The name Turkey appears in Western sources after the late 11th century, referring to the
Seljuk-controlled lands in Anatolia and the
Near East.[42] European writers started using Turchia for the Anatolian plateau by the end of the 12th century.[43] The English name Turkey (from
Medieval LatinTurchia,Turquia) means "land of the Turks".
Middle English usage of Turkye is evidenced in
Geoffrey Chaucer's The Book of the Duchess (
c. 1369). The modern spelling Turkey dates back to at least 1719.[44] The name Turkey has been used in the texts of numerous international treaties to define the
Ottoman Empire.[45][46][47][48]
With the
Treaty of Alexandropol, the name Türkiye entered international documents for the first time. In the treaty signed with
Afghanistan in 1921, the expression Devlet-i Âliyye-i Türkiyye ('Sublime Turkish State') was used, likened to the
Ottoman Empire's name.[51]
In December 2021, President
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan issued a
circular, calling for exports to be labeled "Made in Türkiye".[52] The circular also stated that in relation to other governmental communications, the "necessary sensitivity will be shown on the use of the phrase 'Türkiye' instead of phrases such as 'Turkey' (in English)".[52][53] The reason given was that Türkiye "represents and expresses the culture, civilization, and values of the Turkish nation in the best way".[52] In May 2022, the Turkish government requested the
United Nations and other international organizations to use Türkiye officially in English, which the UN immediately agreed to do.[54][55][56]
Present-day Turkey contains some of the world's oldest Neolithic sites.[58]Göbekli Tepe is the site of the oldest known man-made structure in the world, a temple dating to
c. 9600 BC,[57] while
Çatalhöyük is a very large Neolithic and
Chalcolithic settlement in Anatolia, which existed
c. 7500 – c. 5700 BC. It is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date.[62] The
Urfa Man statue is dated
c. 9000 BC, to the period of the
Pre-Pottery Neolithic, and is defined as "the oldest known naturalistic life-sized sculpture of a human".[63]Troy was first settled in the Neolithic Age, with habitation continuing into the Byzantine period.
Troy's Late Bronze Age layers are considered potential historical settings for the later legends of the
Trojan War.[64][65][66]
The earliest recorded inhabitants of Anatolia were the
Hattians and
Hurrians, non-Indo-European peoples who lived in Anatolia as early as
c. 2300 BC. Indo-European
Hittites came to Anatolia and gradually absorbed the Hattians and Hurrians
c. 2000 – c. 1700 BC. Various other ancient
Anatolian populations have also lived in Anatolia, from at least the
Neolithic until the
Hellenistic period.[14] Many of these peoples spoke the
Anatolian languages, a branch of the larger
Indo-European language family.[67] Given the antiquity of the Indo-European
Hittite and
Luwian languages, some scholars have proposed
Anatolia as the hypothetical centre from which the Indo-European languages radiated.[68] The first empire in the area was founded by the Hittites, from the 18th through the 13th centuries BC. The
Assyrians conquered and settled parts of southeastern Turkey as early as 1950 BC[69] although they
have remained a minority in the region.[70]
Following the collapse of the Hittite empire
c. 1180 BC, the
Phrygians, an Indo-European people, achieved ascendancy in Anatolia until their kingdom was destroyed by the
Cimmerians in
c. 695 BC.[71] The most powerful of Phrygia's successor states were
Lydia,
Caria and
Lycia.
Assyrian king
Shalmaneser I (1263–1234 BC) recorded a campaign in which he subdued the entire territory of "Uruatri".[72][73]Urartu re-emerged in Assyrian inscriptions in the 9th century BC.[74] Starting from 714 BC, the Urartu state began to decline and finally dissolved in 590 BC when it was conquered by the
Medes.[75]
The
ArmenianOrontid dynasty, which included parts of what is now eastern Turkey, began in the 6th century BC. In northwestern Turkey, the most significant tribal group in ancient
Thrace was the
Odyrisians, founded by
Teres I.[88]
All of modern-day Turkey was conquered by the Persian
Achaemenid Empire during the 6th century BC.[89] The
Greco-Persian Wars started when the Greek city-states on the coast of Anatolia rebelled against Persian rule in 499 BC. Queen
Artemisia I of Halicarnassus, which was then within the Achaemenid
satrapy of
Caria, fought as an ally of
Xerxes I, King of Persia, against the independent Greek city-states during the
second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC.[90][91]
Anatolia fell to Alexander the Great in 334 BC,[92] which led to increasing cultural homogeneity and
Hellenization in the area,[14] which met resistance in some places.[17] Following Alexander's death in 323 BC, Anatolia was subsequently divided into smaller
Hellenistic kingdoms, all of which became part of the
Roman Republic by the mid-1st century BC.[93] Hellenization accelerated under Roman rule, and by the early centuries of the
Christian Era the local Anatolian languages and cultures had become extinct, being largely replaced by ancient Greek language and culture.[94]
From the 1st century BC up to the 3rd century AD, large parts of modern-day Turkey were contested between the Romans and neighboring
Parthians through the
Roman-Parthian Wars.
Galatia was an ancient area in the highlands of central Anatolia inhabited by the
Celts. The term "Galatians" came to be used by the Greeks for the three Celtic peoples of Anatolia: the
Tectosages, the
Trocmii, and the
Tolistobogii.[95][96] By the 1st century BC the Celts had become so Hellenized that some Greek writers called them Hellenogalatai.[97] The
Kingdom of Pontus was a Hellenistic kingdom, centered in the historical region of
Pontus and ruled by the
Mithridatic dynasty of Persian origin,[98][99][100][101] which may have been directly related to
Darius the Great.[102][101] The kingdom was proclaimed by
Mithridates I in 281 BC and lasted until its conquest by the Romans in 63 BC. Pontus reached its largest extent under
Mithridates VI the Great, who conquered Colchis, Cappadocia, Bithynia, and the Greek colonies of the Tauric Chersonesos. After a long struggle with Rome in the
Mithridatic Wars, Pontus was defeated. All
ancient regions and territories corresponding to modern Turkey eventually became part of the
Roman Empire, and many of them retained their historic
names in classical antiquity as
Roman provinces.
According to the
Acts of Apostles,[103]Antioch (now
Antakya), a city in southern Turkey, is where the followers of
Jesus were
first called "
Christians". The city quickly became an important center of Christianity.[104][105] The
Apostle Paul of
Tarsus traveled to
Ephesus and stayed there, probably working as a tentmaker.[106] He is claimed to have performed
miracles and organized missionary activity in other regions.[107] Paul left Ephesus after an attack from a local silversmith resulted in a pro-
Artemis riot.[107]
In 123, Roman emperor
Hadrian traveled to Anatolia. Numerous monuments were erected for his arrival, and he met his lover
Antinous from
Bithynia.[109] Hadrian focused on the Greek revival and built several temples and improved the cities.
Cyzicus,
Pergamon,
Smyrna,
Ephesus and
Sardes were promoted as regional centres for the
Imperial cult during this period.[110]
Theodosius the Great made Christianity the
official state religion of the Roman Empire with the
Edict of Thessalonica in 380. Following the death of Theodosius in 395 and the permanent division of the Roman Empire between his two sons, Constantinople became the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. This empire, which would later be branded by historians as the
Byzantine Empire, ruled most of the territory of present-day Turkey until the
Late Middle Ages;[112] although the eastern regions remained firmly in
Sasanian hands until the 7th century. The frequent
Byzantine-Sassanid Wars, a continuation of the centuries-long
Roman-Persian Wars, took place between the 4th and 7th centuries.
