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Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a smaller part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran to the east; Iraq, Syria, and the Mediterranean Sea 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, while Istanbul is its largest city and economic and financial center. Other major cities include İzmir, Bursa, and Antalya.

Turkey was first inhabited by modern humans during the Late Paleolithic. Home to important Neolithic sites like Göbekli Tepe and some of the earliest farming areas, present-day Turkey was inhabited by various ancient peoples. The Hattians were assimilated by the Anatolian peoples, such as the Hittites. Classical Anatolia transitioned into cultural Hellenization following the conquests of Alexander the Great; Hellenization continued during the Roman and Byzantine eras. The Seljuk Turks began migrating into Anatolia in the 11th century, starting the Turkification process. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rum ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, when it disintegrated into Turkish principalities. Beginning in 1299, the Ottomans united the principalities and expanded; Mehmed II conquered Istanbul in 1453. During the reigns of Selim I and Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman Empire became a global power. From 1789 onwards, the empire saw a major transformation, reforms, and centralization while its territory declined.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, persecution of Muslims during the Ottoman contraction and in the Russian Empire resulted in large-scale loss of life and mass migration into modern-day Turkey from the Balkans, Caucasus, and Crimea. Under the control of the Three Pashas, the Ottoman Empire entered World War I in 1914, during which the Ottoman government committed genocides against its Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian subjects. Following Ottoman defeat, the Turkish War of Independence resulted in the abolition of the sultanate and the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne. 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 17th-largest by nominal and 12th-largest by PPP-adjusted GDP. It is a unitary presidential republic. Turkey is a founding member of the OECD, G20, and Organization of Turkic States. With a geopolitically significant location, Turkey is a regional power and an early member of NATO. An EU candidate, Turkey is part of the EU Customs Union, CoE, OIC, and TURKSOY.

Turkey has coastal plains, a high central plateau, and various mountain ranges; its climate is temperate with harsher conditions in the interior. Home to three biodiversity hotspots, Turkey is prone to frequent earthquakes and is highly vulnerable to climate change. Turkey has a universal healthcare system, growing access to education, and increasing levels of innovativeness. It is a leading TV content exporter. With 21 UNESCO World Heritage sites, 30 UNESCO intangible cultural heritage inscriptions, and a rich and diverse cuisine, Turkey is the fifth most visited country in the world. (Full article...)

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Pınargözü Cave (Turkish: Pınargözü Mağarası, literally "eye of the water"), is a cave 18 kilometres (11 mi) west of the town of Yenişarbademli in Isparta Province, Turkey. It is considered the longest cave in Turkey, although it has not yet been fully explored, and the precise extent to which it has been explored is in dispute.

The entrance is on the slopes of Mount Dedegöl at an elevation of 1,550 metres (5,090 ft), in a forested area of the Kızıldağ National Park. It is easily recognized by the stream of water that pours continuously from its mouth, called the Devre Su. A constant wind of up to 166 km/h (103 mph) blows through the cave's narrow opening due to the chimney effect. (Full article...)

