Turkification (Turkish: Türkle?me when voluntary and Türkle?tirme when involuntary) is the assimilation of individuals, entities, or cultures into the various historical Turkish states and cultures, especially the Ottoman Empire. As the Turkish states developed and grew there were many instances of this assimilation, voluntary and involuntary, including the Anatolian, Balkan, Caucasian and Middle Eastern peoples from different ethnic origins, such as the Albanians, Arabs, Israelites, Armenians, Circassians, Greeks, Vlachs, Jews, Roma, various Slavic peoples (such as Croats, Serbs, Bosniaks, Bulgarians and Pomaks), Iranian peoples, Kurdish People, (Kurmanj), Zazas, as well as Kartvelian Lazs from all the regions of Ottoman Empire and Iran.