How many Albanians live in Turkey? No one knows exactly, because there is no official count, and the estimates measure different things. The best-known figure comes from a report on Turkey’s ethnic groups prepared by university researchers at the request of the National Security Council and reported by Milliyet in June 2008. It put the population of Albanian origin at more than 1.3 million, about 500,000 of them with a strong sense of Albanian identity. According to Balkan Insight (2018), Turkey’s migration directorate puts the number of people of Albanian origin at up to 5 million. Most are Turkish citizens whose families came during the Ottoman centuries or as refugees and emigrants from the Balkans between the 1870s and the 1960s, and the community is concentrated in western Turkey, above all in Istanbul.
It is part of our Albanians Around the World series.
Quick Facts: Albanians in Turkey
- Population: No official count. Estimates: more than 1.3 million people of Albanian origin, about 500,000 of them with a strong Albanian identity (report commissioned by the National Security Council, reported 2008); up to 5 million people of Albanian origin (Turkey’s migration directorate, according to Balkan Insight, 2018).
- Where they live: Mainly western Turkey, above all Istanbul (Bayrampaşa, Küçükçekmece, Merdivenköy) and Bursa, with families of Albanian origin settled for more than 200 years in eastern provinces such as Bingöl and Diyarbakır.
- How they came: Ottoman-era settlement, the expulsions of 1877 to 1878, and three 20th-century waves: 1912, the interwar years, and the mid-1950s to the late 1960s.
- Historical weight: Several Ottoman grand viziers were of Albanian origin, among them five members of the Köprülü family who held the office between 1656 and 1711.
- Today: Largely assimilated; most no longer speak Albanian as a first language.
On This Page
- How Many Albanians Live in Turkey?
- The Estimates Side by Side
- Albanians and the Ottoman State
- The Muhacir Migrations
- Where Albanians Live
- Assimilation and Identity Today
- Frequently Asked Questions
How Many Albanians Live in Turkey?
No one knows the exact number. There is no official count of Albanians in Turkey, and the figures in circulation measure different things: some count everyone with Albanian ancestry, others only people who still feel Albanian or speak the language. The best-known estimate comes from a report on Turkey’s ethnic groups that the National Security Council (MGK) asked university researchers to prepare. Milliyet reported it on June 6, 2008, citing the newspaper Bugün, and said the research had been carried out about eight years earlier by academics from Erciyes, Fırat and İnönü universities. It put the population of Albanian origin at more than 1.3 million, said that more than half of them had lost any connection with Albania through Turkification, and described a lively Albanian consciousness among about 500,000. Higher figures exist, but they are claims and estimates, not counts.
The Estimates Side by Side
| Figure | What it counts | Who gave it, and when |
|---|---|---|
| 12,832 | People whose mother tongue was Albanian | Turkish census of 1965 (published mother-tongue tables) |
| More than 1.3 million, about 500,000 of them with a strong Albanian identity | People of Albanian origin | Report commissioned by the National Security Council (research about 2000), reported by Milliyet, June 2008 |
| Around one million | Turkish citizens of Albanian origin | TRT World, which does not name its source |
| Up to 5 million | People of Albanian origin | Turkey’s Directorate General for Migration Management, quoted by Balkan Insight, April 2018 |
| At least 5 million | Ethnic Albanians | Community members, as reported by Prishtina Insight, April 2021 |
Migration records show why the estimates differ so much. The migration figures compiled by the political scientist Şule Kut total roughly 310,000 immigrants from Yugoslavia between 1923 and the break-up of the second Yugoslavia, but Kut notes that most immigrants of Turkish or Albanian origin question these figures and put the number at between half a million and one million. Neither figure says how many of them were Albanian, because many Albanians emigrated as “Turks” (see the timeline below).
Descent, Speakers and Citizens Are Different Groups
- Descent: almost all of the estimates above are about Turkish citizens with Albanian ancestry, most of whose families have lived in Turkey for generations.
- Speakers: far fewer people speak Albanian. The 1965 census, which still asked about mother tongue, counted 12,832 people whose mother tongue was Albanian. In the eastern provinces, Kamil Bitiş of the Kosovo Cultural Center told TRT World, almost no families of Albanian origin still speak the language of their ancestors.
- Citizens of Albania and Kosovo: people who hold Albanian or Kosovo citizenship and live in Turkey are counted as foreign residents in TurkStat’s address-based population register, which recorded 1,480,547 foreign residents of all nationalities in 2024, as reported by Diken. The headline results do not list individual nationalities, so we give no separate figure for them here.
