Turks in France

The first Turks settled in France during the 16th and 17th century as galley slaves and merchants from the Ottoman Empire;[3][4] the historian Ina Baghdiantz McCabe has described Marseille as a "Turkish town" during this time.[5] According to Jean Marteilhe "…the Turks of Asia and Europe...of whom there are a great many in the galley of France, who have been made slaves by the Imperialists, and sold to the French to man their galleys… are generally well-made, fair in feature, wise in their conduct, zealous in the observance of their religion, honourable and charitable in the highest degree. I have seen them give away all the money they possessed to buy a bird in a cage that they might have the pleasure of giving it its liberty".[6]

Turkish Embassy in Paris, France

France signed a bilateral labour recruitment agreement with Turkey on 8 May 1965[7] because the number of entrants from other countries such as Italy, Spain and Portugal was not sufficient.[8] By 1975 there were 55,710 Turkish workers living in France,[8] this had almost quadrupled to 198,000 in 1999.[9] The majority of Turkish immigrants came from rural areas of Turkey, especially from central Anatolia.[10]

Whilst the majority of Turkish immigrants came during the recruitment agreement, many also came much earlier. For example, even in areas with fewer immigration waves, Cholet had an established Turkish community since 1945.[11]

Whilst the majority of French Turks originate from the modern borders of the Republic of Turkey, there are also significant Turkish-Algerian and Turkish-Tunisian communities which arrived in the France once the Ottoman rule ended with the French colonization of North Africa as well as some who arrived after the formation of the modern borders of Algeria and Tunisia.

Furthermore, there are also smaller numbers of Turkish communities which have arrived to France from the Balkans (e.g. Bulgarian Turks and Western Thrace Turks) whilst Turkish Cypriots have come from both the Republic of Cyprus and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. More recently, since the European migrant crisis started in 2014, Iraqi Turks and Syrian Turks have also come to France.

The Eiffel Tower in Paris wearing the colours of the Turkish flag during the "Saison de la Turquie en France".

Official data on the total number of French Turks is not available because the French census only records statistics on the country of birth rather than one's ethnic affiliation. Numerous estimates since the 2010s placed the Turkish-French population at around 1 million,[1][20][21] or over 1 million.[22] By 2020 estimates have continued to suggest more than 1 million[2] to as much as 1.9 million French Turks.[23]

As early as 2002, Professor Remy Leveau and Professor Shireen T. Hunter said that official statistics on the Turkish community "may be too small" and estimated the number of Turks to be 500,000.[24] By 2014 Professor Pierre Vermeren reported in L'Express that the Turkish population was around 800,000.[25] However, an earlier report by Dr Jean-Gustave Hentz and Dr Michel Hasselmann in 2010 had already estimated that there was 1 million Turks living in France.[1] Similarly, Professor İzzet Er,[20] as well as the French-Armenian politician Garo Yalic (who is an advisor to Valerie Boyer),[26] also said that there was 1,000,000 Turks in France in 2011 and 2012 respectively.

More recently, there have been reports that the Franco-Turkish population exceeds one million, including in Le Petit Journal in 2019,[22] and Marianne in 2020.[2]

Some Turkish sources have suggested that the Turkish population in France was 1,900,000 in 2020.[23]

Although the birth rates among Turks living in France has declined over the years they remain substantially higher than the French population. In 1982, the average number of children for Turks was 5.2, compared with 1.8 for the French population. By 1990, the average number of births for Turks was 3.7 compared to 1.7 for the French population.[27]

In 2000, Akıncı and Jisa found that Turkish is spoken exclusively at home by 77% of families, while 68% of children speak French to one another.[28] Turkish children are monolingual in the Turkish language until they start school at the age of 2 or 3; thus, they find themselves in everyday situations in which they have to speak French with their peers.[29] By the age of 10, most children become dominant in the French language.[30] Nonetheless, even for those who use French more than Turkish in their daily lives, numerous studies have shown that they still emphasize the importance of Turkish as the language of the family, particularly for raising children.[31] Thus, there is a high degree of language maintenance in the Turkish community; frequent holidays to Turkey, the easy access and use of Turkish media, and the density of social networks help maintain their language.[32]

A Turkish mosque in Nantes.

