Portal:Turkey

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Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye [ˈtyɾcije]), officially the Republic of Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye Cumhuriyeti [ˈtyɾcije dʒumˈhuːɾijeti] (listen)), is a transcontinental country located mainly on Anatolia in Western Asia, with a portion on the Balkans in Southeast Europe. It shares borders with the Black Sea to the north; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran to the east; Iraq to the southeast; Syria the Mediterranean Sea to the south; the Aegean Sea to the west; and Greece and Bulgaria to the northwest. Cyprus is located off the south coast. Turks form the vast majority of the nation's population and Kurds are the largest minority. Ankara is Turkey's capital, while Istanbul is its largest city and financial centre.

One of the world's earliest permanently settled regions, present-day Turkey was home to important Neolithic sites like Göbekli Tepe, and was inhabited by ancient civilisations including the Hattians, Anatolian peoples, Mycenaean Greeks and others. Following the conquests of Alexander the Great which started the Hellenistic period, most of the ancient regions in modern Turkey were culturally Hellenised, which continued during the Byzantine era. The Seljuk Turks began migrating in the 11th century, and the Sultanate of Rum ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, when it disintegrated into small Turkish principalities. Beginning in the late 13th century, the Ottomans united the principalities and conquered the Balkans, and the Turkification of Anatolia increased during the Ottoman period. After Mehmed II conquered Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1453, Ottoman expansion continued under Selim I. During the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman Empire became a global power. From the late 18th century onwards, the empire's power declined with a gradual loss of territories. Mahmud II started a period of modernisation in the early 19th century. The Young Turk Revolution of 1908 restricted the authority of the Sultan and restored the Ottoman Parliament after a 30-year suspension, ushering the empire into a multi-party period. The 1913 coup d'état put the country under the control of the Three Pashas, who facilitated the Empire's entry into World War I as part of the Central Powers in 1914. During the war, the Ottoman government committed genocides against its Armenian, Greek and Assyrian subjects. After its defeat in the war, the Ottoman Empire was partitioned.

The Turkish War of Independence against the occupying Allied Powers resulted in the abolition of the Sultanate on 1 November 1922, the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne (which superseded the Treaty of Sèvres) on 24 July 1923 and the proclamation of the Republic on 29 October 1923. With the reforms initiated by the country's first president, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Turkey became a secular, unitary and parliamentary republic. Turkey played a prominent role in the Korean War and joined NATO in 1952. The country endured several military coups in the latter half of the 20th century. The economy was liberalised in the 1980s, leading to stronger economic growth and political stability. The parliamentary republic was replaced with a presidential system by referendum in 2017.

Turkey is a regional power and a newly industrialized country, with a geopolitically strategic location. Its economy, which is classified among the emerging and growth-leading economies, is the twentieth-largest in the world by nominal GDP, and the eleventh-largest by PPP. It is a charter member of the United Nations, an early member of NATO, the IMF, and the World Bank, and a founding member of the OECD, OSCE, BSEC, OIC, and G20. After becoming one of the early members of the Council of Europe in 1950, Turkey became an associate member of the EEC in 1963, joined the EU Customs Union in 1995, and started accession negotiations with the European Union in 2005. Turkey has a rich cultural legacy shaped by centuries of history and the influence of the various peoples that have inhabited its territory over several millennia; it is home to 19 UNESCO World Heritage Sites and is among the most visited countries in the world. (Full article...)

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Plumes of smoke rising from Smyrna on 14 September 1922

The burning of Smyrna (Greek: Καταστροφή της Σμύρνης, "Smyrna Catastrophe"; Turkish: 1922 İzmir Yangını, "1922 Izmir Fire"; Armenian: Զմիւռնիոյ Մեծ Հրդեհ, Zmyuṙno Mets Hrdeh) destroyed much of the port city of Smyrna (modern İzmir, Turkey) in September 1922. Eyewitness reports state that the fire began on 13 September 1922 and lasted until it was largely extinguished on 22 September. It began four days after the Turkish military captured the city on 9 September, effectively ending the Greco-Turkish War, more than three years after the landing of Greek army troops at Smyrna on 15 May 1919. Estimated Greek and Armenian deaths resulting from the fire range from 10,000 to 125,000.