Albanians and the Ottoman State
To understand Albanians in Turkey, you have to start with the Ottoman Empire, which ruled the Albanian lands for centuries and drew Albanians into its army and administration. Some rose to the very top. The best-known example is the Köprülü family, which the Columbia Encyclopedia describes as “a family of humble Albanian origin, several members of which served as grand vizier”. Its founder, Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, was born in the village of Rudnik in the sanjak of Berat and was appointed grand vizier on September 15, 1656, according to the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam.
Five members of the family held the office of grand vizier between 1656 and 1711: Mehmed, his sons Ahmed and Mustafa, Ahmed’s cousin Hüseyin, and Mustafa’s son Numan. Albanians also founded ruling houses beyond Anatolia: Muhammad Ali Pasha, the Albanian soldier who became the ruler of Egypt and founded a dynasty that lasted until 1952, is the best-known example (see our guide to Albanians in Egypt). Our list of famous Albanians in history covers more of these figures.
The Muhacir Migrations
The mass Albanian presence in modern Turkey, though, comes above all from the muhacir, the Muslim refugees who fled to Anatolia as the Ottoman Empire lost its Balkan territories. As new Christian nation-states expanded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, hundreds of thousands of Balkan Muslims, Albanians prominent among them, were expelled or fled. The Balkan Wars of 1912 to 1913 and continued pressure from the new Yugoslav state from the 1920s to the 1950s sent fresh waves of Albanians into Turkey; most Albanian refugees of 1877 to 1878 had stayed in Kosovo (see the timeline below).
Where Albanians Live
Because there is no official ethnic data, the community cannot be mapped precisely. TRT World reports that it is “mainly concentrated in western Turkey”. Istanbul has the most visible community, described in the neighborhood section below. In Bursa, a 2023 Bursa Technical University thesis by Meltem Aladağ describes the Zafer neighborhood in Osmangazi district as one of the areas where Albanian immigrants from North Macedonia and Kosovo live in large numbers. Near İzmir, the village of Halil Beyli, where a significant part of the population has Balkan roots, hosted Turkey’s first state-school Albanian class in 2018. Far to the east, TRT World reports that families of Albanian origin have lived for more than 200 years in places such as Bingöl, Diyarbakır, Doğubayazıt and Hakkari.
Assimilation and Identity Today
The defining feature of Albanians in Turkey is assimilation. The report commissioned by the National Security Council, as reported by Milliyet in 2008, said that for more than half of the population of Albanian origin, Turkification had left no remaining tie to Albania, and many families no longer speak the language. Yet the heritage has not vanished. Prishtina Insight reported in 2021 on Istanbul Albanians reconnecting with their roots through cultural associations and language classes, and since 2018 Albanian has been offered as an elective in some Turkish state schools (see below).
A Timeline of Albanian Migration to Turkey
The Albanian presence in Istanbul goes back centuries. The Istanbul neighborhood of Arnavutköy, whose name means “Albanian village” in Turkish, “gained its name as early as the 15th century”, according to Prishtina Insight.
The refugees of 1877 to 1878 came from the districts around Niš that Serbia took from the Ottoman Empire, in what is now southern Serbia. In a 1998 study in the journal Balkanologie, the historian Miloš Jagodić estimated that about 71,000 Muslims left these districts, of whom “49 000 of them were surely Albanians”, and found that most of the Albanian refugees were settled in Kosovo, especially around Priština. They became known in Albanian as muhaxhirë, a word borrowed from the Ottoman Turkish muhacir. Other historians give higher totals: Noel Malcolm puts the number of Albanians expelled at about 110,000.
For the 20th century, reporting on Istanbul’s Albanian community describes three waves: 1912, the years between the world wars, and the mid-1950s to the late 1960s. For the interwar and postwar movements from Yugoslavia, published Turkish figures exist, and they are set out below.
| Period | What happened | Documented figures |
|---|---|---|
| 15th century | The Istanbul neighborhood of Arnavutköy (“Albanian village”) takes its name | None recorded |
| 1877 to 1878 | Expulsions from the districts around Niš; most Albanian refugees resettled in Kosovo | Estimates of Albanians expelled range from 49,000 (Jagodić) to about 110,000 (Malcolm) |
| 1923 to 1933 | Emigration from Yugoslavia to Turkey | 108,179 people registered as Turks, among them Albanians and other Muslims |
| July 11, 1938 | Yugoslav-Turkish emigration agreement signed | Turkey agreed to accept 40,000 families over six years; Kut notes that far fewer left under it than in 1923 to 1933 |
| 1953 to 1960 | Voluntary migration arrangement between Turkey and Yugoslavia | 151,812 immigrants from Yugoslavia, Albanians among them |
| 1960s | Emigration continues at a lower level | About 30,000 more people registered as Turks left Yugoslavia |
The figures in the table for 1923 to 1960 come from a Turkish study of migration and settlement cited by Şule Kut of Istanbul Bilgi University. They count everyone who arrived from Yugoslavia, so they cannot tell us exactly how many were Albanian.