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General images

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

Image 1Roosevelt, İnönü and Churchill at the Second Cairo Conference which was held between 4–6 December 1943. (from History of Turkey)
Image 2The sultan of the golden age, Suleiman the Magnificent. (from History of Turkey)
Image 3Istanbul Sapphire (2006–11) is the tallest building in Turkey and 4th in Europe. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 4Ankara (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 5Turkish delight (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 6An Oil wrestling tournament in Istanbul. This has been the national sport of Turkey since Ottoman times. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 7Tevfik Fikret (1867–1915) was a prominent Turkish poet of the late Ottoman era. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 8Butterfly Valley on the Turkish Riviera. (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 9Selimiye Mosque in Edirne (1568–1574) (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 10Mehmed II enters Constantinople by Fausto Zonaro (from History of Turkey)
Image 11Turkish national basketball team won the silver medal in the 2010 FIBA World Championship. (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 13View of Beydağları Coastal National Park (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 14Map of the Lydian Kingdom in its final period of sovereignty under Croesus, c. 547 BC. (from History of Turkey)
Image 15Istanbul (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 16Map of earthquakes in Turkey 1900–2023 (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 17Fazıl 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 18Anıtkabir designed by Emin Halid Onat and Ahmet Orhan Arda (1944–53) (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 19Karagöz and Hacivat are the lead characters of the traditional Turkish shadow play, popularized during the Ottoman period. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 20Night view of the Taksim Mosque (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 21Istanbul University Faculty of Science and Faculty of Literature Buildings (1944–52) designed by Sedad Hakkı Eldem and Emin Onat (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 22Kaçkar Mountains (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 23Mount Ararat (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 24Thrace and the Thracian Odrysian kingdom in its maximum extent under Sitalces (431-424 BC) (from History of Turkey)
Image 25Ankara Opera House, designed by Şevki Balmumcu (1933–34) and renovation by Paul Bonatz (1946–47). (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 26Orhan Pamuk, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 27Lake Van (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 28Atatürk on the cover of the Time magazine, Vol. I No. 4, March 24, 1923. Title: "Mustapha Kemal Pasha" (from History of Turkey)
Image 29Köppen climate types of Turkey (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 30A view of Levent from Kanlıca across the Bosporus (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 31Entrance portal of the Karatay Madrasa in Konya (c. 1251) (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 32Antalya (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 33Originally 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 34View of Dilek Peninsula-Büyük Menderes Delta National Park (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 35The 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 36The Nation's Library of the Presidency, Ankara (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 37First 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 38Map showing the Anatolian Plate, the North Anatolian Fault and East Anatolian Fault in Turkey. (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 39The Bath-Gymnasium complex at Sardis in Turkey. (from History of Turkey)
Image 40Recaizade Mahmud Ekrem (1847–1914) was another prominent Turkish poet of the late Ottoman era. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 41The Ottoman Empire in 1683, at the start of the Great Turkish War (1683–1699) (from History of Turkey)
Image 42Yalikavak Palmarina in Bodrum (2014) designed by Emre Arolat (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 43Turkish coffee (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 44Map showing events of the first phases of the Greco-Persian Wars (from History of Turkey)
Image 45Map of the Hittite Empire at its greatest extent, with Hittite rule c. 1350–1300 BC represented by the green line (from History of Turkey)
Image 46Beaches and marina of Kemer near Antalya on the Turkish Riviera (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 47Sami Frashëri (1850–1904) and his wife Emine, May 1884. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 48Mount Nemrut, Adıyaman (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 49Designed by Şekip Akalın, Ankara Central Station (1937) is a notable art deco design of its era. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 50View from Levent district in Istanbul. Istanbul's skyline has changed especially since the early 2000s. (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 51Mount Erciyes near Kayseri (from Geography of Turkey)
Image 52Map of Istanbul by the miniature artist Matrakçı Nasuh (from Culture of Turkey)
Image 53Orhan Veli Kanık was the founder of the Garip Movement in Turkish poetry. (from Culture of Turkey)

Did you know - show different entries

... that the Fenari Isa Mosque
(pictured) in Istanbul represents one of the first examples of edifices with a quincuncial plan in Byzantine architecture? (March 17, 2007) Wikipedia:Recent additions 128
... that one of the accused assassins of Turkish former government minister Gün Sazak later hijacked an airplane to Bulgaria with accomplices? (February 21, 2014)
... that Matild Manukyan, a wealthy Turkish businesswoman of Armenian origin, made her fortune as a brothel owner? (March 14, 2007) Wikipedia:Recent additions 127
... that the McGhee Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies in Alanya is run by Georgetown University as the only independent study program in Turkey? (November 12, 2007) Wikipedia:Recent additions 185
... that 14th-century Turkish polymath Al-Taftazani completed one of his best-known works at the age of 16? (December 22, 2008) Wikipedia:Recent additions 237
... that Hilton Istanbul Bosphorus
(pictured) in Turkey, established in 1955, is the longest-serving member of the Hilton Hotels chain outside the United States? (February 21, 2013)
... that the Esma Sultana Mansion
(pictured), a multipurpose event venue in Istanbul, Turkey, looks ruined because only its interior was reconstructed after a 1975 fire? (December 1, 2008)

