Uzbek women topped the ranking for foreign brides who got married in Turkey last year, overtaking Syrian women who were in the top spot from 2015, according to data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK, or TurkStat).
A total of 3,716 Uzbek women got married in Turkey in 2023, up from 560 in 2014. In contrast, Turkey last year saw 3,519 marriages involving Syrian brides.
Political, economic and cultural relations between Turkey and Turkic-speaking Uzbekistan have improved significantly since Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev came to power in December 2016. Under his isolationist predecessor, Islam Karimov, relations were often fraught and Turkish businesses in Uzbekistan were targeted by the regime.
Behind Uzbeks and Syrians in the ranking, were Azerbaijani women in third place (2,818), Russian women in fourth (2,339) and German women in fifth (2,243).
In terms of foreign grooms, Germans have consistently held the top spot since 2009. In 2023, the number of German men who married in Turkey was 1,387.
They were followed by Syrian men (1,219), Austrian men (326), Afghan men (316) and Azerbaijani men (254).
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