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Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly 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 (and Cyprus) 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; Istanbul is its largest city, and its economic and financial center, as well as the largest city in Europe. Other major cities include İzmir, Bursa and Antalya.

Human habitation began in 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 incoming Anatolian peoples. Increasing diversity during 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 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. After its defeat, the Ottoman Empire was partitioned. The Turkish War of Independence resulted in the abolition of the sultanate in 1922 and the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. 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 18th- or 11th-largest in the world. 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 universal healthcare, growing access to education, and increasing 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 fourth most visited country in the world. (Full article...)

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The Battle With Torches by Romanian painter Theodor Aman (1866)

The night attack at Târgoviște (Romanian: Atacul de noapte de la Târgoviște) was a battle fought between forces of Prince Vlad III of Wallachia, and Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire on Thursday, 17 June 1462. The battle started after Mehmed II, who already had tense relations with Vlad, discovered his alliance with Hungary's king Matthias Corvinus and ordered his forces to ambush him. Vlad foiled the attack and invaded Bulgaria. In response, Mehmed raised a great army with the objective to conquer Wallachia. The two leaders fought a series of skirmishes, the most notable one being the conflict where Vlad attacked the Turkish camp in the night in an attempt to kill Mehmed. The assassination attempt failed and Mehmed marched to the Wallachian capital of Târgoviște, where he found a few men with cannons. After leaving the capital, Mehmed discovered 23,844 impaled Turks whom Vlad had killed during his invasion of Bulgaria. The number is mentioned by Vlad himself in a letter to Matthias Corvinus. The sultan and his troops then sailed to Brăila and burned it to the ground before retreating to Adrianople. Mehmed's forces returned home with many captured slaves, horses, and cattle. (Full article...)

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General images

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

Image 1Istanbul Sapphire (2006–11) is the tallest building in Turkey and 4th in Europe. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 2Ankara Opera House, designed by Şevki Balmumcu (1933–34) and renovation by Paul Bonatz (1946–47). (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 3The 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 4Mount Nemrut, Adıyaman (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 5Map showing events of the first phases of the Greco-Persian Wars (from History of Turkey)
Image 6Anıtkabir designed by Emin Halid Onat and Ahmet Orhan Arda (1944–53) (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 7Beaches and marina of Kemer near Antalya on the Turkish Riviera (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 8Designed by Şekip Akalın, Ankara Central Station (1937) is a notable art deco design of its era. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 9Turkish delight (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 10An Oil wrestling tournament in Istanbul. This has been the national sport of Turkey since Ottoman times. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 11Map showing the Anatolian Plate, the North Anatolian Fault and East Anatolian Fault in Turkey. (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 12Interior of the Sultanahmet Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 13The Nation's Library of the Presidency, Ankara (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 14Karagöz and Hacivat are the lead characters of the traditional Turkish shadow play, popularized during the Ottoman period. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 15Ankara (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 16View from Levent district in Istanbul. Istanbul's skyline has changed especially since the early 2000s. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 17Map of the Hittite Empire at its greatest extent, with Hittite rule c. 1350–1300 BC represented by the green line (from History of Turkey)
Image 18Orhan Pamuk, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 19Turkish national basketball team won the silver medal in the 2010 FIBA World Championship. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 20Map of earthquakes in Turkey 1900–2023 (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 21Orhan Veli Kanık was the founder of the Garip Movement in Turkish poetry. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 22Lake Van (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 23Tevfik Fikret (1867–1915) was a prominent Turkish poet of the late Ottoman era. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 24Fazıl 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 25Mount Ararat (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 26The sultan of the golden age, Suleiman the Magnificent. (from History of Turkey)
Image 27Mehmed II enters Constantinople by Fausto Zonaro (from History of Turkey)
Image 28Mount Erciyes near Kayseri (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 29View of Beydağları Coastal National Park (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 30One of the main entrance gates of the Dolmabahçe Palace. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 31The Ottoman Empire in 1683, at the start of the Great Turkish War (1683–1699) (from History of Turkey)
Image 32A view from the interior of a traditional Turkish house, by John Frederick Lewis (1805–1875) (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 33A view of Levent from Kanlıca across the Bosporus (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 34Istanbul University Faculty of Science and Faculty of Literature Buildings (1944–52) designed by Sedad Hakkı Eldem and Emin Onat (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 35The Ishak Pasha Palace, Eastern Turkey. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 36Antalya (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 37Ortaköy Mosque in the first quarter of the 20th century (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 38Yalikavak Palmarina in Bodrum (2014) designed by Emre Arolat (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 39Originally 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 40Kaçkar Mountains (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 41Night view of the Taksim Mosque (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 42View of Dilek Peninsula-Büyük Menderes Delta National Park (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 43Sami Frashëri (1850–1904) and his wife Emine, May 1884. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 44The Fountain of Ahmed III is an iconic example of Tulip period architecture (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 45Map of the Lydian Kingdom in its final period of sovereignty under Croesus, c. 547 BC. (from History of Turkey)
Image 46Roosevelt, İnönü and Churchill at the Second Cairo Conference which was held between 4–6 December 1943. (from History of Turkey)
Image 47Adnan Menderes, İsmet İnönü, and the other members of the Parliament wearing a white tie and top hat. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 48Istanbul (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 49Namık Kemal was a prominent Turkish poet, novelist, playwright and journalist of the late-19th-century Ottoman Empire. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 50Recaizade Mahmud Ekrem (1847–1914) was another prominent Turkish poet of the late Ottoman era. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 51Topkapı Palace, Istanbul. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 52Butterfly Valley on the Turkish Riviera. (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 53Atatürk on the cover of the Time magazine, Vol. I No. 4, March 24, 1923. Title: "Mustapha Kemal Pasha" (from History of Turkey)
Image 54The Bath-Gymnasium complex at Sardis in Turkey. (from History of Turkey)
Image 55Turkish coffee (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 56First 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 57Köppen climate types of Turkey (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 58Thrace and the Thracian Odrysian kingdom in its maximum extent under Sitalces (431-424 BC) (from History of Turkey)

