Maps are
extremely important in order to provide insight into the major divisions of a
country. The most important map of Turkey is of the divides between the Ethnic
groups. In Turkey the majority of people are Turks 70-75%, while 18% are Kurds,
and 7-12% are of other ethnic groups. minorities in Turkey form a substantial
part of the countries population. After the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, The
Republic of Turkey recognized Armenians, Greeks and Jews as ethnic minorities but
this legal status was not granted to Muslim minorities such as the Kurds. Even
though the Kurds are the second largest ethnic group in Turkey, they have been
extremely persecuted. In the 1930s, the Turkish government forced Kurds to
assimilate and "Turkify" local Kurds. Since 1984, Kurdish resistance
movements have carried on as these people fight for both peaceful political
activities and basic civil rights. There has also been a violent armed
rebellion by the Kurds for a separate Kurdish state.
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| The Ethnic Groups of Turkey |
It wasn't exactly turkifying, it was Ataturk's mission to westernise Turkey. And all turks were targeted not just Kurds. Turkey's alphabet was changed from arabic letters to latin and turks were forced to wear western clothes, many arabic and persian words were removed from the language and replaced with french and english words, these are some of the insane examples of forcing the western culture upon and eastern people.
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