Turkish diaspora

The Turkish diaspora (Turkish: Türk diasporası or Türk gurbetçiler) refers to ethnic Turkish people who have migrated from, or are the descendants of migrants from, the Republic of Turkey, Northern Cyprus or other modern nation-states that were once part of the former Ottoman Empire. Therefore, the Turkish diaspora is not only formed by people with roots from mainland Anatolia and Eastern Thrace (i.e. the modern Turkish borders); rather, it is also formed of Turkish communities which have also left traditional areas of Turkish settlements in the Balkans (such as Bulgaria, Greece, North Macedonia, Romania, etc.), the island of Cyprus, the region of Meskhetia in Georgia, and the Arab world (such as Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon).

In particular, most mainland Turkish migration has been to Western and Northern Europe. Meanwhile, almost all the Turkish minorities in former Ottoman lands have a large diaspora in Turkey, many having migrated as muhacirs (refugees); furthermore, the Cretan Turks have migrated throughout the Levant; Cypriot Turks have a significant diaspora in the English-speaking countries (especially the UK and Australia); the Meskhetian Turks have a large diaspora in Central Asia; and Algerian Turks and Tunisian Turks have mostly settled in France. Since Bulgarian Turks and Romanian Turks gained EU citizenship in 2007, their diasporas in Western Europe significantly increased once restrictions on movement came to a halt in 2012.

As early as 1997 Professor Servet Bayram and Professor Barbara Seels said that there was 10 million Turks living in Western Europe and the Balkans (i.e. excluding Cyprus and Turkey). By 2010, Boris Kharkovsky from the Center for Ethnic and Political Science Studies said that there was up to 15 million Turks living in the European Union. According to Dr Araks Pashayan 10 million "Euro-Turks" alone were living in Germany, France, the Netherlands and Belgium in 2012. Furthermore, there are significant Turkish communities living in Austria, the UK, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein and the Scandinavian countries. Meanwhile, approximately 400,000 Meskhetian Turks live in Europe .

In addition to the modern Turkish diaspora in Europe, there are also traditional Turkish communities in post-Ottoman nation-states. For example, Turkish Cypriots and Turkish settlers living in North Cyprus number around 300,000 to 500,000. In addition, in Southeastern Europe there is over 1 million Turks living in the Balkan countries (i.e. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania and Serbia). Since the 20th century, these ethnic Turkish communities have also migrated to Western Europe and have enlarged the Turkish diaspora significantly (e.g. Algerian Turks have mostly settled in France; Bulgarian Turks have migrated mostly to Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden; Turkish Cypriots have a large population in the UK; Macedonian Turks have migrated mostly to Sweden; Tunisian Turks have migrated mostly to France and Italy; and Western Thrace Turks have mostly migrated to Germany and the Netherlands). More recently, since the "European migrant crisis" (2014–20), Iraqi Turks, Kosovo Turks and Syrian Turks have also settled in areas where there are large Turkish diasporas.

Consequently, within the diaspora, ethnic Turkish people now form the largest minority group in Austria, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands.

In March 2017, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated to the Turks in Europe, "Make not three, but five children. Because you are the future of Europe. That will be the best response to the injustices against you." This has been interpreted as an imperialist call for demographic warfare.

According to The Economist, Erdoğan is the first Turkish leader to take the Turkish diaspora seriously, which has created friction within these diaspora communities and between the Turkish government and several of its European counterparts.

The Turkish-Germans are the largest ethnic minority group in Germany and also the largest Turkish community in the Turkish diaspora.