Almost 137,000 Turkish-Americans live in America

July 24, 2003 admin-dominor

Since the anti-Turkey campaigns of Armenians have intensified in America, especially over the so-called genocide, and the campaigns of the Greek lobby against the interests of Turkey have often come to the agenda, the amount of Turkish-Americans in the United States has always been an issue of wonder in Turkey. Despite that measuring the amount of Turkish-Americans hasn’t always been easy work, according to the results of the 2000 Census, 136,498 persons of Turkish ancestry live in America.

As one of the most debated issues recently is the tension in relations betwen Turkey and the United States, the presence of Turkish-Americans in this country can be evaluated by Turkish foreign policy makers as a facilitator in improving the relations between these two traditional allies.

According to information available on the website focused on the demographic presence of those who have European origin in American society (http://www.euroamericans.net/turkish.htm#Census%202000:turk), Turkish-Americans are a young group, having the youngest median age among European ancestral groups, at 32.8 years in the 1990 Census. Additionally, men comprised a larger proportion of the Turkish population than among any other European ethnic group, with 55.4 percent of Turkish-Americans being male.

In 1990, over 53 percent of Turkish-Americans were foreign born, the highest percentage among European-Americans. States with the largest Turkish-American populations include: New York with 23,674 Turks, California with 15,104, New Jersey with 12,396, Florida with 9,615 and Texas with 4,711.

Here is a complete breakdown of the Turkish-American population: Alabama 582, Alaska 103, Arizona 1,825, Arkansas 309, California 15,104, Connecticut 1,943, DC 435, Delaware 347, Florida 9,615, Georgia 2,407, Hawaii 241, Idaho 161, Illinois 4,298, Indiana 1,208, Iowa 411, Kansas 380, Kentucky 411, Louisiana 494, Maine 135, Maryland 3,371, Massachusetts 3,956, Michigan 2,261, Minnesota 1,154, Mississippi 179, Missouri 1,191, Montana 213, Nebraska 263, Nevada 748, New Hampshire 298, New Jersey 12,396, New Mexico 222, New York 23,674, North Carolina 1,658, North Dakota 110, Ohio 3,159, Oklahoma 763, Oregon 978, Pennsylvania 3,703, Rhode Island 742, South Carolina 853, South Dakota 54, Tennessee 694, Texas 4,711, Utah 359, Vermont 66, Virginia 4,505, Washington 2,396, West Virginia 210, Wisconsin 1,070 and Wyoming 62.