What language is spoken in Turkey? Turkish remains the dominant language in Turkey, recognized officially by the Constitution and spoken by approximately 85-90% of the populace as their native tongue. It is used by the government, in schools, by the media, and by the majority of Turkish citizens in their day-to-day lives for both speech and writing.
However, while Turkish is the main language in Turkey, the country is also home to more than 30 minority, immigrant and foreign languages. The most spoken languages after Turkish are Kurdish, Zazaki and Arabic. We explore each of these, along with Turkey’s other languages, in detail below.
Turkey is a fascinating country with a complex history and diverse culture One interesting aspect is the languages spoken there With Turkish as the dominant language, it’s natural to wonder – do they speak Arabic in Turkey?
The short answer is yes, Arabic is spoken in Turkey but only by a small minority of the population. Let’s take a closer look at the linguistic landscape of this dynamic nation.
A Brief History of Languages in Turkey
For centuries, Turkey has been home to a mixture of languages. As the center of the vast Ottoman Empire, Turkish territory once stretched across North Africa, the Middle East and parts of Europe. This meant a blending of tongues like Arabic, Persian, French and Greek.
After the empire collapsed post-WWI, the new Republic of Turkey was established in 1923. As part of a push toward nationalism and unity, the government promoted Turkish as the sole official language. Minority languages like Kurdish and Arabic were suppressed or even banned at times.
Today, the Turkish Constitution still declares Turkish as the only formal language. But policies have relaxed and some minority languages now receive limited official recognition and protections.
The Extent of Arabic Speakers
Arabic is spoken natively by around 1.2% of the population in Turkey. This includes recent immigrants as well as long-established Arabic-speaking communities.
For example, there are Arabic speakers concentrated in Hatay Province near the Syrian border. There is also an Arabic-speaking population in the southeast, near Iraq.
Additionally, large cities like Istanbul and Ankara have attracted Arabic speakers from across the Middle East seeking opportunities. These immigrants often settle in ethnic enclaves where Arabic is commonly heard.
Reliable statistics are hard to come by. But most experts agree Arabic speakers make up a relatively small minority, likely around 1% of Turkey’s population of 84 million. The vast majority speak Turkish as their mother tongue.
Bilingualism in Turkish and Arabic
An important aspect is that many Arabic speakers in Turkey are bilingual. They speak both Arabic and Turkish fluently.
For example, Arabs who have lived in Turkey for generations often use Arabic at home and in their communities, while speaking Turkish for business, education and public life.
New immigrants also tend to pick up Turkish quickly in order to integrate. So Arabic mother tongue speakers have high rates of Turkish language ability as well.
This bilingualism highlights the multi-ethnic fabric of Turkey. But it also shows the dominant role of Turkish nationwide as the language of education, media and government functions.
Other Minority Languages
While Arabic is the most common, Turkey is also home to other minority language speakers:
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Kurdish – Spoken by around 15 million Kurds mostly in eastern provinces. Kurdish dialects like Kurmanji and Zazaki have faced suppression but are now broadcast on state TV and taught in some schools.
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Circassian – Brought by migrants from the Caucasus region, it is spoken by over 700,000, primarily in rural areas.
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Armenian and Greek – Once widespread, these declined after the Greeks and Armenians left following WWI and population exchanges. Armenian and Greek speakers are concentrated in Istanbul today.
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Laz – Spoken by about 200,000 people near the Black Sea coast.
So while Turkish dominates nationally, minority tongues add to the rich linguistic tapestry, especially in border regions.
Is Arabic Official or Recognized?
Arabic does not have official status in Turkey. It is not used in government, education or public life. Road signs, documents and media are exclusively in Turkish.
However, some minority languages like Armenian, Greek and Hebrew are officially recognized due to international treaties. There are limited provisions allowing private minority schools and radio broadcasts in those languages.
Arabic does not receive the same level of formal recognition or protection. But increased democratization and EU pressure have led to greater cultural rights and tolerance for diverse languages lately.
Arabic in Culture and Religion
Despite its minority status, Arabic has profoundly influenced Turkish culture. After conquering Anatolia, the Turks adopted Islam and the Arabic alphabet. Islamic practices and cultural elements like music, food and vocabulary enriched the Turkish language.