According to historians and linguists, the
Proto-Turkic language originated in Central-East Asia.[116] Initially, Proto-
Turkic speakers were potentially both hunter-gatherers and farmers; they later became
nomadicpastoralists.[117] Early and medieval
Turkic groups exhibited a wide range of both East Asian and West-Eurasian physical appearances and genetic origins, in part through long-term contact with neighboring peoples such as
Iranic,
Mongolic,
Tocharian,
Uralic, and
Yeniseian peoples.[118][119][120] During the 9th and 10th centuries CE,
the Oghuz were a Turkic group that lived in the
Caspian and
Aral steppes.[121] Partly due to pressure from the
Kipchaks, the Oghuz migrated into
Iran and
Transoxiana.[121] They mixed with Iranic-speaking groups in the area and converted to
Islam.[121] Oghuz Turks were also known as
Turkoman.[121]
Based around
Söğüt,
Ottoman Beylik was founded by
Osman I in the early 14th century.[139] According to Ottoman chroniclers, Osman descended from the Kayı tribe of the
Oghuz Turks.[140] Ottomans started annexing the nearby Turkish beyliks (principalities) in Anatolia and expanded into the
Balkans.[141]Mehmed II completed Ottoman conquest of the Byzantine Empire by
capturing its capital, Constantinople, on 29 May 1453.[142]Selim I united Anatolia under Ottoman rule.[23] Turkification continued as Ottomans mixed with various indigenous people in Anatolia and the Balkans.[140]
The
Turkish Provisional Government in
Ankara, which had declared itself the legitimate government of the country on
23 April 1920, started to formalize the legal transition from the old Ottoman into the new Republican political system. The Ankara Government engaged in armed and diplomatic struggle. In 1921–1923, the Armenian, Greek, French, and British armies had been expelled:[171][172][173][174] The military advance and diplomatic success of the Ankara Government resulted in the signing of the
Armistice of Mudanya on 11 October 1922. The handling of the
Chanak Crisis (September–October 1922) between the
United Kingdom and the Ankara Government caused the collapse of
David Lloyd George's
Ministry on 19 October 1922[175] and political autonomy of
Canada from the UK.[176] On 1 November 1922, the Turkish Parliament in Ankara formally abolished the Sultanate, thus ending 623 years of
monarchical Ottoman rule.
The
Treaty of Lausanne of 24 July 1923, which superseded the Treaty of Sèvres,[169][170] led to the international recognition of the sovereignty of the new Turkish state as the successor state of the Ottoman Empire. On 4 October 1923, the Allied occupation of Turkey ended with the withdrawal of the last Allied troops from
Istanbul. The Turkish Republic was officially proclaimed on 29 October 1923 in Ankara, the country's new capital.[177] The
Lausanne Convention stipulated a
population exchange between Greece and Turkey.[178]
İsmet İnönü became the country's second president following Atatürk's death in 1938. In 1939, the
Republic of Hatay voted in favor of joining Turkey with a referendum. Turkey
remained neutral during most of
World War II but entered the war on the side of the
Allies on
23 February 1945. Later that year, Turkey became a
charter member of the United Nations.[182] In 1950 Turkey became a member of the
Council of Europe. After fighting as part of the
UN forces in the
Korean War, Turkey joined
NATO in 1952, becoming a bulwark against Soviet expansion into the
Mediterranean.
The country's transition to
multi-party democracy was interrupted by military coups in
1960 and
1980, as well as by military memorandums in
1971 and
1997.[183][184] Between 1960 and the end of the 20th century, the prominent leaders in Turkish politics who achieved multiple election victories were
Süleyman Demirel,
Bülent Ecevit and
Turgut Özal.
Tansu Çiller became the first female prime minister of Turkey in 1993.
Turkey applied for full membership of the EEC in 1987, joined the
European Union Customs Union in 1995 and started
accession negotiations with the
European Union in 2005.[185][186] In a non-binding vote on 13 March 2019, the
European Parliament called on the EU governments to suspend EU accession talks with Turkey, citing violations of human rights and the rule of law; but the negotiations, effectively on hold since 2018, remain active as of 2023.[187]
In 2014, prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan won Turkey's first direct
presidential election.[188] On 15 July 2016, an
unsuccessful coup attempt tried to oust the government.[189] With a
referendum in 2017, the parliamentary republic was replaced by an
executive presidential system. The office of the prime minister was abolished, and its powers and duties were transferred to the president. On the referendum day, while the voting was still underway, the
Supreme Electoral Council lifted a rule that required each ballot to have an official stamp.[190] The opposition parties claimed that as many as 2.5 million
ballots without a stamp were accepted as valid.[190]
Turkey has a
unitary structure in terms of public administration, and the provinces are subordinate to the
central government in
Ankara. In province centers the government is represented by the province governors (vali) and in towns by the governors (kaymakam). Other senior public officials are also appointed by the central government, except for the mayors (belediye başkanı) who are elected by the constituents.[191] Turkish municipalities have local legislative bodies (belediye meclisi) for decision-making on municipal issues.
Turkey is subdivided into 81
provinces (il or vilayet) for administrative purposes. Each province is divided into
districts (ilçe), for a total of 973 districts.[192] Turkey is also subdivided into 7
regions (bölge) and 21 subregions for geographic, demographic and economic measurements, surveys and classifications; this does not refer to an administrative division.
Turkey is a
presidential republic within a
multi-party system.[193] The
current constitution was approved by
referendum in 1982, which determines the government's structure, lays forth the ideals and standards of the state's conduct, and sets out the state's responsibility to its citizens. Furthermore, the constitution specifies the people's rights and obligations, as well as principles for the delegation and exercise of sovereignty that belongs to the people of Turkey.[194] Turkish politics have become increasingly associated with
democratic backsliding, being described as a
competitive authoritarian system.[195][196]
In the Turkish unitary system, citizens are subject to
three levels of government: national, provincial, and local. The
local government's duties are commonly split between
municipal governments and districts, in which the executive and legislative officials are elected by a
plurality vote of citizens by district. The government comprises three branches:
Executive: The president is the
commander-in-chief of the military, can veto
legislative bills before they become law (subject to parliamentary override), can issue
presidential decrees on matters regarding executive power with the exception of fundamental rights, individual rights and certain political rights (parliamentary laws prevail presidential decrees), and appoints the
members of the Cabinet and other officers, who administer and enforce national laws and policies.[198]
Judicial: The
Constitutional Court (for
constitutional adjudication and review of individual applications concerning human rights), the
Court of Cassation (final decision maker in ordinary judiciary), the
Council of State (final decision maker in administrative judiciary) and the
Court of Jurisdictional Disputes (for resolving the disputes between courts for constitutional jurisdiction[199]) are the four organizations that are described by the constitution as supreme courts. The judges of the Constitutional Court are appointed by the president and the parliament.[5]
The Parliament has 600 voting members, each representing a constituency for a five-year term. Parliamentary seats are distributed among the provinces by population, conforming with the census apportionment. The president is
elected by
direct vote and serves a five-year term. The president cannot run for re-election after two terms of five-years, unless the parliament prematurely renews the presidential elections during the second term. Elections for the Parliament and presidential elections are held on the same day. The Constitutional Court is composed of 15 members. A member is elected for a term of 12 years and cannot be re-elected. The members of the Constitutional Court are obliged to retire when they are over the age of 65.[200]
Every Turkish citizen who has turned 18 has the
right to vote and stand as a candidate at elections.
