Turks of South Carolina

The Turks of South Carolina (Turkish: Güney Karolina Türkleri) also known as Turks of Sumter County or Sumter Turks (Turkish: Sumter Türkleri) are a mixed-ancestry group of people of Middle Eastern or North African descent who have lived in northern Sumter County, South Carolina since the late 18th century and identify as Turkish Americans. In local usage, the term “Turk” has historically been employed in a pejorative manner and is considered derogatory by many within the community, who today prefer to be referred to as “Turkish” or “the Turkish people.” As of 2018, they numbered no more than 400 in the town of Dalzell, with a slight majority carrying the surname Benenhaley. According to former U.S. Representative Glen Browder, "they have always been a tight-knit and isolated community of people who identified as being of Turkish descent".

In 2013, the South Carolina Commission for Minority Affairs state-recognized the Sumter Tribe of Cheraw Indians, whose membership wholly descends from the Turks of South Carolina, and obtained status as a Native American tribe through use of their communal history and genealogy. The decision generated controversy within the Turkish community in Sumter, whose members have maintained that their ancestors only identified as Turkish rather than as Native Americans. Browder, along with members of the Turkish community conducted an academic study of the group's MENA origins, and in 2019, following the publication of their findings, the State of South Carolina amended state documentation to acknowledge the history and heritage of the Turks of South Carolina as Turkish Americans. As of 2026, the Sumter Tribe of Cheraw Indians remains a state-recognized tribe in South Carolina, a status they obtained prior to the "Turk-Indian" controversy.