Did you know - show different entries

... that the 1621 Battle of Khotyn resulted directly in the death of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth leader, hetman Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, and indirectly in the death of the Ottoman Empire commander, sultan Osman II? (July 20, 2007) Wikipedia:Recent additions 155
... that several families of land gastropods reach a maximum of biodiversity in Turkey? (March 3, 2010)
... that the Brig "Mercury" Attacked by Two Turkish Ships
(pictured) was one of over 3,000 seascapes painted by Russian artist Ivan Aivazovsky? (August 10, 2007) Wikipedia:Recent additions 161
... that the Roman Catholic Church of St. Mary Draperis in Istanbul has been leveled by earthquake, forcibly demolished by the Ottoman Government, and destroyed three times by fire? (March 24, 2012)
... that the relics housed within the chapel near the Church of St. Mary of Blachernae in Istanbul were credited by the Byzantines for victories against the Avars, Arabs, and Rus? (July 15, 2008)
... that, when completed, the Deriner Dam will be the tallest in Turkey? (September 7, 2010)
... that after the Fall of Constantinople, the Ottomans demolished the Column of Justinian to symbolize their capture of the city? (December 10, 2007) Wikipedia:Recent additions 190

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Image 1The tughra of Mahmud II. "Mahmud Han bin Abdulhamid muzaffer daima" ("Mahmud Khan son of Abdulhamid is forever victorious").
Image 2the Bosphorus Bridge
Image 3The ancient Lake Abant Nature Park in Bolu
Image 4Antalya
Image 5Lahmacun
Image 6Tünel, Istanbul
Image 7The sun setting over the Golden Horn in the city of Istanbul.
Image 8Iznik, 16th-century vase
Image 91. picture on portal: The prominent towers of Dayro d-Mor Gabriel; 15th December 2005
Image 10Atatürk praying
Image 11A tram in Istanbul
Image 12Lake Akdoğan in Muş
Image 13Kemer
Image 14the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne
Image 15A Kocek
Image 16Cappadocia
Image 17Rize
Image 18The Temple of Athena at Priene, an ancient site near Turunçlar in Aydın province.
Image 19A faculty of Sakarya University
Image 20Ölüdeniz
Image 21Mount Nemrut
Image 2218th-century Ottoman barber's apron
Image 23Safranbolu
Image 24An airplane with a nazar boncuğu symbol that is said to offer protection from the "evil eye".
Image 25Aydilge Sarp; Turkish singer, songwriter and novelist
Image 26Flag of Turkey, from flowers
Image 27Tarkan with Hungarian fans

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Acemoglu in 2016

Kamer Daron Acemoğlu (Turkish: [daˈɾon aˈdʒemoːɫu]; born September 3, 1967) is a Turkish-born American economist who has taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 1993, where he is currently the Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics. He received the John Bates Clark Medal in 2005, and was named an Institute Professor at MIT in 2019.

Born to Armenian parents in Istanbul, Acemoglu received a BA from the University of York in 1989, and a PhD from the London School of Economics (LSE) in 1992. He lectured at LSE for a year before joining the Department of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was awarded the John Bates Clark Medal in 2005. Acemoglu is best known for his work on political economy. He has authored hundreds of papers, many of them with his long-time collaborators Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson. With Robinson, he co-authored the books Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy (2006) and Why Nations Fail (2012). The latter, an influential book on the role that institutions play in shaping nations' economic outcomes, receive wide scholarly and media attention. Described as a centrist, he believes in a regulated market economy. He regularly comments on political issues, economic inequality, and a variety of specific policies. (Full article...)

List of selected biographies
Burak Yılmaz Piri Reis Mustafa Kemal Atatürk 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

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U.S. President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey speak to the media after the two leaders met at the White House, December 7, 2009

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Videos from Turkey on Wikimedia Commons

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“

Today the Soviet Union is a friend and an ally. We need this friendship. However, no one can know what will happen tomorrow. Just like the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empires it may tear itself apart or shrink in size. The people that it holds so tightly in its grip may one day slip away. The world may see a new balance of power. It is then that Turkey must know what to do. Ally Soviets have under their control our brothers with whom we share language, beliefs and roots. We must be prepared to embrace them. Being ready does not mean that we will sit quietly and wait. We must get ready. How does a people get prepared for such an endeavour? By strengthening the natural bridges that exist between us. Language is a bridge... Religion is a bridge... History is a bridge... We must delve into our roots and reconstruct what history has divided. We can't wait for them to approach us. We must reach out to them.

”

29 October 1933 ~ 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