Portal:Turkey

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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 Anatolian peoples. 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. 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. 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 world's 18th-largest by nominal and 11th-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 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 fifth most visited country in the world. (Full article...)

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Map of the Turkish people around the world

Turkish people or Turks (Turkish: Türkler) are the largest Turkic people who speak various dialects of the Turkish language and form a majority in Turkey and Northern Cyprus. In addition, centuries-old ethnic Turkish communities still live across other former territories of the Ottoman Empire. Article 66 of the Turkish Constitution defines a Turk as anyone who is a citizen of Turkey. While the legal use of the term Turkish as it pertains to a citizen of Turkey is different from the term's ethnic definition, the majority of the Turkish population (an estimated 70 to 75 percent) are of Turkish ethnicity. The vast majority of Turks are Muslims and follow the Sunni faith.

The ethnic Turks can therefore be distinguished by a number of cultural and regional variants, but do not function as separate ethnic groups. In particular, the culture of the Anatolian Turks in Asia Minor has underlain and influenced the Turkish nationalist ideology. Other Turkish groups include the Rumelian Turks (also referred to as Balkan Turks) historically located in the Balkans; Turkish Cypriots on the island of Cyprus, Meskhetian Turks originally based in Meskheti, Georgia; and ethnic Turkish people across the Middle East, where they are also called Turkmen or Turkoman in the Levant (e.g. Iraqi Turkmen, Syrian Turkmen, Lebanese Turkmen, etc.). Consequently, the Turks form the largest minority group in Bulgaria, the second largest minority group in Iraq, Libya, North Macedonia, and Syria, and the third largest minority group in Kosovo. They also form substantial communities in the Western Thrace region of Greece, the Dobruja region of Romania, the Akkar region in Lebanon, as well as minority groups in other post-Ottoman Balkan and Middle Eastern countries. The mass immigration of Turks also led to them forming the largest ethnic minority group in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands. There are also Turkish communities in other parts of Europe as well as in North America, Australia and the Post-Soviet states. Turks are the 13th largest ethnic group in the world. (Full article...)

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General images

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

Image 1Yalikavak Palmarina in Bodrum (2014) designed by Emre Arolat (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 2Map 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 3Orhan Pamuk, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 4Lake Van (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 5Köppen climate types of Turkey (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 6Turkish coffee (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 7View of Beydağları Coastal National Park (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 8Orhan Veli Kanık was the founder of the Garip Movement in Turkish poetry. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 9Mehmed II enters Constantinople by Fausto Zonaro (from History of Turkey)
Image 10Map showing events of the first phases of the Greco-Persian Wars (from History of Turkey)
Image 11Adnan Menderes, İsmet İnönü, and the other members of the Parliament wearing a white tie and top hat. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 12The Nation's Library of the Presidency, Ankara (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 13Beaches and marina of Kemer near Antalya on the Turkish Riviera (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 14View from Levent district in Istanbul. Istanbul's skyline has changed especially since the early 2000s. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 15Thrace and the Thracian Odrysian kingdom in its maximum extent under Sitalces (431-424 BC) (from History of Turkey)
Image 16Mount Nemrut, Adıyaman (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 17Fazıl 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 18Karagöz and Hacivat are the lead characters of the traditional Turkish shadow play, popularized during the Ottoman period. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 19An Oil wrestling tournament in Istanbul. This has been the national sport of Turkey since Ottoman times. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 20Entrance portal of the Karatay Madrasa in Konya (c. 1251) (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 21Ankara (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 22Tevfik Fikret (1867–1915) was a prominent Turkish poet of the late Ottoman era. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 23Anıtkabir designed by Emin Halid Onat and Ahmet Orhan Arda (1944–53) (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 24Istanbul University Faculty of Science and Faculty of Literature Buildings (1944–52) designed by Sedad Hakkı Eldem and Emin Onat (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 25Night view of the Taksim Mosque (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 26Atatürk on the cover of the Time magazine, Vol. I No. 4, March 24, 1923. Title: "Mustapha Kemal Pasha" (from History of Turkey)
Image 27View of Dilek Peninsula-Büyük Menderes Delta National Park (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 28Ankara Opera House, designed by Şevki Balmumcu (1933–34) and renovation by Paul Bonatz (1946–47). (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 29Recaizade Mahmud Ekrem (1847–1914) was another prominent Turkish poet of the late Ottoman era. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 30Originally 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 31Mount Erciyes near Kayseri (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 32Antalya (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 33Istanbul (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 34Map of earthquakes in Turkey 1900–2023 (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 35Designed by Şekip Akalın, Ankara Central Station (1937) is a notable art deco design of its era. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 36Istanbul Sapphire (2006–11) is the tallest building in Turkey and 4th in Europe. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 37Namık Kemal was a prominent Turkish poet, novelist, playwright and journalist of the late-19th-century Ottoman Empire. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 38Kaçkar Mountains (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 39Butterfly Valley on the Turkish Riviera. (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 40Map showing the Anatolian Plate, the North Anatolian Fault and East Anatolian Fault in Turkey. (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 41A view of Levent from Kanlıca across the Bosporus (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 42The Bath-Gymnasium complex at Sardis in Turkey. (from History of Turkey)
Image 43The 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 44First 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 45Turkish delight (from Culture 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 47Mount Ararat (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 48Map of the Lydian Kingdom in its final period of sovereignty under Croesus, c. 547 BC. (from History of Turkey)
Image 49The sultan of the golden age, Suleiman the Magnificent. (from History of Turkey)
Image 50Turkish national basketball team won the silver medal in the 2010 FIBA World Championship. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 51Selimiye Mosque in Edirne (1568–1574) (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 52Sami Frashëri (1850–1904) and his wife Emine, May 1884. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 53The Ottoman Empire in 1683, at the start of the Great Turkish War (1683–1699) (from History of Turkey)

