Anti-Turkism

Anti-Turkism, also known as Turcophobia (Turkophobia) or anti-Turkish sentiment, is the hostility, fear, intolerance or racism against the Turkish people, Turkish culture, Turkic people or Turkey itself (previously the Ottoman Empire).

Anti-Turkism or Turkophobia does not only refer to intolerance against the Turks of Turkey, but also against the Turks as whole such as Azeri Turks, Qashqai Turks, Crimean Turks, Turkmen people, Bulgarian Turks, Macedonian Turks, Turkish Cypriots, Bosnian Turks, Turks of Georgia, Turks of the Dodecanese, Kosovo Turks, Croatian Turks, and Romanian Turks. It can also refer to racism against ethnic Turks of Turkey living outside of Turkey in the Turkish diaspora.

Early history

The roots of Turcophobia can be traced back to the Hunnic invasions of Europe, where Huns or Turks were ruthless foreign nomadic hordes in Europe and inspired fear amongst local Europeans. The later evidence of anti-Turkism in Europe originated in 1453/54 in the form of lithurgical masses against Turks, missa contra Turcos in Latin. By 1870, the anti-Turk phenomenon is defined by the term Turcophobia. Turcophobia is traced to the fall of Constantinople and the Turkish Wars of the Late Middle Ages, viz. the attempts of Western Christianity to stem the expansion of the Ottoman Empire. By the middle of the 15th century special masses called missa contra turcas (translated as "mass against Turks") were celebrated in various places in Europe, the message of these masses was that victory over the Turks was only possible with the help of God and that a Christian community was therefore necessary to withstand the cruelty of the Turks.