| Languages of Turkey | |
|---|---|
| Official | Turkish |
| Recognised | Armenian,Bulgarian,Greek,Hebrew |
| Minority | Kurdish (Kurmanji),Zazaki,Azerbaijani,Arabic,Neo-Aramaic andClassical Syriac,Pomak Bulgarian,Balkan Gagauz Turkish,Laz,Georgian,Megleno-Romanian,Pontic Greek,Judaeo-Spanish |
| Immigrant | Adyghe,Albanian,Arabic,Bosnian,Crimean Tatar,Kabardian[1] (in alphabetical order) |
| Foreign | English (17%) German (4%) Arabic (2%) French (1%)[2] |
| Signed | Turkish Sign Language Mardin Sign Language |
| Keyboard layout | |
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Thelanguages ofTurkey, apart from theofficial languageTurkish, include the widespreadKurdish, and a number of less common minority languages. Four minority languages are officially recognized in the Republic of Turkey by the 1923Treaty of Lausanne and theTurkey-Bulgaria Friendship Treaty (Türkiye ve Bulgaristan Arasındaki Dostluk Antlaşması) of 18 October 1925:Armenian,[3][4][5]Bulgarian,[6][7][8][3]Greek,[3][9][10] andHebrew.[11][12] In 2013, the Ankara 13th Circuit Administrative Court ruled that the minority provisions of the Lausanne Treaty should also apply toAssyrians in Turkey and theSyriac language.[13][14][15]
Turkey has historically been the home to many now extinct languages. These includeHittite, the earliest Indo-European language for which written evidence exists (circa 1600 BCE to 1100 BCE when theHittite Empire existed). The otherAnatolian languages includedLuwian and laterLycian,Lydian andMilyan. All these languages are believed to have become extinct at the latest around the 1st century BCE due to theHellenization ofAnatolia which led to Greek in a variety of dialects becoming the common language.
Urartian belonging to theHurro-Urartian language family existed in eastern Anatolia aroundLake Van. It existed as the language of the kingdom ofUrartu from about the 9th century BCE until the 6th century.Hattian is attested in Hittite ritual texts but is not related to the Hittite language or to any other known language; it dates from the 2nd millennium BCE.
In the post-Tanzimat period French became a common language among educated people, even though no ethnic group in the empire natively spoke French.[16] Johann Strauss, author of "Language and power in the late Ottoman Empire," wrote that "In a way reminiscent of English in the contemporary world, French was almost omnipresent in the Ottoman lands."[17] Strauss also stated that French was "a sort of semi-official language",[18] which "to some extent" had "replaced Turkish as an 'official' language for non-Muslims".[19] Therefore late empire had multiple French-language publications, and several continued to operate when the Republic of Turkey was declared in 1923. However French-language publications began to close in the 1930s.[20] As the Treaty of Lausanne went into effect and was intended to protect languages of instruction for ethnic minorities, French was not included, and so schools for Jewish children teaching in French converted into being Turkish medium schools. The quantity and quality of French instruction declined in those schools for Jewish children, and so many Jewish students began attending other language-medium private schools.[12]
When French-medium schools operated byAlliance Israélite Universelle opened in the 1860s, the position ofJudaeo-Spanish (Ladino) began to weaken in the Ottoman Empire areas. In time Judaeo-Spanish became perceived as a low status language.[21] Hebrew was the instructional language of Judaism, and so the Treaty of Lausanne protected instruction in Hebrew, but not in Judaeo-Spanish, a language passed along in families but never used in school instruction.[12] Judaeo-Spanish was still the native language of 85% of Turkish Jews in 1927; there was still relatively low fluency in Turkish in that population, which meant they encountered issues with theCitizen, speak Turkish! campaign.[22] However, as time progressed, Judaeo-Spanish language and culture declined, and in 2017 writerMelis Alphan described Judaeo-Spanish as "dying in Turkey".[21]
Article 3 of theConstitution of Turkey definesTurkish as the official language ofTurkey.[23]
Article 42 of the Constitution explicitly prohibits educational institutions to teach any language other than Turkish as a mother tongue to Turkish citizens.[24]
No language other than Turkish shall be taught as a mother tongue to Turkish citizens at any institutions of training or education. Foreign languages to be taught in institutions of training and education and the rules to be followed by schools conducting training and education in a foreign language shall be determined by law. The provisions of international treaties are reserved.
