 | ||
The Circassians in Turkey (East Circassian and West Circassian: Адыгэхэр Тырку, Adyghexer Tyrku; Turkish: Türkiye'deki Çerkesler) are one of the largest ethnic minorities in Turkey, with a population between 130,000 and 2 million. The closely related ethnic groups Abazins (10,000) and Abkhazians (39,000) are also often counted among them. Circassians are a Caucasian immigrant people, but the vast majority of them have assimilated to the Turkish language, and only a small minority still speak their native Circassian languages. The Circassians in Turkey are almost exclusively Sunni Muslims of Hanafi madh'hab.
Demographics
In the census of 1965, 58,339 Turkish citizens spoke Circassian as first language, which was roughly 0.2% of the population. Proportionally, these were most numerous in Kayseri (3.2%), Tokat (1.2%) and Kahramanmaraş (1.0). Another 48,621 citizens spoke Circassian as second language.