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Image 1Atatürk praying
Image 2An airplane with a nazar boncuğu symbol that is said to offer protection from the "evil eye".
Image 3the Bosphorus Bridge
Image 4Iznik, 16th-century vase
Image 5The ancient Lake Abant Nature Park in Bolu
Image 6The sun setting over the Golden Horn in the city of Istanbul.
Image 7The tughra of Mahmud II. "Mahmud Han bin Abdulhamid muzaffer daima" ("Mahmud Khan son of Abdulhamid is forever victorious").
Image 8The Temple of Athena at Priene, an ancient site near Turunçlar in Aydın province.
Image 9Cappadocia
Image 10Aydilge Sarp; Turkish singer, songwriter and novelist
Image 11A Kocek
Image 12Tünel, Istanbul
Image 13Kemer
Image 14Antalya
Image 15the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne
Image 16Tarkan with Hungarian fans
Image 17Flag of Turkey, from flowers
Image 18Safranbolu
Image 19A tram in Istanbul
Image 2018th-century Ottoman barber's apron
Image 21A faculty of Sakarya University
Image 22Lahmacun
Image 231. picture on portal: The prominent towers of Dayro d-Mor Gabriel; 15th December 2005
Image 24Ölüdeniz
Image 25Rize
Image 26Lake Akdoğan in Muş
Image 27Mount Nemrut

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Atatürk in 1932

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, also known as Mustafa Kemal Pasha until 1921, and Ghazi Mustafa Kemal from 1921 until the Surname Law of 1934 (c. 1881 – 10 November 1938), was a Turkish field marshal, revolutionary statesman, author, and the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first president from 1923 until his death in 1938. He undertook sweeping progressive reforms, which modernized Turkey into a secular, industrializing nation. Ideologically a secularist and nationalist, his policies and socio-political theories became known as Kemalism (Atatürkism).

Atatürk came to prominence for his role in securing the Ottoman Turkish victory at the Battle of Gallipoli (1915) during World War I. During this time, the Ottoman Empire perpetrated genocides against its Greek, Armenian and Assyrian subjects; while never involved, Atatürk's role in their aftermath was the subject of discussion. Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, he led the Turkish National Movement, which resisted mainland Turkey's partition among the victorious Allied powers. Establishing a provisional government in the present-day Turkish capital Ankara (known in English at the time as Angora), he defeated the forces sent by the Allies, thus emerging victorious from what was later referred to as the Turkish War of Independence. He subsequently proceeded to abolish the sultanate in 1922 and proclaimed the foundation of the Turkish Republic in its place the following year. (Full article...)

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

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Boats in Istanbul

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Videos from Turkey on Wikimedia Commons

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“

Today the Soviet Union is a friend and an ally. We need this friendship. However, no one can know what will happen tomorrow. Just like the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empires it may tear itself apart or shrink in size. The people that it holds so tightly in its grip may one day slip away. The world may see a new balance of power. It is then that Turkey must know what to do. Ally Soviets have under their control our brothers with whom we share language, beliefs and roots. We must be prepared to embrace them. Being ready does not mean that we will sit quietly and wait. We must get ready. How does a people get prepared for such an endeavour? By strengthening the natural bridges that exist between us. Language is a bridge... Religion is a bridge... History is a bridge... We must delve into our roots and reconstruct what history has divided. We can't wait for them to approach us. We must reach out to them.

”

29 October 1933 ~ Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

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Turkish proverbs in Wikiquote

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Recognized content

	Alanya, Byzantine Empire, SMS Goeben, The Turk, List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, Istanbul, Italian War of 1521–1526, Italian War of 1542–1546, List of battleships of the Ottoman Empire, Rhodes blood libel
	2004 Istanbul summit, 2008 Turkish Grand Prix, Battle of Manzikert, Battle of Marash, Battle of Vaslui, Church of St. Polyeuctus, First Crusade, Great Zab, Hood event, Limyra Bridge, Siege of Szigetvár, Night Attack at Târgoviște, Third Perso-Turkic War, Walls of Constantinople, Gallipoli Campaign, Battle of Lone Pine