The majority of Turks adhere to Islam and focus on creating their own mosques and schools, most of which are tightly linked to Turkey. Thus, Turks worship their religion mainly with others within their community.[33] Due to Turkish immigrants having a strong link to the Turkish state and much less knowledge of the French language, compared to other Muslim immigrants who have emigrated from French-speaking countries, Turks tend to build mosques where sermons are given in Turkish rather than French or Arabic.[34]

The Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DİTİB), which is a branch of the Turkish state Bureau of Religious Affairs (the Diyanet),[34] promotes a "Turkish Islam" which is based upon a moderate, rational Islam of a secular state.[35] The Diyanet has organic links to the "Coordination Committee of Muslim Turks in France", or CCMTF, (French: Comité de coordination des musulmans turcs de France)[36] which brings under its umbrella a total of 210 mosques.[37] Its major competing network of mosques is run by the Millî Görüş movement (French: Communauté Islamique du Milli Görüş de France) which emphasizes the importance of solidarity of the community over integration into French society.[34] The Millî Görüş has an estimated 70 mosques in France.[34][37]

Discrimination against Turks in French society is seen particularly within the labour market when they are looking for jobs. Given a choice between a Turkish and a French with the same qualifications, French employers tend not to choose the immigrant applicant.[40][41]

Cansel Elçin, actor

Deniz Gamze Ergüven, film director

Professor Erol Gelenbe

Dr Serdar Dalkılıç

Elif Shafak, writer

Nedim Gürsel, writer

Fatih Öztürk, football player

Atila Turan, football player

French Turks have contributed in many ways to the arts, academia, cinema, television, music and sports in both France and Turkey.

For example, the renowned photographer Gökşin Sipahioğlu, who founded the Paris-based photo agency Sipa Press, was dubbed "le Grand Turc" in the French media and was appointed the Knight of the Legion of Honour by president Jacques Chirac in 2007.[46]

Also in media, there are numerous notable French Turks in cinema; for example, Deniz Gamze Ergüven is a film director whose 2015 film Mustang won the Europa Cinemas Label Award at the Cannes Film Festival as well as four awards at the 41st César Awards.[47] On television, Anaïs Baydemir is a weather presenter for France 2 and France 3.[48] Furthermore, Muratt Atik[49] and Cansel Elçin[50] have both acted in French and Turkish film and television roles.

In music, the singer Gülseren represented Turkey at the Eurovision Song Contest 2005.[51] Meanwhile, in 2015 the singer Anne Sila participated in season 4 of The Voice : la plus belle voix.[52]

Notable Turkish-French academics include Dr Ipek Yalcin Christmann who is a neurobiologist in charge of research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research;[53] Dr Serdar Dalkılıç who founded the National Union of Hospital Practitioners (SNPAC) and who is the President of the Franco-Turkish Health Foundation;[54] Erol Gelenbe who is a Professor in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Imperial College; Nilüfer Göle who is a Professor of Sociology at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales;[55] Doğan Kuban who is Professor of Ottoman Architecture and History at Istanbul Technical University;[56] Ronald Karel who is the only researcher in the world who has successfully demonstrated and proved the existence of ionized earthquake clouds;[57] Dr Halit Mirahmetoğlu who launch "Gökmen Aviation and Aerospace Training Center" (GUHEM) which is the very first center in Turkey devoted to the themes of space and aviation;[58] the historian Nora Şeni is a Professor at the Institut français de géopolitique;[59] and Semih Vaner who was founder and president of the "French Association for the Study of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Turkish-Iranian World" (AFEMOTI), Director of the "Study Group on Contemporary Turkey and Iran (ERTCI)", and Director of "Study notebooks on the Eastern Mediterranean and the Turkish-Iranian world" (CEMOTI).

Non-fiction Turkish-French writers include Elif Shafak who was awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2010;[60] the novelist Nedim Gürsel who teaches contemporary Turkish literature at the Sorbonne;[61] Seyhan Kurt who is a poet, writer, anthropologist and sociologist; and the novelist Kenizé Mourad who descends from the exiled Ottoman royal family and is of partial Turkish descent; her bestselling book Regards from the Dead Princess: Novel of a Life sold more than 3 million copies in France and tells the story of the end of the Ottoman Empire through the eyes of her mother Princess Selma.[62]

In fashion, the designer Ece Ege co-founded the Paris-based high fashion brand Dice Kayek with her sister Ayşe Ege; they won the prestigious Jameel Prize at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2013.[63]

Most obvious are the large number of male Turkish-French football players, including Emre Akbaba, Aksel Aktas, Kubilay Aktaş, Mikail Albayrak, Fatih Atik, Numan Bostan, Umut Bozok, Ozkan Cetiner, İbrahim Dağaşan, Mustafa Durak, Mevlüt Erdinç, Ayhan Güçlü, Metehan Güçlü, Ender Günlü, Serdar Gürler, Selim Ilgaz, Burak Kardeş, Samed Kılıç, Özer Özdemir, Sinan Özkan, Hakan Özmert, Fatih Öztürk, Yusuf Sari, Atila Turan, Kendal Ucar, Sabahattin Usta, Serkan Yanık and Yakup Ramazan Zorlu. In addition, there are several notable female Turkish-French football players, including Selen Altunkulak and İpek Kaya.

