There were 5,500 Filipinos in Turkey as of 2008, according to estimates by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas and the Philippine embassy in Ankara.^[1] Out of those, most are recorded as maids and "overseas workers" employed in households of diplomatic communities and elite Turkish families.^[2] Moreover, ten percent or approximately 500 Filipinos in Turkey are skilled workers and professionals working as engineers, architects, doctors and teachers.^[2] Most of the Filipinos reside in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Antalya and nearby surrounding areas.^[1]