Ossetians in Turkey

The Ossetians in Turkey ( Ossetian Турчы ирæттæ / Turčy irættæ, Turkish Türkiye Osetleri ) With about 100,000 people one of the smaller ethnic minorities in Turkey represents the Iranian-speaking Ossetians are a registered wandertes Caucasus people, the vast majority speaks Ossetian as their mother tongue. The Ossetians in Turkey are almost exclusively Sunni Muslims hanafitischer direction contrary to the Christian Ossetians in Georgia and Russia.

History

The Ossetians came as the Circassians and Chechens after the Caucasus war 1817-1864 and the Russo- Turkish War 1877-1878 as refugees from the North Caucasus to the Ottoman Empire. Between the years 1855 and 1880 a total of about 39,000 Ossetian refugees arrived in the Ottoman Empire.

Settlement area

The Ossetians live scattered throughout Turkey and mainly in some villages in the provinces of Muş, Sivas, Tokat and Yozgat, two villages in Bitlis and Kars, and of one village in Erzurum, Kayseri and Nigde. For this, the diaspora community comes in the metropolis Istanbul and other Turkish cities.

Known Ossetians

  • Bekir Sami Kunduh - was an Ottoman and Turkish diplomat and politician and the first Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey
Tokat Province Bitlis Province Kars Province Erzurum Province Kayseri Province
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