The Turks of Romania ( tr, Romanya Türkleri, ro, Turcii din România) are ethnic Turks who form an ethnic minority in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. According to the 2011 census, there were 27,698 Turks living in the country, forming a minority of some 0.15% of the population. Of these, 81.1% were recorded in the

Dobruja Dobruja or Dobrudja (; bg, Добруджа, Dobrudzha or ''Dobrudža''; ro, Dobrogea, or ; tr, Dobruca) is a historical region in the Balkans that has been divided since the 19th century between the territories of Bulgaria and Romania. I ...

region of the country's southeast, near the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

, in the counties of Constanța (21,014) and Tulcea (1,891), with a further 8.5% residing in the national capital

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north o ...

(2,388)..

History

Turkic settlement has a long history in the

region, various groups such as

Bulgars The Bulgars (also Bulghars, Bulgari, Bolgars, Bolghars, Bolgari, Proto-Bulgarians) were Turkic semi-nomadic warrior tribes that flourished in the Pontic–Caspian steppe and the Volga region during the 7th century. They became known as noma ...

Pechenegs The Pechenegs () or Patzinaks tr, Peçenek(ler), Middle Turkic: , ro, Pecenegi, russian: Печенег(и), uk, Печеніг(и), hu, Besenyő(k), gr, Πατζινάκοι, Πετσενέγοι, Πατζινακίται, ka, პა� ...

Cumans The Cumans (or Kumans), also known as Polovtsians or Polovtsy (plural only, from the Russian exonym ), were a Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confederation. After the Mongol invasion (1237), many so ...

and Turkmen settling in the region between the 7th and 13th centuries, and probably contributing to the formation of a Christian autonomous polity in the 14th century. The existence of a strictly Turkish population in the territories of modern Romania can possibly be tracked down to the 13th century. In 1243, the Seljuk Turks in

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

(most of modern Turkey) were defeated by the

Mongols The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member ...

in the Battle of Kösedağ. The Mongols subordinated the Seljuk Turks and divided their lands between two brothers,

Kilij Arslan IV Kilij Arslan IV ( 1ca, قِلِج اَرسلان) or Rukn ad-Dīn Qilij Arslān ibn Kaykhusraw ( fa, رکن الدین قلج ارسلان بن کیخسرو) was Seljuq Sultan of Rûm after the death of his father Kaykhusraw II in 1246. However, ...

and Kaykaus II. Kaykaus II, having been forced to obey his brother, opposed this, for which he had to leave Anatolia together with a large group of partisans and look for refuge in the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

.Prof. Yaşar Yüce-Prof. Ali Sevim: ''Türkiye tarihi Cilt I'', AKDTYKTTK Yayınları, İstanbul, 1991 He and his partisans were settled by

Byzantine Emperor This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as ...

Michael VIII Palaiologos Michael VIII Palaiologos or Palaeologus ( el, Μιχαὴλ Δούκας Ἄγγελος Κομνηνὸς Παλαιολόγος, Mikhaēl Doukas Angelos Komnēnos Palaiologos; 1224 – 11 December 1282) reigned as the co-emperor of the Empire ...

in a region between Varna and the Danube Delta which is known as

today. Later, Kaykaus II would attempt an unsuccessful rebellion in the Byzantine Empire and went into exile in

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a p ...

, but his partisans remained in Dobruja and he would be succeeded as leader by

Sarı Saltık Sarı Saltık (also spelled Sarı Saltuk, "the blonde", ota, صارى صالتق, Ṣarı̊ Ṣaltı̊q; also referred as ''Sari Saltuk Baba'' or ''Dede'') (died 1297/98) was a 13th-century Alevi Turkish dervish, venerated as a saint by the Be ...

.Kate Fleet-Machiel Kiel:Cambridge History of Turkey Vol 1, Cambridge Press, p.141 In 1307, some of the Dobrujan Seljuk Turks would return to Anatolia. Nevertheless, some would stay in the area, and while they kept their language, they would convert to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...

. It has been suggested that these Seljuk Turks eventually evolved into the modern Gagauz people, the name of which would supposedly come from Kaykaus II. Another important event in the history of the Turkish population in Romania was the Ottoman conquest of the region in the early 15th century. Hence, by the 17th century most of the settlements in Dobruja had Turkish names, either due to colonisations or through assimilation of the

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...

ised pre-Ottoman Turkic populations. In the nineteenth century, Turks and

Tatars The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different Turki ...

were more numerous in Dobruja than the

Romanians The Romanians ( ro, români, ; dated exonym '' Vlachs'') are a Romance-speaking ethnic group. Sharing a common Romanian culture and ancestry, and speaking the Romanian language, they live primarily in Romania and Moldova. The 2011 Romania ...

Demographics

The majority of Turks live in the historical region of

Northern Dobruja Northern Dobruja ( ro, Dobrogea de Nord or simply ; bg, Северна Добруджа, ''Severna Dobrudzha'') is the part of Dobruja within the borders of Romania. It lies between the lower Danube river and the Black Sea, bordered in the south ...