Universal suffrage for both sexes has been applied throughout Turkey since 1934 and before most countries. In Turkey,
turnout rates of both local and general elections are high compared to many other countries, which usually stands higher than 80%.[201] There are 600 members of parliament who are elected for a five-year term by a
party-list proportional representation system from 88 electoral districts.
The Constitutional Court can strip the public financing of
political parties that it deems
anti-secular or having ties to
terrorism, or ban their existence altogether.[202][203] The
Interior Ministry can block new parties from elections even if a court rules in favour of the party.[204] The
electoral threshold for political parties at national level is seven percent of the votes.[205] Smaller parties can avoid the electoral threshold by forming an alliance with other parties.
Independent candidates are not subject to an electoral threshold.
With the founding of the Republic, Turkey adopted a
civil law legal system, replacing
Sharia-derived
Ottoman law. The
Civil Code, adopted in 1926, was based on the
Swiss Civil Code of 1907 and the
Swiss Code of Obligations of 1911. Although it underwent a number of changes in 2002, it retains much of the basis of the original Code. The
Criminal Code, originally based on the
Italian Criminal Code, was replaced in 2005 by a Code with principles similar to the
German Penal Code and German law generally.
Administrative law is based on the French equivalent and
procedural law generally shows the influence of the Swiss, German and French legal systems.[211] Islamic principles do not play a part in the legal system.[212]
In the years of government by the Justice and Development Party and Erdoğan, particularly since 2013, the independence and integrity of the Turkish judiciary has increasingly been said to be in doubt by institutions, parliamentarians and journalists both within and outside of Turkey, because of political interference in the promotion of judges and prosecutors and in their pursuit of public duty.[214][215][216][217]
In line with its traditional Western orientation, relations with Europe have always been a central part of Turkish foreign policy. Turkey became
one of the early members of the
Council of Europe in 1950, applied for associate membership of the
EEC (predecessor of the European Union) in 1959 and became an
associate member in 1963. After decades of political negotiations, Turkey applied for full membership of the EEC in 1987, became an associate member of the
Western European Union in 1992, joined the
EU Customs Union in 1995 and has been in
formal accession negotiations with the
European Union since 2005.[185][186]
The other defining aspect of Turkey's foreign policy has been the country's long-standing strategic alliance with the
United States.[219][220] The
Truman Doctrine in 1947 enunciated American intentions to guarantee the security of Turkey and Greece during the
Cold War, and resulted in large-scale U.S. military and economic support. In 1948 both countries were included in the
Marshall Plan and the
OEEC for rebuilding European economies.[221]
The common threat posed by the
Soviet Union during the
Cold War led to Turkey's membership of
NATO in 1952, ensuring close bilateral relations with the US. Subsequently, Turkey benefited from the United States' political, economic and diplomatic support, including in key issues such as the country's bid to join the European Union.[222] In the post–Cold War environment, Turkey's geostrategic importance shifted towards its proximity to the
Middle East, the
Caucasus and the Balkans.[223]
Under the
AKP government, Turkey's economy has grown rapidly and the country's influence has grown in the Middle East based on a strategic depth doctrine, also called
Neo-Ottomanism.[225][226]
Following the
Arab Spring in December 2010, the choices made by the government for supporting certain political opposition groups in the affected countries have led to tensions with some Arab states, such as Turkey's neighbor Syria since the start of the
Syrian civil war, and
Egypt after the
ousting of President Mohamed Morsi.[227][228] As of 2022[update], Turkey does not have an ambassador in either Syria or Egypt,[229] but relations with both countries have started to improve.[230][231][232][233][234]
Diplomatic relations with
Israel were also severed after the
Gaza flotilla raid in 2010 but were normalized following a deal in June 2016.[235] These political rifts have left Turkey with few allies in the
East Mediterranean, where large natural gas fields have recently been discovered.[236][237] There is a dispute over Turkey's
maritime boundaries with Greece and
Cyprus and drilling rights in the eastern Mediterranean.[238][239]
The
Turkish Armed Forces consist of the
General Staff, the
Land Forces, the
Naval Forces and the
Air Force. The
Chief of the General Staff is appointed by the president. The president is responsible to the Parliament for matters of national security and the adequate preparation of the armed forces to defend the country. However, the authority to declare war and to deploy the Turkish Armed Forces to foreign countries or to allow foreign armed forces to be stationed in Turkey rests solely with the Parliament.[253]
The
Gendarmerie General Command and the
Coast Guard Command are under the jurisdiction of the
Ministry of the Interior. In wartime, the president can order certain units of the Gendarmerie General Command and the Coast Guard Command to operate under the Land Forces Command and Naval Forces Commands respectively. The remaining parts of the Gendarmerie and the Coast Guard continue to carry out their law enforcement missions under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Interior.