— Art. 42,Constitution of the Republic of Turkey
Due to Article 42 and its longtime restrictive interpretation, ethnic minorities have been facing severe restrictions in the use of theirmother languages.
Concerning the incompatibility of this provision with theInternational Bill of Human Rights, Turkey signed the International Covenantson Civil and Political Rights andon Economic, Social and Cultural Rights only with reservations constrainingminority rights and theright to education. Furthermore, Turkey hasn't signed either of theCouncil of Europe'sFramework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, theEuropean Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, or the anti-discriminationProtocol 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights.[25]
This particular constitutional provision has been contested both internationally and within Turkey. The provision has been criticized by minority groups, notably theKurdish community. In October 2004, the Turkish State's Human Rights Advisory Board called for a constitutional review in order to bring Turkey's policy on minorities in line with international standards, but was effectively muted.[26] It was also criticized byEU member states, theOSCE, and international human rights organizations, includingHuman Rights Watch who observe that "the Turkish government accepts the language rights of the Jewish, Greek and Armenian minorities as being guaranteed by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. But the government claims that these are Turkey's only minorities, and that any talk of minority rights beyond this is just separatism".[27][28][29][30][31][32] Bulgarian-speakers are also officially recognized by the Turkey-Bulgaria Friendship Treaty (Türkiye ve Bulgaristan Arasındaki Dostluk Antlaşması) of 18 October 1925.[3][6][7][8]
In 2012, theMinistry of Education includedKurdish (based on bothKurmanji andZazaki dialects)[33] to the academic programme of the basic schools as optional classes from the fifth year on.[33]
Later, the Ministry of Education also includedAbkhaz,Adyghe,Standard Georgian, andLaz languages in 2013, andAlbanian as well asBosnian languages in February 2017.[34]
In 2015, the Turkey’s Ministry of Education announced that as of the 2016-17 academic year,Arabic courses (as a second language) will be offered to students in elementary school starting in second grade. The Arabic courses will be offered as an elective language course likeGerman,French andEnglish. According to a prepared curriculum, second and third graders will start learning Arabic by listening-comprehension and speaking, while introduction to writing will join these skills in fourth grade and after fifth grade students will start learning the language in all its four basic skills.[35][36]
The last publicly published census for languages was 1965 census.
| Language | Census 1927 | Census 1935 | Census 1945 | Census 1950 | Census 1955 | Census 1960 | Census 1965 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | |
| Turkish | 11,778,810 | 86.42 | 13,899,073 | 86.02 | 16,598,037 | 88.34 | 18,254,851 | 87.15 | 21,622,292 | 89.85 | 25,172,535 | 90.70 | 28,175,579 | 89.76 |
| Kurdish | 1,184,446 | 8.69 | 1,480,246 | 9.16 | 1,476,562 | 7.9 | 1,680,043 | 8.02 | 1,679,265 | 6.98 | 1,847,674 | 6.66 | 2,219,599 | 7.07 |
| Zazaki | 174,526 | 0.70 | 150,644 | 0.48 | ||||||||||
| Arabic | 134,273 | 0.98 | 153,687 | 0.95 | 247,294 | 1.3 | 269,038 | 1.28 | 300,583 | 1.25 | 347,690 | 1.25 | 365,340 | 1.16 |
| Circassian | 95,901 | 0.70 | 91,972 | 0.57 | 66,691 | 0.4 | 75,837 | 0.36 | 77,611 | 0.32 | 63,137 | 0.23 | 58,339 | 0.19 |
| Greek | 119,822 | 0.88 | 108,725 | 0.67 | 88,680 | 0.47 | 89,472 | 0.43 | 79,691 | 0.33 | 65,139 | 0.23 | 48,096 | 0.15 |
