Turkification

Turkification, Turkization, or Turkicization (Turkish: Türkleştirme) describes a shift whereby populations or places receive or adopt Turkic attributes such as culture, language, history, or ethnicity. However, often this term is more narrowly applied to mean specifically Turkish rather than merely Turkic, meaning that it refers more frequently to the Ottoman Empire's policies or the Turkish nationalist policies of the Republic of Turkey toward ethnic minorities in Turkey. As the Turkic states developed and grew, there were many instances of this cultural shift. The earliest instance of Turkification took place in Central Asia, when, by the 6th century AD, migration of Turkic tribes from Inner Asia caused a language shift among the Iranian peoples of the area. By the 8th century AD, the Turkification of Kashgar was completed by Qarluq Turks, who also Islamized the population. The Turkification of Anatolia occurred in the time of the Seljuk Empire and Sultanate of Rum, when Anatolia had been a diverse and largely Greek-speaking region after previously being Hellenized.