Pomaks in Turkey


The Pomaks in Turkey refers to a Slavic Muslims, who speak Bulgarian language. They mostly live in Eastern Thrace, though some are also present in Anatolia.

Numbers

YearAs first languageAs second languageTotalTurkey's population% of total speakers
193532,6618,38041,04116,157,4500.25
194510,2875,59415,88118,790,1740.08
195036,612036,61220,947,1880.17
195516,16322,81638,97924,064,7630.16
196024,09828,60252,70027,754,8200.19
196523,13834,23457,37231,391,4210.18

In the census of 1965, those who spoke Pomak as first language were proportionally numerous in Edirne, Kırklareli and Çanakkale.

Language

The Pomaks of Turkey speak a Bulgarian dialect. According to Ethnologue at present 300,000 Pomaks in European Turkey speak Bulgarian as mother tongue. It is very hard to estimate the number of Pomaks along with the Turkified Pomaks who live in Turkey, as they have blended into the Turkish society and have been often linguistically and culturally assimilated. According to Milliyet and Turkish Daily News reports, the number of the Pomaks along with the Turkified Pomaks in the country is about 600,000.