Turkification

Turkification, Turkization, or Turkicization (Turkish: Türkleştirme) describes a shift whereby populations or places receive or adopt Turkic attributes such as culture, language, history, or ethnicity. However, often this term is more narrowly applied to mean specifically Turkish rather than merely Turkic, meaning that it refers more frequently to the Ottoman Empire's policies or the Turkish nationalist policies of the Republic of Turkey toward ethnic minorities in Turkey. As the Turkic states developed and grew, there were many instances of this cultural shift.

The earliest instance of Turkification took place in Central Asia, when by the 6th century AD migration of Turkic tribes from Inner Asia caused a language shift among the Iranian peoples of the area.^[1] By the 8th century AD, the Turkification of Kashgar was completed by Qarluq Turks, who also Islamized the population.^[2]

The Turkification of Anatolia occurred in the time of the Seljuk Empire and Sultanate of Rum, when Anatolia had been a diverse and largely Greek-speaking region after previously being Hellenized.^[3]^[4]^[5]

^ Cite error: The named reference peimani was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference dickens was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Lambton, Ann; Lewis, Bernard, eds. (1977). "3". The Cambridge history of Islam (Reprint. ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. pp. 231–233. ISBN 0521291356. Archived from the original on 2016-09-01. Retrieved 2016-09-22.:"Anatolia had been the homeland of many peoples, the scene of many civilizations, and had served them as a bridge between three continents" "After the battle of Manzikert, there were swift and sudden changes in the ethnic features of Anatolia. Because the great Turkish migration and colonization were neither studied nor understood, the process of Turkification in Anatolia remained an enigma, and some historians ascribed these changes to the annihilation or mass conversion to Islam of the local population. While there were indeed conversions and losses of population on both sides, the inaccuracy of such conjectures, which fail to take about of migration and ethnic changes, is shown even by a general picture of events as drawn above."
^ Davison, Roderic H. (2013). Essays in Ottoman and Turkish History, 1774-1923: The Impact of the West. University of Texas Press. pp. 3–4. ISBN 978-0292758940. Archived from the original on 2018-08-06. Retrieved 2016-09-22. So the Seljuk sultanate was a successor state ruling part of the medieval Greek empire, and within it the process of Turkification of a previously Hellenized Anatolian population continued. That population must already have been of very mixed ancestry, deriving from ancient Hittite, Phrygian, Cappadocian, and other civilizations as well as Roman and Greek.
^ Leonard, Thomas M. (2006). "Turkey". Encyclopedia of the Developing World, Volume 3. Routledge. p. 1576. ISBN 9781579583880. Subsequently, hellenization of the elites transformed Anatolia into a largely Greek-speaking region

[peimani-1] Cite error: The named reference peimani was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[dickens-2] Cite error: The named reference dickens was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[The_Cambridge_history_of_Islam-3] Lambton, Ann; Lewis, Bernard, eds. (1977). "3". The Cambridge history of Islam (Reprint. ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. pp. 231–233. ISBN 0521291356. Archived from the original on 2016-09-01. Retrieved 2016-09-22.:"Anatolia had been the homeland of many peoples, the scene of many civilizations, and had served them as a bridge between three continents" "After the battle of Manzikert, there were swift and sudden changes in the ethnic features of Anatolia. Because the great Turkish migration and colonization were neither studied nor understood, the process of Turkification in Anatolia remained an enigma, and some historians ascribed these changes to the annihilation or mass conversion to Islam of the local population. While there were indeed conversions and losses of population on both sides, the inaccuracy of such conjectures, which fail to take about of migration and ethnic changes, is shown even by a general picture of events as drawn above."

[4] Davison, Roderic H. (2013). Essays in Ottoman and Turkish History, 1774-1923: The Impact of the West. University of Texas Press. pp. 3–4. ISBN 978-0292758940. Archived from the original on 2018-08-06. Retrieved 2016-09-22. So the Seljuk sultanate was a successor state ruling part of the medieval Greek empire, and within it the process of Turkification of a previously Hellenized Anatolian population continued. That population must already have been of very mixed ancestry, deriving from ancient Hittite, Phrygian, Cappadocian, and other civilizations as well as Roman and Greek.

[5] Leonard, Thomas M. (2006). "Turkey". Encyclopedia of the Developing World, Volume 3. Routledge. p. 1576. ISBN 9781579583880. Subsequently, hellenization of the elites transformed Anatolia into a largely Greek-speaking region

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