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,
Japanese people in Turkey Japanese people in Turkey There is a medium-sized population of Japanese people in Turkey, comprising mostly recent expatriates from Japan and their descendants born in Turkey. As of September 2010, their numbers were recorded at 1,430 by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Most Japanese living in Turkey are based in Ankara and Istanbul. There was a very small population of Japanese in the country prior to 1945 when Turkey declared war on Germany and Japan during World War II; following the conflict and the severing of Turkey's trade and diplomatic relations with Japan, most had left. A Japanese travel