Portal:Turkey

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Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively 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 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 economic center. Other major cities include İzmir, Bursa, and Antalya.

First inhabited by modern humans during the Late Paleolithic, present-day Turkey was home to various ancient peoples. The Hattians were assimilated by the Hittites and other Anatolian peoples. Classical Anatolia transitioned into cultural Hellenization after Alexander the Great's conquests, and later Romanization 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 (modern-day 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 changes, reforms, centralization, and rising nationalism 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. Turkey emerged as a more homogenous nation state. The Republic was proclaimed on 29 October 1923, modelled on the reforms initiated by its founder and 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 16th-largest by nominal and 11th-largest by PPP-adjusted GDP. As the 15th-largest electricity producer in the world, Turkey aims to become a hub for regional energy transportation. 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 NATO member and has its second-largest military force. It may be recognized as an emerging, a middle, and a regional power. As an EU candidate, Turkey is part of the EU Customs Union.

Turkey has coastal plains, a high central plateau, and various mountain ranges with rising elevation eastwards. Turkey's climate is diverse, ranging from Mediterranean and other temperate climates to semi-arid and continental types. 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 numerous UNESCO World Heritage sites and 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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View of Mount Erciyes from Kayseri

Mount Erciyes (Turkish: Erciyes Dağı) is an inactive volcano in Kayseri Province, Turkey. It is a large stratovolcano surrounded by many monogenetic vents and lava domes, and one maar. The bulk of the volcano is formed by lava flows of andesitic and dacitic composition. At some time in the past, part of the summit collapsed towards the east.

The volcano began to form in the Miocene. At first, a volcano farther east named Koç Dağ formed from lava flows. Then, again to the east, large explosive eruptions formed a caldera. During the Pleistocene, Mount Erciyes proper grew inside the caldera together with a group of lava domes. Lateral eruptions of Erciyes may have generated ash layers in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean during the early Holocene. (Full article...)

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General images

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

Image 1Mount Ararat (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 2Designed by Şekip Akalın, Ankara Central Station (1937) is a notable art deco design of its era. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 3View of Dilek Peninsula-Büyük Menderes Delta National Park (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 4Istanbul Sapphire (2006–11) is the tallest building in Turkey and 4th in Europe. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 5Tevfik Fikret (1867–1915) was a prominent Turkish poet of the late Ottoman era. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 6Orhan Pamuk, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 7Ankara (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 8Orhan Veli Kanık was the founder of the Garip Movement in Turkish poetry. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 9Fazıl 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 10Köppen climate types of Turkey (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 11Istanbul (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 12Antalya (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 13Beaches and marina of Kemer near Antalya on the Turkish Riviera. (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 14The 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 15View from Levent district in Istanbul. Istanbul's skyline has changed especially since the early 2000s. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 16The Nation's Library of the Presidency, Ankara (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 17First 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 18Mount Nemrut, Adıyaman (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 19Night view of the Taksim Mosque (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 20Turkish national basketball team won the silver medal in the 2010 FIBA World Championship. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 21Lake Van (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 22Kaçkar Mountains. (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 23Entrance portal of the Karatay Madrasa in Konya (c. 1251) (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 24Namık Kemal was a prominent Turkish poet, novelist, playwright and journalist of the late-19th-century Ottoman Empire. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 25Map showing events of the first phases of the Greco-Persian Wars (from History of Turkey)
Image 26Istanbul LGBT Pride 2013 at Taksim Square during Gezi Park protests (from History of Turkey)
Image 27Regions of Roman Anatolia (from History of Turkey)
Image 28The sultan of the golden age, Suleiman the Magnificent. (from History of Turkey)
Image 29Sami Frashëri (1850–1904) and his wife Emine, May 1884. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 30Map of earthquakes in Turkey 1900–2023 (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 31Map of Istanbul by the miniature artist Matrakçı Nasuh (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 32Karagöz and Hacivat are the lead characters of Turkish shadow play, popularized during the Ottoman period. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 33Turkish delight (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 34Ankara Opera House, designed by Şevki Balmumcu (1933–34) and renovation by Paul Bonatz (1946–47). (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 35Mehmed II enters Constantinople by Fausto Zonaro (from History of Turkey)
Image 36An oil wrestling tournament in Istanbul. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 37Thrace and the Thracian Odrysian kingdom in its maximum extent under Sitalces (431-424 BC) (from History of Turkey)
Image 38Mount Erciyes near Kayseri (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 39Butterfly Valley on the Turkish Riviera. (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 40A view of Levent from Kanlıca across the Bosporus. (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 41Originally 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 42Turkish coffee (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 43Roosevelt, İnönü and Churchill at the Second Cairo Conference which was held between 4–6 December 1943. (from History of Turkey)
Image 44Bronze Age Anatolia (from History of Turkey)
Image 45Istanbul University Faculty of Science and Faculty of Literature Buildings (1944–52) designed by Sedad Hakkı Eldem and Emin Onat (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 47Visit of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany to Turkey in October 1917. Together with the Mehmed V and Enver Pasha (from History of Turkey)
Image 48View of Beydağları Coastal National Park (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 49Atatürk on the cover of the Time magazine, Vol. I No. 4, March 24, 1923. Title: "Mustapha Kemal Pasha" (from History of Turkey)
Image 50Anıtkabir designed by Emin Halid Onat and Ahmet Orhan Arda (1944–53) (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 51Map showing the Anatolian Plate, the North Anatolian Fault and East Anatolian Fault in Turkey. (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 52Selimiye Mosque in Edirne (1568–1574) (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 53The Ottoman Empire in 1683, at the start of the Great Turkish War (1683–1699) (from History of Turkey)
Image 54Yalikavak Palmarina in Bodrum (2014) designed by Emre Arolat (from Culture of Turkey)