| Armenian | 64,745 | 0.48 | 57,599 | 0.36 | 47,728 | 0.3 | 52,776 | 0.25 | 56,235 | 0.23 | 52,756 | 0.19 | 33,094 | 0.11 |
| Georgian | - | - | 57,325 | 0.35 | 40,076 | 0.21 | 72,604 | 0.35 | 51,983 | 0.22 | 32,944 | 0.12 | 34,330 | 0.11 |
| Laz | - | - | 63,253 | 0.39 | 39,323 | 0.21 | 70,423 | 0.34 | 30,566 | 0.13 | 21,703 | 0.08 | 26,007 | 0.08 |
| other | 251,491 | 1.85 | 227,544 | 1.41 | 185,783 | 0.99 | 207,618 | 0.99 | 166,537 | 0.69 | 151,242 | 0.54 | 280,403 | 0.89 |
| Total | 13,629.488 | 100 | 16,157,450 | 100 | 18,790,174 | 100 | 20,947,188 | 100 | 24,064,763 | 100 | 27,754,820 | 100 | 31,391,421 | 100 |
| Sources:[37][38][39][40][41] | ||||||||||||||
Main article:1927 Turkish Census
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Main article:1935 Turkish Census
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Main article:1965 Turkish Census
| Language | Mother tongue | Only language spoken | Second best language spoken |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abaza | 4,563 | 280 | 7,556 |
| Albanian | 12,832 | 1,075 | 39,613 |
| Arabic | 365,340 | 189,134 | 167,924 |
| Armenian | 33,094 | 1,022 | 22,260 |
| Bosnian | 17,627 | 2,345 | 34,892 |
| Bulgarian | 4,088 | 350 | 46,742 |
| Pomak | 23,138 | 2,776 | 34,234 |
| Chechen | 7,563 | 2,500 | 5,063 |
| Circassian | 58,339 | 6,409 | 48,621 |
| Croatian | 45 | 1 | 1,585 |
| Czech | 168 | 25 | 76 |
| Dutch | 366 | 23 | 219 |
| English | 27,841 | 21,766 | 139,867 |
| French | 3,302 | 398 | 96,879 |
| Georgian | 34,330 | 4,042 | 44,934 |
| German | 4,901 | 790 | 35,704 |
| Greek | 48,096 | 3,203 | 78,941 |
| Italian | 2,926 | 267 | 3,861 |
| Kurdish (Kurmanji) | 2,219,502 | 1,323,690 | 429,168 |
| Judæo-Spanish | 9,981 | 283 | 3,510 |
| Laz | 26,007 | 3,943 | 55,158 |
| Persian | 948 | 72 | 2,103 |
| Polish | 110 | 20 | 377 |
| Portuguese | 52 | 5 | 3,233 |
| Romanian | 406 | 53 | 6,909 |
| Russian | 1,088 | 284 | 4,530 |
| Serbian | 6,599 | 776 | 58,802 |
| Spanish | 2,791 | 138 | 4,297 |
| Turkish | 28,289,680 | 26,925,649 | 1,387,139 |
| Zaza | 150,644 | 92,288 | 20,413 |
| Total | 31,009,934 | 28,583,607 | 2,786,610 |
| Province / Language | Turkish | Kurdish | Arabic | Zazaki | Circassian | Greek | Georgian | Armenian | Laz | Pomak | Bosnian | Albanian | Jewish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adana(includingOsmaniye) | 866,316 | 7,581 | 22,356 | 332 | 51 | 51 | 0 | 28 | 9 | 0 | 312 | 483 | 29 |
| Adıyaman | 143,054 | 117,325 | 7 | 6,705 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 84 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Afyonkarahisar | 499,461 | 125 | 19 | 1 | 2,172 | 169 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 14 | 2 | 1 |
| Ağrı | 90,021 | 156,316 | 105 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 77 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 103 | 0 | 0 |
| Amasya | 279,978 | 2,179 | 9 | 2 | 1,497 | 6 | 1,378 | 208 | 6 | 0 | 10 | 336 | 1 |
| Ankara(includingKırıkkale and parts ofAksaray) | 1,590,392 | 36,798 | 814 | 21 | 393 | 124 | 41 | 66 | 120 | 7 | 126 | 833 | 64 |
| Antalya | 486,697 | 23 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Artvin | 190,183 | 46 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7,698 | 1 | 12,093 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Aydın | 523,583 | 168 | 85 | 0 | 112 | 71 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 26 | 88 | 0 |
| Balıkesir | 698,679 | 560 | 38 | 8 | 3,144 | 236 | 1,273 | 9 | 205 | 1,707 | 314 | 24 | 4 |
| Bilecik | 137,674 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 736 | 4 | 73 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 0 |
