Portal:Turkey

Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small 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 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 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 the country's 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 12th-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; 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 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...)

The Battle With Torches by Romanian painter Theodor Aman (1866)

The night attack at Târgoviște (Romanian: Atacul de noapte de la Târgoviște) was a battle fought between forces of Prince Vlad III of Wallachia, and Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire on Thursday, 17 June 1462. The battle started after Mehmed II, who already had tense relations with Vlad, discovered his alliance with Hungary's king Matthias Corvinus and ordered his forces to ambush him. Vlad foiled the attack and invaded Bulgaria. In response, Mehmed raised a great army with the objective to conquer Wallachia. The two leaders fought a series of skirmishes, the most notable one being the conflict where Vlad attacked the Turkish camp in the night in an attempt to kill Mehmed. The assassination attempt failed and Mehmed marched to the Wallachian capital of Târgoviște, where he found a few men with cannons. After leaving the capital, Mehmed discovered 23,844 impaled Turks whom Vlad had killed during his invasion of Bulgaria. The number is mentioned by Vlad himself in a letter to Matthias Corvinus. The sultan and his troops then sailed to Brăila and burned it to the ground before retreating to Adrianople. Mehmed's forces returned home with many captured slaves, horses, and cattle. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

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

Image 1Tevfik Fikret (1867–1915) was a prominent Turkish poet of the late Ottoman era. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 2Antalya (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 3Mount Nemrut, Adıyaman (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 4The Nation's Library of the Presidency, Ankara (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 5Thrace and the Thracian Odrysian kingdom in its maximum extent under Sitalces (431-424 BC) (from History of Turkey)
Image 6A view of Levent from Kanlıca across the Bosporus. (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 7The sultan of the golden age, Suleiman the Magnificent. (from History of Turkey)
Image 8Map of the Lydian Kingdom in its final period of sovereignty under Croesus, c. 547 BC. (from History of Turkey)
Image 9Istanbul Sapphire (2006–11) is the tallest building in Turkey and 4th in Europe. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 10Map showing events of the first phases of the Greco-Persian Wars (from History of Turkey)
Image 11Designed by Şekip Akalın, Ankara Central Station (1937) is a notable art deco design of its era. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 12Namık Kemal was a prominent Turkish poet, novelist, playwright and journalist of the late-19th-century Ottoman Empire. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 13Turkish national basketball team won the silver medal in the 2010 FIBA World Championship. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 14Karagöz and Hacivat are the lead characters of 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 16Mount Ararat (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 17Sami Frashëri (1850–1904) and his wife Emine, May 1884. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 18The Ottoman Empire in 1683, at the start of the Great Turkish War (1683–1699) (from History of Turkey)
Image 19Istanbul (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 20Orhan Pamuk, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 21Turkish coffee (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 22Turkish delight (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 23View of Dilek Peninsula-Büyük Menderes Delta National Park (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 24Kaçkar Mountains. (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 25Map showing the Anatolian Plate, the North Anatolian Fault and East Anatolian Fault in Turkey. (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 26Istanbul University Faculty of Science and Faculty of Literature Buildings (1944–52) designed by Sedad Hakkı Eldem and Emin Onat (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 27View of Beydağları Coastal National Park (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 28Yalikavak Palmarina in Bodrum (2014) designed by Emre Arolat (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 29Originally 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 30Ankara Opera House, designed by Şevki Balmumcu (1933–34) and renovation by Paul Bonatz (1946–47). (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 31Mehmed II enters Constantinople by Fausto Zonaro (from History of Turkey)
Image 32Entrance portal of the Karatay Madrasa in Konya (c. 1251) (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 33Night view of the Taksim Mosque (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 34View from Levent district in Istanbul. Istanbul's skyline has changed especially since the early 2000s. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 35Map of earthquakes in Turkey 1900–2023 (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 36Lake Van (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 37The 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 38Fazıl 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 39Mount Erciyes near Kayseri (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 40First 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 41Anıtkabir designed by Emin Halid Onat and Ahmet Orhan Arda (1944–53) (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 42An oil wrestling tournament in Istanbul. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 43Map of Istanbul by the miniature artist Matrakçı Nasuh (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 44Köppen climate types of Turkey (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 45Butterfly Valley on the Turkish Riviera. (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 46Atatürk on the cover of the Time magazine, Vol. I No. 4, March 24, 1923. Title: "Mustapha Kemal Pasha" (from History of Turkey)
Image 47Beaches and marina of Kemer near Antalya on the Turkish Riviera. (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 48Ankara (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 49The Bath-Gymnasium complex at Sardis in Turkey. (from History of Turkey)
Image 50Selimiye Mosque in Edirne (1568–1574) (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 51Roosevelt, İnönü and Churchill at the Second Cairo Conference which was held between 4–6 December 1943. (from History of Turkey)
Image 52Recaizade Mahmud Ekrem (1847–1914) was another prominent Turkish poet of the late Ottoman era. (from Culture of Turkey)

... that the female footballer Bilgin Defterli decided to go to Germany because she saw no chance to play football in Turkey due to the dissolution of women's football leagues in 2003? (December 19, 2013)
... that Turkish-German professional boxer Hülya Şahin, the undefeated junior flyweight world champion, is the only female member of her club Universum? (September 21, 2007) Wikipedia:Recent additions 167
... that 29 inmates escaped from Metris Prison in Istanbul through a self-built tunnel while the prison was still under military administration? (March 20, 2014)
... that the Romanian crude oil tanker M/T Independenţa burnt for weeks in 1979 after colliding with a freighter? (August 10, 2007) Wikipedia:Recent additions 161
... that former Turkish Minister of Customs and Monopolies, Tuncay Mataracı, was sentenced in 1982 to a 36-year term of imprisonment for bribery and abuse of power? (February 24, 2014)
... that Wilhelm von Pressel designed the first railroad in Turkey? (July 25, 2007) Wikipedia:Recent additions 155
... that during the Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829 more Russian soldiers died in hospitals from contagious diseases than fighting on the battlefield? (February 1, 2006) Wikipedia:Recent additions 51

Image 1Tarkan with Hungarian fans
Image 2Kemer
Image 3The sun setting over the Golden Horn in the city of Istanbul.
Image 4Antalya
Image 5The tughra of Mahmud II. "Mahmud Han bin Abdulhamid muzaffer daima" ("Mahmud Khan son of Abdulhamid is forever victorious").
Image 6Tünel, Istanbul
Image 7The Temple of Athena at Priene, an ancient site near Turunçlar in Aydın province.
Image 8A tram in Istanbul
Image 9Atatürk praying
Image 101. picture on portal: The prominent towers of Dayro d-Mor Gabriel; 15th December 2005
Image 11Flag of Turkey, from flowers
Image 12Lake Akdoğan in Muş
Image 13Cappadocia
Image 14Ölüdeniz
Image 15Iznik, 16th-century vase
Image 16the Bosphorus Bridge
Image 17An airplane with a nazar boncuğu symbol that is said to offer protection from the "evil eye".
Image 18Lahmacun
Image 1918th-century Ottoman barber's apron
Image 20the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne
Image 21A Kocek
Image 22The ancient Lake Abant Nature Park in Bolu
Image 23Aydilge Sarp; Turkish singer, songwriter and novelist
Image 24Mount Nemrut
Image 25Rize
Image 26A faculty of Sakarya University
Image 27Safranbolu

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

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