Turks in Sweden

Turks in Sweden or Swedish Turks (Swedish: Turkar i Sverige; Turkish: İsveç Türkleri) are people of ethnic Turkish origin living in Sweden. The majority of Swedish Turks descend from the Republic of Turkey; however there has also been significant Turkish migration waves from other post-Ottoman countries including ethnic Turkish communities which have come to Sweden from the Balkans (e.g. from Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Romania), the island of Cyprus, and more recently Iraq and Syria.

Turks in Sweden
Total population
100,000 (2009 estimate by the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs[1])
150,000 (2018 estimate by the Swedish Consul General[2])
Plus a further 30,000 Bulgarian Turks (2002 estimate by Laczko et al[3])
Plus 5,000 Macedonian Turks (90% in Malmö)[4]
Plus growing Turkish Iraqi and Turkish Syrian communities
Regions with significant populations
Languages
Religion

In 2009 the Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs estimated that there was 100,000 people in Sweden with a Turkish background, and a further 10,000 Swedish-Turks living in Turkey.[1] Many Turks in Sweden have double citizenship and 37,000 are registered voters in Turkey.[5]

History

The first Turks came to Sweden in the early 18th century from the Ottoman Empire, whilst the second wave came in the 1960s from modern post-Ottoman nation states, especially from Turkey but also from the Balkans (mainly Bulgaria and North Macedonia), but also from the island of Cyprus. More recently, since the European migrant crisis Turks from Iraq and Syria have also come to Sweden.

Ottoman migration

During the Battle of Poltava in 1709, Charles XII's Swedish field army was defeated by the Russians. To escape arrest by the Russians, Charles XII had to leave the defeated army and go to the Ottoman Empire where he stayed for five years. Upon his return to Sweden in 1715, the Ottoman sultan sent 300 of his best soldiers to accompany the Swedish monarch.[4] These Turkish soldiers settled permanently in the Swedish Empire and integrated in Swedish society by marrying Swedish women and having children.[4]

According to the prevailing church law, everyone who was in Sweden, but was not a member of the Swedish state church, would be baptized. However, not all Turks converted to Christianity because Charles XII wrote a free letter so that they could perform their Islamic services without being punished.[6] The free letter showed that Karlskrona was the first city in Sweden where Muslims could perform their worship. According to Harry Svensson, this fleet's presence in Karlskrona has contributed to the religious and culturally open climate in the city over the past 300 years.[6]

This early Swedish-Turkish connection was the first major instance in which the Turkish culture entered Sweden and its Swedish vocabulary; in particular, the Turks introduced cabbage dolma, coffee, sorbet, kebabs, baklava, and manti.[4]

Modern migration wave
Swedish Turks protesting in Stockholm with Turkish and Turkish Iraqi flags.

The second wave of Turks who came to Sweden was in the 1960s when Sweden opened the door to labor immigration. Most ethnic Turks arrived from the Republic of Turkey as well as Bulgaria and Yugoslavia.[4]

Turks who came from the former Yugoslavia in the 1960s came largely from the Prespa region. From different contexts, many knew each other and they began to organize and strive for common interests. Approximtely, 5,000 Macedonian Turks settled in Sweden, with 90% (i.e. 4,500) living in Malmö.[4]

Due to the forced Bulgaria assimilation policies, approximately 30,000 Bulgarian Turks have migrated to Sweden, most of which arrived in the late 1980s.[3]

More recently, since the European migrant crisis (2014-2020), there has been a significant rise in the number of Iraqi Turks and Syrian Turks.

Turkish organizations

Mosques controlled by Diyanet
See also: Islam in Sweden
The Fittja Mosque was built in the typical Ottoman architectural style. It serves the Turkish community living in Fittja, Stockholm.

According to Dagens Nyheter in 2017, nine mosques in Sweden have imams sent and paid for by the Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet). Along with their religious duties, the imams are also tasked with reporting on critics of theTurkish government. According to Dagens Nyheter, propaganda for president Erdogan is openly presented in the mosques.[5]

  • Muslimska församlingen i Malmö (translation: Muslim congregation in Malmö) is a turkish congregation connected to the Turkish directorate of Religious Affairs, Diyanet. According to its own records, it has 2200 members. The imam was trained and sent by Diyanet. According to the Swedish Agency for Support to Faith Communities, the mosque has good relations to the Malmö Millî Görüş chapter.[7] In 2011, after decades of collecting donations from its members, it bought a property to use as a mosque for 8 million SEK. In 2017, the congregation donated its property to Svenska Islam stiftelsen (Turkish: Isveç Diyanet Vakfı) which is part of Diyanet.[5]
  • Fittja Mosque[5]

Football clubs

In 1973 the Macedonian Turks formed the KSF Prespa Birlik football club.[4]

Politics and elections

In the 2018 Swedish general election, 10 000 Swedich citizens living in Turkey were expected to cast their votes in Turkey.[8]

