Portal:Turkey

Merhaba! Türkiye portalına hoş geldiniz. Hi! Welcome to the Turkey portal.

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 86 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...)

Selected article -

An outlook from a trail

Dilek Peninsula-Büyük Menderes Delta National Park (Turkish: Dilek Yarımadası-Büyük Menderes Deltası Millî Parkı), established on May 19, 1966, is a national park in western Turkey. It contains within its borders the entirety of the Dilek Peninsula as well as the large delta of the Büyük Menderes River. The park is located in the Kuşadası district of Aydın Province — part of Turkey's Aegean Region. Directly west of the national park is the small coastal town of Güzelçamlı, where several shuttle buses and ferries operate to and from the district's center of Kuşadası, approximately 30 km (19 mi) from the park.

The park is among the most biologically diverse of Turkey's national parks. It is the native and migratory habitat of hundreds of species of birds, mammals, plants, and marine life, some of which are entirely endemic to the park and cannot be observed anywhere else in the world. For these reasons, it is protected by numerous wildlife and wetland conventions, and is of great national and international importance in these areas. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

General images

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

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

Did you know -

... that women's football forward Seyhan Gündüz was capped 32 times internationally, scoring 12 goals, a rate of 0.375 a match? (January 28, 2014)
... that Mehmet Gürs, a Turkish chef of Scandinavian descent, called his Istanbul restaurant Mikla, which is derived from Miklagard, the Viking name of the city in the 10th century? (November 15, 2012)
... that the Khedive Palace in Istanbul, Turkey, once a mansion for Ottoman governors, now serves as an upscale restaurant? (December 15, 2008) Wikipedia:Recent additions 236
... that the Mosque of the Rose in Istanbul is so named because on the day of the Fall of Constantinople the building was adorned with garlands of roses? (November 27, 2007) Wikipedia:Recent additions 190
... that the 1976 crash of Turkish Airlines Flight 452, resulting in the death of 154 people, is the all-time worst aviation accident in Turkey? (October 8, 2009) Wikipedia:Recent additions 249
... that the church of Hagia Thekla in Constantinople, now a mosque, was rebuilt by Emperor Isaac I Komnenos as thanks for surviving a hunting accident? (January 15, 2008) Wikipedia:Recent additions 200
... that the 1955 novel Teneke by Turkish author Yaşar Kemal was adapted into an Italian |opera of the same title by Fabio Vacchi in 2007? (October 8, 2007) Wikipedia:Recent additions 175

Selected picture

Image 1Kemer
Image 2An airplane with a nazar boncuğu symbol that is said to offer protection from the "evil eye".
Image 3Safranbolu
Image 4Flag of Turkey, from flowers
Image 5the Bosphorus Bridge
Image 6Rize
Image 7Cappadocia
Image 8Tarkan with Hungarian fans
Image 9Lahmacun
Image 1018th-century Ottoman barber's apron
Image 11Mount Nemrut
Image 12Atatürk praying
Image 13A faculty of Sakarya University
Image 14Tünel, Istanbul
Image 15A Kocek
Image 16The Temple of Athena at Priene, an ancient site near Turunçlar in Aydın province.
Image 17A tram in Istanbul
Image 18Iznik, 16th-century vase
Image 19The ancient Lake Abant Nature Park in Bolu
Image 20the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne
Image 21The tughra of Mahmud II. "Mahmud Han bin Abdulhamid muzaffer daima" ("Mahmud Khan son of Abdulhamid is forever victorious").
Image 22Lake Akdoğan in Muş
Image 23Antalya
Image 24Ölüdeniz
Image 25Aydilge Sarp; Turkish singer, songwriter and novelist
Image 261. picture on portal: The prominent towers of Dayro d-Mor Gabriel; 15th December 2005
Image 27The sun setting over the Golden Horn in the city of Istanbul.

Selected biography -

Sezer in 2004

Ahmet Necdet Sezer (Turkish: [ahˈmed nedʒˈdet seˈzæɾ]; born 13 September 1941) is a Turkish statesman and judge who served as the president of Turkey from 2000 to 2007. Previously, he was president of the Constitutional Court of Turkey from January 1998 to May 2000. The Grand National Assembly of Turkey elected Sezer as president in 2000 after Süleyman Demirel's seven-year term expired. He was succeeded by Abdullah Gül in 2007.

Following his legal career, Sezer became a candidate for the presidency with the joint support of many political parties in Parliament. Following the 2000 presidential election, he took an ardent secularist approach on issues such as the headscarf, holding the view that secularism in Turkey was under threat. A quarrel between Sezer and Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit in 2001 led to a financial meltdown, attributed to the weakness of the coalition government as well as to the large debt owed to the International Monetary Fund. (Full article...)

List of selected biographies

Selected video -

Boats in Istanbul

More selected videos
Videos from Turkey on Wikimedia Commons

Selected quote -

“

Heroes who shed their blood and lost their lives! You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours. You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.

”

1934 ~ Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

More selected quotes
Turkish proverbs in Wikiquote

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