Turks in Sweden or Swedish Turks ( sv, Turkar i Sverige; tr, ) are people of ethnic Turkish origin living in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. The majority of Swedish Turks descend from the

Republic of Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

; 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 Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Maced ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Yugoslavia. It ...

and

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

), the island of Cyprus, and more recently

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

and

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. 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 Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

. Many Turks in Sweden have double citizenship and 37,000 are registered voters in Turkey.

History

The first Turks came to

in the early 18th century from the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

, whilst the second wave came in the 1960s from modern post-Ottoman nation states, especially from

but also from the Balkans (mainly

and

), but also from the island of Cyprus. More recently, since the

European migrant crisis The 2015 European migrant crisis, also known internationally as the Syrian refugee crisis, was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and migrants into Europe in 2015, when 1.3 million people came to the continent to request ...

Turks from

and

have also come to Sweden.

Charles XII creditors

During the

Battle of Poltava The Battle of Poltava; russian: Полта́вская би́тва; uk, Полта́вська би́тва (8 July 1709) was the decisive and largest battle of the Great Northern War. A Russian army under the command of Tsar Peter I defeate ...

in 1709,

Charles XII Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII ( sv, Karl XII) or Carolus Rex (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718 O.S.), was King of Sweden (including current Finland) from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of ...

'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

where he stayed for five years. Upon his return to Sweden in 1715, a smaller number of creditors came to Sweden to collect the debt he owed them. But it took a few years before they got repaid so they stayed a while. They left after getting paid. According to the prevailing

church law Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is th ...

, everyone who was in Sweden, but was not a member of the Swedish state church, would be baptized. In order for the Muslim and Jewish creditors to avoid this, Charles XII wrote a free letter so that they could perform their Islamic services without being punished. The free letter showed that

Karlskrona Karlskrona (, , ) is a locality and the seat of Karlskrona Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with a population of 66,675 in 2018. It is also the capital of Blekinge County. Karlskrona is known as Sweden's only baroque city and is host to S ...

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.

Modern migration wave

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

as well as

and

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. Turks who came from the former Yugoslavia in the 1960s came largely from the

Prespa Prespa ( mk, Преспа, sq, Prespa, el, Πρέσπα) is a region shared between North Macedonia, Albania and Greece. It shares the same name with the two Prespa lakes which are situated in the middle of the region. The largest town is Rese ...

region. From different contexts, many knew each other and they began to organize and strive for common interests. Approximately, 5,000

Macedonian Turks Turks in North Macedonia, also known as Turkish Macedonians and Macedonian Turks, ( mk, Македонски Турци, tr, Makedonya Türkleri) are the ethnic Turks who constitute the third largest ethnic group in the Republic of North Macedoni ...

settled in

, with 90% (i.e. 4,500) living in

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal popula ...

. Due to the forced Bulgarian assimilation policies, approximately 30,000

Bulgarian Turks Bulgarian Turks ( bg, български турци, bŭlgarski turtsi, tr, Bulgaristan Türkleri) are a Turkish ethnic group from Bulgaria. According to the 2021 census, there were 508,375 Bulgarians of Turkish descent, roughly 8.4% of t ...

have migrated to Sweden, most of which arrived in the late 1980s. More recently, since the

(2014-2020), there has been a significant rise in the number of Iraqi Turks and

Syrian Turks Syrian Turkmen, also referred to as Syrian Turkomans, Turkish Syrians, or simply Syrian Turks or Turks of Syria, ( ar, تركمان سوريا; tr, Suriye Türkmenleri or ) are Syrian citizens of Turkish origin who mainly trace their roots to ...

Turkish organizations

Mosques controlled by Diyanet

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. * ''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 Millî Görüş (, "National Outlook" or "National Vision") is a religious-political movement and a series of Islamist parties inspired by Necmettin Erbakan. It argues that Turkey can develop with its own human and economic power by protecting ...

chapter. 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. *

Fittja Mosque The Fittja Mosque ( sv, Fittja moské) is a mosque in Fittja, Botkyrka Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden. It was constructed with Turkish style architecture. The mosque, which began to be constructed in 1998http://www.botkyrka.se/omkommune ...

Football clubs

In 1973 the

formed the KSF Prespa Birlik football club.

Politics and elections

In the

2018 Swedish general election General elections were held in Sweden on 9 September 2018 to elect the 349 members of the Riksdag. Regional and municipal elections were also held on the same day. The incumbent minority government, consisting of the Social Democrats and the Gre ...

, 10 000 Swedish citizens living in Turkey were expected to cast their votes in Turkey. Turkey demanded that Sweden ends its alleged support for the

Gülen movement The Gülen movement ( tr, Gülen hareketi), referred to by its participants as Hizmet ("service") or Cemaat ("community") and since 2016 by the Government of Turkey as FETÖ ("Fethullahist Terrorist Organisation" or, more commonly, "Fethullah Ter ...

Notable Swedish Turks

*, writer and journalist (Turkish mother and Syrian father) * , installation artist * Kadim Akça, billionaire; founder of Keep Holding * , installation artist * Sinan Ayrancı, football player * Kazım Ayvaz, Olympic wrestler *

Erol Bekir Erol Bekir, formerly known as Erol Bekirovski, (born 25 January 1974) is a Turkish-Swedish football manager and former player of Turkish origin with roots from Macedonia. Playing career Club He started out playing for his hometown club Malmö ...