Every fit male Turkish citizen otherwise not barred is required to
serve in the military for a period ranging from three weeks to a year, dependent on education and job location.[254] Turkey does not recognize
conscientious objection and does not offer a
civilian alternative to military service.[255]
The human rights record of Turkey has been the subject of much controversy and international condemnation. Between 1959 and 2011 the
European Court of Human Rights made more than 2,400 judgements against Turkey for human rights violations on issues such as
Kurdish rights,
women's rights,
LGBT rights, and
media freedom.[277][278] Turkey's human rights record continues to be a significant obstacle to the country's membership of the EU.[279]
In the latter half of the 1970s, Turkey suffered from
political violence between far-left and far-right militant groups, which culminated in the
military coup of 1980.[280] The
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK, designated a
terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States,[281] and the European Union[282]) was founded in 1978 by a group of Kurdish militants led by
Abdullah Öcalan, seeking the foundation of an independent Kurdish state based on
Marxist–Leninist ideology.[283] The initial reason given by the PKK for this was the oppression of Kurds in Turkey.[284][285]A full-scale insurgency began
in 1984, when the PKK announced a Kurdish uprising. With time the PKK modified its demands into equal rights for ethnic Kurds and provincial autonomy within Turkey.[286][287][288][289] Since 1980, the Turkish parliament stripped its members of
immunity from prosecution, including 44 deputies most of which from the pro-Kurdish parties.[290]
In 2013,
widespread protests erupted, sparked by a plan to demolish
Gezi Park but soon growing into general anti-government dissent.[291] On 20 May 2016, the Turkish parliament stripped almost a quarter of its members of immunity from prosecution, including 101 deputies from the pro-Kurdish
HDP and the main opposition
CHP party.[292][293] By 2020, under the pretext of responding to a failed coup attempt in 2016,[294][295] authorities had arrested or imprisoned more than 90,000 Turkish citizens.[296] According to the
Committee to Protect Journalists, the
AKP government has waged crackdowns on
media freedom.[297][298] Many
journalists have been arrested using charges of "terrorism" and "anti-state activities".[299][300] In 2020, the CPJ identified 18 jailed journalists in Turkey (including the editorial staff of Cumhuriyet, Turkey's oldest newspaper still in circulation).[301]
Homosexual activity has been decriminalized in Turkey since
1858.[303] LGBT people have had the right to seek asylum in Turkey under the
Geneva Convention since 1951.[304] However, LGBT people in Turkey face discrimination, harassment and even violence.[305] The Turkish authorities have carried out many discriminatory practices.[306][307][308] Despite these, LGBT acceptance in Turkey is growing. In a survey conducted in 2016, 33% of respondents said that LGBT people should have equal rights, which increased to 45% in 2020. Another survey in 2018 found that the proportion of people who would not want a homosexual neighbor decreased from 55% in 2018 to 47% in 2019.[309][310] A 2015 poll found that 27% of the Turkish public was in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage and 19% supported
civil unions instead.[311]
When the annual
Istanbul Pride was inaugurated in 2003, Turkey became the first Muslim-majority country to hold a gay pride march.[312] Since 2015, parades at
Taksim Square and
İstiklal Avenue (where the Gezi Park protests took place) have been denied government permission, citing security concerns, but hundreds of people have defied the ban each year.[302] Critics have claimed that the bans were in fact
ideological.[302]
East Thrace, the European portion of Turkey, is located at the easternmost edge of the
Balkans. It forms the border between Turkey and its neighbors Greece and Bulgaria. The Asian part of the country mostly consists of 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. Most of Turkey is vulnerable to
earthquakes.[320]
Turkey's position at the crossroads of the land, sea and air routes between the three
Old World continents and the variety of the habitats across its geographical regions have produced considerable species diversity and a vibrant ecosystem.[327] Anatolia is the homeland of many plants that have been cultivated for food, and the wild ancestors of many plants that now provide staples for humankind still grow in Turkey. The diversity of fauna is even greater than that of its flora. The number of animal species in the whole of Europe is around 60,000, while in Turkey there are over 80,000 animal species.[328]
The coastal areas of Turkey bordering the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas have a
temperateMediterranean climate, with hot, dry summers and mild to cool, wet winters.[340] The coastal areas bordering the Black Sea have a temperate
oceanic climate with warm, wet summers and cool to cold, wet winters.[340] The Turkish Black Sea coast receives the most precipitation and is the only region of Turkey that receives high precipitation throughout the year.[340] The eastern part of the Black Sea coast averages 2,200 millimetres (87 in) annually which is the highest precipitation in the country.[340] The coastal areas bordering the Sea of Marmara, which connects the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea, have a transitional climate between a temperate Mediterranean climate and a temperate oceanic climate with warm to hot, moderately dry summers and cool to cold, wet winters.[340]
Snow falls on the coastal areas of the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea almost every winter but usually melts in no more than a few days.[340] However, snow is rare in the coastal areas of the Aegean Sea and very rare in the coastal areas of the Mediterranean Sea.[340] Winters on the Anatolian plateau are especially severe. Temperatures of −30 to −40 °C (−22 to −40 °F) do occur in northeastern Anatolia, and snow may lie on the ground for at least 120 days of the year, and during the entire year on the summits of the highest mountains. In central Anatolia the temperatures can drop below −20 °C (−4 °F) with the mountains being even colder. Mountains close to the coast prevent Mediterranean influences from extending inland, giving the central Anatolian Plateau a
continental climate with sharply contrasting seasons.[340]
Because of a combination of socioeconomic, population exposure, and climate factors, Turkey is highly
vulnerable to
climate change.[36]
Turkey is a founding member of the
OECD and
G20, and is classified among the E7 countries and EAGLEs. It is a
newly industrialized country with an upper-middle income economy, which is the
17th-largest in the world by nominal GDP, and the
11th-largest by
PPP. According to
IMF estimates, Turkey's GDP per capita by PPP is $41,412 in 2023, while its nominal GDP per capita is $11,932.[8] Approximately 11.7% of Turks were at risk of poverty or social exclusion as of 2019.[341] Unemployment in Turkey was 12% in 2021.[342] According to the World Bank, the middle class population in Turkey rose from 18% to 41% of the total population between 1993 and 2010.[343]
As of October 2021[update], the foreign currency deposits of the citizens and residents in
Turkish banks stood at $234 billion, equivalent to around half of all deposits.[344][345] As of March 2023[update], the foreign currency reserves of the
Turkish Central Bank were $62.6 billion (a 2.3% increase compared to the previous month), its gold reserves were $52.2 billion (a 7.2% increase compared to the previous month), while its official reserve assets stood at $122.4 billion (a 4.3% increase compared to the previous month).[346]
The
EU–Turkey Customs Union in 1995 led to an extensive liberalization of tariff rates, and forms one of the most important pillars of Turkey's foreign trade policy.[351]Foreign direct investment in Turkey peaked at $22.05 billion in 2007 and dropped to $13.22 billion in 2021.[352]
The
automotive industry in Turkey is sizeable, and produced 1,352,648 motor vehicles in 2022, ranking as the
13th largest producer in the world.[353] Turkish automotive companies like
TEMSA,
Otokar and
BMC are among the world's largest van, bus and truck manufacturers.
Togg, or Turkey's Automobile Joint Venture Group Inc., is the first all-electric vehicle company of Turkey. Turkish
shipyards are highly regarded both for the production of chemical and
oil tankers up to 10,000
dwt and also for their
mega yachts.[354] Turkish brands like
Beko and
Vestel are among the largest producers of consumer electronics and home appliances in Europe, and invest a substantial amount of funds for research and development in new technologies related to these fields.[355][356][357]
Other key sectors of the Turkish economy are banking, construction, home appliances, electronics, textiles, oil refining, petrochemical products, food, mining, iron and steel, and machine industry. According to a Turkish Statistical Institute survey in 2021, which used the available data for 2020, it was estimated that 47% of total disposable income was received by the top 20% of income earners, while the lowest 20% received only 6%.[358]Subsidies which are harmful to
health in Turkey include those on sugar[359] and coal.[360]
Tourism has increased almost every year in the 21st century[361] and is an important part of the economy. The
Ministry of Culture and Tourism currently promotes tourism under the project
Turkey Home. Turkey is one of the world's top five destination countries, with the highest percentage of foreign visitors arriving from Europe; specially Germany and Russia in recent years.[361] In 2022, Turkey
ranked fourth in the world in terms of the number of international tourist arrivals with 50.5 million foreign tourists.[362] Turkey has
21 UNESCO World Heritage Sites and
84 World Heritage Sites in tentative list. Turkey is home to 519
Blue Flag beaches, third most in the world.[363] According to
Euromonitor International report, Istanbul is the most visited city in the world, with more than 20.2 million foreign visitors in 2023.[364] Also Antalya has surpassed
Paris and
New York to become the fourth most visited city in the world, with more than 16.5 million foreign visitors.[364]
The motorway network spans 3,633 kilometres (2,257 mi) as of 2023,[372] with an expected expansion to 9,312 kilometres (5,786 miles) by 2035.[373]Istanbul Metro is the largest metro network in the country with 495 million annual ridership.[374] Opened in 2013, the
Marmaray tunnel under the Bosphorus connects the railway and metro lines of Istanbul's European and Asian sides; while the nearby
Eurasia Tunnel provides an undersea road connection for motor vehicles.[375]
Turkish State Railways operates both conventional and high speed trains on 12,532 kilometres rail length. The government-owned national railway company started building
high-speed rail lines in 2003. The
Ankara-Konya line became operational in 2011, while the
Ankara-Istanbul line entered service in 2014.[378] Konya-Karaman line started its operations in 2022 and 406 km (252 mi) long
Ankara-Sivas line opened in 2023.[379]
Many
natural gas pipelines span the country.[193]Blue Stream, a major trans-Black Sea gas pipeline, delivers natural gas from Russia as does the undersea pipeline
TurkStream.[385] The
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline is the second longest
oil pipeline in the world.[386] As of 2022, almost all gas is imported, but production from the
Sakarya gas field, a
sweet gas field in the Black Sea discovered by
TPAO in 2020,[387] began in 2023,[388] with an estimated peak production of 40 bcm in 2026.[389] As of 2022, the total volume of natural gas discovered in the Black Sea amounted to 710 billion cubic metres (bcm).[390]
Turkey is among the top 50 most innovative countries in the world, ranking 39th in the
Global Innovation Index in 2023; this represents a considerable increase since 2011, where it was ranked 65th.[392]TÜBİTAK is the leading agency for developing science, technology and innovation policies.[393]TÜBA is an autonomous scholarly society acting to promote scientific activities in Turkey.[394]TAEK is the country's official
nuclear energy institution, focused on academic research and the development and implementation of peaceful nuclear technology.[395] It is supervising the construction of Turkey's first nuclear facility, Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant in
Mersin, at the cost of $20 billion; the plant became operational in 2023[396] and is projected to meet around 10% of the country's electricity demand.
