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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, Antalya, Konya and Adana.

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 the late 18th century onwards, the empire's power and territory declined; reforms were also made.

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 Three Pashas following a coup, the Ottoman Empire entered World War I in 1914. During the war, 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 17th- 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 has 21 UNESCO World Heritage sites, 30 UNESCO intangible cultural heritage inscriptions, and a rich and diverse cuisine. Turkey is a leading TV content exporter and is the fourth most visited country in the world. (Full article...)

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Levent business district in Istanbul

Turkey is a founding member of the OECD and G20. The country's economy ranked as the 18th-largest in the world and 7th-largest in Europe by nominal GDP in 2023. It also ranked as the 11th-largest in the world and 5th-largest in Europe by PPP in 2023. According to the IMF, as of 2022, Turkey had an upper-middle income, mixed-market, emerging economy. Turkey has often been defined as a newly industrialized country since the turn of the 21st century. The country is the fourth most visited destination in the world, and has over 1,500 R&D centres established both by multinational and national firms. Turkey is among the world's leading producers of agricultural products, textiles, motor vehicles, transportation equipment, construction materials, consumer electronics, and home appliances.

Over the past 20 years, there have been major developments in the financial and social aspects of Turkey's economy, such as increases in employment and average income since 2000. A period of strong economic growth between 2002 and 2013 (except for 2009) was followed by a slowdown in growth in terms of USD-based nominal GDP figures between 2014 and 2020, especially during the 2018 Turkish currency and debt crisis, although the growth sustained in these years as well in terms of nominal GDP. Furthermore, there has been a steady recovery and a faster pace in growth in Turkey's GDP figures since 2021, which have reached their all-time highest values by the end of 2023. Growth-focused financial policies, such as the preference to keep interest rates as low as possible (dubbed Erdoganomics) have led to high inflation in recent years. (Full article...)

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General images

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

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

Did you know - show different entries

... that Istanbul University Professor Semavi Eyice is regarded as the pioneer of Byzantine studies in Turkey? (April 27, 2012)
... that the Manastır Mosque
(pictured) in Istanbul is one of the few surviving Byzantine religious buildings of Constantinople whose dedication remains uncertain? (November 9, 2010)
... that the third officer of the MV Horizon-1, a cargo ship recently hijacked by Somali pirates, is a 24-year old Turkish woman? (July 27, 2009) Wikipedia:Recent additions 246
... that the Hood Event was an incident following the US invasion of Iraq where a group of Turkish special forces operating in northern Iraq was captured and interrogated by the US military, later becoming the basis for the 2006 film Valley of the Wolves Iraq? (February 24, 2006) Wikipedia:Recent additions 55
... that the 1993 Bayburt Üzengili avalanche in north-eastern Turkey killed 59 people and 650 livestock, and caused the relocation of the village to a safe zone? (October 20, 2010)
... that the Turkish military coup of 1971 is known as a coup by memorandum? (August 10, 2004) Wikipedia:Recent additions 13
... 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

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Selected picture

Image 1Tarkan with Hungarian fans
Image 2Flag of Turkey, from flowers
Image 3A faculty of Sakarya University
Image 4A Kocek
Image 5the Bosphorus Bridge
Image 6Aydilge Sarp; Turkish singer, songwriter and novelist
Image 7Lahmacun
Image 8The sun setting over the Golden Horn in the city of Istanbul.
Image 9The ancient Lake Abant Nature Park in Bolu
Image 10Lake Akdoğan in Muş
Image 11Atatürk praying
Image 121. picture on portal: The prominent towers of Dayro d-Mor Gabriel; 15th December 2005
Image 13Tünel, Istanbul
Image 14Kemer
Image 1518th-century Ottoman barber's apron
Image 16Ölüdeniz
Image 17Safranbolu
Image 18Antalya
Image 19Rize
Image 20Mount Nemrut
Image 21Cappadocia
Image 22A tram in Istanbul
Image 23An airplane with a nazar boncuğu symbol that is said to offer protection from the "evil eye".
Image 24The Temple of Athena at Priene, an ancient site near Turunçlar in Aydın province.
Image 25The tughra of Mahmud II. "Mahmud Han bin Abdulhamid muzaffer daima" ("Mahmud Khan son of Abdulhamid is forever victorious").
Image 26Iznik, 16th-century vase
Image 27the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne

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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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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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“

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