Portal:Turkey

Portal topics: Activities; Culture; Geography; Health; History; Mathematics; Nature; People; Philosophy; Religion; Society; Technology; Random portal

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

Flag of Turkey

Shortcut

P:TR

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 world's 18th-largest by nominal GDP and 11th-largest by purchasing power parity. 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...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Selected article - show another

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 1Mount Ararat (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 2A view of Levent from Kanlıca across the Bosporus (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 3Istanbul (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 4Orhan Pamuk, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 5Mehmed II enters Constantinople by Fausto Zonaro (from History of Turkey)
Image 6The sultan of the golden age, Suleiman the Magnificent. (from History of Turkey)
Image 7Köppen climate types of Turkey (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 8View of Beydağları Coastal National Park (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 9Mount Nemrut, Adıyaman (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 10Atatürk on the cover of the Time magazine, Vol. I No. 4, March 24, 1923. Title: "Mustapha Kemal Pasha" (from History of Turkey)
Image 11The Fountain of Ahmed III is an iconic example of Tulip period architecture (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 12Anıtkabir designed by Emin Halid Onat and Ahmet Orhan Arda (1944–53) (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 13Kaçkar Mountains (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 14Tevfik Fikret (1867–1915) was a prominent Turkish poet of the late Ottoman era. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 15Ankara Opera House, designed by Şevki Balmumcu (1933–34) and renovation by Paul Bonatz (1946–47). (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 16Designed by Şekip Akalın, Ankara Central Station (1937) is a notable art deco design of its era. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 17The 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 18View from Levent district in Istanbul. Istanbul's skyline has changed especially since the early 2000s. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 19Istanbul Sapphire (2006–11) is the tallest building in Turkey and 4th in Europe. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 20Mount Erciyes near Kayseri (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 21Turkish delight (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 22Istanbul University Faculty of Science and Faculty of Literature Buildings (1944–52) designed by Sedad Hakkı Eldem and Emin Onat (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 23Interior of the Sultanahmet Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 24Originally 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 25Topkapı Palace, Istanbul. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 26One of the main entrance gates of the Dolmabahçe Palace. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 27The Bath-Gymnasium complex at Sardis in Turkey. (from History of Turkey)
Image 28The Nation's Library of the Presidency, Ankara (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 29Beaches and marina of Kemer near Antalya on the Turkish Riviera (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 30Fazıl 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 31Antalya (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 32Namık Kemal was a prominent Turkish poet, novelist, playwright and journalist of the late-19th-century Ottoman Empire. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 33Roosevelt, İnönü and Churchill at the Second Cairo Conference which was held between 4–6 December 1943. (from History of Turkey)
Image 34Butterfly Valley on the Turkish Riviera. (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 35Adnan Menderes, İsmet İnönü, and the other members of the Parliament wearing a white tie and top hat. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 36Map of earthquakes in Turkey 1900–2023 (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 37Map 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 38Yalikavak Palmarina in Bodrum (2014) designed by Emre Arolat (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 39Turkish national basketball team won the silver medal in the 2010 FIBA World Championship. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 40Map of the Lydian Kingdom in its final period of sovereignty under Croesus, c. 547 BC. (from History of Turkey)
Image 41A view from the interior of a traditional Turkish house, by John Frederick Lewis (1805–1875) (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 42Karagöz and Hacivat are the lead characters of the traditional Turkish shadow play, popularized during the Ottoman period. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 43Ankara (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 44Night view of the Taksim Mosque (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 45The Ottoman Empire in 1683, at the start of the Great Turkish War (1683–1699) (from History of Turkey)
Image 46View of Dilek Peninsula-Büyük Menderes Delta National Park (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 47Map showing the Anatolian Plate, the North Anatolian Fault and East Anatolian Fault in Turkey. (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 48First 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 49Lake Van (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 50Recaizade Mahmud Ekrem (1847–1914) was another prominent Turkish poet of the late Ottoman era. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 51Ortaköy Mosque in the first quarter of the 20th century (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 52Map showing events of the first phases of the Greco-Persian Wars (from History of Turkey)
Image 53Thrace and the Thracian Odrysian kingdom in its maximum extent under Sitalces (431-424 BC) (from History of Turkey)
Image 54Orhan Veli Kanık was the founder of the Garip Movement in Turkish poetry. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 55An Oil wrestling tournament in Istanbul. This has been the national sport of Turkey since Ottoman times. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 56The Ishak Pasha Palace, Eastern Turkey. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 57Turkish coffee (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 58Sami Frashëri (1850–1904) and his wife Emine, May 1884. (from Culture of Turkey)

