Turkish British
British Turks protesting in Central London.
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| Total population | |
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Turkish-born residentsa 101,721 (2011 UK Census) 72,000 (2009 ONS estimate) 150,000 (academic estimates) Turkish Cypriot-born residentsa 100,000–150,000 (academic estimates) Total populationb 500,000 (2011 Home Office estimate) |
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| Regions with significant populations | |
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London (Camden, Croydon, Enfield, Euston, Hackney Haringey, Islington, Kensington, Lambeth, Lewisham, Palmers Green, Seven Sisters, Southwark, Waltham Forest, and Wood Green) |
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| Languages | |
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| Religion | |
| Sunni Islam (significantly secular) | |
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a Official data regarding the British Turkish community excludes British-born and dual heritage children of Turkish origin. b This includes 150,000 Turkish nationals, 300,000 Turkish Cypriots, and also smaller Turkish minorities such as Bulgarian Turks and Romanian Turks. |
British Turks or Turks in the United Kingdom are Turkish people who have immigrated to the United Kingdom. However, the term may also refer to British-born persons who have Turkish parents or who have a Turkish ancestral background.
Turks first began to emigrate in large numbers from the island of Cyprus for work and then again when Turkish Cypriots were forced to leave their homes during the Cyprus conflict. Turks then began to come from Turkey for economic reasons. Recently, smaller groups of Turks have begun to immigrate to the United Kingdom from other European countries.
As of 2011, there is a total of about 500,000 people of Turkish origin in the UK, made up of approximately 150,000 Turkish nationals and about 300,000 Turkish Cypriots. Furthermore, in recent years, there has been a growing number of ethnic Turks immigrating to the United Kingdom from Algeria and Germany. Many other Turks have immigrated to Britain from parts of the southern Balkans where they form an indigenous ethnic and religious minority dating to the early Ottoman period, particularly Bulgaria, Romania, the Republic of Macedonia, and the province of East Macedonia and Thrace in Northern Greece. The majority live in London.
The first Turks settled in the United Kingdom during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Between the years 1509-1547 Turks were counted among Henry VIII's mercenary troops as the Tudor monarch was known to make heavy use of foreign troops. By the late sixteenth century hundreds of Turks were to be found in England who were freed from galley slavery on Spanish ships by English pirates. It is believed that the release of Turkish slaves from Spanish ships were for political reasons. At the time, England was vulnerable to attacks from the Spanish empire, and Queen Elizabeth I wanted to cultivate good relations with the Ottoman Empire as a means of resisting the Spanish military. The Turkish slaves who had not yet returned to the Ottoman Empire requested assistance from London merchants trading in North Africa during the times of war between England and Spain, or England and France. Those who decided not to return to their country converted to Christianity and settled in England.
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Wikipedia