Turkey Turkish population are of Turkish ethnicity and approximately 70–80 per cent of the country's citizens identify themselves as Turkish. It is estimated that there are at least 47 ethnic groups represented in Turkey. Reliable data on the ethnic mix of the population is not available, because Turkish census figures do not include statistics on ethnicity. Kurds are the largest non-Turkic ethnicity at anywhere from 12-25 per cent of the population. The exact figure remains a subject of dispute; according to Servet Mutlu, "more often then not, these estimates reflect pro-Kurdish or pro-Turkish sympathies and attitudes rather than scientific facts or
History of the Laz people inhabitants of the Black Sea coast as the "Lazlar". Within the last decade more and more intellectual Laz people realized that the disappearance of their language would lead to the disappearance of their identity and tried to preserve their inherited culture through political empowerment, linguistic education, and music and poetry. History of the Laz people History of the Laz people The Laz people or Lazi (, ; or , ; ) are an indigenous Kartvelian-speaking ethnic group inhabiting the Black Sea coastal regions of Turkey and Georgia. Estimates of the total population of the Laz people today vary drastically, with