Did you know - show different entries

... that the Galatasaray S.K. has origins from the Ottoman Empire era? (December 4, 2007) Wikipedia:Recent additions 190
... that Yavuz Yapıcıoğlu, nicknamed the "Screwdriver Killer", is the serial killer with the highest known victim count in Turkey? (March 22, 2014)
... that Turkish female aviator Nezihe Viranyalı was educated in civil aviation at the University of Tennessee following an invitation by the renowned American pilot Jacqueline Cochran? (January 2, 2009) Wikipedia:Recent additions 238
... 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
... 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 the remains of the Bogdan Saray in Istanbul lie inside a tire shop? (April 13, 2012)
... 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

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Image 1The sun setting over the Golden Horn in the city of Istanbul.
Image 2Safranbolu
Image 3Tünel, Istanbul
Image 4The Temple of Athena at Priene, an ancient site near Turunçlar in Aydın province.
Image 5Aydilge Sarp; Turkish singer, songwriter and novelist
Image 6The tughra of Mahmud II. "Mahmud Han bin Abdulhamid muzaffer daima" ("Mahmud Khan son of Abdulhamid is forever victorious").
Image 7Mount Nemrut
Image 8the Bosphorus Bridge
Image 9Tarkan with Hungarian fans
Image 10Cappadocia
Image 11Rize
Image 12Ölüdeniz
Image 13A Kocek
Image 1418th-century Ottoman barber's apron
Image 15Flag of Turkey, from flowers
Image 16A tram in Istanbul
Image 17Kemer
Image 18Lahmacun
Image 19Lake Akdoğan in Muş
Image 20Atatürk praying
Image 21A faculty of Sakarya University
Image 22Iznik, 16th-century vase
Image 23The ancient Lake Abant Nature Park in Bolu
Image 241. picture on portal: The prominent towers of Dayro d-Mor Gabriel; 15th December 2005
Image 25An airplane with a nazar boncuğu symbol that is said to offer protection from the "evil eye".
Image 26Antalya
Image 27the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne

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Statue of Piri Reis in Karaman, Turkey

Piri Reis (Turkish: Pîrî Reis; born Muhiddin Piri; c. 1470–1553) was an Ottoman Turkish cartographer, admiral, navigator, and corsair. He is best known for his 1513 world map and his nautical atlas, the Kitab-ı Bahriye (Book of the Sea). His maps combined classical sources, his own seafaring knowledge, and information from new European discoveries. The 1513 world map drew international attention when rediscovered centuries later during renovations to the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul because it includes details from a now-lost map by Christopher Columbus.

He began his maritime career sailing with his uncle, the corsair Kemal Reis, with whom he entered Ottoman naval service. He later commanded his own ship in the Ottoman–Venetian wars and, following his uncle’s death, began the cartographic work for which he became best known. Returning to the fleet by 1516, he took part in the Ottoman conquest of Egypt. He presented his world maps and atlases as gifts to the Ottoman Sultan, and commanded a small group of ships in naval operations in the eastern Mediterranean. Later, as grand admiral of the Ottoman fleet in the Indian Ocean, Piri Reis led successful campaigns in the Red Sea, but was executed following his retreat from the siege of Hormuz Island at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. (Full article...)

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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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“

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