Languages of Turkey

Languages of Turkey
Official language(s)	Turkish
Minority language(s)	Kurdish, Zaza, Arabic, Laz
Main immigrant language(s)	Albanian, Bosnian, Pomak/Bulgarian
Main foreign language(s)	English 17%, German 4%, French 3%

The official language of Turkey is Turkish though Ethnologue lists many minority languages some of which are spoken by large numbers of people.

According to Article 42 of the Constitution of Turkey:

“

No language other than Turkish shall be taught as a mother tongue to Turkish citizens at any institutions of training or education. Foreign languages to be taught in institutions of training and education and the rules to be followed by schools conducting training and education in a foreign language shall be determined by law. The provisions of international treaties are reserved.

”

This provision has been criticized by Human Rights Watch who claim that ethnic minorities face restrictions in the use of their languages. They further observe that "the Turkish government accepts the language rights of the Jewish, Greek and Armenian minorities as being guaranteed by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. But the government claims that these are Turkey's only minorities, and that any talk of minority rights beyond this is just separatism".

Languages of Turkey

Language	Numbers	Classification	Comment
Turkish	&1000000004630000000000046,300,000 (1987)	Turkic (Oghuz)	Numbers are certainly higher now
Northern Kurdish	&100000000039500000000003,950,000 (1980)	Indo-European (Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Western)	also known as Kurmanji
Dimli	&100000000010000000000001,000,000 (1998/1999)	Indo-European (Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Western)	one of the Zaza languages
Kabardian	&100000000010000000000001,000,000 (2005)	North Caucasian languages (aka Caucasic)
South Azerbaijani	&10000000000530000000000530,000	Turkic (Oghuz)
North Mesopotamian Arabic	&10000000000400000000000400,000 (1992)	Semitic languages (Arabic)
Balkan Gagauz Turkish	&10000000000327000000000327,000 (1993)	Turkic (Oghuz)
Bulgarian	&10000000000300000000000300,000 (2001)	Indo-European (Slavic)
Adyghe	&10000000000278000000000278,000 (2000)	North Caucasian languages
Kirmanjki	&10000000000140000000000140,000	Indo-European (Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Western)	one of the Zaza languages
Armenian	&1000000000004000000000040,000 (1980)	Indo-European (Armenian languages)
Georgian	&1000000000004000000000040,000 (1980)	South Caucasian languages
Laz	&1000000000003000000000030,000 (1980)	South Caucasian languages
Domari	&1000000000002850000000028,500 (2000)	Indo-European (Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan)
Balkan Romani	&1000000000002500000000025,000	Indo-European (Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan)
Serbian	&1000000000002000000000020,000 (1980)	Indo-European (Slavic)
Tosk Albanian	&1000000000001500000000015,000 (1980)	Indo-European (Albanian)
Abaza	&1000000000001000000000010,000 (1995)	North Caucasian languages
Ladino	&100000000000080000000008,000 (1976)	Indo-European (Romance)	spoken by the descendants of Jewish refugees from Spain
Pontic	&100000000000045400000004,540 (1965)	Indo-European (Greek)	spoken on the shores of the Black Sea, most speakers were moved to Greece in the 1920s
Greek	&100000000000040000000004,000 (1993)	Indo-European (Greek)	most speakers were moved to Greece in the 1920s
Abkhaz	&100000000000040000000004,000 (1980)	North Caucasian languages
Turoyo	&100000000000030000000003,000 (1994)	Semitic languages (Aramaic)
Crimean Turkish	&100000000000020000000002,000	Turkic (Oghuz)	actual number is unknown
Southern Uzbek	&100000000000019800000001,980 (1982)	Turkic (Uyghuric)
Kyrgyz	&100000000000011400000001,140 (1982)	Turkic (Western)	(aka Kirghiz)
Hértevin	&10000000000001000000000less than 1,000 (1999)	Semitic languages (Aramaic)
Turkmen	&10000000000000920000000920 (1982)	Turkic (Oghuz)
Kazakh	&10000000000000600000000600 (1982)	Turkic (Western)
Uyghur	&10000000000000500000000500 (1981)	Turkic (Eastern)
Kumyk	&10000000000000001000000few villages	Turkic (Western)
Tatar	&10000000000000001000000handful	Turkic (Western)
Osetin	&10000000000000001000000??	Indo-European (Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Eastern)
Turkish Sign Language	&10000000000000001000000?	Sign languages	Numbers are unknown though likely to number in the thousands
Syriac	&10000000000000000000000extinct	Aramaic	liturgical language
Ubykh	&10000000000000000000000extinct	North Caucasian	became extinct in the 1990s

History

Turkey has historically been the home to many now extinct languages. These include the Hittite language, the earliest Indo-European language for which written evidence exists (circa 1600 BCE to 1100 BCE when the Hittite Empire existed). The other Anatolian languages included Luwian and later Lycian, Lydian, and Milyan, . All these languages are believed to have become extinct at the latest around the 1st century BCE due to the Hellenization of Anatolia which led to Greek in a variety of dialects becoming the common language.

Urartian belonging to the Hurro-Urartian language family existed in eastern Anatolia around Lake Van. It existed as the language of the kingdom of Urartu from about the 9th century BCE until the 6th century. Hattian is attested in Hittite ritual texts but is not related to the Hittite language or to any other known language; it dates from the 2nd millennium BCE.

See also

• Demographics of Turkey