Why the 1950s Numbers Are Hard to Read
The 1938 agreement had little effect: Kut notes that the available data suggest the migrations of 1923 to 1933 were far greater than any that followed it. In 1953 the idea returned in a new form. Turkey and Yugoslavia, then partners in the Balkan alliance, included in it a clause on the “voluntary” emigration of Turks from Yugoslavia, Kut writes.
On paper, the 1953 arrangement covered only Turks. Kut notes that most of those who had registered as Albanians or Roma in 1948 declared themselves Turks in the 1953 census, and the number of registered Turks in Yugoslavia jumped from 95,940 in 1948 to 203,908 in 1953. Kut counts 151,812 people who immigrated to Turkey from Yugoslavia between 1953 and 1960, Albanians among them.
Because Albanians traveled under a Turkish label, estimates of how many left differ widely. Noel Malcolm puts the number of Albanians who went to Turkey between 1953 and 1966 at about 100,000. Separately, immigrants’ own estimates of total migration from Yugoslavia, half a million to one million people, are far above the compiled figures (see above).
Istanbul’s Albanian Neighborhoods
Reporting by Daniel Petrick for Prishtina Insight in 2021 describes Bayrampaşa as the center of the Albanian community in Turkey. In Küçükçekmece, families come disproportionately from Peja in Kosovo and Kumanovo in today’s North Macedonia. In Merdivenköy, residents trace their roots to Kaçanik, with families arriving in the 1930s and the late 1950s.
Bayrampaşa is also home to the Kosovo Cultural Centre, which opened in 2013 and is run by Kamil Bitiş, who teaches Albanian to students of every age and level. Ankara has its own Turkish-Albanian Brotherhood Association; its president told Hürriyet in 2010 that it had more than a thousand members, and that Ankara’s Turks of Albanian origin live mainly in the Altındağ and Yenimahalle districts.
The picture is different far from Istanbul. Bitiş, author of a book whose title translates as “Forgotten Albanians of Turkey,” told TRT World that almost no Albanian families in eastern provinces such as Bingöl and Diyarbakır still know the language of their ancestors, and that they speak Turkish and Kurdish instead.
Albanian in Turkish Classrooms
The Albanian language has recently gained a small official foothold. In October 2016 Turkey’s education ministry signed a protocol with Trakya University in Edirne, and in February 2017 the Turkish Education Board approved Albanian and Bosnian as elective courses in the “living languages and dialects” category of the state curriculum.
The first class opened in April 2018 at the Alija Izetbegovic Middle School in the village of Halil Beyli near Izmir, in the presence of Turkish education minister Ismet Yılmaz and his Albanian counterpart Lindita Nikolla. Pupils receive two hours of Albanian a week. Trakya University, which designed the teaching materials, also opened the country’s first Albanian language department.
Notable Figures of Albanian Descent in Modern Turkey
The Ottoman grand viziers are only part of the story. Two well-documented figures from the late Ottoman and republican era had Albanian fathers.
Mehmet Akif Ersoy wrote the words of the Turkish national anthem, the Independence March, which the Grand National Assembly adopted on March 12, 1921. He was born in Istanbul’s Fatih district in 1873. According to Turkey’s Anadolu Agency, his father, Mehmet Tahir, was an Albanian who taught at the Fatih Madrasa. Ersoy died in Istanbul on December 27, 1936.
Ali Sami Yen, born Ali Sami Frashëri in Üsküdar in 1886, was the son of Sami Frashëri, one of the most famous Albanian writers of his time. In October 1905, while a student at Galatasaray High School, he founded the Galatasaray football club with a group of classmates, and he served as its president from 1905 to 1918 and again in 1925. He took the surname Yen after Turkey’s surname law of 1934. According to the club, he went on to become the first coach of the Turkish national football team, led the Turkish team at the 1924 Paris Olympics and chaired the Turkish Olympic Committee. He died in 1951, and the stadium Galatasaray opened in 1964 bore his name.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Albanians live in Turkey?
