Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Around the Syrian border, there are Arabic-
speaking communities. There are also groups
that came from the Caucasus and the Balkans
towards the end of the Ottoman Empire, includ-
ing Circassians, Abkhazians, Crimean Tatars,
Bosnians and Turkic Uighurs (from China).
4 SPICE BAZAAR (
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)
5 ANTAKYA (HATAY;
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)
6 BODRUM (
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)
Non-Muslim Groups
The Ottoman Empire had large Christian and
Jewish populations, and some remain. Today,
Turkey's Jews mostly live in İstanbul, and some still speak the Judaeo-Spanish language
Ladino.
Armenians have long been in Anatolia; a distinct Armenian people existed by the 4th
century, when they became the first nation to collectively convert to Christianity. About
70,000 Armenians still live in Turkey, mainly in İstanbul, and in isolated pockets in
Anatolia. Turkish-Armenian relations remain tense (see boxed text,
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)
, but there
are signs of rapprochement.
Large Greek populations once lived throughout the Ottoman realm, but after the popu-
lation exchanges of the early Republican era and acrimonious events in the 1950s, the
Greeks were reduced to a small community in İstanbul. Southeastern Anatolia is also
home to ancient Christian communities.
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