Turkey

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the country. For the bird, see Turkey (bird). For other uses,
see Turkey (disambiguation).
Trkiye redirects here. For the newspaper, see Trkiye (newspaper).
Coordinates 39N 35E

Republic of Turkey
Trkiye Cumhuriyeti (Turkish)
Flag of Turkey
Flag
Anthem
Istikll Marsi
The Independence March
MENU000
Location of Turkey
Capital Ankara
3955'N 3250'E
Largest city Istanbul
411'N 2857'E
Official languages Turkish
Demonym
Turkish
Government Unitary parliamentary constitutional republic
President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Prime Minister
Binali Yildirim
Speaker of the Grand National Assembly
Ismail Kahraman
Legislature Grand National Assembly
Succession to the Ottoman Empire
War of Independence
19 May 1919
Government of the GNA
23 April 1920
Treaty of Kars
13 October 1921
Treaty of Lausanne
24 July 1923
Declaration of Republic
29 October 1923
Area
Total
783,356 km2 (302,455 sq mi) (36th)
Water (%)
1.3
Population
2017 census
79,814,871[1] (18th)
Density
102[2]km2 (264.2sq mi) (107th)
GDP (PPP) 2017 estimate
Total
$2.082 trillion[3] (13th)
Per capita
$25,776[3] (45th)
GDP (nominal) 2017 estimate
Total
$861 billion[3] (17th)
Per capita
$11,014[3] (60th)
Gini (2013) Positive decrease 40.0[4]
medium 56th
HDI (2014) Increase 0.761[5]
high 72nd
Currency Turkish lira ? (TRY)
Time zone FET (UTC+3)
Date format ddmmyyyy (AD)
Drives on the right
Calling code +90
ISO 3166 code TR
Internet TLD .tr
Website
www.turkiye.gov.tr
Turkey ('t??rki (About this sound listen); Turkish Trkiye ['ty?cije]), officially
the Republic of Turkey (Turkish About this sound Trkiye Cumhuriyeti (helpinfo);
pronounced ['ty?cije d??um'hu?ijeti]), is a transcontinental country in Eurasia,
mainly in Anatolia in Western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula
in Southeast Europe.[6] Turkey is bordered by eight countries Greece and Bulgaria
to the northwest; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, the Azerbaijani exclave of
Nakhchivan and Iran to the east; Iraq and Syria to the south. The country is
encircled by seas on three sides the Aegean Sea is to the west, the Black Sea to
the north, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The Bosphorus, the Sea of
Marmara, and the Dardanelles, which together form the Turkish Straits, divide
Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia.[7] Ankara is the capital
while Istanbul is the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial
centre. Approximately 7080% of the country's citizens identify themselves as
ethnic Turks.[8][9] Other ethnic groups include legally recognised[I] (Armenians,
Greeks, Jews) and unrecognised (Kurds, Arabs, Circassians, Albanians, Bosniaks,
Georgians, etc.) minorities.[8] Kurds are the largest ethnic minority group, making
up approximately 20% of the population.[9]

The area of Turkey has been inhabited since the Paleolithic[11] by various ancient
Anatolian civilisations, as well as Assyrians, Greeks, Thracians, Phrygians,
Urartians and Armenians.[12][13][14] After Alexander the Great's conquest, the area
was Hellenized, a process which continued under the Roman Empire and its transition
into the Byzantine Empire.[13][15] The Seljuk Turks began migrating into the area
in the 11th century, starting the process of Turkification, which was accelerated
by the Seljuk victory over the Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071.[16]
The Seljuk Sultanate of Rm ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, when
it disintegrated into small Turkish beyliks.[17] In the mid-14th century the
Ottomans started uniting Anatolia and created an empire encompassing much of
Southeast Europe, West Asia and North Africa, becoming a major power in Eurasia and
Africa during the early modern period. The empire reached the peak of its power in
the 16th century, especially during the reign (15201566) of Suleiman the
Magnificent. It remained powerful and influential for two more centuries, until
important setbacks in the 17th and 18th century forced it to cede strategic
territories in Europe, signalling the loss of its former military strength and
wealth. After the 1913 Ottoman coup d'tat which effectively put the country under
the control of the Three Pashas, the Ottoman Empire decided to join the Central
Powers during World War I which were ultimately defeated by the Allied Powers.
During the war, the Ottoman government committed genocides[II] against its
Armenian, Assyrian and Pontic Greek citizens.[18] Following the war, the
conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman
Empire was partitioned into several new states.[19] The Turkish War of Independence
(19191922), initiated by Mustafa Kemal Atatrk and his colleagues against the
occupying Allies, resulted in the abolition of monarchy in 1922 and the
establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, with Atatrk as its first
president.[20] Atatrk enacted numerous reforms, many of which incorporated various
aspects of Western thought, philosophy, and customs into the new form of Turkish
government.[21]

