Portal:Turkey

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Merhaba! Türkiye portalına hoşgeldiniz. Hi! Welcome to the Turkey portal.

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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 incoming Anatolian peoples. Increasing diversity during 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. After its defeat, the Ottoman Empire was partitioned. The Turkish War of Independence resulted in the abolition of the sultanate in 1922 and the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. 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 18th- or 11th-largest in the world. 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 fourth 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 and Alevi 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 1Topkapı Palace, Istanbul. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 2The Fountain of Ahmed III is an iconic example of Tulip period architecture (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 3Ortaköy Mosque in the first quarter of the 20th century (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 4Map of earthquakes in Turkey 1900–2023 (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 5Map showing events of the first phases of the Greco-Persian Wars (from History of Turkey)
Image 6One of the main entrance gates of the Dolmabahçe Palace. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 7Karagöz and Hacivat are the lead characters of the traditional Turkish shadow play, popularized during the Ottoman period. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 8The sultan of the golden age, Suleiman the Magnificent. (from History of Turkey)
Image 9View of Beydağları Coastal National Park (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 10A view of Levent from Kanlıca across the Bosporus (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 11A view from the interior of a traditional Turkish house, by John Frederick Lewis (1805–1875) (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 12The Ishak Pasha Palace, Eastern Turkey. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 13Beaches and marina of Kemer near Antalya on the Turkish Riviera (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 14Lake Van (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 15Turkish national basketball team won the silver medal in the 2010 FIBA World Championship. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 16Mount Ararat (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 17Map showing the Anatolian Plate, the North Anatolian Fault and East Anatolian Fault in Turkey. (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 18Recaizade Mahmud Ekrem (1847–1914) was another prominent Turkish poet of the late Ottoman era. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 19Night view of the Taksim Mosque (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 20Turkish coffee (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 21Butterfly Valley on the Turkish Riviera. (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 22The Ottoman Empire in 1683, at the start of the Great Turkish War (1683–1699) (from History of Turkey)
Image 23Tevfik Fikret (1867–1915) was a prominent Turkish poet of the late Ottoman era. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 24View from Levent district in Istanbul. Istanbul's skyline has changed especially since the early 2000s. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 25The 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 26Thrace and the Thracian Odrysian kingdom in its maximum extent under Sitalces (431-424 BC) (from History of Turkey)
Image 27Anıtkabir designed by Emin Halid Onat and Ahmet Orhan Arda (1944–53) (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 28Map of the Lydian Kingdom in its final period of sovereignty under Croesus, c. 547 BC. (from History of Turkey)
Image 29Orhan Pamuk, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 30Mehmed II enters Constantinople by Fausto Zonaro (from History of Turkey)
Image 31Turkish delight (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 32Mount Erciyes near Kayseri (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 33Orhan Veli Kanık was the founder of the Garip Movement in Turkish poetry. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 34Antalya (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 35First 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 36Ankara Opera House, designed by Şevki Balmumcu (1933–34) and renovation by Paul Bonatz (1946–47). (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 37Atatürk on the cover of the Time magazine, Vol. I No. 4, March 24, 1923. Title: "Mustapha Kemal Pasha" (from History of Turkey)
Image 38Interior of the Sultanahmet Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 39Map 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 40Fazıl 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 41Yalikavak Palmarina in Bodrum (2014) designed by Emre Arolat (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 42An Oil wrestling tournament in Istanbul. This has been the national sport of Turkey since Ottoman times. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 43View of Dilek Peninsula-Büyük Menderes Delta National Park (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 44Istanbul Sapphire (2006–11) is the tallest building in Turkey and 4th in Europe. (from Culture 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 46Roosevelt, İnönü and Churchill at the Second Cairo Conference which was held between 4–6 December 1943. (from History of Turkey)
Image 47Originally 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 48Sami Frashëri (1850–1904) and his wife Emine, May 1884. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 49Kaçkar Mountains (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 50Namık Kemal was a prominent Turkish poet, novelist, playwright and journalist of the late-19th-century Ottoman Empire. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 51Istanbul (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 52Mount Nemrut, Adıyaman (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 53Köppen climate types of Turkey (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 54The Bath-Gymnasium complex at Sardis in Turkey. (from History of Turkey)
Image 55Ankara (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 56Adnan Menderes, İsmet İnönü, and the other members of the Parliament wearing a white tie and top hat. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 57Designed by Şekip Akalın, Ankara Central Station (1937) is a notable art deco design of its era. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 58The Nation's Library of the Presidency, Ankara (from Culture of Turkey)

