Turkish population

The Turkish population refers to the number of ethnic Turkish people in the world. During the Seljuk (1037–1194) and Ottoman (1299-1923) eras ethnic Turks were settled across the lands conquered by the two empires. In particular, the Turkification of Anatolia (modern Turkey) was the result of the Battle of Manzikert in 1077 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 Arab world.

More recently, the Turkish people have emigrated from their traditional areas of settlement for various reasons, forming a large diaspora. For example, from the mid-twentieth century onwards, unskilled mainland Turks settled mainly in German and French speaking countries of Western Europe as "guest workers"; in contrast, a "brain drain" of skilled workers migrated mostly to North America. Moreover, ethnic Turks from other traditional areas of settlement have emigrated mostly due to political reasons: the Meskhetian Turks were deported to Central Asia from Georgia in 1944 by the USSR authorities; Turkish Cypriots have emigrated mostly to the English-speaking world during the Cyprus conflict and its immediate aftermath.

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