page_title: Turkish population
section_title: Turkish majorities
hierarchical_section_title: Turkish population / Traditional areas of Turkish settlement / Turkish majorities
caption_attribution_description: English: This map shows the distribution of people who spoke Turkish in 1965's Turkey.
context_page_description: The Turkish population refers to the number of ethnic Turkish people in the world. During the Seljuk and Ottoman eras ethnic Turks were settled across the lands conquered by the two empires. In particular, the Turkification of Anatolia was the result of the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 and the formation of the Sultanate of Rum. Thereafter, the Ottomans continued Turkish expansion throughout the regions around the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. Consequently, today the Turkish people form a majority in Turkey and Northern Cyprus. There are also significant Turkish minorities who still live in the Balkans, the Caucasus, and the Levant, and North Africa.
  More recently, the Turkish people have emigrated from their traditional areas of settlement for various reasons, forming a large diaspora. From the mid-twentieth century onwards, unskilled workers from Turkey settled mainly in German and French speaking countries of Western Europe, in contrast, a "brain drain" of skilled workers from Turkey migrated mostly to North America. Moreover, ethnic Turks from other traditional areas of Turkish settlement have emigrated mostly due to political reasons.
caption: The 1965 Turkish census was the last census in which people were asked about their mother tongue. This map shows the distribution of people who spoke Turkish during this period.
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