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KCO · Middle East

Kurds in Türkiye

Bakur, as Kurdish usage names the Kurdish areas of Türkiye, lies in the south-east. The largest urban Kurdish population lives in the west, in Istanbul, Izmir, Mersin, Adana and Ankara, and there are Central Anatolian Kurds. In the 1990s, 0.95 to 1.2 million people were displaced (Hacettepe study, 2006).

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At a glance

01The programme

This programme brings together Kurds living in Türkiye, city by city. Its charter form is a Regional Chapter, fitted to local law and to the risks members face.

Forming Regional Chapter: not yet chartered.

02Cities

The map needs JavaScript. The places it shows are listed beside it.

Layers

Places on this map (11)

Map: OpenFreeMap, OpenMapTiles, data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Boundaries: Natural Earth. Places: the platform’s own pages.

  • Adana

    Adana

    Labour migrants and displaced families

  • Batman

    Batman (Êlih)

    Oil town and Kurdish cultural life

  • Diyarbakır

    Diyarbakır (Amed)

    Cultural capital of Bakur; the Dengbêj House; Hasankeyf’s loss to the Ilısu Dam nearby

  • Hakkari

    Hakkari (Colemêrg)

    Mountain region of the former emirate

  • Istanbul

    Istanbul

    Often called the largest Kurdish city

  • Izmir

    Izmir

    Migrants from the 1990s displacement

  • Mardin

    Mardin (Mêrdîn)

    Kurdish, Arab and Syriac heritage

  • Mersin

    Mersin

    Displaced families from the 1990s

  • Şanlıurfa

    Şanlıurfa (Riha)

    Göbekli Tepe and Harran

  • Tunceli

    Dersim (Tunceli)

    Alevi Kurds and Zazas; 1937 to 1938 memory

  • Van

    Van (Wan)

    Lake Van region; 2011 earthquake

Subdivisions of Türkiye

Each first-level subdivision has a local page. It gathers official services, learning, safety and civic life.

The list follows UN sources first: OCHA COD-AB, then UN SALB, then ISO 3166-2. It takes no position on any status or boundary.

Subdivisions in the profile

03How statistics see the community

No census has asked about ethnicity or language since 1965.

Counts of Kurds differ by what they measure: birthplace, citizenship, language or self-identification. Each figure names its measure, year and source, and none are summed.

Institute estimate, 2016Every figure keeps its measure, year, source and label. Unknown is shown as unknown.
  1. Türkiye15 to 20 million (19 to 25 percent)
  2. Iran10 to 12 million
  3. Iraq8 to 8.5 million (25 to 27 percent)
  4. Syria3 to 3.6 million (12.5 to 15 percent)

Sources Institut kurde de Paris, The Kurdish population Secondary source

Show as a table
CountryFigure
Türkiye15 to 20 million (19 to 25 percent)
Iran10 to 12 million
Iraq8 to 8.5 million (25 to 27 percent)
Syria3 to 3.6 million (12.5 to 15 percent)

The Türkiye profile

04Areas

  • Academy

    Every field of knowledge, courses in all Kurdish varieties, and communities of practice.

  • Heritage

    History from the Zagros to today, memory, faiths, arts, literature and food.

  • Language

    Kurmanji, Sorani, Zazaki, Southern Kurdish and Gorani, in every script.

  • Research

    Kurdish studies: the observatory, reading lists and new research.

  • Opportunities

    Livelihoods, skills, jobs, mentoring and diaspora-to-region bridges.

  • Civic

    Civic education, rights literacy, statelessness help and dialogue.

  • Development

    Social programmes, livelihoods and disaster preparedness for Kurdish communities.

  • News and events

    Kurdish and regional news with every outlet labelled, and the calendar of Kurdish days.

05Learn in the Academy

Courses and disciplines of the Academy on the subject of this page.

Courses

Disciplines

A completion record shows what was studied and assessed. It is not a certificate or a qualification.

All disciplines

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