Turks in France
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 820,000 (2014 estimate) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Languages | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Sunni Islam, others |
Turks in France or French Turks (French: Turcs de France; Turkish: Fransa Türkleri) refers to the Turkish people who live in France. After Germany, France is the main destination country for Turks who emigrate.
The first Turks settled in France during the 16th and 17th century as galley slaves and merchants from the Ottoman Empire; the historian Ina Baghdiantz McCabe has described Marseille as a "Turkish town" during this time. According to Jean Marteilhe "…the Turks of Asia and Europe...of whom there are a great many in the galley of France, who have been made slaves by the Imperialists, and sold to the French to man their galleys… are generally well-made, fair in feature, wise in their conduct, zealous in the observance of their religion, honourable and charitable in the highest degree. I have seen them give away all the money they possessed to buy a bird in a cage that they might have the pleasure of giving it its liberty".
France signed a bilateral labour recruitment agreement with Turkey on 8 May 1965 because the number of entrants from other countries such as Italy, Spain and Portugal was not sufficient. However, in practice, France started to recruit Turkish labourers in the 1970s, until a decision was made to halt the recruitment on 3 July 1974. By 1975 there were 55,710 Turkish workers living in France, this had almost quadrupled to 198,000 in 1999. The majority of Turkish immigrants came from rural areas of Turkey, especially from central Anatolia.
The majority of Turks are mainly concentrated in eastern France. There is a strong Turkish presence in Île-de-France (especially in Paris), Nord-Pas-de-Calais (mainly in the cities of Calais, Lille, and Roubaix), Rhône-Alpes (especially in Lyon), Alsace (mainly in Strasbourg) and Lorraine. There is also a large community in Marseille.
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Wikipedia