The Uyghurs of Turkey are members of the Uyghur diaspora that live in Turkey.

History

There is a long history of the connection between the

Turkish people The Turkish people, or simply the Turks ( tr, Türkler), are the world's largest Turkic ethnic group; they speak various dialects of the Turkish language and form a majority in Turkey and Northern Cyprus. In addition, centuries-old ethnic ...

and the Uyghurs. Both groups speak a

Turkic language The Turkic languages are a language family of over 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia (Siberia), and Western Asia. The Turkic languag ...

and the two groups share significant ethnic and cultural bonds. With Turkey being a Turkic country, the Uyghurs have been largely able to integrate within Turkish society. Turkey has been the home of a sizable Uyghur population in the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

fleeing from the

Xinjiang conflict The Xinjiang conflict ( zh, c=新疆冲突), also known as the East Turkistan conflict, Uyghur–Chinese conflict or Sino-East Turkistan conflict (as argued by the East Turkistan Government-in-Exile), is an ongoing ethnic geopolitical conf ...

. Often Uyghurs who wished to migrate to Europe and the United States often choose Turkey as the transit point. Turkey has been concerned by the Uyghur situation, although it had been criticized for being helpless. Since the Syrian Civil War, Uyghurs have participated in several jihadist battalion groups, some of which are believed to have connections with the Turkish government. Uyghurs in Turkey have partly contributed to them, notably the

Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria The Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria (TIP; ar, الحزب الإسلامي التركستاني في سوريا tr, Türkistan İslam Partisi, zh, 突厥斯坦伊斯兰党) is the Syrian branch of the Turkistan Islamic Party, an armed Uyghur ...

. In 2017,

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...

reported that exiles and human rights groups stated that Uyghurs had escaped Chinese

human rights abuses Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

by fleeing to Turkey. At that time, the Syrian Ambassador to China had stated that up to 5,000 Uyghurs were fighting in the Syrian Civil war, citing Syrian statistics on casualties and prisoners of war captured by Syria. The ambassador said that most Uyghur fighters in the region had been fighting "under their own banner" of separatism, though he stated that a minority had fought with

ISIL An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...

Demographics

The estimate for the number of Uyghurs living Turkey varies across sources. In 2018, ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...

'' reported that over 10,000 Uyghurs live in Turkey.

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...

estimated over 200,000 Uyghurs live in Turkey, based from Uyghur advocating groups, with 150,000 as refugees. In 2021, Tokyo-based English language online news magazine ''

Nikkei Asia ''Nikkei Asia'', known as ''Nikkei Asian Review'' between 2013 and 2020, is a major Japan-based English-language weekly news magazine focussed on the Asian continent, although it also covers broader international developments. It is headquartered ...

'' and online news publication Coda Story reported that 200,000 Uyghurs lived in Turkey, with ''Nikkei Asia'' reporting that the diaspora was "largest outside of Central Asia."

References

{{Demographics of Turkey Ethnic groups in Turkey Uyghur diaspora