Greeks in Turkey
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| ~2,000~2,200~2.500~3,000–4,000 15,000 |
|
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Istanbul, Imbros, Tenedos | |
| Languages | |
| Greek (first language of the majority), Turkish (first language of the minority or second language) | |
| Religion | |
| Orthodox Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Greek Muslims, Pontic Greeks, Antiochian Greeks |
The Greeks in Turkey (Turkish: Rumlar) constitute a population of Greek and Greek-speaking Eastern Orthodox Christians who mostly live in Istanbul, as well as on the two islands of the western entrance to the Dardanelles: Imbros and Tenedos (Turkish: Gökçeada and Bozcaada).
They are the remnants of the estimated 200,000 Greeks who were permitted under the provisions of the Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations to remain in Turkey following the 1923 population exchange, which involved the forcible resettlement of approximately 1.5 million Greeks from Anatolia and East Thrace and of half a million Turks from all of Greece except for Western Thrace. After years of persecution (e.g. the Varlık Vergisi and the Istanbul Pogrom), emigration of ethnic Greeks from the Istanbul region greatly accelerated, reducing the 119,822 -strong Greek minority before the attack to about 7,000 by 1978. The 2008 figures released by the Turkish Foreign Ministry places the current number of Turkish citizens of Greek descent at the 3,000–4,000 mark. However, according to the Human Rights Watch the Greek population in Turkey is estimated at 2,500 in 2006. The Greek population in Turkey is collapsing as the community is now far too small to sustain itself demographically, due to emigration, much higher death rates than birth rates and continuing discrimination.
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Wikipedia