Turkish Antarctic Research Station is a planned research station in Antarctica. The plan is to build a permanent base for around 50 people, initially operating only during the summer, and later throughout all the year.[405]
According to the Address-Based Population Recording System, the country's population was 85,372,377 in 2023, excluding Syrians under temporary protection.[7] 93% lived in
province and district centers.[7] In 2023, Turkey had an average
population density of 111 people per km2.[7] People within the 15–64 age group constituted 68.3% of the total population; the 0–14 age group corresponded to 21.4%; while senior citizens aged 65 years or older made up 10.2%.[7] Between 1950 and 2020, Turkey's population more than quadrupled from 20.9 million to 83.6 million;[408] however, the population growth rate was 0.1% in 2023.[7]
Article 66 of the
Turkish Constitution defines a "Turk" as anyone who is a citizen.[410] It is estimated that there are at least 47 ethnic groups represented in Turkey.[411] Reliable data on the ethnic mix of the population is not available because census figures do not include statistics on ethnicity after the
1965 Turkish census.[412] According to
the World Factbook, 70-75% of the country's citizens are ethnic Turks.[4] Based on a survey,
KONDA's estimation was 76% in 2006, with 78% of adult citizens self-identifying their ethnic background as "Turk".[413] In 2021, 77% of adult citizens identified as such in a survey.[414]
Kurds are the largest ethnic minority.[415] Their exact numbers remain disputed,[415] with estimates ranging from 12 to 20% of the population.[416] According to a 1990 study, Kurds made up around 12% of the population.[417] The Kurds make up a majority in the provinces of
Ağrı,
Batman,
Bingöl,
Bitlis,
Diyarbakır,
Hakkari,
Iğdır,
Mardin,
Muş,
Siirt,
Şırnak,
Tunceli and
Van; a near majority in
Şanlıurfa (47%); and a large minority in
Kars (20%).[418] In addition, internal migration has resulted in
Kurdish diaspora communities in all of the major cities in central and western Turkey. In Istanbul, there are an estimated three million Kurds, making it the city with the largest Kurdish population in the world.[419] 19% of adult citizens identified as ethnic Kurds in a survey in 2021.[414] Some people have multiple ethnic identities, such as both Turk and Kurd.[420][421] In 2006, an estimated 2.7 million ethnic Turks and Kurds were related from interethnic marriages.[422]
According to the World Factbook, non-Kurdish ethnic minorities are 7–12% of the population.[4] In 2006, KONDA estimated that non-Kurdish and non-Zaza ethnic minorities constituted 8.2% of the population; these were people that gave general descriptions such as Turkish citizen, people with
other Turkic backgrounds,
Arabs, and others.[413] In 2021, 4% of adult citizens identified as non-ethnic Turk or non-ethnic Kurd in a survey.[414] According to the Constitutional Court, there are only four officially recognized
minorities in Turkey: the three non-Muslim minorities recognized in the
Treaty of Lausanne (
Armenians,
Greeks, and
Jews[c]) and the
Bulgarians.[d][426][427][428] In 2013, the Ankara 13th Circuit Administrative Court ruled that the minority provisions of the Lausanne Treaty should also apply to
Assyrians in Turkey and the
Syriac language.[429][430][431] Other unrecognized ethnic groups include
Albanians,
Bosniaks,
Circassians,
Georgians,
Laz,
Pomaks, and
Roma.[432][433][434] Turkey is also home to a Muslim community of
Megleno-Romanians.[435]
Excluding Syrians under temporary protection, there were 1,570,543 foreign citizens in Turkey in 2023.[7] Millions of Kurds fled across the mountains to Turkey and the Kurdish areas of Iran during the
Gulf War in 1991.