Arabic loanwords are extremely common in modern Turkish. One study found over 8,000 Arabic terms used in their Ottoman forms. Examples include haber (news), hesap (account) and kitap (book).
Additionally, the Arabic call to prayer can be heard from mosques across Turkish cities and towns. Koranic Arabic is sacred to Muslim worship. This remains true even though Turkish is used for sermons and religious publications.
The Future of Languages in Turkey
Looking ahead, Turkish will likely continue to dominate as the primary language. But there are signs minority tongues will play a greater role.
Kurdish broadcasts and classes represent improved cultural rights. Syrian refugees may lead to more Arabic speakers. And as Turkey integrates with Europe, English is gaining ground as the language of global business.
For now, Arabic and other minority languages persist mainly in homes and local communities rather than in official spheres. But Turkey’s diverse linguistic heritage seems poised to become more visible in the decades ahead.
So in conclusion, yes Arabic is spoken in Turkey, especially in bilingual settings. But only by a relatively small percentage – for now. The linguistic landscape remains dynamic as Turkey balances unity with diversity.
Languages Spoken in Turkey
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As of 2023, 87.6% of Turkey’s native speakers communicate in Turkish, the country’s official language. The rest of the country speaks over 70 other languages, including Kurdiah, Arabic, Zazaki, Circassian, Armenian, and English.
Language can be a controversial subject in Turkey. The Constitution of Turkey names Turkish as the country’s only official language. Its 42nd Article also explicitly prohibits any educational or training institution from teaching any other language than Turkish as a mother tongue to Turkish citizens. Elective classes in minority languages are, however, permitted.
Despite this prohibition, Turkey is home to a wide range of minority, foreign and immigrant languages. Some of these are enshrined in law as minority languages, while others (with greater numbers of speakers) remain unrecognized in official terms, largely due to the provisions of Article 42 of the Constitution.
The result of this is that many ethnic minorities in Turkey are not able to use their native language as freely as they might wish. Consider, for example, the three million of Turkey’s eight million Kurdish speakers who speak only Kurdish and the issues quickly become clear.
How many people speak Turkish? Over 80 million in total. The next most spoken language of Turkey is Kurdish, followed by Arabic and Zazaki. When broken down by the percentage of the population that speaks each tongue, Turkey’s minority and other language groups include:
- Kurmanji 11.97%
- Arabic 1.38%
- Zazaki 1.01%
- Other Turkic languages 0.28%
- Balkan languages 0.23%
- Laz 0.12%
- Circassian languages 0.11%
- Armenian 0.07%
- Other Caucasian languages 0.07%
- Greek 0.06%
- West European languages 0.03%
- Jewish languages 0.01%
- Coptic 0.01%
- Other 0.12%
According to Ethnologue, 15 of Turkey’s languages are currently endangered, while the majority are ranked as stable. Shall we take a closer look at Turkey’s linguistic diversity?
Kurmanji, also known as Northern Kurdish, is spoken by some eight million people in Turkey. It is the northern dialect of Kurdish dialect and dates back to at least the 16th century in its written form.
As mentioned above, some three million Turkish residents are monolingual Kurmanji speakers, meaning that they don’t speak the national language of Turkey. This can create issues, particularly given the country’s requirement that no education or training be provided in any language other than Turkish.
Tired of reading? We condensed this article into a short video to help you chill out.
Another of the languages of Turkey is Arabic. A minority tongue, it is spoken by around 2.4 million people there.
The Arabic spoken in Turkey breaks down into four main dialects, with speaker numbers as follows:
- North Levantine Arabic 1,130,000
- Modern Standard Arabic 686,000
- North Mesopotamian Arabic 520,000
- Other Mesopotamian Arabic 101,000
The majority of Turkey’s Arabic speakers also speak Turkish, with the Arab community there having undergone significant Turkification.
Zazaki – also known as Kirmanjki, Kirdki, Dimli and Zaza – is spoken by the Zazas of Eastern Turkey. It an Indo-European language that has been heavily influenced by Kurdish over the centuries, to the point that many linguists classify it as a Kurdish dialect.
