Turks in Switzerland


Turks in Switzerland are Swiss residents of Turkish origin. Significant levels of Muslim emigration to Switzerland began in the late 1960s with the arrival of labour migrants from Turkey.

Demographics

Accounting some 5% of the foreign population, the Turkish community in Switzerland, are concentrated particularly in the cities of Zurich, Basel and Lausanne.
According to the Swiss Statistics, as of 2007 there were 73,000 Turkish nationals living in Switzerland, including Kurds. However, this does not include those who have been naturalised or the Swiss-born Turks.

Naturalisation

Culture

Religion

The majority of the Turkish community in Switzerland adhere to Islam. However, their religious organisations differ from those of other Muslim communities in the country. The Turks are divided by ideological and political divisions of their home country. When in the 1970s the Islamic movement Millî Görüş was established in Germany for the German Turkish community, some of the Turks in Switzerland joined this organisation. But the activities of the Diyanet İşleri Türk İslam Birliği, the Turkish directorate of religious affairs that sends Imams to the Turkish diaspora, attracted other Turks to adhere to this state-controlled form of Islam. Turkish groups such as the Sufi Suleymancilar and the Nurcu confraternity also play a role in the Turkish Muslim community in Switzerland. These are exact Gulen Movement people, different from the current Turkey's Government, after the 15 July Turkey's coup d'état attempt purges.

Language