Portal:Turkey

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Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a smaller part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran to the east; Iraq, Syria, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south; and the Aegean Sea, Greece, and Bulgaria to the west. Turkey is home to over 85 million people; most are ethnic Turks, while ethnic Kurds are the largest ethnic minority. Officially a secular state, Turkey has a Muslim-majority population. Ankara is Turkey's capital and second-largest city, while Istanbul is its largest city and economic and financial center, as well as the largest city in Europe. Other major cities include İzmir, Bursa, and Antalya.

Turkey was first inhabited by modern humans during the Late Paleolithic. Home to important Neolithic sites like Göbekli Tepe and some of the earliest farming areas, present-day Turkey was inhabited by various ancient peoples. Hattians were assimilated by the Anatolian peoples. Classical Anatolia transitioned into cultural Hellenization following the conquests of Alexander the Great; Hellenization continued during the Roman and Byzantine eras. The Seljuk Turks began migrating into Anatolia in the 11th century, starting the Turkification process. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rum ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, when it disintegrated into Turkish principalities. Beginning in 1299, the Ottomans united the principalities and expanded; Mehmed II conquered Istanbul in 1453. During the reigns of Selim I and Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman Empire became a global power. From 1789 onwards, the empire saw a major transformation, reforms, and centralization while its territory declined.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, persecution of Muslims during the Ottoman contraction and in the Russian Empire resulted in large-scale loss of life and mass migration into modern-day Turkey from the Balkans, Caucasus, and Crimea. Under the control of the Three Pashas, the Ottoman Empire entered World War I in 1914, during which the Ottoman government committed genocides against its Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian subjects. Following Ottoman defeat, the Turkish War of Independence resulted in the abolition of the sultanate and the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne. The Republic was proclaimed on 29 October 1923, modelled on the reforms initiated by the country's first president, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Turkey remained neutral during most of World War II, but was involved in the Korean War. Coups in 1960 and 1980 interrupted the transition to a multi-party system.

Turkey is an upper-middle-income and emerging country; its economy is the world's 18th-largest by nominal and 11th-largest by PPP-adjusted GDP. It is a unitary presidential republic. Turkey is a founding member of the OECD, G20, and Organization of Turkic States. With a geopolitically significant location, Turkey is a regional power and an early member of NATO. An EU candidate, Turkey is part of the EU Customs Union, CoE, OIC, and TURKSOY.

Turkey has coastal plains, a high central plateau, and various mountain ranges; its climate is temperate with harsher conditions in the interior. Home to three biodiversity hotspots, Turkey is prone to frequent earthquakes and is highly vulnerable to climate change. Turkey has a universal healthcare system, growing access to education, and increasing levels of innovativeness. It is a leading TV content exporter. With 21 UNESCO World Heritage sites, 30 UNESCO intangible cultural heritage inscriptions, and a rich and diverse cuisine, Turkey is the fifth most visited country in the world. (Full article...)

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Map of the Turkish people around the world

Turkish people or Turks (Turkish: Türkler) are the largest Turkic people who speak various dialects of the Turkish language and form a majority in Turkey and Northern Cyprus. In addition, centuries-old ethnic Turkish communities still live across other former territories of the Ottoman Empire. Article 66 of the Turkish Constitution defines a Turk as anyone who is a citizen of Turkey. While the legal use of the term Turkish as it pertains to a citizen of Turkey is different from the term's ethnic definition, the majority of the Turkish population (an estimated 70 to 75 percent) are of Turkish ethnicity. The vast majority of Turks are Muslims and follow the Sunni faith.

The ethnic Turks can therefore be distinguished by a number of cultural and regional variants, but do not function as separate ethnic groups. In particular, the culture of the Anatolian Turks in Asia Minor has underlain and influenced the Turkish nationalist ideology. Other Turkish groups include the Rumelian Turks (also referred to as Balkan Turks) historically located in the Balkans; Turkish Cypriots on the island of Cyprus, Meskhetian Turks originally based in Meskheti, Georgia; and ethnic Turkish people across the Middle East, where they are also called Turkmen or Turkoman in the Levant (e.g. Iraqi Turkmen, Syrian Turkmen, Lebanese Turkmen, etc.). Consequently, the Turks form the largest minority group in Bulgaria, the second largest minority group in Iraq, Libya, North Macedonia, and Syria, and the third largest minority group in Kosovo. They also form substantial communities in the Western Thrace region of Greece, the Dobruja region of Romania, the Akkar region in Lebanon, as well as minority groups in other post-Ottoman Balkan and Middle Eastern countries. The mass immigration of Turks also led to them forming the largest ethnic minority group in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands. There are also Turkish communities in other parts of Europe as well as in North America, Australia and the Post-Soviet states. Turks are the 13th largest ethnic group in the world. (Full article...)

