Minorities in Turkey Minorities in Turkey Minorities in Turkey form a substantial part of the country's population, with at least an estimated 30% of the populace belonging to an ethnic minority. While the Republic of Turkey, following the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, recognizes Armenians, Greeks and Jews as ethnic minorities, this legal status is not granted to Muslim minorities, such as the Kurds, which constitute the largest minority by a wide margin (13–18%), nor any of the other minorities in the country. The amount of ethnic minorities is suspected to be underestimated by the Turkish government. Ethnic Albanians, Pontic Greeks, Kurds, Arabs, Bosniaks,
Albanians in Turkey with a positive image amongst a large majority of people in Albania, Kosovo and the Republic of Macedonia which contains a sizable Albanian minority. Albanians form a significant population group in Turkey and have contributed to Turkish society and the state with many merchants, army officers, labourers, officials, educators and intellectuals. The Turkish military has traditionally viewed Albanian identity in Turkey as a sub-ethnic identity alongside others forming part of the larger state-centric Turkish identity and that debates about primary versus sub-identities would undermine (Turkish) national identity. The current AKP Turkish political leadership has acknowledged that there are large numbers