Turks in Lebanon - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Turks in Lebanon refers to the Turkish

Turkish people

Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...

community which lives in Lebanon

Lebanon

Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

. The majority live in Beirut

Beirut

Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...

and Tripoli

Tripoli, Lebanon

Tripoli is the largest city in northern Lebanon and the second-largest city in Lebanon. Situated 85 km north of the capital Beirut, Tripoli is the capital of the North Governorate and the Tripoli District. Geographically located on the east of the Mediterranean, the city's history dates back...

Modern migration

In 1950, thousands of Turks left the Turkish city of Mardin

Mardin

Mardin is a city in southeastern Turkey. The capital of Mardin Province, it is known for its Arabic-like architecture, and for its strategic location on a rocky mountain overlooking the plains of northern Syria.-History:...

and headed for Lebanon

Lebanon

because of the economic crises and unemployment in Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

. Because many already knew Arabic and because they were very good merchants, these former Mardin residents quickly adapted to life in Beirut

Beirut

, finding work and setting up their lives there. Though the first Turks who left for Lebanon were originally just going to make money, they started to plan the rest of their lives in Beirut. But the first threat that the Turkish citizens who had moved to Lebanon saw arose from the war between the Arabs and the Israelis. After this came years of frightening clashes based on religious differences. Most of these Turks then migrated to European countries. When the Israeli attack on Lebanon took place in 2006, the longing to return to Turkey began to take root even more in these Turkish immigrants. Many more of them left returning to Turkey. To date more than 20,000 Turkish citizens have fled Lebanon, forced to take refuge in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

and various other European countries.

Cretan Turks in Lebanon

There are also about 7,000 Greek Muslims
Greek Muslims
Greek Muslims, also known as Greek-speaking Muslims, are Muslims of Greek ethnic origin, nowadays found mainly in Turkey, although migrations to Lebanon and Syria have been reported. Historically, Greek Orthodoxy has been associated with being Romios, i.e...

living in Tripoli

Tripoli, Lebanon

. The majority of whom are Cretan Turks

Cretan Turks

The Cretan Turks, Turco-Cretans , or Cretan Muslims were the Muslim inhabitants of Crete and now their descendants, who settled principally in Turkey, the Levant, and Egypt as well as in the larger Turkish diaspora.After the Ottoman conquest of Crete...

. Records suggest that the community left Crete between 1866 and 1897, on the outbreak of the last Cretan uprising against the Ottoman empire, which ended the Greco-Turkish War of 1897

Greco-Turkish War (1897)

The Greco-Turkish War of 1897, also called the Thirty Days' War and known as the Black '97 in Greece, was a war fought between the Kingdom of Greece and Ottoman Empire. Its immediate cause was the question over the status of the Ottoman province of Crete, whose Greek majority long desired union...

. Until the Lebanese Civil War

Lebanese Civil War

The Lebanese Civil War was a multifaceted civil war in Lebanon. The war lasted from 1975 to 1990 and resulted in an estimated 150,000 to 230,000 civilian fatalities. Another one million people were wounded, and today approximately 350,000 people remain displaced. There was also a mass exodus of...

, their community was close-knit and entirely endogamous

Endogamy

Endogamy is the practice of marrying within a specific ethnic group, class, or social group, rejecting others on such basis as being unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relationships. A Greek Orthodox Christian endogamist, for example, would require that a marriage be only with another...

. However many of them left Lebanon during the 15 years of the war. Although eager to maintain their links to Greece, many Greek-speaking Muslims from both Lebanon

Lebanon

and Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

have reported being refused visas to Greece by the Greek embassy because of their religious affiliation.

Modern migration

Cretan Turks in Lebanon

See also