Turkey is a charter member of the UN, an early member of NATO, and a founding
member of the OECD, OSCE, OIC and G-20. After becoming one of the first members of
the Council of Europe in 1949, Turkey became an associate member of the EEC in
1963, joined the EU Customs Union in 1995 and started accession negotiations with
the European Union in 2005.[22] Turkey's growing economy and diplomatic initiatives
have led to its recognition as a regional power[23][24] while its location has
given it geopolitical and strategic importance throughout history.[25][26]

Turkey's current administration headed by president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has

reversed many of the country's earlier reforms which had been in place since the
founding of the modern republic of Turkey, such as Freedom of the Press, a
Legislative System of Checks and Balances, and a set of standards for secularism in
government, as first enacted by Atatrk.[27][28][29]

Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
2 History
2.1 Prehistory of Anatolia and Eastern Thrace
2.2 Antiquity and Byzantine period
2.3 Seljuks and the Ottoman Empire
2.4 Republic of Turkey
3 Administrative divisions
4 Politics
4.1 Human rights
4.2 Websites blocked
4.3 Law
4.4 Foreign relations
4.5 Military
5 Geography
5.1 Biodiversity
5.2 Climate
6 Economy
6.1 History
6.2 Tourism
6.3 Infrastructure
6.4 Science and technology
7 Demographics
7.1 Languages
7.2 Religion
7.2.1 Islam
7.2.2 Christianity
7.2.3 Judaism
7.2.4 Agnosticism and atheism
7.3 Education
7.4 Healthcare
8 Culture
8.1 Visual arts
8.2 Literature and theatre
8.3 Music and dance
8.4 Architecture
8.5 Cuisine
8.6 Sports
8.7 Media and cinema
9 See also
10 Notes
11 References
12 Further reading
13 External links
Etymology
Main article Name of Turkey
The name of Turkey (Turkish Trkiye) is based on the ethnonym Trk. The first
recorded use of the term Trk or Trk as an autonym is contained in the Old Turkic
inscriptions of the Gktrks (Celestial Turks) of Central Asia (c. 8th century).
[30] The English name Turkey first appeared in the late 14th century and is derived
from Medieval Latin Turchia.[31]

The Greek cognate of this name, Tourkia (Greek ??????a) was used by the Byzantine
emperor and scholar Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus in his book De Administrando
Imperio,[32][33] though in his use, Turks always referred to Magyars.[34]
Similarly, the medieval Khazar Empire, a Turkic state on the northern shores of the
Black and Caspian seas, was referred to as Tourkia (Land of the Turks) in Byzantine
sources.[35] The medieval Arabs referred to the Mamluk Sultanate as al-Dawla al-
Turkiyya (State of Turkey).[36][37] The Ottoman Empire was sometimes referred to as
Turkey or the Turkish Empire among its European contemporaries.[38]

History
Main article History of Turkey
See also History of Anatolia and History of Thrace
Prehistory of Anatolia and Eastern Thrace
Main articles Prehistory of Anatolia and Prehistory of Southeastern Europe
See also Ancient Anatolians, Ancient kingdoms of Anatolia, and Thracians

Some henges at Gbekli Tepe were erected as far back as 9600 BC, predating those of
Stonehenge, England, by over seven millennia.[39]

The Lion Gate in Hattusa, capital of the Hittite Empire. The city's history dates
back to the 6th millennium BC.[40]
The Anatolian peninsula, comprising most of modern Turkey, is one of the oldest
permanently settled regions in the world. Various ancient Anatolian populations
have lived in Anatolia, from at least the Neolithic period until the Hellenistic
period.[13] Many of these peoples spoke the Anatolian languages, a branch of the
larger Indo-European language family.[41] In fact, 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.[42] The
European part of Turkey, called Eastern Thrace, has also been inhabited since at
least forty thousand years ago, and is known to have been in the Neolithic era by
about 6000 BC.[14]

Gbekli Tepe is the site of the oldest known man-made religious structure, a temple
dating to circa 10,000 BC,[39] while atalhyk is a very large Neolithic and
Chalcolithic settlement in southern Anatolia, which existed from approximately 7500
BC to 5700 BC. It is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date
and in July 2012 was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[43] The settlement
of Troy started in the Neolithic Age and continued into the Iron Age.[44]

The earliest recorded inhabitants of Anatolia were the Hattians and Hurrians, non-
Indo-European peoples who inhabited central and eastern Anatolia, respectively, as
early as ca. 2300 BC. Indo-European Hittites came to Anatolia and gradually
absorbed the Hattians and Hurrians ca. 20001700 BC. The first major empire in the
area was founded by the Hittites, from the 18th through the 13th century BC. The
Assyrians conquered and settled parts of southeastern Turkey as early as 1950 BC
until the year 612 BC.[45][46] Urartu re-emerged in Assyrian inscriptions in the
9th century BC as a powerful northern rival of Assyria.[47]
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 the 7th century BC.[48] Starting from 714 BC, Urartu shared
the same fate and dissolved in 590 BC,[49] when it was conquered by the Medes. The
most powerful of Phrygia's successor states were Lydia, Caria and Lycia.