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 There is also a significant Turkish minority in Egypt.[1]
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. The majority of Iraqi Turkmen and Syrian Turkmen are the descendants of Ottoman Turkish settlers.[2] [3] [4] and share close cultural and linguistic ties with Turkey, particularly the Anatolian region.[5] [4] 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.
See also: Turkish population.
| Current est. Turkish population | Further information | Lists of Turks | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,500,000 (1993 estimate) (150,000 in Arish, plus 100,000 Cretan Turks)[6] Approximately 3% of Egyptians originate from Asian Minor (approx. 2.8 million)[7] | |||
| 3,000,000 (2013 Iraqi Ministry of Planning estimate)[8] | |||
| 80,000[9] plus 125,000 to 150,000 Syrian Turkmen refugees | |||
| 4.7% of Libya's population (1936 census) 100,000 Cretan Turks only (1971 estimate) Approximately 350.000 today based on official data from the 1936 census. | |||
| West Bank 35,000 to 40,000 | |||
| 200,000[10] | |||
| estimates range from hundreds of thousands to 3.5 million[11] | |||
| est. 500,000-2,000,000[12] | |||
| 10,000[13] | |||
| 10,000 to 100,000[14] or more than 200,000 | |||
"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."
"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."