The

Pomaks Pomaks ( bg, Помаци, Pomatsi; el, Πομάκοι, Pomáki; tr, Pomaklar) are Bulgarian-speaking Muslims inhabiting northwestern Turkey, Bulgaria and northeastern Greece. The c. 220,000 strong ethno-confessional minority in Bulgaria is ...

in Turkey refers to an ethnic group, who are

Sunni muslims Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a dis ...

, and speak their own dialect of

Pomak language Pomak language ( el, πομακική γλώσσα, ''pomakiki glosa'' or πομακικά, ''pomakika''; bg, помашки език, ''pomaški ezik''; tr, Pomakça) is a term used in Greece and Turkey to refer to some of the Rup dialects of ...

who is called Pomakça. They mostly live in Eastern Thrace, though some are also present 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 ...

Numbers

In the census of 1965, those who spoke Pomak as first language were proportionally numerous in Edirne (3.4%), Kırklareli (1.3%) and Çanakkale (1.0%).

Language

The Pomaks of Turkey speak a Bulgarian dialect. According to

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''Ethnoloɠue'') is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensi ...

at present 300,000 Pomaks in

European Turkey East Thrace or Eastern Thrace ( tr, Doğu Trakya or simply ''Trakya''; el, Ανατολική Θράκη, ''Anatoliki Thraki''; bg, Източна Тракия, ''Iztochna Trakiya''), also known as Turkish Thrace or European Turkey, is the pa ...

speak Bulgarian as mother tongue. It is very hard to estimate the number of Pomaks along with the

Turkified Turkification, Turkization, or Turkicization ( tr, Türkleştirme) describes a shift whereby populations or places received or adopted Turkic attributes such as culture, language, history, or ethnicity. However, often this term is more narrowly ...

Pomaks who live in Turkey, as they have blended into the Turkish society and have been often linguistically and culturally assimilated. According to ''

Milliyet ''Milliyet'' ( Turkish for "''nationality''") is a Turkish daily newspaper published in Istanbul, Turkey. History and profile ''Milliyet'' came to publishing life at the Nuri Akça press in Babıali, Istanbul as a daily private newspaper on 3 ...

'' and ''

Turkish Daily News Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

'' reports, the number of the Pomaks along with the Turkified Pomaks in the country is about 600,000.

References

{{Demographics of Turkey Demographics of Turkey Ethnic groups in Turkey Ethnic groups in the Middle East