How many Turks lived in Balkans (approximately) before the Ottoman Empire collapsed and Turks/Muslims living there were forced to migrate or slaughtered?
![How many Turks lived in Balkans 1 Muhacir refugees escaping from the 1912–1913 Balkan war waiting at the quay of Ottoman Istanbul](https://www.turkishnews.com/en/content/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Muhacir-refugees-escaping-from-the-1912%E2%80%931913-Balkan-war-waiting-at-the-quay-of-Ottoman-Istanbul.jpg)
There’s no exact or approximate estimate pertaining to how many Turks lived in the Balkans before the Ottoman Empire collapsed. However, over a period of a few centuries, especially after the Ottoman Empire lost almost all its territory during the Balkan War of 1912-13 and World War I, many Turks/Muslims in Europe were forced to migrate to the Ottoman Empire. Around 10 million, to be precise. An estimated 25% to 33% of Türkiye’s 85 million population descend from these refugees who were called ‘Muhacir1’ (transl. refugees). Millions of these people were either persecuted, exiled, or killed2.