Notable Swedish Turks
Dennis Gyllensporre
Serkan Günes
Serkan Inan
Sibel Redzep
Meral Tasbas

See also

Notes
  1. "Ankara Historia". Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. 2009. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020.
  2. Sayıner, Arda (2018). "Ankara Historia". Daily Sabah. Having said that, a few thousand Swedish citizens currently live in Turkey and the number went up 60 percent in 2017. According to Hyden, Turkish hospitality played an important part behind this increase. She said around 150,000 Turkish citizens live in Sweden, which has a total population of 10 million.
  3. Laczko, Stacher & Klekowski von Koppenfels 2002, 187.
  4. Widding, Lars. "Historik". KSF Prespa Birlik. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  5. "Genom statsanställda imamer har Turkiet inflytande i nio svenska moskéer. Många turksvenskar i Stockholm, Göteborg och Malmö har slutat gå till moskén av rädsla. Den alltmer auktoritära turkiska regimen skrämmer och kartlägger meningsmotståndare i Sverige". DN.SE (in Swedish). Dagens Nyheter. 2017-04-01. Archived from the original on 15 June 2018. Retrieved 2019-02-16.
  6. Friberg, Henrik (2015). "Redan Karl XII godkände muslimska gudstjänster". SVT Nyheter. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  7. Rickard Lagervall & Leif Stenberg (2016). Muslimska församlingar och föreningar i Malmö och Lund – en ögonblicksbild (PDF). Lund: Lund University / Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES). pp. 34–35. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 February 2019.
  8. "Swedish elections begin in Turkey's Kulu district - Turkey News". Hürriyet Daily News. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  9. BAŞARILI TÜRK IŞADAMI YAŞAMINI ROMANLAŞTIRDI, Svensk-Turkiska Riksförbundet, 2018, retrieved 11 January 2021, Kadim Akca’nın geldiği yabancı bir ülkede sıfırdan başarılı bir işadamlığına uzanan yaşam öyküsünü konu alan kitabı ailesinin de katıldığı tanıtım özellikle İsveç medyasının da yoğun ilgisini çekti. İsveç’te parasız parktaki banklar üzerinde geçen yaşantısından holding patronluğa uzunan yaşam öyküsünde zenginliğin sırlarını gençler için kaleme alan Kadim Akca,”İsveççe, İngilizce bilmeyen 19 yaşındaki bir gencin, başarılı olmak için çıktığı Mersin’den İsveç’e uzanan çok zor şartlardan, milyarder işadamına uzanan yaşamını gözler önüne serdiğini kaydetti.
  10. Beş parasız İsveç'e gitti, milyarder oldu, CNN Turk, 2018, retrieved 11 January 2021

Bibliography
  • Laczko, Frank; Stacher, Irene; Klekowski von Koppenfels, Amanda (2002). New challenges for Migration Policy in Central and Eastern Europe. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-90-6704-153-9.. (Turkic Swedish: İ'svoç Túrkhlärih)

Further reading
  • Abadan-Unat N. (2004) Disputed models of integration: Multiculturalism, Institutionalization of religion, political participation presented in “Conference integration of immigrants from Turkey in Belgium, France, Denmark and Sweden” 2004 Bosphorus University Istanbul.
  • Akpınar, Aylin (2004). Integration of immigrants from Turkey in Sweden: The case of women presented in “Conference integration of immigrants from Turkey in Belgium, France, Denmark and Sweden” 2004 Bosphorus University Istanbul.
  • Aksoy, A. and Robins, K. (2002) “Banal Transnationalism: The Difference that Television Makes.” ESRC Transnational Communities Programme. Oxford: WPTC-02-08.
  • Appadurai, A. (1996) Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization . Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press
  • Bibark, Mutlu (2005) Uluslararası Türk-Etnik Yerel Medyası ve Adiyet Tasarımlarının inşaasında rolü / Trans-national Turkish Ethnic Media and its role in construction of identity design. From Yurtdışındaki Türk Medyası Sempozyumu: Bildiriler / Proceedings from conference on Turkish Media Abroad (ed.) Abdülrezzak Altun. Ankara University Faculty of Communication.
  • Cohen, R. (1997) ‘Global diasporas: an introduction’. London: UCL Press.
  • Georgiou, M and Silverstone, R. (2005) “Editorial Introduction: Media and ethnic minorities in Europe” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies Vol. 31, No. 3, May 2005, pp 433–441. Routledge. Taylor & Francis group. London
  • Paine, S. (1974) Exporting workers: the Turkish case, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  • Theolin, Sture (2000) The Swedish palace in Istanbul: A thousand years of cooperation between Turkey and Sweden, Yapı Kredi yayıncılık AS. Istanbul, Turkey.
  • Westin, Charles (2003) “Young People of Migrant Origin in Sweden” in Migration and Labour in Europe. Views from Turkey and Sweden. Emrehan Zeybekoğlu and Bo Johansson (eds.), (Istanbul: MURCIR & NIWL, 2003)
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