Turkey's migrant crisis in the 2010s and early 2020s resulted in the influx of millions of refugees and immigrants.[436] Turkey hosts the largest number of refugees in the world as of April 2020.[437] The
Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency manages the refugee crisis in Turkey. Before the start of the
Syrian civil war in 2011, the estimated number of
Arabs in Turkey varied from 1 million to more than 2 million.[438]
In November 2020, there were 3.6 million
Syrian refugees in Turkey;[439] these included other
ethnic groups of Syria, such as
Syrian Kurds[440] and
Syrian Turkmens.[441] As of August 2023, the number these refugees was estimated to be 3.3 million. The number of Syrians had decreased by about 200,000 people since the beginning of the year.[442] The government has granted citizenship to 238 thousand Syrians by November 2023.[443] As of May 2023, approximately 96,000 Ukrainian
refugees of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine have sought refuge in Turkey.[444] In 2022, nearly 100,000 Russian citizens migrated to Turkey, becoming the first in the list of foreigners who moved to Turkey, meaning an increase of more than 218% from 2021.[445]
Turkey is a
secular state with no official
state religion; the constitution provides for
freedom of religion and
conscience.[455][456] A 2016 survey by
Ipsos, interviewing 17,180 adults across 22 countries, found that
Islam was the dominant religion in Turkey, adhered to by 82% of the total population; religiously unaffiliated people comprised 13% of the population, while
2% were Christians.[457] The level of religiosity study by Konda found 9.7% of the population who are 'fully devoted', 52% who 'strives to fulfill religious obligations', 34.3% who 'does not fulfill religious obligations' and 3.2% 'Nonbeliever/Irreligious'.[458][459] Another poll conducted by Gezici Araştırma in 2020 interviewed 1,062 people in 12 provinces and found that 28.5% of the
Generation Zidentify as irreligious.[460][461]
According to a survey by the pollster
KONDA, the percentage of atheists in Turkey has tripled in 10 years and rose from 1% in 2008 to 3% in 2018, the percentage of non-believers or agnostics rose from 1% to 2%, and that 90% of irreligious Turks were under 35 years old.[462][463][464]
The CIA World Factbook reports that Islam is the religion of 99.8% of the population, with
Sunni Muslims as the largest sect, while 0.2% are Christians or Jews.[465] However, there are no official governmental statistics specifying the religious beliefs of the Turkish people, nor is religious data recorded in the country's census.[466] Academics suggest the
Alevi population may be from 15 to 20 million, while the Alevi-Bektaşi Federation states that there are around 25 million.[467][468] According to
Aksiyon magazine, the number of
TwelverShias (excluding Alevis) is three million (4.2%).[469]
In a mid-2010s poll, 2.9% of Turkish respondents identified as atheists.[486] The
Association of Atheism, the first official atheist organization in the Balkans and the Middle East, was founded in 2014.[487][488] Some religious and secular officials have claimed that
atheism and
deism are growing among Turkish people.[489][490][491][492]
The
Ministry of National Education is responsible for pre-tertiary education.[495] This is compulsory and lasts twelve years: four years each for primary school, middle school and high school.[496] All 12 years of compulsory education is free of charge in public schools.[497] Basic education is said to lag behind other OECD countries, with significant differences between high and low performers.[498] Access to a high-quality school heavily depends on the performance in the secondary school entrance exams, to the point that some students begin taking private tutoring classes when they are ten years old.[498]
Turkey is a member of the
Socrates programme,
Erasmus Programme and
Erasmus+ Programmes.[503] Turkey is also a member of the
Erasmus Student Network, a student organization with more than 15,000 volunteers across Europe.[504] Turkey has become a hub for foreign students in recent years, with 795,962 foreign students in 2016.[505] The government has announced a plan to draw around 500,000 foreign students at its universities by offering attractive scholarships.[506] In 2021
Türkiye Scholarships, a government-funded program, received 165,000 applications from prospective students in 178 countries.[507][508][509]
The
Ministry of Health has run a universal public healthcare system since 2003.[510] Known as Universal Health Insurance (Genel Sağlık Sigortası), it is funded by a tax surcharge on employers, currently at 5%.[510] Public-sector funding covers approximately 75.2% of health expenditures.[510] Despite the universal health care, total expenditure on health as a share of GDP in 2018 was the lowest among OECD countries at 6.3% of GDP, compared to the OECD average of 9.3%.[510] The lower health care expenditure is due to lower median age in Turkey which is 32.4, compared to Italy which is 47.3.[511] Aging population is the prime reason for higher healthcare expenditure in the developed world.[512]
Average life expectancy is 78.6 years (75.9 for males and 81.3 for females), compared with the EU average of 81 years.[510] Turkey has high rates of
obesity, with 29.5% of its adult population having a
body mass index (BMI) value of 30 or above.[513]Air pollution is a major cause of early death.[514]
There are many private hospitals in the country. Medical tourism generated revenues of more than $1 billion in 2019.[515] Around 60% of the income has been obtained from plastic surgery and a total of 662,087 patients received service in the country within the scope of health tourism in 2019.[515]
Turkey has a very diverse culture that is a blend of various elements of the
Turkic,
Anatolian,
Byzantine and
Ottoman cultures (the latter was in many aspects a continuation of both the
Greco-Roman and
Islamic cultures) with
Western culture and traditions, a process that started with the
Westernization of the Ottoman Empire and still continues today.[516][517] This mix originally began as a result of the encounter of the Turks and their culture with those of the peoples they came across during
their migration from Central Asia to the West.[516][518] Contemporary Turkish culture during the republican period is a product of efforts to create a "modern" Western society, while maintaining traditional, religious and historical values.[516] The culture has influenced European art and fashion, particularly between the 16th and 18th centuries, during the peak of Ottoman power – a phenomenon that was called Turquerie.
Ottoman miniature is linked to the
Persian miniature tradition and is likewise influenced by
Chinese painting styles and techniques. The words tasvir or nakış were used to define the art of miniature painting in Ottoman Turkish. The studios the artists worked in were called nakkaşhane.[519] The understanding of
perspective was different from that of the nearby European Renaissance painting tradition, and the scene depicted often included different time periods and spaces in one picture. They followed closely the context of the book they were included in, more illustrations than standalone works of art.[520] Sixteenth-century artists
Nakkaş Osman and
Matrakçı Nasuh are among the most prominent artists of this era.
Turkish painting, in the Western sense, developed actively starting from the mid 19th century. The first painting lessons were scheduled at what is now the
Istanbul Technical University (then the Imperial Military Engineering School) in 1793, mostly for technical purposes.[521] In the late 19th century, human figure in the Western sense was being established in Turkish painting, especially with
Osman Hamdi Bey.
Impressionism, among the contemporary trends, appeared later on with
Halil Pasha. Other important Turkish painters in the 19th century were
Ferik İbrahim Paşa,
Osman Nuri Paşa,
Şeker Ahmet Paşa, and
Hoca Ali Riza.[522]
Carpet (halı) and tapestry (kilim) weaving is a traditional Turkish art form with roots in pre-Islamic times. During its long history, the art and craft of weaving carpets and tapestries in Turkey has integrated numerous cultural traditions. Apart from the Turkic design patterns that are prevalent, traces of
Persian and
Byzantine patterns can also be detected. There are also similarities with the patterns used in Armenian, Caucasian and Kurdish carpet designs. The arrival of Islam in Central Asia and the development of
Islamic art also influenced Turkic patterns in the medieval period. The history of the designs, motifs and ornaments used in Turkish carpets and tapestries thus reflects the political and ethnic history of the Turks and the cultural diversity of Anatolia. However, scientific attempts were unsuccessful, as yet, to attribute a particular design to a specific ethnic, regional, or even nomadic versus village tradition.[523]
The earliest examples of
paper marbling, called ebru in Turkish, are said to be a copy of the Hâlnâme by the poet Arifî. The text of this manuscript was rendered in a delicate cut paper découpage calligraphy by Mehmed bin Gazanfer and completed in 1540, and features many marbled and decorative paper borders. One early master by the
pseudonym of Şebek is mentioned posthumously in the earliest Ottoman text on the art known as the Tertib-i Risâle-i Ebrî, which is dated based on internal evidence to after 1615. The instructions for several ebru techniques in the text are accredited to this master.
Hatip Mehmed Efendi is accredited with developing motifs and perhaps early floral designs, although evidence from India appears to contradict some of these reports. Despite this, marbled motifs are commonly referred to as hatip designs in Turkey today.[524]
Interaction between the Ottoman Empire and the Islamic world along with Europe contributed to a blend of Turkic, Islamic and European traditions in modern-day Turkish music and literary arts.[525]Turkish literature was heavily influenced by
Persian and
Arabic literature during most of the Ottoman era.[526] The Tanzimat reforms of the 19th century introduced previously unknown Western genres, primarily the
novel and the
short story. Many of the writers in the Tanzimat period wrote in several genres simultaneously: for instance, the poet
Namık Kemal also wrote the 1876 novel İntibâh (Awakening), while the journalist
Şinasi has written, in 1860, the first modern Turkish play, the
one-act comedy "Şair Evlenmesi" (The Poet's Marriage). Most of the roots of modern Turkish literature were formed between 1896 and 1923.[527]
The first radical step of innovation in 20th century Turkish poetry was taken by
Nâzım Hikmet, who introduced the
free verse style. Another revolution in Turkish poetry came about in 1941 with the
Garip movement led by
Orhan Veli,
Oktay Rıfat and
Melih Cevdet.
