Portal:Turkey

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Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a small 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. 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. The Hattians were assimilated by the Anatolian peoples, such as the Hittites. 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 Constantinople (now known as 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. Several military interventions interfered with the transition to a multi-party system.

Turkey is an upper-middle-income and emerging country; its economy is the world's 17th-largest by nominal and 12th-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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Turkey sent a delegation to compete at the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, Russia, held between 7–16 March 2014. This marked the nation's first participation in the Winter Paralympic Games. Turkey sent two athletes; Mehmet Çekiç and Hilmi Esat Bayindirli; both were competitors in alpine skiing. The nation's best finish in any event was 18th, by Bayindirli in the men's sitting giant slalom. (Full article...)

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General images

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

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

Did you know - show different entries

... that SantralIstanbul, a modern art museum in Istanbul, Turkey, is located in what was the first power station of the Ottoman Empire? (November 22, 2007) Wikipedia:Recent additions 189
... that Cold War-era spy Hüseyin Yıldırım, sentenced to life without parole in the United States, was later pardoned and secretly extradited to Turkey, where he stayed only one day in prison? (April 2, 2014)
... that the prices of goods in the Phrygian city of Aizanoi were controlled by an edict of Roman emperor Diocletian? (May 18, 2012)
... that the ticket lottery site for the December 2007 Ahmet Ertegün Tribute Concert featuring Led Zeppelin, crashed due to over a billion page views of fans seeking to purchase the 20,000 tickets on sale? (January 8, 2008) Wikipedia:Recent additions 198
... that the house in Tekirdağ, Turkey, where Hungarian national hero Francis II Rákóczi spent his last years, is a museum now and is regarded as a cultural bridge between the two countries? (January 16, 2011)
... that the remains of the Bogdan Saray in Istanbul lie inside a tire shop? (April 13, 2012)
... that during the Ottoman–Venetian War of 1570–1573, the 8,500-strong Venetian garrison of Famagusta in Cyprus held out for eleven months against an Ottoman army of 200,000 men? (December 13, 2008) Wikipedia:Recent additions 236

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Image 1Aydilge Sarp; Turkish singer, songwriter and novelist
Image 21. picture on portal: The prominent towers of Dayro d-Mor Gabriel; 15th December 2005
Image 3the Bosphorus Bridge
Image 4Antalya
Image 5Atatürk praying
Image 6A Kocek
Image 7Tünel, Istanbul
Image 8Lake Akdoğan in Muş
Image 9Cappadocia
Image 1018th-century Ottoman barber's apron
Image 11The ancient Lake Abant Nature Park in Bolu
Image 12Ölüdeniz
Image 13A tram in Istanbul
Image 14Iznik, 16th-century vase
Image 15Lahmacun
Image 16Tarkan with Hungarian fans
Image 17The tughra of Mahmud II. "Mahmud Han bin Abdulhamid muzaffer daima" ("Mahmud Khan son of Abdulhamid is forever victorious").
Image 18Mount Nemrut
Image 19A faculty of Sakarya University
Image 20The Temple of Athena at Priene, an ancient site near Turunçlar in Aydın province.
Image 21Flag of Turkey, from flowers
Image 22The sun setting over the Golden Horn in the city of Istanbul.
Image 23the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne
Image 24Kemer
Image 25Safranbolu
Image 26An airplane with a nazar boncuğu symbol that is said to offer protection from the "evil eye".
Image 27Rize

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Statue of Piri Reis

Muhiddin Piri (c. 1470 – 1553), better known as Piri Reis (Turkish: Pîrî Reis), was an Ottoman cartographer, admiral, navigator, corsair, and geographer. He is primarily known today for his cartographic works, including his 1513 world map and the Kitab-ı Bahriye (Book of the Sea), a book with detailed information on early navigational techniques as well as relatively accurate charts for their time, describing the ports and cities of the Mediterranean Sea.

He was born in Gallipoli—a major Ottoman naval base—and sailed from an early age with his uncle Kemal Reis. They fought as corsairs in the Western Mediterranean until they were brought into the Ottoman Navy. Piri Reis fought alongside Kemal Reis in the Ottoman–Venetian wars. When his uncle died in 1511, Piri Reis returned to Gallipoli to begin his cartographic works. He created his first world map and likely began drafting the charts and notes that would form the basis of the Kitab-ı Bahriye. By 1516, he returned to the navy and took part in the Ottoman conquest of Egypt. After their victory, he presented the world map to Sultan Selim I. When Suleiman the Magnificent became sultan, Piri Reis completed the first version of the Kitab-ı Bahriye, which he dedicated and gifted to the sultan by 1521. Several years later, he created a more elaborate version at the urging of Grand Vizier Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha. His final surviving work is a 1528 world map, of which only the northwest corner remains (showing Greenland, Labrador, Newfoundland, Florida, Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Central America). (Full article...)

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Burak Yılmaz 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 Daron Acemoglu

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Video shot in Goreme in Cappadocia showing the terrain

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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