Did you know - show different entries

... that in Rose Macaulay's novel The Towers of Trebizond (1956) the English traveller Aunt Dot aims to emancipate the women of Turkey by converting them to Anglicanism and popularizing the bathing hat? (November 19, 2007) Wikipedia:Recent additions 188
... that Turkish Army's Güvercinlik Air Base was the first civil airport of Ankara that served as such from 1933 until 1955? (October 6, 2010)
... that after being deposed by his brotherAbdul Hamid II, Ottoman sultan Murad V was detained in the Malta Pavilion? (December 16, 2008) Wikipedia:Recent additions 236
... that, when completed, the Deriner Dam will be the tallest in Turkey? (September 7, 2010)
... that the Declaration to the Seven was the first British pronouncement to the Arab states of the former Ottoman Empire advancing the principle of national self-determination? (April 13, 2007) Wikipedia:Recent additions 133
... that the Fenari Isa Mosque
(pictured) in Istanbul represents one of the first examples of edifices with a quincuncial plan in Byzantine architecture? (March 17, 2007) Wikipedia:Recent additions 128
... that Turkish record label Kalan Müzik was suspended for a song with the word "Kurdistan" in it? (September 1, 2007) Wikipedia:Recent additions 166

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Image 1Flag of Turkey, from flowers
Image 2Mount Nemrut
Image 3The Temple of Athena at Priene, an ancient site near Turunçlar in Aydın province.
Image 4The tughra of Mahmud II. "Mahmud Han bin Abdulhamid muzaffer daima" ("Mahmud Khan son of Abdulhamid is forever victorious").
Image 5Antalya
Image 6Iznik, 16th-century vase
Image 7The ancient Lake Abant Nature Park in Bolu
Image 818th-century Ottoman barber's apron
Image 9Lahmacun
Image 10Atatürk praying
Image 11A faculty of Sakarya University
Image 12Kemer
Image 13Lake Akdoğan in Muş
Image 14Cappadocia
Image 15Tünel, Istanbul
Image 16Tarkan with Hungarian fans
Image 171. picture on portal: The prominent towers of Dayro d-Mor Gabriel; 15th December 2005
Image 18The sun setting over the Golden Horn in the city of Istanbul.
Image 19Aydilge Sarp; Turkish singer, songwriter and novelist
Image 20Rize
Image 21An airplane with a nazar boncuğu symbol that is said to offer protection from the "evil eye".
Image 22the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne
Image 23A tram in Istanbul
Image 24Ölüdeniz
Image 25Safranbolu
Image 26A Kocek
Image 27the Bosphorus Bridge

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Juneyd or Junayd Bey (Turkish: İzmiroğlu Cüneyd; fl. before 1402 – 1425) was the last ruler (bey) of the Aydınid principality in what is now central western Turkey. His exact relationship with the Aydınid dynasty is unclear. His father was a long-time and popular governor of Smyrna under the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I. This allowed Junayd to consistently rely on the loyalty of the area's populace.

Bayezid was defeated by Timur at the Battle of Ankara, beginning a civil war for succession between his sons – a period known as the "Ottoman Interregnum". Taking advantage of the situation, Junayd attacked the Aydınid brothers, Isa and Umur II, who had been restored by Timur. By early 1406, Isa and Umur were dead and Junayd was the undisputed ruler of the former Aydınid domains. Like all the rulers of the region, Christian and Muslim alike, Junayd was also an active participant in the civil war between Bayezid's sons İsa, Süleyman, Musa and Mehmed, in which he changed his allegiance several times. He supported İsa against Mehmed, and became a vassal of Süleyman. His persistent attempts to exploit the conflict to broaden his power and independence forced Süleyman to send him as provincial governor of Ohrid in Rumeli in 1410. After Süleyman's overthrow and death in 1411 at the hands of his brother Musa, Junayd returned to Anatolia and seized Smyrna, but had to recognize the suzerainty of Mehmed. During Mehmed's absence in Rumeli to campaign against Musa, Junayd reclaimed his independence and attacked his neighbouring rulers. As a result, in 1414 Mehmed led a regional coalition against Junayd. Junayd's mother was able to save his life, but once again Junayd was dispossessed and sent to Rumeli as governor of Nicopolis. From there, he joined the unsuccessful rebellion of Mustafa Çelebi, until the Byzantines agreed to intern him and Mustafa in 1416. (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) Orhan Pamuk Erol Gelenbe Kemal Derviş Hande Yener Sertab Erener Said Altınordu Tarkan (singer) 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