| Bingöl | 62,668 | 56,881 | 19 | 30,878 | 17 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Bitlis | 56,161 | 92,327 | 3,263 | 2,082 | 205 | 1 | 5 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Bolu(includingDüzce) | 375,786 | 363 | 0 | 0 | 1,593 | 3 | 1,541 | 488 | 1,791 | 0 | 40 | 6 | 1 |
| Burdur | 194,910 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Bursa(including parts ofYalova) | 746,633 | 213 | 22 | 0 | 799 | 106 | 2,938 | 35 | 517 | 65 | 1,169 | 1,928 | 69 |
| Çanakkale | 338,379 | 443 | 0 | 25 | 1,604 | 5,258 | 4 | 9 | 12 | 3,675 | 516 | 6 | 121 |
| Çankırı(including parts ofKarabük) | 250,510 | 158 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Çorum | 474,638 | 8,736 | 4 | 0 | 1,808 | 12 | 8 | 51 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Denizli | 462,860 | 283 | 28 | 5 | 8 | 97 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Diyarbakır | 178,644 | 236,113 | 2,536 | 57,693 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 134 | 3 | 48 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Edirne | 290,610 | 386 | 104 | 21 | 9 | 18 | 2 | 12 | 3 | 10,285 | 329 | 58 | 92 |
| Elazığ | 244,016 | 47,446 | 17 | 30,921 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 30 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Erzincan | 243,911 | 14,323 | 13 | 298 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Erzurum | 555,632 | 69,648 | 86 | 2,185 | 109 | 8 | 4 | 11 | 24 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| Eskişehir | 406,212 | 327 | 42 | 0 | 1,390 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 23 | 114 | 78 | 0 |
| Gaziantep | 490,046 | 18,954 | 885 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 0 |
| Giresun | 425,665 | 305 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2,029 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gümüşhane(includingBayburt) | 260,419 | 2,189 | 0 | 0 | 91 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hakkari(including parts ofŞırnak) | 10,357 | 72,365 | 165 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 21 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hatay | 350,080 | 5,695 | 127,072 | 7 | 780 | 767 | 11 | 376 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 44 | 1 |
| Isparta | 265,305 | 688 | 75 | 11 | 8 | 91 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Mersin | 500,207 | 1,067 | 9,430 | 23 | 76 | 137 | 13 | 12 | 19 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 1 |
| İstanbul(including parts ofYalova) | 2,185,741 | 2,586 | 2,843 | 26 | 317 | 35,097 | 849 | 29,479 | 128 | 165 | 3,072 | 4,341 | 8,608 |
| İzmir | 1,214,219 | 863 | 352 | 5 | 1,287 | 898 | 15 | 17 | 15 | 1,289 | 2,349 | 1,265 | 753 |
| Kars(includingArdahan andIğdır) | 471,287 | 133,144 | 61 | 992 | 215 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 24 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| Kastamonu | 439,355 | 1,090 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 180 | 849 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kayseri | 509,932 | 8,454 | 34 | 8 | 17,110 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 6 | 9 | 15 | 160 | 1 |
| Kırklareli | 252,594 | 602 | 136 | 24 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 3,375 | 1,148 | 144 | 11 |
| Kırşehir | 185,489 | 11,309 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Kocaeli(including 3 villages ofİstanbul and parts ofYalova) | 320,808 | 235 | 0 | 10 | 1,467 | 63 | 2,755 | 46 | 2,264 | 381 | 3,827 | 22 | 7 |
| Konya(includingKaraman) | 1,092,819 | 27,811 | 67 | 4 | 1,139 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 11 | 75 | 0 |
| Kütahya | 397,221 | 105 | 13 | 2 | 17 | 4 | 2 | 88 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 0 |
| Malatya | 374,449 | 77,794 | 33 | 10 | 14 | 5 | 7 | 148 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Manisa | 746,514 | 241 | 15 | 0 | 488 | 42 | 67 | 2 | 6 | 54 | 116 | 192 | 3 |