In religious affairs, Ahmet Ogras became the first Turkish-French President of the French Council of the Muslim Faith in 2017.[64]

In politics, Agnès Evren was elected as a Member of the European Parliament in the 2019 election in France,[65] and in 2020 Metin Yavuz was elected the mayor of Valenton in Paris.[66]

Algerian-born French writer, Leïla Sebbar, is paternally of Turkish origin.[67]

Algerian-born French novelist, Mustapha Haciane, is from a Turkish family.[68]

French-born football player, Benjamin Stambouli, is paternally of Turkish origin from Algeria.[69][70]

French-born actress, Isabelle Adjani, is paternally of Turkish-Algerian origin.[71][72][73][74][75]

Many French-Algerians with Turkish origins have contributed to the arts, sports and politics in France.

Notable writers include Mustapha Haciane who was born in Algeria into a Turkish family; he currently resides in Paris.[68] The Algerian-born French writer Leïla Sebbar is paternally of Turkish origin through her grandmother.[67]

In politics, Nafissa Sid-Cara, who was the first female minister to serve in the French Fifth Republic as well as the first ever Muslim woman to serve as a minister in a French government,[76] was born into a family of Turkish origin which had been established in Algeria.[77] Sid-Cara's brother, Chérif Sid Cara, was also a notable politician and doctor.[77] Other notable French politicians of Turkish-Algerian origin include the lawyer Kaddour Sator who was Deputy of Constantine in 1946,[78] as well as Mourad Kaouah[79] who served as the deputy of Algiers from 1958 to 1962 - being the only French Muslim deputy at the time.[80]

There are also several notable sportsman of Turkish-Algerian origin, including the former pole vaulter and Olympian Patrick Abada.[81] The football player Benjamin Stambouli,[69][70] and his father Henri Stambouli, are also of Turkish origin; their surname "Stambouli" means "from Istanbul" and is commonly used by Algerian-Turks who trace their roots back to the former Ottoman capital city.[82]

Numerous sources claim that the actress Isabelle Adjani is paternally of Turkish-Algerian origin.[71][72][73][74][75]

Notable Tunisian-Turks in France include the Paris-based artist Mourad Salem,[83][84] and fashion stylist Yasemin Tordjman, who is of Turkish origin through her paternal grandfather.[85]

Syrian-born French singer, Armande Altaï, is of Turkish origin through her mother.[86]

French-born writer, Yasmine Ghata, is of Turkish-Lebanese origin.[87]

In addition to the substantial number of contributions made by French citizens of Turkish origin who descend from Turkey and the Maghreb, there are also notable French Turks who have backgrounds from other former Ottoman territories.

For example, Beirut-born French author Amin Maalouf is of Turkish origin through his Turkish-Egyptian mother.[88] The Lebanese-born French poet and writer, Vénus Khoury-Ghata, is also of Turkish origin.[87][89] Her daughter, Yasmine Ghata, was born in France and is also a writer.[89][90] In addition, the Lebanese-born French businessman Emad Khashoggi, who initiated the Château Louis XIV development project in Louveciennes, is from the Turkish-Saudi Khashoggi family.

From Egypt, Cairo-born Nil Yalter is a contemporary feminist artist with both Turkish and French citizenship.[91][92]

There are also notable Syrian Turks in France; for example, the French singer, Armande Altaï, was born in Aleppo to a Turkish mother.[86] Another notable French singer of Turkish-Syrian origin is Mennel Ibtissem, who gained fame after being a contestant on The Voice France.[93]

Morrocan-born French businessman, Ali Bourequat, is of Turkish-Tunisian origin.[94]

American-born French animal rights activists, Reha Kutlu-Hutin, is the President of 30 millions d'amis. She is of Turkish origin.[95]

Some ethnic Turks living in France have also come from the Turkish diaspora communities (i.e. from countries that were not part of the former Ottoman Empire), especially Morocco but also from other countries with a large Turkish immigrant community.

The majority of French-Moroccans with Turkish roots are from the Turkish-Algerian diaspora and Turkish-Tunisian diaspora. For example, Leïla Chellabi is a Morocco-born writer whose father was an Turkish Algerian who obtained French citizenship.[96] Furthermore, the Moroccan-born French businessman Ali Bourequat is from a Turkish-Tunisian family.[94]

Other notable French people of Turkish origin from the diaspora includes the journalist Reha Kutlu-Hutin; she is from the Turkish American diaspora and is currently the President of 30 millions d'amis.[95]