Approximately 80,000 to 400,000 Greek and Armenian refugees crammed the waterfront to escape from the fire. They were forced to remain there under harsh conditions for nearly two weeks. Turkish troops and irregulars had started committing massacres and atrocities against the Greek and Armenian population in the city before the outbreak of the fire. Many women were raped. Tens of thousands of Greek and Armenian men were subsequently deported into the interior of Anatolia, where most of them died in harsh conditions. (Full article...)

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General images

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

Image 1Beaches and marina of Kemer near Antalya on the Turkish Riviera (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 2First 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 3Turkish Delight (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 5Ankara Opera House, designed by Şevki Balmumcu (1933–34) and renovation by Paul Bonatz (1946–47). (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 6Karagöz and Hacivat are the lead characters of the traditional Turkish shadow play, popularized during the Ottoman period. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 7Orhan Pamuk, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 8Nuri Bilge Ceylan won a number of awards in the annual Cannes Film Festival, including the best director award at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival for his film Üç Maymun ("Three Monkeys"). He has also won five FIPRESCI awards. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 9Antalya (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 10Interior of the Şakirin Mosque (2005–09) (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 11Köppen climate types of Turkey (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 12Orhan Veli Kanık was the founder of the Garip Movement in Turkish poetry. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 13Kaçkar Mountains (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 14View of Dilek Peninsula-Büyük Menderes Delta National Park (from Geography 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 Ishak Pasha Palace, Eastern Turkey. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 17View from Maslak district in Istanbul. Istanbul's skyline has changed especially since the early 2000s. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 18One of the main entrance gates of the Dolmabahçe Palace. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 19Mount Erciyes near Kayseri (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 20Mount Ararat (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 21A view from the interior of a traditional Turkish house, by John Frederick Lewis (1805–1875) (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 22Ahmed Hamdi Akseki Mosque (2013) (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 23Topographic map of Turkey (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 24Topkapı Palace, Istanbul. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 25Istanbul (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 26Turkish national basketball team won the silver medal in the 2010 FIBA World Championship. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 27Aynalıkavak Palace (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 28Istanbul and the Bosphorus (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 29Roosevelt, İnönü and Churchill at the Second Cairo Conference which was held between 4–6 December 1943. (from History of Turkey)
Image 30View of Bursa from the hills near Mount Uludağ, the ancient Mysian Olympus (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 31Anıtkabir designed by Emin Halid Onat and Ahmet Orhan Arda (1944–53) (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 32Designed by Şekip Akalın, Ankara Central Station (1937) is a notable art deco design of its era. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 33Sami Frashëri (1850–1904) and his wife Emine, May 1884. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 34Interior of the Sultanahmet Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 35Mehmed II enters Constantinople by Fausto Zonaro (from History of Turkey)
Image 36Ankara (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 37Thrace and the Thracian Odrysian kingdom in its maximum extent under Sitalces (431-424 BC) (from History of Turkey)
Image 38Fazıl 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 39Map showing the Anatolian Plate, the North Anatolian Fault and East Anatolian Fault in Turkey. (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 40An Oil wrestling tournament in Istanbul. This has been the national sport of Turkey since Ottoman times. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 41Skycrapers in Levent district of Istanbul (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 42Istanbul University Faculty of Science and Faculty of Literature Buildings (1944–52) designed by Sedad Hakkı Eldem and Emin Onat (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 43Turkish coffee (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 44Istanbul Sapphire (2006–11) is the tallest building in Turkey and 4th in Europe. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 45Tevfik Fikret (1867–1915) was a prominent Turkish poet of the late Ottoman era. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 46Recaizade Mahmud Ekrem (1847–1914) was another prominent Turkish poet of the late Ottoman era. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 47Map of earthquakes in Turkey 1900–2017 (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 48The sultan of the golden age, Suleiman the Magnificent. (from History of Turkey)
Image 49Şakirin Mosque (2005–09) (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 50Fault lines and earthquakes (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 51Isbank Tower 1 (1995–2000) in Levent district of Istanbul (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 52Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938) (from History of Turkey)
Image 53Members of the Bayar cabinet wearing a white tie and top hat. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 54Esenboğa International Airport, Ankara (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 55View of Beydağları Coastal National Park (from Geography of Turkey)