Did you know - show different entries

... that Iznik-tiled lunette panels believed to have been removed from Istanbul's Piyale Pasha Mosque in the 19th century are currently on display in various museums such as the Louvre and the V&A? (February 21, 2012)
... that the Vefa Kilise Mosque
(pictured) in Istanbul is one of the first examples of byzantine churches of Constantinople which were converted into mosques by the Ottomans? (July 13, 2007) Wikipedia:Recent additions 154
... that the Galatasaray S.K. has origins from the Ottoman Empire era? (December 4, 2007) Wikipedia:Recent additions 190
... 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
... 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
... that a total of 441 military and civilian personnel of the Turkish Naval Base Gölcük, among them a rear admiral, were killed by the 1999 İzmit earthquake? (August 9, 2009) Wikipedia:Recent additions 247
... that despite being a key building of middle byzantine Architecture, the mosque of Eski Imaret
(pictured) is still one among the least studied monuments of Istanbul? (June 28, 2007) Wikipedia:Recent additions 150

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Image 1The tughra of Mahmud II. "Mahmud Han bin Abdulhamid muzaffer daima" ("Mahmud Khan son of Abdulhamid is forever victorious").
Image 2Lahmacun
Image 3A Kocek
Image 4Safranbolu
Image 5Rize
Image 6Lake Akdoğan in Muş
Image 7A tram in Istanbul
Image 8the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne
Image 9An airplane with a nazar boncuğu symbol that is said to offer protection from the "evil eye".
Image 10Mount Nemrut
Image 11Atatürk praying
Image 12Ölüdeniz
Image 13A faculty of Sakarya University
Image 14Kemer
Image 15Tünel, Istanbul
Image 16Antalya
Image 17Aydilge Sarp; Turkish singer, songwriter and novelist
Image 18Tarkan with Hungarian fans
Image 19The sun setting over the Golden Horn in the city of Istanbul.
Image 20the Bosphorus Bridge
Image 21The ancient Lake Abant Nature Park in Bolu
Image 22Flag of Turkey, from flowers
Image 2318th-century Ottoman barber's apron
Image 24Cappadocia
Image 251. picture on portal: The prominent towers of Dayro d-Mor Gabriel; 15th December 2005
Image 26Iznik, 16th-century vase
Image 27The Temple of Athena at Priene, an ancient site near Turunçlar in Aydın province.

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Sami Erol Gelenbe (born 22 August 1945, Istanbul), a Turkish and French computer scientist, electronic engineer and applied mathematician, pioneered the field of Computer System and Network Performance. Currently Professor in the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Informatics of the Polish Academy of Sciences (2017- ), he is also an Associate Researcher in the I3S Laboratory (CNRS, University of Côte d'Azur, Nice) and Abraham de Moivre Laboratory (CNRS, Imperial College). Fellow of several National Academies, he Chairs the Informatics Section of Academia Europaea since 2023. His previous Professorial Chairs include the University of Liège (1974-1979), University Paris-Saclay (1979-1986), University Paris Descartes (1986-2005), NJIT (1991–93), ECE Chair at Duke University (1993-1998), University Chair Professor and Director of EECS, University of Central Florida (1998-2003), and Dennis Gabor Professor and Head of Intelligent Systems and Networks, Imperial College (2003-2019). (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 Kemal Derviş Hande Yener Sertab Erener Said Altınordu Tarkan (singer) Junayd of Aydın Daron Acemoglu

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Boats in Istanbul

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Videos from Turkey on Wikimedia Commons

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“

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

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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