Republic of Turkey

Turkey (ˈtɜːrki/; Turkish: Türkiye [ˈtyɾcije]), officially the Republic of Turkey (Turkish: About this sound Türkiye Cumhuriyeti (help·info); pronounced [ˈtyɾcije d͡ʒumˈhuɾijeti]), is a parliamentary republic in Eurasia, largely located in Western Asia, with the smaller portion of Eastern Thrace in Southeast Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Syria and Iraq to the south; Iran, Armenia, and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan to the east; Georgia to the northeast; Bulgaria to the northwest; and Greece to the west. The Black Sea is to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and the Aegean Sea to the west. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia. Turkey's location at the crossroads of Europe and Asia makes it a country of significant geostrategic importance.

Turkey has been inhabited since the paleolithic age, including various ancient Anatolian civilizations, Aeolian, Dorian and Ionian Greeks, Thracians, Armenians, and Assyrians. After Alexander the Great's conquest, the area was Hellenized, a process which continued under the Roman Empire and its transition into the Byzantine Empire. The Seljuk Turks began migrating into the area in the 11th century, starting the process of Turkification, which was greatly accelerated by the Seljuk victory over the Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, upon which it disintegrated into several small Turkish beyliks.

Starting from the late 13th century, the Ottomans united Anatolia and created an empire encompassing much of Southeastern Europe, Western Asia and North Africa, becoming a major power in Eurasia and Africa during the early modern period. The empire reached the peak of its power between the 15th and 17th centuries, especially during the 1520–66 reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. After the second Ottoman siege of Vienna in 1683 and the end of the Great Turkish War in 1699, the Ottoman Empire entered a long period of decline. The Tanzimat reforms of the 19th century, which aimed to modernize the Ottoman state, proved to be inadequate in most fields, and failed to stop the dissolution of the empire. The Ottoman Empire entered World War I (1914–18) on the side of the Central Powers and was ultimately defeated. During the war, major atrocities were committed by the Ottoman government against its Armenian, Assyrian and Pontic Greek citizens. Following the war, the huge conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empire was divided into several new states. The Turkish War of Independence (1919–22), initiated by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his colleagues in Anatolia, resulted in the establishment of the modern Republic of Turkey in 1923, with Atatürk as its first president.

Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic with a diverse cultural heritage. The country's official language is Turkish, a Turkic language spoken natively by approximately 85 percent of the population. According to the World Factbook, 70–75 percent of the population are ethnic Turks, while the Kurds are the largest minority at 18%. The vast majority of the population is Sunni Muslim, with Alevis making up the largest religious minority. Turkey is a member of the UN, NATO, OECD, OSCE, OIC and the G-20. After becoming one of the first members of the Council of Europe in 1949, Turkey became an associate member of the EEC in 1963, joined the EU Customs Union in 1995 and started full membership negotiations with the European Union in 2005. Turkey's growing economy and diplomatic initiatives have led to its recognition as a regional power.

Geography

Turkey is a transcontinental Eurasian country. Asian Turkey, which includes 97 percent of the country, is separated from European Turkey by the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles. European Turkey comprises 3 percent of the country. The territory of Turkey is more than 1,600 kilometres (990 miles) long and 800 kilometres (500 miles) wide, with a roughly rectangular shape. It lies between latitudes 35° and 43° N, and longitudes 25° and 45° E. Turkey's area, including lakes, occupies 783,562 square kilometres (302,535 square miles), of which 755,688 square kilometres (291,773 square miles) are in Southwest Asia and 23,764 square kilometres (9,175 square miles) in Europe. Turkey is the world's 37th-largest country in terms of area. The country is encircled by seas on three sides: the Aegean Sea to the west, the Black Sea to the north and the Mediterranean to the south. Turkey also contains the Sea of Marmara in the northwest.

The European section of Turkey, East Thrace (the easternmost region of the Balkan peninsula), forms the borders of Turkey with Greece and Bulgaria. The Asian part of the country is comprised mostly by the peninsula of Anatolia, which consists of a high central plateau with narrow coastal plains, between the Köroğlu and Pontic mountain ranges to the north and the Taurus Mountains to the south. Eastern Turkey, located within the western plateau of the Armenian Highlands, has a more mountainous landscape and is home to the sources of rivers such as the Euphrates, Tigris and Aras, and contains Mount Ararat, Turkey's highest point at 5,137 metres (16,854 feet), and Lake Van, the largest lake in the country. Southeastern Turkey is located within the northern plains of Upper Mesopotamia.