No one knows exactly, because there is no official count. A report prepared by university researchers at the request of the National Security Council, reported by Milliyet in 2008, put the population of Albanian origin at more than 1.3 million, about 500,000 of them with a strong Albanian identity. According to Balkan Insight (2018), Turkey’s migration directorate puts the number of people of Albanian origin at up to 5 million. Far fewer speak Albanian: the 1965 census counted 12,832 people with Albanian as their mother tongue.
Why are there so many Albanians in Turkey?
Two reasons: centuries of Albanian service in the Ottoman Empire, and the muhacir migrations, when Muslim refugees, many of them Albanian, fled to Anatolia as the Ottomans lost the Balkans in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Were Ottoman leaders Albanian?
Several were. The Köprülü family, of Albanian origin, supplied five grand viziers between 1656 and 1711, starting with Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, who was born in the sanjak of Berat. Muhammad Ali, the Albanian founder of Egypt’s ruling dynasty, is another famous example.
Do Albanians in Turkey still speak Albanian?
Mostly not. The community is heavily assimilated and most identify as Turks, though cultural associations and family memory keep the heritage alive, with some revival of interest in recent years.
Are Albanians Turks?
No. Albanians are a distinct people with their own language, which forms a separate branch of the Indo-European family (see is Albanian a Slavic language?). But many Turkish citizens have Albanian ancestry, and most of them today identify as Turks: the report commissioned by the National Security Council, as reported in 2008, said Turkification had cut more than half of the Albanian-origin population off from any tie to Albania.
Where do most Albanians in Turkey live?
Mainly in western Turkey, above all in Istanbul, where Bayrampaşa is described as the center of the community, with others in Küçükçekmece and Merdivenköy. Bursa has neighborhoods such as Zafer in Osmangazi with many families from North Macedonia and Kosovo, and some families of Albanian origin have lived in eastern provinces such as Bingöl and Diyarbakır for more than 200 years.
Is Albanian taught in Turkish schools?
Yes, as an elective. Turkey approved Albanian and Bosnian as elective courses in 2017, and the first Albanian class opened in April 2018 at a middle school near İzmir, with two hours of Albanian a week.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Albanians in Turkey, citing the 2008 Turkish National Security Council estimate
- Wikipedia: The Koprulu family
- Wikipedia: Muhacir, the Ottoman Muslim refugees
- TRT World: Albanians in Turkey, a home away from home
- DergiPark: Şule Kut, Turks of Kosovo: What to Expect?
- Prishtina Insight: Istanbul’s Albanian diaspora reconnects with its roots
- Balkan Insight: Pioneer Albanian Class Starts in Turkish School
- Daily Sabah: Albanian and Bosnian languages included on Turkish curriculum
- Anadolu Agency: Mehmet Akif Ersoy, Poet of Turkish national anthem
- Galatasaray.org: In memory of Ali Sami Yen
- Wikipedia: Ali Sami Yen
- Wikipedia: Expulsion of the Albanians (1877 to 1878)
- Wikipedia: Yugoslav colonization of Kosovo
- Milliyet: Türkiye’deki Kürtlerin sayısı (June 6, 2008), reporting a study commissioned by the National Security Council
- Miloš Jagodić: The Emigration of Muslims from the New Serbian Regions 1877/1878, Balkanologie (1998)
- Columbia Encyclopedia (Encyclopedia.com): Köprülü
- TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi: Köprülü Mehmed Paşa
- Meltem Aladağ: Bursa’da yaşayan Arnavut göçmenlerde kültürel aktarım pratikleri (Bursa Technical University, 2023)
- Hürriyet: Arnavut Kardeşlik Derneği Altındağ’da (2010)
- Diken: TurkStat address-based population results for 2024 (2025)
- Encyclopedia.com: The Indo-European Family of Languages
Related Reading
- Albanians Around the World: The Global Diaspora
- Albanians in Egypt
- Skanderbeg: Albania’s National Hero
- Albanians in North Macedonia
- Albanians in Montenegro
- Famous Albanians in History
Author: Dardanë Halimi
Dardanë Halimi is a writer and communications professional with an M.A. in Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical Communication from James Madison University. Her work focuses on storytelling, digital content, higher education, and strategic communication, with experience writing for academic, nonprofit, and marketing organizations in both the United States and Kosovo.
