Balkan Turks: ca. 1900 vs. today

[Dušan]

Balkan muslims were seen as Turks even Greeks in Macedonia that converted were seen as Turks and no longer seen as Greek.

Bosnian Muslims considered themselves Turks, while they called real ethnic Turks - Turkuše.

For most of the past, until about 1900, today's Bosniak people were considered Turks, and in this context, it would mean Muslims (of Turkish provenance). Although aware of the differences towards the "real" Turks (Turkish-Turkuša opposition, ignorance of the Turkish language among the broad strata of population), the fact is that practically all Muslims perceived Turkey as a homeland, a desired Islamic home, and that, although they nurtured loyalty to their homeland, to the Bosnian pashaluk, this was not of crucial importance until the 19th century, when there is a feeling that the Turks will leave them stranded (independence of Serbia, Bulgaria, ..). The main loyalty is Islam, and the central political-civilizational vision of the existence of the Ottoman Empire - without serious attempts at autonomy.

https://hamdocamo.wordpress.com/2012...o-su-bosnjaci/

[mergen3]

We are having a project concentrating on this issue as well as genetics with some forum members which we may announce soon. The working areas cover ethnic maps from different periods, sources from censuses, and academia. I think you might be interested in it, nevertheless, I can share some information:


The critical time period when it comes to the Balkan Turks is Russo-Turkish War. In the pre-War period, Muslims were approximately 60% of the whole of Bulgaria, like 50% of them being ethnic Turks, plus with a similar ratio in today's Romanian Dobruja. In the after-war period, it immediately reduced to the levels of 30-35% due to casualties and migrations. Then mass-migrations continued in 1920s, 1930s, 1950s, 1980s, and 1990s. The pre-War population in the 1870s was around 1.5 million in Bulgaria, now around 800K, consisting of only around 13-14% of the Bulgarian population.

The total Turkish population in the whole of Macedonia(as a region) was around 1.2 million in the same period, also, being consisted of half of the region even including Northern parts of Thessaly. Now only Northern Macedonia has Turks with a population around 110K, like 4-5% of the population.

Western Thrace had an 80-85% Turkish majority with a population around 150K. The region has a Turkish population of around 150K still, despite various migration waves, being consisted of like 50-55% of the region. There was also a population of around 150K in Eastern Thrace, being consisted of like 40% of the region.


Overall, with a straightforward calculation, the amount of total Balkan Turkish population was around 3 million in the early 1870s. More than half were migrated to the Turkey borders before the 1930s. The remaining gradually continued to migrate Turkey until the early 2000s. The total Balkan Turkish population in 2021 should be around 9 million when excluding the ones mixed with the other ethnicities, when adding them it could go up to 15 million. If we count 1/16 - 1/32 ancestry stories even, then it is probably around 20m. 1.1m of these amounts live in the Balkans, a number between 500k and 1m lives in the various parts of Europe and USA, and the rest, being the great majority, lives in Turkey. All Western Anatolian cities host considerable amount of Balkan Turkish population, as well as Eastern Thrace. There are also remote settlements of Balkan Turks in the inner Anatolia, despite having low numbered compared to the West.

Yes, I agree with what you wrote. If we talk about İzmir and Western anatolia, many Anatolian Turks have 1/8 or 1/4 balkan ancestors. There are a lot of Albanians and Balkan Turks in my neighborhood and most of the new generation is married to Anatolian Turks. I think that after 30 40 years, there will be no separation between Anatolia and Balkan Turks. Turkish society will be more homogeneous

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