There is a significant Turkish community living in the north-west of Libya. For example, many Turks settled in
Misrata during the reign of
Abdul Hamid II in the nineteenth century.
[12][13]
In 1971 the population of Turks with roots from the island of
Crete alone numbered 100,000.
[20] In 2014, Ali Hammuda, who served as the Minister of Foundations and Religious Affairs of Libya, claimed that the Turkish minority forms 15% of Libya's total population.
[21] More recent estimates in 2019 suggest that the total Turkish population in Libya is around 1.4 million,[1] or that more than one in four Libyans (i.e. 25% of the country's population) have Turkish ancestry.[2][22]
The city of
Misrata is considered to be the "main center of the Turkish-origin community in Libya";
[23] in total, the Turks form approximately two-thirds (est.270,000
[24]) of Misrata's 400,000 inhabitants.
[24][25] There is also a thriving Turkish population in
Tripoli.
[26] Turkish communities have also been formed in more remote areas of the country, such as the Turkish neighborhood of Hay al-Atrak, in the town of
Awbari.
[27]
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