Turks in Croatia

Turks of Croatia (Croatian: Turci u Hrvatskoj; Turkish: Hırvatistan Türkleri) are one among 22 recognised national minorities in Croatia. According to the 2011 census, there were 367 Turks living in Croatia, most of which most lived in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County and later in the City of Zagreb.

Turks of Croatia

Total population
367 (2011 census)[1] est. 2,000[2]
Regions with significant populations
City of Zagreb	106
Primorje-Gorski Kotar County	88
Istria County	54
Split-Dalmatia County	43
Brod-Posavina County	18
Languages
Turkish, Croatian
Religion
Sunni Islam

Turks compose approximately 0.001% of the total population. The majority of Croatian Turks are Sunni Muslims, and make up 0.5% of Croatia's Muslim population (56,777 Muslims in total).

History

During the Croatian-Ottoman Wars of the 15th and 16th centuries, small parts of eastern Croatia were briefly incorporated into the Ottoman Empire and settled by Turks. However, the majority of these retreated to other parts of Rumelia or Anatolia after the end of Ottoman rule. Many ethnic Turks in Croatia today are from more recent immigrations from the mid-20th century onwards.

Culture

In the Independent State of Croatia, the Croatian Muslim Printing House issued a magazine in Turkish language intended for the Turkish public, the European turkologists and those in the Independent State of Croatia who spoke Turkish language. The magazine was called The East and the West: the Cultural, Economic, Social and Political Magazine (Turkish: Doğu ve Batı. Kültür, iktisat, sosyal ve siyasi mecmuası). It was issued between 6 April 1943 and 15 August 1944. It was the first magazine in Turkish language on the territory of the present-day Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and second on the territory of the former Yugoslavia.[3]

Population

Official name of Croatia	Year	Number of Turks
-	1931	186
PR Croatia	1948	13
	1953	276
	1961	2,710
SR Croatia	1971	221
	1981	279
Croatia	1991	320
	2001	300
	2011	367
(Croatian Bureau of Statistics)[1][4]

Statistics

Cities with significant Turkish minority:

• Umag (29 or 0,22%)
• Trogir (16 or 0,12%)
• Rijeka (42 or 0,03%)
• Slavonski Brod (18 or 0,03%)
• Zagreb (106 or 0,01%)
• Split (16 or 0,01%)

Notable people

• Banu Alkan, Turkish actress

See also

• Turkish minorities in the former Ottoman Empire
  • Turks in the Balkans

References

Notes

1. "Stanovništvo prema narodnosti, popisi 1971. - 2011" (in Croatian). Retrieved 21 December 2012.
2. Zaman. "Altepe'den Hırvat Müslümanlara moral". Retrieved 2011-09-09.
3. Vlašić & 5 December 2013. sfn error: no target: CITEREFVlašić5_December_2013 (help)
4. Population of Croatia 1931-2001

Journals

• Vlašić, Anđelko (5 December 2013). "Doğu ve Batı: hrvatski list na turskom jeziku (1943. – 1944.)". Behar. Kulturno društvo Bošnjaka Hrvatske Preporod (115). Archived from the original on 10 December 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2015.