| Kahramanmaraş | 386,010 | 46,548 | 21 | 0 | 4,185 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| Mardin(including parts ofBatman andŞırnak) | 35,494 | 265,328 | 79,687 | 60 | 75 | 11 | 15 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| Muğla | 334,883 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Muş | 110,555 | 83,020 | 3,575 | 507 | 898 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 103 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nevşehir | 203,156 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 0 |
| Niğde(includingAksaray) | 353,146 | 8,991 | 10 | 0 | 227 | 5 | 0 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 15 | 4 | 0 |
| Ordu | 538,978 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 4,815 | 34 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Rize | 275,291 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 5,754 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Sakarya(including 1 village ofDüzce) | 388,481 | 2,163 | 32 | 3 | 538 | 6 | 4,535 | 2 | 2,671 | 23 | 2,899 | 794 | 1 |
| Samsun | 747,115 | 1,366 | 3 | 0 | 3,401 | 91 | 2,350 | 5 | 51 | 319 | 10 | 610 | 0 |
| Siirt(including parts ofBatman andŞırnak) | 46,722 | 179,023 | 38,273 | 484 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 98 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Sinop | 261,341 | 2,126 | 0 | 0 | 659 | 1 | 1,144 | 228 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 3 |
| Sivas | 649,099 | 32,284 | 19 | 23 | 2,086 | 0 | 0 | 217 | 1 | 0 | 515 | 0 | 0 |
| Tekirdağ(including 1 village ofİstanbul) | 284,222 | 548 | 76 | 18 | 5 | 19 | 52 | 8 | 2 | 1,627 | 6 | 51 | 102 |
| Tokat | 483,948 | 3,974 | 7 | 3 | 5,934 | 0 | 367 | 45 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 964 | 0 |
| Trabzon | 590,799 | 72 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 4,535 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tunceli | 120,553 | 33,431 | 20 | 2,370 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 18 | 10 | 8 | 0 |
| Şanlıurfa | 207,652 | 175,100 | 51,090 | 14,554 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Uşak | 190,506 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Van | 118,481 | 147,694 | 557 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 66 |
| Yozgat | 433,385 | 2,424 | 1 | 0 | 1,597 | 2 | 0 | 118 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 0 |
| Zonguldak(includingBartın and parts ofKarabük) | 649,757 | 43 | 26 | 0 | 5 | 17 | 2 | 3 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Provinces with Turkish speakers in majority Provinces with Turkish speakers in plurality Provinces with Kurdish speakers in plurality Provinces with Kurdish speakers in majority
The following table lists the mother tongues of people in Turkey by percentage of their speakers.
| Mother tongue | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Turkish | 84.54 |
| Kurdish (Kurmanji) | 11.97 |
| Arabic | 1.38 |
| Zazaki | 1.01 |
| Other Turkic languages | 0.28 |
| Balkan languages | 0.23 |
| Laz | 0.12 |
| Circassian languages | 0.11 |
| Armenian | 0.07 |
| Other Caucasian languages | 0.07 |
| Greek | 0.06 |
| West European languages | 0.03 |
| Jewish languages | 0.01 |
| Other | 0.12 |
Ethnologue lists many minority and immigrant languages inTurkey some of which are spoken by large numbers of people.
| Family | Language | ISO | Speakers | Status (EGIDS)[a] | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turkic languages | |||||
| Oghuz | Turkish | tur | 83,440,000 (2019) | 1 (National) | |
| South Azerbaijani | azb | 596,000 (2019) | 5 (Dispersed) | ||
| Balkan Gagauz Turkish | bgx | 460,000 (2019) | 7 (Shifting) | ||
| Turkmen | tuk | 5 (Dispersed) | Non-indigenous | ||