Turkey is home to more than 1.7 million Zazaki speakers, who are split between Southern Zazaki (1.5 million speakers) and Northern Zazaki (184,000 speakers). Since 2012, select Turkish universities have been legally permitted to open Zaza language and literature departments. However, decades of linguistic repression have taken their toll on Zazaki in terms of overall speaker numbers in Turkey.
Also known as Judeo-Spanish, Judesmo and Sephardi, Ladino is spoken by around 13,000 people in Turkey. It is protected there by law (along with Greek and Armenian) as a result of the Treaty of Lausanne, signed in 1923. This means that the linguistic rights of the Jewish, Greek and Armenian minorities in Turkey are often given greater recognition than those of other minorities. This is despite Ladino (and Greek and Armenian) having much lower speaker numbers than languages such as Kurmanji and Arabic.
Ladino originated in Spain from an archaic form of Castilian Spanish. When Spanish Jews were expelled from the country after 1492, they took Ladino with them. Over the years it has picked up elements of Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, Turkish, Greek and more.
Turkey’s Greek speakers also enjoy legal protection of their communication as, while not the official language of Turkey, Greek is included in the Treaty of Lausanne.
Modern-day Turkey is home to fewer than 10,000 Greek speakers. The main dialects spoken there are Pontic Greek (5,000 speakers) and Standard Modern Greek (3600 speakers).
Another Turkish language afforded legal protection thanks to the Treaty of Lausanne is Armenian. Turkey is home to 61,000 Armenian speakers, though numbers are dwindling.
Armenian is very much an Istanbul language in Turkey, as the vast majority of its speakers – around 50,000 of them – live in and around the city (which is Turkey’s largest city and home to a total of 15 million residents).
For many years, the Armenian language and identity was largely hidden within what is now the Republic of Turkey. This was prompted by the ethnic cleansing of World War I, when 1.5 million Armenians were killed or displaced.
The Armenian language remained something of an underground tongue for many years in Turkey. Indeed, when President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄan tweeted in Armenian in an attempt to curry favour from the Armenian community in Istanbul in the run-up to the 2019 mayoral elections, few were more surprised than the community themselves.
A non-indigenous language of Turkey, Kabardian has around a million speakers living there. Also known as Kabardino-Cherkess or East Circassian, Kabardian is a Northwest Caucasian language that stands out due to its clear phonemic distinction between ejective affricates and ejective fricatives – something which very few languages possess.
Main Languages Spoken per Region
Turkey is home to seven regions, four of them costal and three inner regions. These include the:
- Black Sea Region
- Marmara Region
- Aegean Region
- Mediterranean Region
- Central Anatolia Region
- Eastern Anatolia Region
- Southeastern Anatolia Region
Each of these Turkish regions is unique in terms of its landform, climate, vegetation and, of course, its languages and dialects. For more on the differences between a language and a dialect, click the link below. Alternatively, let’s take a look at what language is spoken in Turkey’s regions.
TARIK And Hasanabi Speaking TURKISH With [ Subtitles]
FAQ
Can you use Arabic in Turkey?
Why did Turkey stop speaking Arabic?
What language is spoken in Turkey?
Are Turkish and Arabic similar?
Do Turkish people speak Arabic?
Some people mistakenly believe that since Turkey is a Muslim country, Turkish people speak Arabic. But the truth is that vast majority of country’s population (85-90% of citizens) speaks Turkish. Turkish is official language of Turkey. However, just like any other country, it is a home for some ethnic minorities who speak their own lingos.
Why is Arabic a popular language in Turkey?
Due to the ever-increasing number of Syrian refugees that come and stay in the country, the influence of the Arabic language in Turkey continues to expand. As a result of this development, Arabic has got introduced as an elective e language in Turkish schools’ curriculum. Zazaki, also called Dimli or Kirmanjki, is the language of the Zaza people.
What is the closest language to Turkish?
Turkish is an Altaic language, and Turkish is classified as a Turkic Language. The closest language to Turkish is Azerbaijani. Turkish is mutually intelligible with Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Uzbek, Uyghur, Tatar, Kazakh, and Kyrgyz languages.
How did Arabic influence Turkish language?
Arabic has had a strong influence on Turkish, particularly during the 14th to 16th centuries when the Ottoman Empire reached its peak. Arabic loanwords were integrated into the Turkish vocabulary, enriching the language and providing a deeper understanding of various fields.