The mix of cultural influences in Turkey is dramatized, for example, in the form of the "new symbols of the clash and interlacing of cultures" enacted in the novels of
Orhan Pamuk, recipient of the 2006
Nobel Prize in Literature.[528]
The origin of
Turkish theater dates back to ancient pagan rituals and oral legends.[529] The dances, music and songs performed during the rituals of the inhabitants of Anatolia millennia ago are the elements from which the first shows originated. In time, the ancient rituals, myths, legends and stories evolved into theatrical shows. Starting from the 11th-century, the traditions of the Seljuk Turks blended with those of the indigenous peoples of Anatolia and the interaction between diverse cultures paved the way for new plays.[529][530]Meddah were
storytellers who performed in front of audiences during the Ottoman period.[529]Karagöz and Hacivat are the lead characters of the traditional Turkish
shadow play, popularized during the Ottoman period and then spread to most ethnic groups of the Ottoman Empire.
After the Tanzimat period, characters in Turkish theatre were modernized and plays were performed on European-style stages, with actors wearing European costumes. Following the
restoration of constitutional monarchy with the
Young Turk Revolution in 1908, theatrical activities increased and social problems began to be reflected at the theatre as well as in historical plays. A theatrical conservatoire,
Darülbedayi-i Osmani (which became the nucleus of the
Istanbul City Theatres) was established in 1914. Numerous Turkish playwrights emerged in this era, and the first Turkish musicals were also written. In time, Turkish women began to appear on stage; until then, female roles had only been played by actresses who were members of Turkey's ethnic minorities. Today there are numerous private theatres in the country, together with those which are subsidized by the government, such as the
Turkish State Theatres.[531]
The roots of traditional music in Turkey span across centuries to a time when the Seljuk Turks migrated to Anatolia and Persia in the 11th century and contains elements of both Turkic and pre-Turkic influences. Much of its modern popular music can trace its roots to the emergence in the early 1930s drive for Westernization.[532]
With the assimilation of immigrants from various regions the diversity of musical genres and musical instrumentation also expanded. Turkey has also seen documented folk music and recorded popular music produced in the ethnic styles of
Greek,
Armenian,
Albanian,
Polish and
Jewish communities, among others.[533]
Many Turkish cities and towns have vibrant local music scenes which, in turn, support a number of regional musical styles. Despite this however, western music styles like
pop music and
kanto lost popularity to
arabesque in the late 1970s and 1980s. It became popular again by the beginning of the 1990s, as a result of an opening economy and society. The resurging popularity of pop music gave rise to several international Turkish pop stars such as
Ajda Pekkan,
Sezen Aksu,
Erol Evgin,
MFÖ,
Tarkan,
Sertab Erener,
Teoman,
Kenan Doğulu,
Levent Yüksel and
Hande Yener. Internationally acclaimed Turkish
jazz and
blues musicians and composers include
Ahmet Ertegun (founder and president of
Atlantic Records),
Nükhet Ruacan and Kerem Görsev.
Şakirin Mosque (2009), the first mosque designed by a woman
The Byzantine era is usually dated from 330 AD at the founding of Constantinople until the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453. Its architecture dramatically influenced the later medieval architecture throughout Europe and the
Near East and became the primary progenitor of the
Renaissance and
Ottoman architectural traditions that followed its collapse.[534] When the Roman Empire went Christian (as well as eastwards) with Constantinople as its new capital, its architecture became more sensuous and more ambitious. This new style, which would come to be known as
Byzantine architecture, with increasingly exotic domes and ever-richer mosaics, spread west to
Ravenna and
Venice in Italy and as far north as
Moscow in Russia.[535] This influence can be seen particularly in the
Venetian Gothic architecture.
The
architecture of the Seljuk Turks combined the elements and characteristics of the
Turkic architecture of Central Asia with those of
Persian,
Arab,
Armenian and Byzantine architecture. The transition from Seljuk architecture to Ottoman architecture is most visible in
Bursa, which was the capital of the Ottoman State between 1335 and 1413. Following the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, Ottoman architecture was significantly influenced by Byzantine architecture.
Topkapı Palace in Istanbul is one of the most famous examples of
classical Ottoman architecture and was the primary residence of the
Ottoman Sultans for approximately 400 years.[536]Mimar Sinan (
c. 1489–1588) was the most important architect of the classical period in Ottoman architecture. He was the chief architect of at least 374 buildings that were constructed in various
provinces in the 16th century.[537]Sedefkar Mehmed Ağa, the architect of the
Blue Mosque in Istanbul, was an apprentice of Sinan, later becoming his first assistant in charge of the office of chief architect.
Since the 18th century, Turkish architecture has been increasingly influenced by European styles, and this can be particularly seen in the Tanzimat era buildings of Istanbul like the
Dolmabahçe,
Çırağan,
Taksim Military Barracks (demolished),
Feriye,
Beylerbeyi,
Küçüksu,
Ihlamur and
Yıldız palaces, which were all designed by members of the
Balyan family of Ottoman Armenian court architects.[538] The Ottoman era
waterfront houses (yalı) on the Bosphorus also reflect the fusion between classical Ottoman and European architectural styles. The
First National Architectural Movement in the early 20th century sought to create a new architecture which was based on motifs from Seljuk and Ottoman architecture.
Yogurt salads;
mezes; fish and seafood; grilled, sauteed or steamed meat varieties; vegetables or
stuffed and wrapped vegetables cooked with
olive oil; and drinks like
sherbet,
ayran and
rakı became Turkish staples. The empire used its land and water routes to import exotic ingredients from all over the world. By the end of the 16th century, the Ottoman court housed over 1,400 live-in cooks and passed laws regulating the freshness of food. Since the establishment of the republic in 1923, foreign food such as French
hollandaise sauce and Western fast food have made their way into the modern Turkish diet.[544]
The traditional national sport of Turkey has been
yağlı güreş (oilwrestling) since Ottoman times.[554] Edirne Province has hosted the annual
Kırkpınar oil wrestling tournament since 1361, making it the oldest continuously held sporting competition in the world.[555][556] In the 19th and early 20th centuries, oil wrestling champions such as
Koca Yusuf,
Nurullah Hasan and
Kızılcıklı Mahmut acquired international fame in Europe and North America by winning world heavyweight wrestling championship titles. International wrestling styles governed by
FILA such as
freestyle wrestling and
Greco-Roman wrestling are also popular, with many European, World and Olympic championship titles won by Turkish wrestlers both individually and as a national team.[557]
TRT 2 is the public service channel dedicated to culture and art, and
TRT Belgesel is dedicated to documentaries. In the 21st century some reforms have taken place to improve the cultural rights of ethnic minorities in Turkey, such as the establishment of
TRT Kurdî,
TRT Arabi and
TRT Avaz by the
TRT.
