenians (1915-18), the only important Christian minority left in Turkey were the Greeks. And they were mostly expelled after the Greco-Turkish War (1919-22). The Treaty of Lausanne mandated a 1923 population exchange, the forcible resettlement of approximately 1.5 million Christian Greeks from Anatolia and East Thrace and of 0.5 million Turks from all of Greece except for Western Thrace. Some 0.2 million Greeks who were permitted to remain in Turkey. Since that time, the Greeks have been reduced to a relatively small ethnic group in Turkey, mostly centered in Consraninople/Istambul and nearby islands (Princes' Islands and two islands along the western entrance to the Dardanelles: Imbros and Tenedos (Gökçeada and Bozcaada). The Greeks allowed to remain in Turkey experienced serious persecution, most notably the Varlık Vergisi and the Istanbul Pogrom. Other represive Government policies included conscription of non-Muslims into brutal labor battalions during World War II as well as a Fortune Tax levied mostly on non-Muslims. These resulted in a mixture of mortlities and financial ruin for many Greeks. The exodus of the remaining Greeks in Turkey was accelerated by the Istanbul Pogrom (September 1955). Thousands of Greeks fleed the city. As a result, there has been a massive emigration of Christian Greeks from the Istanbul area. The 120,000 Greeks after the Greco-Turkish War plummeted to only about 7,000 (1978). [Kilic] The Turkish Government in 2006 estimated the Greek ethnic population at about 3,000–4,000 people. There are some higher estimates of as much as 15,000. This is too small a number to sustain itself demographically. But since the collapse of the Greek economy the decline as reversed, although the numbers are still relatively small. There aere Muslim Greeks, nostly living in Trabzon and Rize.
There have been Jewish communities in Analolis since ancient times, even before the advent of the Romans. The earliest known Jewish community dates to the Persian Empire (5th century BC). It was the Persian Emperor Cyrus who freed the Jews from the Babylonian captivity. This not only meant the rerurn of many to Palestine, but the spread of Jews thriughout the Persian Empire which at the time included Anatolia. More Jews emigrated to the Ottoman Empire as a result of the Christian persecution of the Jews. Most of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews expelled sought refuge in the Ottoman Empire which of course included Anatolia which makes up most of modern Turkey (1490s). The Jewish population was substantially reduced after World War II as anti-Semitism rose and most Turkish Jews sought refuge in Israel. The current Jewish population is only about 20,000 people.
The Turks did not move as brutally toward the Kurds as they did toward the Kurds, perhaps because they were fellow Muslins. The Republic of Turkey, following the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, recognizes Christian Armenians and Greeks and Jews as ethnic minorities. This prorective legal status was not granted to Muslim minorities, such as the Kurds. Basically the Kurds and other Muslims were expected to become Turks. The Turks are now the largest minorty in Turkey. Numbers are a political issue and the Turlish Government is widely belieed to understimte the number of Kurds. We have seen estimates ranging from about 13-18 percent. The Kurds are cocentrated in eastern Anatolia. They have procen to be a continuing problem as Turkey attempts to Turkify them and the Kurds resist.
Kilic, Ecevit. "Sermaye nasıl el değiştirdi?" Sabah (September 7, 2008).
Lewis, Bernard. the Emergence of Modern Turkey.
Library of Congress (LOS). Federal Research Division. Turkey: A Country Study (Kessinger Publishing: 2004).
Poulton, Hugh. The Balkans, Minorities and States in Conflict (Minority Rights Publication: 1993).
Turay, Anna. "Tarihte Ermeniler".
"Only 200,000 Armenians now left in Turkey: More than 1,000,000 killed, enslaved or exiled, says a Tiflis paper," New York Times (October 22, 1915).
"Trial sheds light on shades of Turkey." Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review (June 10, 2008).
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