| Kipchak | Crimean Tatar | crh | 110,000 (2019) | 6b (Threatened) | Non-indigenous |
| Karakalpak | kaa | 81,700 (2019) | Non-indigenous | ||
| Tatar | tat | 28,700 (2019) | 5 (Dispersed) | Non-indigenous | |
| Kazakh | kaz | 8,500 (2019) | 5 (Dispersed) | Non-indigenous | |
| Kyrgyz | kir | 5 (Dispersed) | Non-indigenous | ||
| Kumyk | kum | 1,600 (2021) | 6b (Threatened) | Non-indigenous | |
| Karluk | Southern Uzbek | uzs | 4,200 (2019) | 5 (Dispersed) | Non-indigenous |
| Uyghur | uig | ||||
| Indo-European languages | |||||
| Iranian | Northern Kurdish | kmr | 9,000,000 (2019) | 6b (Threatened) | 3,000,000 monolinguals |
| Southern Zazaki | diq | 1,280,000 (2019) | |||
| Northern Zazaki | kiu | 203,000 (2019) | |||
| Persian | pes | 682,000 (2019) | Non-indigenous | ||
| Digor Ossetian | oss | 41,000 (2019) | 6b (Threatened) | Non-indigenous | |
| Indo-Aryan | Balkan Romani | rmn | 72,900 (2019) | 6a (Vigorous) | Non-indigenous |
| Domari | rmt | 6b (Threatened) | |||
| Urdu | urd | 24,300 (2019) | Non-indigenous | ||
| Slavic | Pomak Bulgarian | bul | 395,000 (2019) | 5 (Dispersed) | |
| Bosnian | bos | 112,000 (2019) | Non-indigenous | ||
| Russian | rus | 600,000 (2012) | |||
| Macedonian | mkd | 35,000 (2019) | |||
| Serbian | srp | 5,000 (2019) | 6b (Threatened) | ||
| Greek | Pontic Greek | pnt | 5,000 (2015) | 7 (Shifting) | |
| Greek | ell | 4,000 (2019) | 5 (Dispersed) | Non-indigenous, due to emigration | |
| Albanian | Tosk Albanian | als | 72,900 (2019) | 6b (Threatened) | Non-indigenous |
| Gheg Albanian | aln | 5 (Dispersed) | |||
| Armenian | Western Armenian | hyw | 67,300 (2019) | 6b (Threatened) | |
| Italic | Ladino | lad | 8,000 (2018) | 7 (Shifting) | Non-indigenous |
| Spanish | spa | 16,000 (2019) | |||
| French | fra | 4,300 (2019) | |||
| Germanic | English | eng | 47,000 (2019) | Non-indigenous | |
| German | deu | 6,700 (2019) | |||
| Semitic languages | |||||
| Arabic | Levantine Arabic | apc | 4,250,000 (2021) | 6b (Threatened) | The vast majority of speakers are Syrian refugees and migrants. |
| Modern Standard Arabic | arb | 686,000 (2015) | 4 (Educational) | Non-indigenous | |
| North Mesopotamian Arabic | ayp | 574,000 (2019) | 6a (Vigorous) | Do not read Arabic | |
| Mesopotamian Arabic | acm | 112,000 (2019) | Non-indigenous | ||
| Neo-Aramaic | Turoyo | tru | 16,600 (2019) | 6b (Threatened) | |
| Hértevin | hrt | 4 (2012) | 8b (Nearly extinct) | ||
| Syriac | syc | 0 | 9 (Dormant) | ||
| Assyrian Neo-Aramaic | aii | 27,600 (2019) | Non-indigenous | ||
| Northwest Caucasian languages | |||||
| Circassian | Kabardian | kbd | 1,170,000 (2019) | 6b (Threatened) | Non-indigenous |
| Adyghe | ady | 349,000 (2019) | Non-indigenous | ||
| Abazgi | Abkhaz | abk | 48,600 (2019) | Non-indigenous | |
| Abaza | abq | 13,200 (2019) | Non-indigenous | ||
| Ubykh | Ubykh | uby | 0 | 10 (Extinct) | Last speaker died in 1992 |
| Kartvelian languages | |||||
| Karto-Zan | Georgian | kat | 167,000 (2019) | 6b (Threatened) | |
| Lazuri | lzz | 20,000 (2007) | |||
| Northeast Caucasian languages | |||||
| Lezgic | Lezgi | lez | 1,200 (1996) | Non-indigenous | |
| Nakh | Chechen | che | 112,000 (2019) | Non-indigenous | |
| Sino-Tibetan languages | |||||
| Sinitic | Mandarin Chinese | cmn | 42,000 (2019) | Non-indigenous | |
| Sign languages | |||||
| Deaf community | Turkish Sign Language | tsm | 250,000 (2021) | 6a (Vigorous) | |
| Mardin Sign Language | dsz | 40 (2012) | 8b | ||
Not included in the report byEthnologue is theMegleno-Romanian language, spoken by theMegleno-Romanians, who number around 5,000 in the country.[47]
a^Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIDS) ofEthnologue:
0 (International): "The language is widely used between nations in trade, knowledge exchange, and international policy."
