Turks in Croatia

Turks of Croatia, also referred to as Turkish Croatians or Croatian Turks, (Turci u Hrvatskoj; Hırvatistan Türkleri) are one among 22 recognised national minorities in Croatia. According to the 2021 census, there were 404 Turks living in Croatia, most of which most lived in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County and later in the City of Zagreb. Only 368 native Turkish-language speakers live in that country.

Turks compose approximately 0.01% of the total population. The majority of Croatian Turks are Sunni Muslims, and make up 0.6% of Croatia's Muslim population (50,981 Muslims in total).

History


During the Croatian-Ottoman Wars of the 15th and 16th centuries, parts of Croatia were incorporated into the Ottoman Empire and settled by Turks. However, the majority of these retreated to other parts of Rumelia or Anatolia after the end of Ottoman rule. Many ethnic Turks in Croatia today are from more recent immigrations from the mid-20th century onwards.

Culture
In the Independent State of Croatia, the Croatian Muslim Printing House issued a magazine in Turkish language intended for the Turkish public, the European turkologists and those in the Independent State of Croatia who spoke Turkish language. The magazine was called The East and the West: the Cultural, Economic, Social and Political Magazine (Doğu ve Batı. Kültür, iktisat, sosyal ve siyasi mecmuası). It was issued between 6 April 1943 and 15 August 1944. It was the first magazine in Turkish language on the territory of the present-day Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and second on the territory of the former Yugoslavia.

Notable people

 * Banu Alkan, Turkish actress