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. 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 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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View overlooking the main excavation area of Göbekli Tepe

Göbekli Tepe (Turkish: [ɟœbecˈli teˈpe], 'Potbelly Hill'; Kurdish: Girê Mirazan or Xerabreşkê, 'Wish Hill') is a Neolithic archaeological site in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. The settlement was inhabited from around 9500 BCE to at least 8000 BCE, during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic. It is famous for its large circular structures that contain massive stone pillars – among the world's oldest known megaliths. Many of these pillars are decorated with anthropomorphic details, clothing, and sculptural reliefs of wild animals, providing archaeologists rare insights into prehistoric religion and the particular iconography of the period. The 15 m (50 ft) high, 8 ha (20-acre) tell is densely covered with ancient domestic structures and other small buildings, quarries, and stone-cut cisterns from the Neolithic, as well as some traces of activity from later periods.

Current excavators interpret Göbekli Tepe as a settlement, based on recent findings such as domestic structures and features, water supply installations, and Neolithic tools associated with domestic use. The site's original excavator Klaus Schmidt had described it as a sanctuary used by groups of nomadic hunter-gatherers from a wide area, with few or no permanent inhabitants. (Full article...)

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General images

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

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

Did you know - show different entries

... that Alpamysh, an ancient Turkic epic or dastan, is one of the foremost examples of the Turkic oral literature of Central Asia? (April 3, 2007) Wikipedia:Recent additions 131
... that the Xhosa Wars veteran Stephen Bartlett Lakeman
(pictured) became an Ottoman pasha and, late in his life, helped create the Romanian National Liberal Party? (June 5, 2007) Wikipedia:Recent additions 145
... that the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, one of the largest covered markets in the world, attracts between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily? (March 19, 2012)
... that the Senyavin Islands of Micronesia were named after Dmitry Senyavin, who destroyed the Ottoman fleet in the Battle of Athos in 1807? (April 22, 2006) Wikipedia:Recent additions 63
... that before its restoration the Kasim Ağa Mosque in Istanbul was used as a shanty? (April 7, 2012)
... that Vakifli is the only ethnic Armenian village in Turkey? (February 26, 2007) Wikipedia:Recent additions 121
... the Ionian University of Smyrna, established in Turkey by Greece during the occupation of Smyrna, was never opened due to latter's defeat in the Greco-Turkish War? (June 18, 2011)

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Image 1A tram in Istanbul
Image 2the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne
Image 31. picture on portal: The prominent towers of Dayro d-Mor Gabriel; 15th December 2005
Image 4A Kocek
Image 5Mount Nemrut
Image 6the Bosphorus Bridge
Image 7Tarkan with Hungarian fans
Image 8Safranbolu
Image 9The sun setting over the Golden Horn in the city of Istanbul.
Image 10Kemer
Image 11Lahmacun
Image 12Flag of Turkey, from flowers
Image 13Atatürk praying
Image 14The ancient Lake Abant Nature Park in Bolu
Image 15Ölüdeniz
Image 16Antalya
Image 17Iznik, 16th-century vase
Image 18An airplane with a nazar boncuğu symbol that is said to offer protection from the "evil eye".
Image 19Lake Akdoğan in Muş
Image 2018th-century Ottoman barber's apron
Image 21Tünel, Istanbul
Image 22Rize
Image 23The Temple of Athena at Priene, an ancient site near Turunçlar in Aydın province.
Image 24Aydilge Sarp; Turkish singer, songwriter and novelist
Image 25Cappadocia
Image 26A faculty of Sakarya University
Image 27The tughra of Mahmud II. "Mahmud Han bin Abdulhamid muzaffer daima" ("Mahmud Khan son of Abdulhamid is forever victorious").

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Pamuk in 2009

Ferit Orhan Pamuk (born 7 June 1952; Turkish pronunciation: [feˈɾit oɾˈhan paˈmuk]) is a Turkish novelist, screenwriter, academic, and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. One of Turkey's most prominent novelists, he has sold over 13 million books in 63 languages, making him the country's best-selling writer.

Pamuk's novels include Silent House, The White Castle, The Black Book, The New Life, My Name Is Red and Snow. He is the Robert Yik-Fong Tam Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University, where he teaches writing and comparative literature. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2018. (Full article...)

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Burak Yılmaz Piri Reis Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Ahmet Necdet Sezer Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Alp Arslan Nureddin Pasha Tuncay Şanlı İsmet İnönü Sıla (singer) 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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“

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