Turkish television dramas are increasingly becoming popular beyond Turkey's borders and are among the country's most vital exports, both in terms of profit and public relations.[563] After sweeping the
Middle East's television market over the past decade, Turkish shows have aired in more than a dozen
South and
Central American countries in 2016.[564][565] Turkey is today the world's second largest exporter of television series.[566][567][568]
^The Turkish government considers that, for the purpose of the Treaty of Lausanne, the language of
Turkish Jews is
Hebrew, even though the mother tongue of Turkish Jews was not Hebrew but historically
Judaeo-Spanish (Ladino) or other
Jewish languages.[427][428]
References
^"Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Anayasası" (in Turkish).
Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Archived from
the original on 2 July 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2020. 3. Madde: Devletin Bütünlüğü, Resmi Dili, Bayrağı, Milli Marşı ve Başkenti: Türkiye Devleti, ülkesi ve milletiyle bölünmez bir bütündür. Dili Türkçedir. Bayrağı, şekli kanununda belirtilen, beyaz ay yıldızlı al bayraktır. Milli marşı "İstiklal Marşı" dır. Başkenti Ankara'dır.
^Leonard 2006, p. 1576: "Turkey’s diversity is derived from its central location near the world’s earliest civilizations as well as a history replete with population movements and invasions. The Hattite culture was prominent during the Bronze Age prior to 2000 BCE, but was replaced by the Indo-European Hittites who conquered Anatolia by the second millennium. Meanwhile, Turkish Thrace came to be dominated by another Indo-European group, the Thracians for whom the region is named."
^Howard 2016, pp. 24–28: "Göbekli Tepe’s close proximity to several very early sites of grain cultivation helped lead Schmidt to the conclusion that it was the need to maintain the ritual center that first encouraged the beginnings of settled agriculture—the Neolithic Revolution"
^Steadman & McMahon 2011, pp. 233, 713: "By the time of the Old Assyrian Colony period in the early second millennium b.c.e . (see Michel, chapter 13 in this volume) the languages spoken on the plateau included Hattian, an indigenous Anatolian language, Hurrian (spoken in northern Syria), and Indo-European languages known as Luwian, Hittite, and Palaic" ... "The weight of current linguistic evidence supports the traditional view that Indo-European speakers are intrusive to Asia Minor, coming from somewhere in eastern Europe...Recent research argues against the notion of Indo-European “invaders” imposing themselves on a Hattian population in central Anatolia and points rather to a gradual assimilation."
^
abHoward 2016, p. 29: "The sudden disappearance of the Persian Empire and the conquest of virtually the entire Middle Eastern world from the Nile to the Indus by Alexander the Great caused tremendous political and cultural upheaval. Working out vague notions of the fundamental commonality of the human spirit, summed up in the ideal of the “brotherhood of man” attributed to Alexander himself, statesmen throughout the conquered regions attempted to implement a policy of Hellenization. For indigenous elites, this amounted to the forced assimilation of native religion and culture to Greek models. It met resistance in Anatolia as elsewhere, especially from priests and others who controlled temple wealth."
^
abLeonard 2006, p. 1576: "Subsequently, hellenization of the elites transformed Anatolia into a largely Greek-speaking region"
^
abcdDavison 1990, pp. 3–4: "So the Seljuk sultanate was a successor state ruling part of the medieval Greek empire, and within it the process of Turkification of a previously Hellenized Anatolian population continued. That population must already have been of very mixed ancestry, deriving from ancient Hittite, Phrygian, Cappadocian, and other civilizations as well as Roman and Greek."
Kaser 2011, p. 336: "The emerging Christian nation states justified the prosecution of their Muslims by arguing that they were their former “suppressors”. The historical balance: between about 1820 and 1920, millions of Muslim casualties and refugees back to the remaining Ottoman Empire had to be registered; estimations speak about 5 million casualties and the same number of displaced persons"
Gibney & Hansen 2005, p. 437: ‘Muslims had been the majority in Anatolia, the Crimea, the Balkans, and the Caucasus and a plurality in southern Russia and sections of Romania. Most of these lands were within or contiguous with the Ottoman Empire. By 1923, “only Anatolia, eastern Thrace, and a section of the southeastern Caucasus remained to the Muslim land....Millions of Muslims, most of them Turks, had died; millions more had fled to what is today Turkey. Between 1821 and 1922, more than five million Muslims were driven from their lands. Five and one-half million Muslims died, some of them killed in wars, others perishing as refugees from starvation and disease” (McCarthy 1995, 1). Since people in the Ottoman Empire were classified by religion, Turks, Albanians, Bosnians, and all other Muslim groups were recognized—and recognized themselves—simply as Muslims. Hence, their persecution and forced migration is of central importance to an analysis of “Muslim migration.”’
Karpat 2001, p. 343: "The main migrations started from Crimea in 1856 and were followed by those from the Caucasus and the Balkans in 1862 to 1878 and 1912 to 1916. These have continued to our day. The quantitative indicators cited in various sources show that during this period a total of about 7 million migrants from Crimea, the Caucasus, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean islands settled in Anatolia. These immigrants were overwhelmingly Muslim, except for a number of Jews who left their homes in the Balkans and Russia in order to live in the Ottoman lands. By the end of the century the immigrants and their descendants constituted some 30 to 40 percent of the total population of Anatolia, and in some western areas their percentage was even higher." ... "The immigrants called themselves Muslims rather than Turks, although most of those from Bulgaria, Macedonia, and eastern Serbia descended from the Turkish Anatolian stock who settled in the Balkans in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries."
Karpat 2004, pp. 5–6: "Migration was a major force in the social and cultural reconstruction of the Ottoman state in the nineteenth century. While some seven to nine million, mostly Muslim, refugees from lost territories in the Caucasus, Crimea, Balkans and Mediterranean islands migrated to Anatolia and Eastern Thrace, during the last quarter of the nineteenth and the early part of the twentieth centuries..."
Pekesen 2012: "The immigration had far-reaching social and political consequences for the Ottoman Empire and Turkey." ... "Between 1821 and 1922, some 5.3 million Muslims migrated to the Empire.50 It is estimated that in 1923, the year the republic of Turkey was founded, about 25 per cent of the population came from immigrant families.51"
Biondich 2011, p. 93: "The road from Berlin to Lausanne was littered with millions of casualties. In the period between 1878 and 1912, as many as two million Muslims emigrated voluntarily or involuntarily from the Balkans. When one adds those who were killed or expelled between 1912 and 1923, the number of Muslim casualties from the Balkan far exceeds three million. By 1923 fewer than one million remained in the Balkans"
Armour 2012, p. 213: "To top it all, the Empire was host to a steady stream of Muslim refugees. Russia between 1854 and 1876 expelled 1.4 million Crimean Tartars, and in the mid-1860s another 600,000 Circassians from the Caucasus. Their arrival produced further economic dislocation and expense."
^
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^Roderic H. Davison; Review "From Paris to Sèvres: The Partition of the Ottoman Empire at the Peace Conference of 1919–1920" by Paul C. Helmreich in Slavic Review, Vol. 34, No. 1 (March 1975), pp. 186–187
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