Did you know - show different entries

... that so far, 350,000 people have been relocated in Turkey by dam projects carried out by the State Hydraulic Works, and 250,000 more will be affected in the future? (January 31, 2008) Wikipedia:Recent additions 202
... that Turkish-German professional boxer Hülya Şahin, the undefeated junior flyweight world champion, is the only female member of her club Universum? (September 21, 2007) Wikipedia:Recent additions 167
... that Süreyya Opera House in Istanbul, built in 1927 as a musical theater but used all the time as a cinema, gained its intended status only in 2007 after redevelopment? (October 30, 2008) Wikipedia:Recent additions 234
... that former Turkish Minister of Customs and Monopolies, Tuncay Mataracı, was sentenced in 1982 to a 36-year term of imprisonment for bribery and abuse of power? (February 24, 2014)
... that local boyars protested against the Russian annexation of Bessarabia after the Russo-Turkish War in 1812, arguing that the Ottoman Empire had no right to cede a Moldavian territory that was not theirs in the first place? (February 3, 2008) Wikipedia:Recent additions 203

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Image 1Tünel, Istanbul
Image 2Cappadocia
Image 3Safranbolu
Image 418th-century Ottoman barber's apron
Image 5The ancient Lake Abant Nature Park in Bolu
Image 6the Bosphorus Bridge
Image 7Ölüdeniz
Image 8Antalya
Image 9Atatürk praying
Image 10Iznik, 16th-century vase
Image 11Rize
Image 12Kemer
Image 13A Kocek
Image 14Hrant Dink funeral
Image 15the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne
Image 161. picture on portal: The prominent towers of Dayro d-Mor Gabriel; 15th December 2005
Image 17Lahmacun
Image 18An airplane with a nazar boncuğu symbol that is said to offer protection from the "evil eye".
Image 19Yagli gures
Image 20Male Bellydancer in Istanbul
Image 21Tarkan with Hungarian fans
Image 22The tughra of Mahmud II. "Mahmud Han bin Abdulhamid muzaffer daima" ("Mahmud Khan son of Abdulhamid is forever victorious").
Image 23A tram in Istanbul
Image 24Aydilge Sarp; Turkish singer, songwriter and novelist
Image 25The Temple of Athena at Priene, an ancient site near Turunçlar in Aydın province.
Image 26The sun setting over the Golden Horn in the city of Istanbul.
Image 27Flag of Turkey, from flowers
Image 28A faculty of Sakarya University

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Statue of Piri Reis

Ahmet Muhiddin Piri (c. 1465 – 1553), better known as Piri Reis (Ottoman Turkish: حاجي أحمد محيتين پيري بك; Turkish: Pîrî Reis or Hacı Ahmet Muhittin Pîrî Bey), was a navigator, geographer and cartographer. He is primarily known today for his maps and charts collected in his Kitab-ı Bahriye (Book of Navigation), a book that contains detailed information on early navigational techniques as well as relatively accurate charts for their time, describing the important ports and cities of the Mediterranean Sea.

He gained fame as a cartographer when a small part of his first world map, prepared in 1513, was discovered in 1929 at the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul. His world map is the oldest known Turkish atlas showing the New World, and one of the oldest maps of America still existing anywhere (the oldest known surviving map of America is the map drawn by Juan de la Cosa in 1500). Piri Reis' map is centered on the Sahara at the latitude of the Tropic of Cancer. (Full article...)

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Burak Yılmaz Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Ahmet Necdet Sezer Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Fethullah Gülen 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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Ephesus was an ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, three kilometres southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey

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Videos from Turkey on Wikimedia Commons

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“

A satiated man doesn't know what's hunger, a healthy man doesn't know what's disease.

”

Turkish proverb

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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