Balkar shepherd wearing a traditional Caucasian chokha | |
Total population | |
---|---|
c. 135,000 | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Russia | 125,044 120,898[1] |
Kazakhstan | 1,798 (2009) |
Languages | |
Karachay-Balkar (Balkar dialect), Kabardian, Russian | |
Religion | |
Predominantly Sunni Islam | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Karachays, Kumyks, North Caucasian peoples |
Balkars (Karachay-Balkar: Малкъарлыла, romanized: Malqarlıla or Таулула, romanized: Tawlula, lit. 'Mountaineers')[2] are a Turkic ethnic group in the North Caucasus region, one of the titular populations of Kabardino-Balkaria.
Their Karachay-Balkar language is of the Ponto-Caspian subgroup of the Northwestern (Kipchak) group of Turkic languages.