Abstract:

For centuries, different ethnic and religious groups have lived together in the Balkans. One of these groups is the Turks who are already in a minority position in the geography. In the last century, in parallel with political changes in the geography, the Turks educated in their mother tongue, the right to political representation, religion, etc. He began to experience trouble. Although the legal regulations have granted rights to minorities in the geography, the Turkish people are faced with obstacles in the exercise of these rights. Especially in the strengthening of the unity and cohesion of the Turks, the position of the Turkish, which is important in the protection of their identity, has been damaged in the geography due to these obstacles that arise. In this study, a survey was applied to our 460 co-workers living in Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Romania in order to understand the place of Turkish in the eyes of the Balkan Turks. The study found that the total number of participants believed in the multitude of the Turkish-speaking population in the world, the effectiveness of Turkish in international relations and the use of Turkish learning in the international field. In addition, they believe in the importance of Turkish for friends in general, making money, finding a job, advanced education, as well as expressing the importance of their spouses and children to know Turkish, the researchers have shown that they do not lose the functionality of Turkish as a language, they think that language awareness can be given to future generations in the family environment.

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