ISTANBUL – An estimated 13 million people in Turkey identify as Kurdish, according to a new study by the Istanbul Economic Research company, highlighting the absence of official ethnic data in the country. The “Türkiye Report,” released on November 15, surveyed 1,866 participants across 26 provinces about their ethnic self-identification. The study also estimated 1.5 million Zazas, a primarily Kurdish-speaking group. The Kurds, a large ethnic group without a state of their own, have a long history in the region.
The research offers a rare, albeit unofficial, glimpse into the country’s diverse ethnic makeup, with 66 million respondents identifying as Turkish. Smaller populations, including 450,000 Circassians and 350,000 Arabs, were also identified.
The study’s small sample size, however, raises questions about how representative these figures are for the entire country. The 26 provinces were selected based on the “Classification of Statistical Regional Units” used by both Turkey and the European Union.
The survey also touched upon the sensitive topic of what is often referred to as the ‘Kurdish problem,’ though findings on this aspect were not released in the report.
The study’s findings underscore the need for more comprehensive data collection on ethnicity in Turkey.