The Roman Havashi festival's spread is just one example of how Turkish culture is influenced by Roma culture. Although in Turkey they want to dance to Roma music, yet Turkey pays little attention to the Roma community.
They are a minority that everyone knows, but about which most people in Turkish society hardly know the details. By the way, they identify as Romanlar, not as "Roma".
Roma in Turkey like "Romanlar" have been around for centuries. Their settlement in the Ottoman Empire can be documented from the 17th century. As a result of the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, half a million Muslims came from Greece to Turkey - including many in Romania.
According to the Council of Europe's projection, some 2.7 million Romannars live in Turkey today, making it the largest European Roma community. Most of them are officially Sunni, like the rest of the Turkish majority.
Link: https://renk-magazin.de/roma-in-der-tuerkei/