Did you know - show different entries

... that the Milion
(pictured) of Constantinople was the origin of all the roads into the European cities of the Byzantine Empire? (February 27, 2008)
... that Hilton Istanbul Bosphorus
(pictured) in Turkey, established in 1955, is the longest-serving member of the Hilton Hotels chain outside the United States? (February 21, 2013)
... that the mosque of Hirami Ahmet Pasha
(pictured) in Istanbul is the smallest Byzantine church of Constantinople still extant? (November 18, 2007) Wikipedia:Recent additions 187
... that the Battle of Bapheus in 1302 was the first major Ottoman victory, and led to their gradual conquest of Byzantine-controlled Bithynia? (April 16, 2010)
... that Tahir Aydoğdu and his father Gültekin are both players of the qanun, an instrument of Turkish classical music? (July 8, 2013)
... that the early Christian Martyrion of Saints Carpus and Papylus, which is part of the Church of Saint Menas complex in Istanbul, currently houses two shops, an iron workshop and a car wash? (October 28, 2011)
... that Fatma Aliye Topuz (1862-1936), whose portrait illustrates the reverse of the current 50 Turkish lira banknote, is credited as the first female Turkish and Muslim writer? (May 5, 2009) Wikipedia:Recent additions 244

More did you know

edit

Selected picture

Image 1Lahmacun
Image 2A tram in Istanbul
Image 3the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne
Image 4A Kocek
Image 5A faculty of Sakarya University
Image 6Ölüdeniz
Image 7The sun setting over the Golden Horn in the city of Istanbul.
Image 8The ancient Lake Abant Nature Park in Bolu
Image 9The tughra of Mahmud II. "Mahmud Han bin Abdulhamid muzaffer daima" ("Mahmud Khan son of Abdulhamid is forever victorious").
Image 10Kemer
Image 11Iznik, 16th-century vase
Image 1218th-century Ottoman barber's apron
Image 13Mount Nemrut
Image 141. picture on portal: The prominent towers of Dayro d-Mor Gabriel; 15th December 2005
Image 15Cappadocia
Image 16Lake Akdoğan in Muş
Image 17Tünel, Istanbul
Image 18The Temple of Athena at Priene, an ancient site near Turunçlar in Aydın province.
Image 19Aydilge Sarp; Turkish singer, songwriter and novelist
Image 20the Bosphorus Bridge
Image 21Antalya
Image 22Tarkan with Hungarian fans
Image 23Rize
Image 24An airplane with a nazar boncuğu symbol that is said to offer protection from the "evil eye".
Image 25Atatürk praying
Image 26Safranbolu
Image 27Flag of Turkey, from flowers

Selected biography - show another

Miniature from the Majma al-Tawarikh by Hafiz Abru circa 1425; which depicts accession to the throne by Alp Arslan

Alp Arslan, born Muhammad bin Dawud Chaghri, was the second sultan of the Seljuk Empire and great-grandson of Seljuk, the eponymous founder of the dynasty. He greatly expanded the Seljuk territory and consolidated his power, defeating rivals to the south and northwest, and his victory over the Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert, in 1071, ushered in the Turkmen settlement of Anatolia.

Muhammad bin Dawud Chaghri's military prowess and fighting skills earned him the nickname Alp Arslan, which means "Heroic Lion" in Turkish. (Full article...)

List of selected biographies
Burak Yılmaz Piri Reis Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Ahmet Necdet Sezer Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Nureddin Pasha Tuncay Şanlı İsmet İnönü Sıla (singer) Orhan Pamuk Erol Gelenbe Kemal Derviş Hande Yener Sertab Erener Said Altınordu Tarkan (singer) Junayd of Aydın Daron Acemoglu

edit

Selected video - show another

Boats in Istanbul

More selected videos
Videos from Turkey on Wikimedia Commons

edit

Selected quote - show another

“

A satiated man doesn't know what's hunger, a healthy man doesn't know what's disease.

”

Turkish proverb

More selected quotes
Turkish proverbs in Wikiquote

edit

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