, football player and sports coach ( Turkish Macedonian origin) * , architect * Ergun Caner, author (Turkish father and Swedish mother) * , voice actress * , actor * Erdin Demir, football player *

Rodin Deprem Rodin Cem Deprem (born 23 May 1998) is a Swedish footballer who plays for Brommapojkarna. Club career Rynninge IK Deprem spent the first years of his childhood in the city of Gävle before moving to Örebro at the age of six. In his new home ...

, football player * , actress * İlhan Erşahin, musician *

Muvaffak "Maffy" Falay Muvaffak "Maffy" Falay (30 August 1930 – 22 February 2022) was a Turkish jazz trumpeter. Biography Falay was born in Karşıyaka; his family later moved to Kuşadası, a large resort town on Turkey's Aegean coast. A statue in the Kuşadası to ...

, trumpeter * Amine Gülşe, actress, model, Miss Turkey 2014 (Turkish mother and Turkish Iraqi father) * Serkan Günes, photographer * Leyla Güngör, football player (Turkish father and Swedish mother) * , theater director and translator * , journalist * Dennis Gyllensporre, army officer * Roza Güclü Hedin, member of the S/SAP (Turkish mother and Kurdish father) * , journalist * Deniz Hümmet, football player * Erkan Inan, basketball player * Serkan İnan, basketball player *

Mehmet Kaplan Mehmet Güner Kaplan (born 18 July 1971) is a Swedish politician of Turkish origin who served as Minister for Housing and Urban Development from 2014 to 2016. He is a member of the Swedish Green Party. Kaplan resigned from the Cabinet after co ...

, politician * , photographer * , journalist * İlhan Koman, sculptor *

Ferhat Korkmaz Ferhat Korkmaz (born 14 September 1981) is a Swedish-born Turkish footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American ...

, football player * Vendela Kirsebom, model and actress (Turkish father and Norwegian mother) *, one of the founders of the

People's Liberation Party-Front of Turkey The People's Liberation Party-Front of Turkey ( tr, Türkiye Halk Kurtuluş Partisi-Cephesi, THKP-C) was a Turkish Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla group It was founded in 1970 by Münir Ramazan Aktolga, Yusuf ...

* Sara Lumholdt, pop singer * Katarina Magnussadotter, (birthname unknown; died-1414) Turkish slave girl who converted to Christianity; she became a nun in

Vadstena Abbey The Abbey Pax Mariae ( la, Monasterium sanctarum Mariæ Virgìnis et Brigidæ in Vatzstena), more commonly referred to as Vadstena Abbey, situated on Lake Vättern in the Diocese of Linköping, Sweden, was the motherhouse of the Bridgettine Orde ...

and was a gift from Queen

Joanna I of Naples Joanna I, also known as Johanna I ( it, Giovanna I; December 1325 – 27 July 1382), was Queen of Naples, and Countess of Provence and Forcalquier from 1343 to 1382; she was also Princess of Achaea from 1373 to 1381. Joanna was the eldest dau ...

* Mehmet Mehmet, football player ( Turkish Bulgarian origin) * Ayda Mosharraf, singer (Turkish mother and Iranian father) *

Emin Nouri Emin Nouri ( bg, Емин Нури, tr, Emin Nuri; born 22 July 1985) is a former professional footballer. He was born in Bulgaria and represented Sweden as a youth. He then represented Azerbaijan at senior level. Career Nouri was born in K ...

, football player ( Turkish Bulgarian origin) * Yksel Osmanovski (Yüksel Osmanoğlu), football player ( Turkish Macedonian origin) * Mahmut Özen, football player * , film director * , photographer * Sermin Özürküt, politician *

Erdal Rakip Erdal Rakip ( mk, Ердал Ракип; born 13 February 1996) is a professional footballer who plays for Turkish club Antalyaspor as a midfielder. Born in Sweden, he represents the North Macedonia national team. Club career Malmö FF Rakip ...

, football player ( Turkish Macedonian origin) * Sibel Redzep (Sibel Recep), popular Swedish singer ( Turkish Macedonian origin) *

Erkan Sağlık Erkan Sağlık (born 19 August 1985) is a Swedish-born Turkish former footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, Ameri ...

, football player *, ice hockey player * Bora Serbülent, singer and founder of ''İsveç Türk Radyosu'' (

Turkish Cypriot Turkish Cypriots or Cypriot Turks ( tr, Kıbrıs Türkleri or ''Kıbrıslı Türkler''; el, Τουρκοκύπριοι, Tourkokýprioi) are ethnic Turks originating from Cyprus. Following the Ottoman conquest of the island in 1571, about 30,00 ...

origin) * , TV personality * Meral Tasbas, television personality, singer and actress * Demir Turgut, Olympic sailor * Pınar Yalçın, football player * Richard Yarsuvat, football player (Turkish father and Kosovan-Albanian mother) *

Anthony Yigit Anthony Yigit (born 1 September 1991) is a Swedish professional boxer who challenged for the IBF light welterweight title in 2018. As an amateur, following his success in 2011 World Amateur Boxing Championships, Yigit qualified for the 2012 Sum ...

, boxer at the 2012 Summer Olympics * Mikail Yüksel, politician and founder of the Partiet Nyans (Nuance Party) * Erkan Zengin, football player

Notes

Bibliography

*. (Turkic Swedish: İ'svoç Túrkhlärih)

External links

İsveç Türk İşçileri Dernekleri FederasyonuBråda dagar inför det turkiska premiärministerbesöket
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turks In Sweden

Middle Eastern diaspora in Sweden Muslim communities in Europe Ethnic groups in Sweden Islam in Sweden