Turkey is divided into seven census regions: Marmara, Aegean, Black Sea, Central Anatolia, Eastern Anatolia, Southeastern Anatolia and the Mediterranean. The uneven north Anatolian terrain running along the Black Sea resembles a long, narrow belt. This region comprises approximately one-sixth of Turkey's total land area. As a general trend, the inland Anatolian plateau becomes increasingly rugged as it progresses eastward.

Turkey's varied landscapes are the product of complex earth movements that have shaped the region over thousands of years and still manifest themselves in fairly frequent earthquakes and occasional volcanic eruptions. The Bosphorus and the Dardanelles owe their existence to the fault lines running through Turkey that led to the creation of the Black Sea. The North Anatolian Fault Line runs across the north of the country from west to east, along which major earthquakes took place in history. The latest of those big earthquakes was the 1999 İzmit earthquake.

Info:

Anthem: İstiklal Marşı | Independence March
Capital: Ankara
Official Language: Turkish
Religion: Islam
Demonym: Turkish
Legislature: Grand National Assembly
Area: 783,562 km2
Currency: Turkish lira ₺ (TRY)
Time Zone: EET (UTC+2)
Summer (DST): EEST (UTC+3)
Date Format: dd-mm-yyyy
Drives on the: right
Calling code: +90
ISO 3166 Code: TR
International TLD: .tr

Largest Cities/Towns/Districts of Turkey

1. Istanbul
2. Ankara
3. İzmir
4. Bursa
5. Adana
6. Gaziantep
7. Konya
8. Antalya
9. Diyarbakır
10. Mersin
11. Kayseri
12. Eskişehir
13. Gebze
14. Şanlıurfa
15. Denizli
16. Samsun
17. Kahramanmaraş
18. Adapazarı
19. Malatya
20. Erzurum

Flag of Turkey

The flag of Turkey (Turkish: Türk bayrağı, meaning Turkish flag) is a red flag featuring a white star and crescent. The flag is often called al bayrak (the red flag) and referred to as al sancak (the red banner) in the Turkish national anthem.

Official Website: Goturkey.com

Did You Know?