1 (National): "The language is used in education, work, mass media, and government at the national level."
2 (Provincial): "The language is used in education, work, mass media, and government within major administrative subdivisions of a nation."
3 (Wider Communication): "The language is used in work and mass media without official status to transcend language differences across a region."
4 (Educational): "The language is in vigorous use, with standardization and literature being sustained through a widespread system of institutionally supported education."
5 (Developing): "The language is in vigorous use, with literature in a standardized form being used by some though this is not yet widespread or sustainable."
6a (Vigorous): "The language is used for face-to-face communication by all generations and the situation is sustainable."
6b (Threatened): "The language is used for face-to-face communication within all generations, but it is losing users."
7 (Shifting): "The child-bearing generation can use the language among themselves, but it is not being transmitted to children."
8a (Moribund): "The only remaining active users of the language are members of the grandparent generation and older."
8b (Nearly Extinct): "The only remaining users of the language are members of the grandparent generation or older who have little opportunity to use the language."
9 (Dormant): "The language serves as a reminder of heritage identity for an ethnic community, but no one has more than symbolic proficiency."
10 (Extinct): "The language is no longer used and no one retains a sense of ethnic identity associated with the language."
The following languages are listed as having 50,000 or more total speakers in Turkey according to the 2022 edition ofEthnologue.[48] Entries identified byEthnologue asmacrolanguages (such asArabic,Persian,Pashto,Chinese, andZaza, encompassing all their respectivevarieties) are not included in this section.
The Turkish government accepts the language rights of the Jewish, Greek and Armenian minorities as being guaranteed by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne.
In the Lausanne treaty, people of the republic were defined through a religion based definition, similar to the Ottoman concept of millet (nation). For example, the non-Muslim minorities such as Armenians, Greeks, and Jews were recognized as minorities, and their language rights were identified in articles 39, 40, and 41.
This implies that Turkey grants educational right in minority languages only to the recognized minorities covered by the Lausanne who are the Armenians, Greeks and the Jews.
"Mother tongue" education is mostly limited to Turkish teaching in Turkey. No other language can be taught as a mother tongue other than Armenian, Greek, and Hebrew, as agreed in the Lausanne Treaty [...] Like Jews and Greeks, Armenians enjoy the privilege of an officially recognized minority status. [...] No language other than Turkish can be taught at schools or at cultural centers. Only Armenian, Greek, and Hebrew are exceptions to this constitutional rule.
{{cite web}}:Missing or empty|url= (help){{cite web}}:Missing or empty|url= (help)Turkey is a nation–state built on remnants of the Ottoman Empire where non-Muslim minorities were guaranteed the right to set up educational institutions; however, since its establishment, it has officially recognised only Armenians, Greeks and Jews as minorities and guaranteed them the right to manage educational institutions as enshrined in the Treaty of Lausanne. [...] Private language teaching courses teach 'traditionally used languages', elective language courses have been introduced in public schools and universities are allowed to teach minority languages.
The population of Armenian Turkish citizens living in Turkey is unclear, with estimates ranging up to 70,000. With a legal minority status in Turkey as defined by the Treaty of Lausanne of 1923 for all non-Muslim minority groups, they are entitled to "an equal right to establish, manage and control at their own expense, any charitable, religious and social institutions, any schools and other establishments for instruction and education, with the right to use their own language and to exercise their own religion freely therein".
Turkey signed the Covenant on 15 August 2000 and ratified it on 23 September 2003. However, Turkey put a reservation on Article 27 of the Covenant which limited the scope of the right of ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion or to use their own language. This reservation provides that this right will be implemented and applied in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Turkish Constitution and the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. This implies that Turkey grants educational right in minority languages only to the recognized minorities covered by the Lausanne who are the Armenians, Greeks and the Jews.
As mentioned above, the Jews, the Greek Orthodox Christians, and the Armenian Orthodox Christians are the only recognized minorities in Turkey.
The legal status of Armenians designed by the Treaty of Lausanne gave them the opportunity to establish their own schools, religious and secular organizations, to teach younger generations the Armenian language, to publish books and newspapers in Armenian, to worship in their churches etc. These regulations helped them to live as a community, to maintain their cultural values, i.e. to prolong Armenian identity.
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