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General images

The following are images from various Turkey-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Istanbul (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 2Map showing the Anatolian Plate, the North Anatolian Fault and East Anatolian Fault in Turkey. (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 3Istanbul Sapphire (2006–11) is the tallest building in Turkey and 4th in Europe. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 4Namık Kemal was a prominent Turkish poet, novelist, playwright and journalist of the late-19th-century Ottoman Empire. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 5Map of earthquakes in Turkey 1900–2023 (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 6Mehmed II enters Constantinople by Fausto Zonaro (from History of Turkey)
Image 7Tevfik Fikret (1867–1915) was a prominent Turkish poet of the late Ottoman era. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 8First Ziraat Bank Headquarters (1925–29) in Ankara designed by Giulio Mongeri is an important symbol of the First National Architectural Movement. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 9The Nation's Library of the Presidency, Ankara (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 10Beaches and marina of Kemer near Antalya on the Turkish Riviera (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 11The sultan of the golden age, Suleiman the Magnificent. (from History of Turkey)
Image 12Thrace and the Thracian Odrysian kingdom in its maximum extent under Sitalces (431-424 BC) (from History of Turkey)
Image 13Designed by Şekip Akalın, Ankara Central Station (1937) is a notable art deco design of its era. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 14Fazıl Hüsnü Dağlarca was one of the most prolific Turkish poets of the Turkish Republic with more than 60 collections of his poems published, laureate of the Struga Poetry Evenings Golden Wreath Award. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 15Originally a church, later a mosque, and now a Grand mosque, the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul was built by the Byzantines in the 6th century. (from History of Turkey)
Image 16The Ottoman Empire in 1683, at the start of the Great Turkish War (1683–1699) (from History of Turkey)
Image 17Turkish coffee (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 18Entrance portal of the Karatay Madrasa in Konya (c. 1251) (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 19View from Levent district in Istanbul. Istanbul's skyline has changed especially since the early 2000s. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 20Ankara (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 21Butterfly Valley on the Turkish Riviera. (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 22View of Dilek Peninsula-Büyük Menderes Delta National Park (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 23Kaçkar Mountains (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 24Antalya (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 25Roosevelt, İnönü and Churchill at the Second Cairo Conference which was held between 4–6 December 1943. (from History of Turkey)
Image 26Recaizade Mahmud Ekrem (1847–1914) was another prominent Turkish poet of the late Ottoman era. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 27Anıtkabir designed by Emin Halid Onat and Ahmet Orhan Arda (1944–53) (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 28Karagöz and Hacivat are the lead characters of the traditional Turkish shadow play, popularized during the Ottoman period. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 29Yalikavak Palmarina in Bodrum (2014) designed by Emre Arolat (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 30Mount Ararat (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 31Turkish delight (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 32Turkish national basketball team won the silver medal in the 2010 FIBA World Championship. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 33Lake Van (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 34Orhan Veli Kanık was the founder of the Garip Movement in Turkish poetry. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 35Mount Nemrut, Adıyaman (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 36Night view of the Taksim Mosque (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 37The empire in 555 under Justinian the Great, at its greatest extent since the fall of the Western Roman Empire (its vassals in pink) (from History of Turkey)
Image 38View of Beydağları Coastal National Park (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 39Map of the Lydian Kingdom in its final period of sovereignty under Croesus, c. 547 BC. (from History of Turkey)
Image 40The Bath-Gymnasium complex at Sardis in Turkey. (from History of Turkey)
Image 41Istanbul University Faculty of Science and Faculty of Literature Buildings (1944–52) designed by Sedad Hakkı Eldem and Emin Onat (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 42Mount Erciyes near Kayseri (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 43A view of Levent from Kanlıca across the Bosporus (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 44Köppen climate types of Turkey (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 45Atatürk on the cover of the Time magazine, Vol. I No. 4, March 24, 1923. Title: "Mustapha Kemal Pasha" (from History of Turkey)
Image 46Map showing events of the first phases of the Greco-Persian Wars (from History of Turkey)
Image 47An Oil wrestling tournament in Istanbul. This has been the national sport of Turkey since Ottoman times. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 48Ankara Opera House, designed by Şevki Balmumcu (1933–34) and renovation by Paul Bonatz (1946–47). (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 49Sami Frashëri (1850–1904) and his wife Emine, May 1884. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 50Orhan Pamuk, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 51Selimiye Mosque in Edirne (1568–1574) (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 52Map of the Hittite Empire at its greatest extent, with Hittite rule c. 1350–1300 BC represented by the green line (from History of Turkey)

