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,
Laz people in Turkey Laz people in Turkey The Laz people in Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye Lazları, Laz: ლაზეფე თურქონაშე "Lazepe Turkonaşe") refers to an ethnic group who are native to eastern Black Sea coast of southwestern Georgia, and their descendants. Most Laz people today live in Turkey, but the Laz minority group has no official status in Turkey. Their number today is estimated at 2,250,000. In the census of 1965, 26,007 Turkish citizens spoke Laz as mother language. Proportionally, they were most numerous in Artvin (5.8%), Rize (2.0%) and Sakarya (0.7%). 3,943 of these could only speak Laz. Another 55,158 spoke Laz as their