(Turkish: ''Dobruca''), particularly in Constanța County, where they number 21,014 and make up 3.3% of the population,

Tulcea County Tulcea County () is a county ( județ) of Romania, in the historical region Dobruja, with the capital city at Tulcea. It includes in its northeast corner the large and thinly-populated estuary of the Danube. Demographics In 2011, Tulcea Co ...

with 1,891 (0.94%) and

with 2,388 (0.14%). Dobromir, a commune in Constanța County, is the only one in Romania with a Turkish majority (61.93%). As an officially recognised ethnic minority, Turks have one seat reserved for them in the Romanian

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

, which has been held by the

Democratic Turkish Union of Romania The Democratic Turkish Union of Romania ( ro, Uniunea Democrată Turcă din România, UDTR; tr, Romanya Demokrat Türk Birliği, RDTB) is an ethnic minority political party in Romania representing the Turkish community. History The party was ...

since 1992. An important Turkish community also used to live until 1967 on the island of Ada Kaleh. After 1989, a significant number of Turkish entrepreneurs started investing and establishing business ventures in Romania, and a certain proportion chose to take up residence in Romania. Unofficial sources estimate there are 12 thousand Turkish citizens in Bucharest.

Religion

The

Romanian Census This article presents the demographic history of Romania through census results. See Demographics of Romania for a more detailed overview of the country's present-day demographics. The 1930 census was the only one to cover Greater Romania. Census ...

of 2011 counted 27,698 ethnic Turks, of which 26,903 were

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

(or 97.1 percent). Around 505 Turks were Orthodox (1.8 percent), while 147 Turks (0.5 percent) belonged to other religions.

Diaspora

Traditionally, large scale Turkish Romanian migration has been to the Republic of Turkey where most arrived as '' muhacirs'' ("refugees") during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. Furthermore, during the early 20th century, some Turkish Romanians also migrated to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

. According to Dr Eleanor Bujea, the early history of Turkish Romanians in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

began in the 1910s and is similar to that of Jewish Romanians. Many initially homesteaded and raised their families on farms whilst some went into the grocery businesses or opened street carts. However, after the

, many of these people moved to large cities where some intermarried and assimilated. In more recent years, since Romania's admission into the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

, the Turkish minority in Romania has decreased significantly due to the relaxation of travelling and migration regulations. Thus, since the first decade of the 2000s, Turkish Romanians have joined other Romanian citizens (e.g. ethnic Romanians, Tatars, etc.) in migrating mostly to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

Notable people

*, Ottoman poet *, Turkish politician * Nejla Ateş, Turkish belly dancer *, Turkish politician *, actress and singer *

Marcu Cercel Marcu Cercel, also known as Marco Cercel, Marcu-Vodă, or Marco-Voevod ("Marcu the Voivode"; hu, Markó vajda, it, Marco Circelli; ''fl.'' 1580 – 1620), was a Wallachian adventurer who served as Prince of Moldavia in July–September 1600. Hi ...

, adventurer who served as Prince of Moldavia in July–September 1600 (Turkish mother) *, actor *, Member of the Chamber of Deputies (2000-04) * Ömer Cerrahoğlu, gold medal winner of the

International Mathematical Olympiad The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is a mathematical olympiad for pre- university students, and is the oldest of the International Science Olympiads. The first IMO was held in Romania in 1959. It has since been held annually, excep ...

*, one of the first Turkish publishers in Turkey *

Basri Dirimlili Basri Dirimlili (7 June 1929 – 14 September 1997), nicknamed Mehmetcik Basri, was a Turkish football player. Career Born in Dârstor, Romania (now Silistra, Bulgaria), Dirimlili began playing football for Eskişehir Demirspor. He transferred ...

, football player * Ludmilla Dudarova, actress *

Elena Farago Elena Farago (born Elena Paximade; 29 March 1878–3 January 1954) was a Romanian poet and children's author. She also translated works by Ibsen, Nietzsche, Maeterlinck and numerous others into Romanian. Early life and education Born in Bâr ...

, poet (maternally of Turkish, Greek and Romanian origin) *, Member of the Chamber of Deputies (2004-20) * Kemal Karpat, Turkish historian *, President of

(1994-97, 2004–present); Member of the Chamber of Deputies (1996-2000), County Councilor of Constanța (2004–2016); Director of
Hakses
' ("The Voice of Hope") * Negiat Sali, Member of the Chamber of Deputies (2000-04) * Enes Sali, Turkish Romanian footballer *, Turkish politician * Sevil Shhaideh, economist, civil servant and politician (Turkish father and Crimean Tatar mother) *, Turkish politician

References

Bibliography

*. * * * *

External links

Turkish Democratic Union of Romania (Uniunea Democrată Turcă din România)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turks Of Romania Ethnic groups in Romania

Middle Eastern diaspora in Romania Muslim communities in Europe