Did you know - show different entries

... that Hakan Kıran, Turkish architect of the Golden Horn Metro Bridge, chose his profession because he was impressed by the concept of the town constructed by the French, in which he grew up? (February 14, 2014)
... that the 2011-opened Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar Literature Museum Library in Istanbul is housed in a building, which once served for Ottoman sultans to accept salutes during a military parade? (February 26, 2014)
... that when Turkey gave out personal identification numbers to their citizens in 2000, they chose to number all 120 million people born since 1840, living or dead? (November 11, 2009) Wikipedia:Recent additions 250
... that the Ottoman Bank, established as a private bank in 1856, became a central bank in 1863 and issued banknotes in the Ottoman Empire and then Turkey until 1931? (March 8, 2007) Wikipedia:Recent additions 125
... that as many as 150 people a year attempt to commit suicide by jumping from either the Bosporus Bridge or Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge in Turkey? (September 6, 2004) Wikipedia:Recent additions 14
... that Vakifli is the only ethnic Armenian village in Turkey? (February 26, 2007) Wikipedia:Recent additions 121
... that Arzu Karabulut currently plays for both German and Turkish football teams? (January 7, 2014)

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Selected picture

Image 1A Kocek
Image 2Rize
Image 3Kemer
Image 4Flag of Turkey, from flowers
Image 5A tram in Istanbul
Image 6Safranbolu
Image 7An airplane with a nazar boncuğu symbol that is said to offer protection from the "evil eye".
Image 8The Temple of Athena at Priene, an ancient site near Turunçlar in Aydın province.
Image 9Iznik, 16th-century vase
Image 10The ancient Lake Abant Nature Park in Bolu
Image 1118th-century Ottoman barber's apron
Image 12The tughra of Mahmud II. "Mahmud Han bin Abdulhamid muzaffer daima" ("Mahmud Khan son of Abdulhamid is forever victorious").
Image 13Cappadocia
Image 14The sun setting over the Golden Horn in the city of Istanbul.
Image 15Ölüdeniz
Image 16Mount Nemrut
Image 17Atatürk praying
Image 18A faculty of Sakarya University
Image 19Tarkan with Hungarian fans
Image 20the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne
Image 21Aydilge Sarp; Turkish singer, songwriter and novelist
Image 22Lahmacun
Image 23the Bosphorus Bridge
Image 24Antalya
Image 251. picture on portal: The prominent towers of Dayro d-Mor Gabriel; 15th December 2005
Image 26Lake Akdoğan in Muş
Image 27Tünel, Istanbul

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Atatürk in 1932

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, also known as Mustafa Kemal Pasha until 1921, and Ghazi Mustafa Kemal from 1921 until the Surname Law of 1934 (c. 1881 – 10 November 1938), was a Turkish field marshal, revolutionary statesman, author, and the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first president from 1923 until his death in 1938. He undertook sweeping progressive reforms, which modernized Turkey into a secular, industrializing nation. Ideologically a secularist and nationalist, his policies and socio-political theories became known as Kemalism (Atatürkism).

Atatürk came to prominence for his role in securing the Ottoman Turkish victory at the Battle of Gallipoli (1915) during World War I. During this time, the Ottoman Empire perpetrated genocides against its Greek, Armenian and Assyrian subjects; while never involved, Atatürk's role in their aftermath was the subject of discussion. Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, he led the Turkish National Movement, which resisted mainland Turkey's partition among the victorious Allied powers. Establishing a provisional government in the present-day Turkish capital Ankara (known in English at the time as Angora), he defeated the forces sent by the Allies, thus emerging victorious from what was later referred to as the Turkish War of Independence. He subsequently proceeded to abolish the sultanate in 1922 and proclaimed the foundation of the Turkish Republic in its place the following year. (Full article...)

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Burak Yılmaz Piri Reis Ahmet Necdet Sezer Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Alp Arslan Nureddin Pasha Tuncay Şanlı İsmet İnönü Sıla (singer) Orhan Pamuk Erol Gelenbe Kemal Derviş Hande Yener Sertab Erener Said Altınordu Tarkan (singer) Junayd of Aydın Daron Acemoglu

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Lake Bafa Nature Park, 2015

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Videos from Turkey on Wikimedia Commons

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“

Everything we see in the world is the creative work of women.

”

~ Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

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Turkish proverbs in Wikiquote

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Recognized content

	Alanya, Byzantine Empire, SMS Goeben, The Turk, List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, Istanbul, Italian War of 1521–1526, Italian War of 1542–1546, List of battleships of the Ottoman Empire, Rhodes blood libel
	2004 Istanbul summit, 2008 Turkish Grand Prix, Battle of Manzikert, Battle of Marash, Battle of Vaslui, Church of St. Polyeuctus, First Crusade, Great Zab, Hood event, Limyra Bridge, Siege of Szigetvár, Night Attack at Târgoviște, Third Perso-Turkic War, Walls of Constantinople, Gallipoli Campaign, Battle of Lone Pine