Why Turkey is called Turkey?

Why Turkey is called Turkey?

The term ‘Turkey, is an English term and it is called as ‘Turkiye, in Turkish. Turkey is a Eurasian country that spreads through Anatolian peninsula and Thrace in South Eastern Europe. This country has maximum number of people (97 percent) belonging to Islam. Their official language is Turkish while Kurdish and Zazaki are other languages spoken by other sects (18 percent of population) in the country. The population of this country is 77.8 million by 2010 based on CIA World Fact book.

The Turkic people seem to have originated from the location called Altai in Central Asia. The nomadic people in Mongolia were found to be belonging to the group called Xiongnu. This Xiongnu Empire was believed to have people who were proto-Turkic. Ã’šÃ‚ Richard Frucht has revealed that Xiongnu people were similar to Huns who were the people speaking Turkish. A nomadic confederation of medieval inner Asia, Kok Turk was established with the leadership of Bumin Qaghan. For the first time, the name of this state had the term ‘Turk,. One of the kings of Kok Turk known as Bilge Khan and his relatives protected all their achievements in the form of inscriptions. These writings were done in old Turkic script.

Turkic migration happened from Central Asia to Europe and Middle East between 6th and 11th century AD. The people identified as Turks started migrating to expand their group which has originated from Huns. The Turkic tribes used to live in Central Asia earlier. The Seljuk Turks started invading Anatolia in 11th century AD. Anatolia later was transformed as a permanent place for Turkic people. This location gradually led to establishment of the nation Turkey. The Huns called themselves as ‘Acatir’ which is derived from Agac-ari. Agac-ari means ‘forest-men’. This tribe details was mentioned in Turko-Arabian Dictionary in 1245 AD. Huns Empire ended with Caucasian kingdom in 682 AD. Many of these people were Turkic and Turks from Xiongnu joined these people ultimately. This migration of Turks to their country now called Turkey is called Turkic migration. This happened for centuries and now has resulted in a country called ‘Turkey, which comprises of all the Turkic people.