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Turkic peoples

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Not to be confused with Tatars or Turkish people.

Turkic peoples
Türk
Map of Turkic languages.svg
The countries and autonomous regions where a Turkic language has official status or is spoken by a majority
Total population
Approx. 140–160 million[1][2] or over 170 million[3]
Regions with significant populations
 Turkey57,500,000–61,500,000[4][additional citation(s) needed]
 Uzbekistan25,200,000[5][additional citation(s) needed]
 Iran15,000,000-20,000,000[6][7] 18% of population[8]
 Russia12,751,502[citation needed]
 Kazakhstan12,300,000[9][additional citation(s) needed]
 China11,647,000[10][additional citation(s) needed]
 Azerbaijan10,000,000[11][additional citation(s) needed]
European Union European Union5,876,318[citation needed]
 Afghanistan4,600,000-5,300,000 (2017)[12][13]
 Turkmenistan4,500,000[14][additional citation(s) needed]
 Kyrgyzstan4,500,000[15][additional citation(s) needed]
 Iraq3,000,000[16][17]
 Tajikistan1,200,000[18][additional citation(s) needed]
 United States1,000,000+[19]
 Syria800,000–1,000,000+[20]
 Bulgaria588,318[21]
 Ukraine398,600[22]
Cyprus Cyprus313,626[23]
 Australia293,500[citation needed]
 Mongolia202,086[24][additional citation(s) needed]
 Lebanon200,000[25][26][27][28]
 Moldova126,010[29]
 North Macedonia81,900[30][31]
Languages
Turkic languages
Religion
Various religions

The Turkic peoples are a collection of ethnic groups of Central, East, North and West Asia as well as parts of Europe and North Africa, who speak Turkic languages.[32][33]

The origins of the Turkic peoples has been a topic of much discussion.[34] Recent linguistic, genetic and archaeological evidence suggests that the earliest Turkic peoples descended from agricultural communities in Northeastern China and wider Northeast Asia, who moved westwards into Mongolia in the late 3rd millennium BC, where they adopted a pastoral lifestyle.[35][36][37][38][39] By the early 1st millennium BC, these peoples had become equestrian nomads.[35] In subsequent centuries, the steppe populations of Central Asia appear to have been progressively Turkified by a East Asian dominant minority moving out of Mongolia.[40][41] Many vastly differing ethnic groups have throughout history become part of the Turkic peoples through language shift, acculturation, conquest, intermixing, adoption and religious conversion.[3] Nevertheless, certain Turkic peoples share, to varying degrees, non-linguistic characteristics like cultural traits, ancestry from a common gene pool, and historical experiences.[3]

The most notable modern Turkic-speaking ethnic groups include Turkish people, Azerbaijanis, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Turkmens, Kyrgyz and Uyghur people.

Etymology

Map from Kashgari's Diwan (11th century), showing the distribution of Turkic tribes.

The first known mention of the term Turk (Old Turkic: