Portal:Turkey
Merhaba! Türkiye portalına hoşgeldiniz. Hi! Welcome to the Turkey portal.
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly in Anatolia in West Asia, with a smaller part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran to the east; Iraq, Syria, and the Mediterranean Sea (and Cyprus) to the south; and the Aegean Sea, Greece, and Bulgaria to the west. Turkey is home to over 85 million people; most are ethnic Turks, while ethnic Kurds are the largest ethnic minority. Officially a secular state, Turkey has a Muslim-majority population. Ankara is Turkey's capital and second-largest city; Istanbul is its largest city, and its economic and financial center, as well as the largest city in Europe. Other major cities include İzmir, Bursa and Antalya.
Human habitation began in the Late Paleolithic. Home to important Neolithic sites like Göbekli Tepe and some of the earliest farming areas, present-day Turkey was inhabited by various ancient peoples. Hattians were assimilated by the incoming Anatolian peoples. Increasing diversity during Classical Anatolia transitioned into cultural Hellenization following the conquests of Alexander the Great; Hellenization continued during the Roman and Byzantine eras. The Seljuk Turks began migrating into Anatolia in the 11th century, starting the Turkification process. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rum ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, when it disintegrated into Turkish principalities. Beginning in 1299, the Ottomans united the principalities and expanded; Mehmed II conquered Istanbul in 1453. During the reigns of Selim I and Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman Empire became a global power. From 1789 onwards, the empire saw 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. After its defeat, the Ottoman Empire was partitioned. The Turkish War of Independence resulted in the abolition of the sultanate in 1922 and the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. The Republic was proclaimed on 29 October 1923, modelled on the reforms initiated by the country's first president, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Turkey remained neutral during most of World War II, but was involved in the Korean War. Coups in 1960 and 1980 interrupted the transition to a multi-party system.
Turkey is an upper-middle-income and emerging country; its economy is the world's 18th-largest by nominal GDP and 11th-largest by purchasing power parity. It is a unitary presidential republic. Turkey is a founding member of the OECD, G20, and Organization of Turkic States. With a geopolitically significant location, Turkey is a regional power and an early member of NATO. An EU-candidate, Turkey is part of the EU Customs Union, CoE, OIC, and TURKSOY. Turkey has coastal plains, a high central plateau, and various mountain ranges; its climate is temperate with harsher conditions in the interior. Home to three biodiversity hotspots, Turkey is prone to frequent earthquakes and is highly vulnerable to climate change. Turkey has universal healthcare, growing access to education, and increasing innovativeness. It 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 fourth most visited country in the world. (Full article...)
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On 15 July 2016, a faction within the Turkish Armed Forces, organized as the Peace at Home Council, attempted a coup d'état against state institutions, including the government and president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. They attempted to seize control of several places in Ankara, Istanbul, Marmaris and elsewhere, such as the Asian side entrance of the Bosphorus Bridge, but failed to do so after forces and civilians loyal to the state defeated them. The Council cited an erosion of secularism, elimination of democratic rule, disregard for human rights, and Turkey's loss of credibility in the international arena as reasons for the coup. The government said it had evidence the coup leaders were linked to the Gülen movement, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the Republic of Turkey and led by Fethullah Gülen, a Turkish businessman and a well-known Islamic scholar who lives in exile in Pennsylvania. The Turkish government alleged that Gülen was behind the coup (which Gülen denied) and that the United States was harboring him. Events surrounding the coup attempt and the purges in its aftermath reflect a complex power struggle between Islamist elites in Turkey.
During the coup attempt, over 300 people were killed and more than 2,100 were injured. Many government buildings, including the Turkish Parliament and the Presidential Palace, were bombed from the air. Mass arrests followed, with at least 40,000 detained, including at least 10,000 soldiers and 2,745 judges, for being affiliated with the coup attempt. 15,000 education staff were also suspended and the licenses of 21,000 teachers working at private institutions were revoked after the government stated they were loyal to Gülen. More than 77,000 people have been arrested and over 160,000 fired from their jobs, on reports of connections to Gülen. (Full article...)General images
Did you know -
- ... that the Mosque of the Rose in Istanbul is so named because on the day of the Fall of Constantinople the building was adorned with garlands of roses? (November 27, 2007) Wikipedia:Recent additions 190
- ... that in 1876, British barrister, publicist, and historian Edwin Pears, as correspondent of The Daily News, sent letters home describing Ottoman atrocities in Bulgaria during the April Uprising which aroused popular demonstrations in England led by William Gladstone? (May 18, 2008) Wikipedia:Recent additions 219
- ... that in Rose Macaulay's novel The Towers of Trebizond (1956) the English traveller Aunt Dot aims to emancipate the women of Turkey by converting them to Anglicanism and popularizing the bathing hat? (November 19, 2007) Wikipedia:Recent additions 188
- ... that Yalçın Granit became the first Turkish basketballer to play in a European team when he went to France for his doctoral studies? (May 8, 2014)
- ... that the Sultan Bayezid II Mosque is the oldest surviving Ottoman imperial mosque complex in Istanbul, Turkey? (August 13, 2008) Wikipedia:Recent additions 226
- ... that the Tigris River's tributary, the Botan in southeastern Turkey, looks during times of peak discharge much bigger than the Tigris? (December 26, 2008) Wikipedia:Recent additions 237
- ... that the Toklu Dede Mosque (pictured) in Istanbul, a former Byzantine Church, was destroyed with its frescoes by its owner in 1929? (April 30, 2012)
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Tuncay Volkan Şanlı (Turkish pronunciation: [tunˈdʒaj ˈʃanɫɯ]; born 16 January 1982), often known mononymously as Tuncay, is a Turkish former footballer and the current manager of Turkish club Sakaryaspor.
He naturally played as a striker, but was also positioned as an attacking midfielder and on either wing. He was in the Turkey team that finished in third place in both the 2003 Confederations Cup and the 2008 European Championships. With 22 international goals in 80 caps, he is Turkey's third-highest scorer of all time, and tenth-most capped player. (Full article...)Selected video -
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“ | A satiated man doesn't know what's hunger, a healthy man doesn't know what's disease. | ” |
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