• The name of the country Turkey may come from Turchia, which is the word Italian observers used to refer to Anatolia—Turkey’s Asian portion—as early as the 12th century. The Turks didn’t use the name Türkiye (Land of the Turks) officially until the republic was established in 1923.
• Gaziantep, Turkey, is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world.
• Gazi Mustafa Kemal, a.k.a. Atatürk (Father of the Turks), was actually born in Greece. The founder of modern Turkey was born in 1881 in what was then the Ottoman city of Selanik, now Saloniki, in Greece. Though, his mother and his father’s ancestors were Turks from Anatolia.
• Jelly beans began as an American version of the “Turkish Delight” (lokum) confection.
• Turkey has the third highest number of Facebook users in the world, with 14 million users, after the U.S. and U.K.
• Turkey has 82,693 mosques, more than any other country per capita in the world.
• Istanbul’s Kapalıçarşı, or Grand Bazaar, may be the world’s largest outdoor market, with 64 streets, 4,000 shops, and 25,000 workers. It also may be one of the oldest, having been built in the 15th century on the order of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror.
• The first Christian church to be built by man—the Cave Church, or Grotto, of St. Peter—was built between A.D. 1098 and 1268 in Antioch, Turkey.
• Santa Claus, also known as St. Nicholas, was born in Patara, Turkey, in the 3rd century A.D.
• In 1503, Leonardo da Vinci submitted plans to build a bridge across the Bosporus Straits. It was not built until almost 500 years later in 2001 and named the Galata Bridge.
• While nearly all of the Turkish population is Muslim, Turkey is not officially a Muslim country. Turkey has officially been a secular nation since 1927.
• The oldest known human city is Çatalhöyük in Turkey, which shows signs of settlement from the 7th century B.C.
• Turkey is the 6th most popular tourist destination in the world and had 35 million foreign visitors in 2013 alone.
• There are at least 150 archaeological digs going on in Turkey each year
• Noah’s Ark is purported to have landed on Mount Ararat (Ağri Daği) in Eastern Turkey. The mountain is actually a dormant volcano and the highest point in the country at 16,949 feet (5,166 m).
• The stones found at Göbekli Tepe in Turkey in 1994 mark it as the world’s first temple and one of the most important archaeological sites ever discovered. Carbon dating shows the 45 stones may be as old as 13,000 years old—which makes it the oldest site by an amazing margin, considering Stonehenge was built around 2,000 to 3,000 years ago and the pyramids of Giza 2,500 years ago.
• Istanbul is the world’s only city spanning two continents. Three percent is in Europe and 97% in Asia. The part that lies in Asia is called Anatolia (Turkish: Anadolu).
• Turkey is home to the world’s oldest sporting event, grease wrestling, which is also its national sport. Wrestlers cover themselves with olive oil and attempt to either pin their opponents on the ground or lift them up and walk three steps. The first grease wrestling game was hosted in 1362. In the past, these matches could last days, but there is now a time limit of 40 minutes. Held during the summer months, wrestlers are not allowed to stop for breaks or even drink water.
• One way of protecting a newborn baby in Turkey is by “salting,” which is a custom where the baby’s body is rubbed all over with salt in the belief that will give the child strength to resist harmful influences. Another practice that is no longer as common is the placing of a tortoise under a baby’s pillow at night. It is believed the tortoise will protect the child.
• Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is the father of the modern Turkish nation. When he rose to power in 1921, he lifted the ban on alcohol, adopted the Gregorian calendar instead of the Islamic, made Sunday a day of rest instead of Friday, changed the Turkish alphabet from Arabic letters to Roman, and mandated that the call to prayer be in Turkish rather than Arabic. He even banned the iconic red Turkish fez hat.
• The word “harem” comes from the Arabic for “forbidden” and refers to the private rooms where the sultan’s wives and concubines lived with their children. During the reign of Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, there were 1,000 women living in 250 rooms of the harem at Topkapi Palace.
• The Turks invented parchment—paper made out of calfskin—when the Egyptians stopped exporting papyrus to Pergamum, Turkey, because they were afraid that Pergamum’s library would become larger than the library at Alexandria, the world’s largest at the time.
• The fez is a traditional, short, conical, red felt cap worn by Turkish men, but they are almost never worn today. They were banned by the government in 1925.
• Tulips were introduced to Europe through Dutch traders by the Turks in the 17th century. The word “tulip” comes from the Turkish word for turban, tülbent.
• Turkey is the largest grower of hazelnuts in the world; it is responsible for 80% of the world’s hazelnut exports.
• Most Turks did not have surnames until a law was passed requiring it in 1934. The most common last names in Turkey are Yılmaz (never gives up, undaunted), Kaya (rock), Demir (iron), Şahin (falcon or hawk), and Çelik (steel).
• Turkey is the birthplace of such historical figures as Aesop; Homer; St. Paul; King Midas; Galen, noted physician, surgeon, medical researcher, and philosopher in the Roman Empire; and Herodotus, the father of history.
• More journalists are imprisoned in Turkey than any other country in the world.
• The Asklepion at Pergamum, Turkey, has been called one of the world’s first full-service health clinics.
• Turkey’s Istanbul Tünel is the world’s second oldest underground railway, after the London Underground, and the oldest on the European continent. It began operating in 1975.
• One of the world’s earliest civilizations, the Hittites, flourished in Turkey around 1600 B.C. They were among the first people to work iron and use a system of writing.
• The legendary city of Troy—of the Trojan horse, Achilles, and Paris and Helen—is located on the Aegean coast on Turkey.
• Camels are not native to Turkey, despite the local popularity of camel wrestling and their popularity at Turkish resorts. Camels will wrestle only during their mating season, which lasts from November to March, and a female camel is paraded around in front of two males to provoke them.
• Constantinople, previously known as Byzantium and which would later be renamed Istanbul in the 20th century, was the capital of the Roman Empire for a brief time under the Emperor Constantine.
• The last meal on Noah’s ark, a sweet and sour pudding called “ashure”(Turkish aşure), is still served as a dessert throughout Turkey. It supposedly contained 40 different ingredients, which were the remainders of his supplies
• Turks introduced coffee to Europe, during the Ottoman raids into Central and Eastern Europe in the 16th century.
• According to Turkish tradition, all major life events begin with eating sweets. A baby is welcomed at birth with halva, and it is also made again for a funeral. When a woman gives birth, she is given sweet fruit drinks to drink.
• Julius Caesar pronounced his famous words, “Veni, Vidi, Vici” (“I came, I saw, I conquered”) in Turkey when he defeated Pontus, a kingdom of the Black Sea region of Turkey
• The cherry tree was first introduced to Rome, and then to Europe, from Giresun in northern Turkey in 69 B.C. It is thought to be one of the earliest domesticated plants, around 10,000 years ago.
• The oldest known shipwreck on earth was found and examined in Uluburun in the Mediterranean region of Turkey, about 6 miles SE of Kaş. It was dated to be at least 3,300 years old.
• The first coins in world history were made of electrum and used by Lydian King Alyattes in Sardis, in the Aegean region of Turkey, in 640 B.C

References

• Wikipedia
• Random History
• Wikimedia