A lot of people who may be interested in the booming Turkish real estate market may be curious about one thing.
Turkey is a country with so many attractions. It is one of the most visited countries in Europe.
Its famous city, Istanbul, shares two continents. And people can become citizens by purchasing cheap and luxurious properties in the country. The people have a local rich culture plus they are very welcome and entertaining.
Turkey is a country of many colours. However, as much as people would like to visit the country, one question always pops up.
Are Turkish People Arabs?
Many foreigners usually ask this question. There is always an assumption that Turkish people are Arabs.
This is because a majority of the people are devout Muslims. There are mosques littered all over their famous cities. Also, do not mind the fact that the people of Turkey share some heritage with Arabs.
This is a question that the locals in the country get all the time. Although they say that they get offended by it, then again, they say that they get the reason why people ask the unpopular question.
The Origin Of The People Of Turkey
So, are Turkish people Arabs? The answer is no. The people of Turkey are not Arabs. Arabs and Turks do not share the same racial features. Even if you have Turkish people who are Muslims, the people are barely Arabs. The people of Turkey are indigenes of Anatolia. They descend from the Central Asian Turkic race.
About Turks and Arabs
Arabs are a group of Semitic people that can be found in the Middle East. Turks and Arabs do not speak the same language. They are also different in terms of historical backgrounds, ethnic, and cultural roots.
Turkey: Among A Set Of Turkic Countries
Turkey is claimed to be a Turkic country. It is never an Arab country. By Turkic country, it joins all other such geographical settlements in the region. There are other Turkic countries as well.
They are Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan. Turkic countries are primarily located in the central part of Asia.
On the other hand, Arabic countries can be found in the Middle East and North Africa. Due to their origins and ancestry, the people of Turkey are genetically identical to southern Europeans like South Italians and Greeks.
Language Disparity
The official language of Turkey is the Turkic language. This language shares the same ancestry with a lot of Turkic countries. Also, there is a theory that Turkey has common origins with the people of Hungary, Finland, Japan, Mongolia, and Korea.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Arabic language is widely spoken in the Middle East and North Africa. The Arabic language has similarities with Hebrew, Ethiopian, and Maltese languages.
When it comes to language, both cultures are worlds apart. Arabic and Turkish do not share similar roots. They are never mutually intelligible. When looked closely, Arabic has a closer resemblance to languages in Europe in comparison to Turkey.
Are there Arabs in Turkey?
There are Arabs in Turkey, but this population is a minority. The population of Arabs in the country are about 1-1.5% of the entire Turkish population. This is the number of residents of the country that have direct Arabic ancestry.
A majority of these people stay very close to the borders of Syria and Iraq. These countries are Arabic countries and appear to share the same border with Turkey.
The increasing Arab population in Turkey
In recent times, the number of Arabic residents in the country has increased. This is mainly because of the war in Syria. This led to about 4 million people fleeing their homes in Syria to Turkey.
This has now increased the population of Arabs in Turkey to 5%. Also, to add to this number, about 3 million tourists from Arab countries visit Turkey every year.
