The name Turkey appears in Western sources after the late 11th century, referring to the Seljuk-controlled lands in Anatolia and the Near East.[44] European writers started using Turchia for the Anatolian plateau by the end of the 12th century.[45] 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.[46] The name Turkey has been used in the texts of numerous international treaties to define the Ottoman Empire.[47][48][49][50]
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.[53]
In December 2021, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan issued a circular, calling for exports to be labeled "Made in Türkiye".[54] 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)".[54][55] The reason given was that Türkiye "represents and expresses the culture, civilization, and values of the Turkish nation in the best way".[54] 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.[56][57][58]
Present-day Turkey contains some of the world's oldest Neolithic sites.[60]Göbekli Tepe is the site of the oldest known man-made structure in the world, a temple dating to c. 9600 BC,[59] 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.[64] 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".[65]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.[66][67][68]
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.[69] 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.[70] 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[71] although they have remained a minority in the region.[72]
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.[73] 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".[74][75]Urartu re-emerged in Assyrian inscriptions in the 9th century BC.[76] Starting from 714 BC, the Urartu state began to decline and finally dissolved in 590 BC when it was conquered by the Medes.[77]
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.[90]
All of modern-day Turkey was conquered by the Persian Achaemenid Empire during the 6th century BC.[91] 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.[92][93]
Anatolia fell to Alexander the Great in 334 BC,[94] 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.[95] 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.[96]
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.[97][98] By the 1st century BC the Celts had become so Hellenized that some Greek writers called them Hellenogalatai.[99] The Kingdom of Pontus was a Hellenistic kingdom, centered in the historical region of Pontus and ruled by the Mithridatic dynasty of Persian origin,[100][101][102][103] which may have been directly related to Darius the Great.[104][103] 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.
Early Christian and Roman period
According to the Acts of Apostles,[105]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.[106][107] The Apostle Paul of Tarsus traveled to Ephesus and stayed there, probably working as a tentmaker.[108] He is claimed to have performed miracles and organized missionary activity in other regions.[109] Paul left Ephesus after an attack from a local silversmith resulted in a pro-Artemis riot.[109]
In 123, Roman emperor Hadrian traveled to Anatolia. Numerous monuments were erected for his arrival, and he met his lover Antinous from Bithynia.[111] 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.[112]
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;[114] 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.[118] Initially, Proto-Turkic speakers were potentially both hunter-gatherers and farmers; they later became nomadicpastoralists.[119] 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.[120][121][122] During the 9th and 10th centuries CE, the Oghuz were a Turkic group that lived in the Caspian and Aral steppes.[123] Partly due to pressure from the Kipchaks, the Oghuz migrated into Iran and Transoxiana.[123] They mixed with Iranic-speaking groups in the area and converted to Islam.[123] Oghuz Turks were also known as Turkoman.[123]
Based around Söğüt, Ottoman Beylik was founded by Osman I in the early 14th century.[141] According to Ottoman chroniclers, Osman descended from the Kayı tribe of the Oghuz Turks.[142] Ottomans started annexing the nearby Turkish beyliks (principalities) in Anatolia and expanded into the Balkans.[143]Mehmed II completed Ottoman conquest of the Byzantine Empire by capturing its capital, Constantinople, on 29 May 1453.[144]Selim I united Anatolia under Ottoman rule.[23] Turkification continued as Ottomans mixed with various indigenous people in Anatolia and the Balkans.[142]
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:[173][174][175][176] 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[177] and political autonomy of Canada from the UK.[178] 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,[171][172] 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.[179] The Lausanne Convention stipulated a population exchange between Greece and Turkey.[180]
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.[184] 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.
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]
Administrative divisions
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]
The Parliament has 600 voting members, each representing a constituency for a five-year term. Parliamentary seats are distributed among the provinces proportionally to the population. 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]
Elections in Turkey are held for six functions of government: presidential elections (national), parliamentary elections (national), municipality mayors (local), district mayors (local), provincial or municipal council members (local) and muhtars (local). Apart from elections, referendums are also held occasionally. 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. In Turkey, turnout rates of both local and general elections are high compared to many other countries, which usually stands higher than 80%.[201]
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 electoral threshold for political parties at national level is seven percent of the votes.[204] 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.[210] Islamic principles do not play a part in the legal system.[211]
Law enforcement in Turkey is carried out by several agencies under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. These agencies are the General Directorate of Security, the Gendarmerie General Command and the Coast Guard Command.[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.[213][214][215]
Foreign relations
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. 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.[216][217] 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.[218]
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 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]
LGBT rights
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. The Lakes Region contains some of the largest lakes in Turkey such as Lake Beyşehir and Lake Eğirdir.
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.[330] Out of the 36 biodiversity hotspots in the world, Turkey includes 3 of them.[36] These are the Mediterranean, Irano-Anatolian, and Caucasus hotspots.[36]
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.[342] The coastal areas bordering the Black Sea have a temperate oceanic climate with warm, wet summers and cool to cold, wet winters.[342] The Turkish Black Sea coast receives the most precipitation and is the only region of Turkey that receives high precipitation throughout the year.[342] The eastern part of the Black Sea coast averages 2,200 millimetres (87 in) annually which is the highest precipitation in the country.[342] 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.[342]
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.[342] However, snow is rare in the coastal areas of the Aegean Sea and very rare in the coastal areas of the Mediterranean Sea.[342] 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.[342]
Because of a combination of socioeconomic, population exposure, and climate factors, Turkey is highly vulnerable to climate change.[38]
Economy
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.[343] Unemployment in Turkey was 10.4% in 2022.[344] According to the World Bank, the middle class population in Turkey rose from 18% to 41% of the total population between 1993 and 2010.[345]
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.[346][347] 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).[348]
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.[353]Foreign direct investment in Turkey peaked at $22.05 billion in 2007 and dropped to $13.09 billion in 2022.[354]
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.[355] 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.[356] 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.[357][358][359]
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%.[360]Subsidies which are harmful to health in Turkey include those on sugar[361] and coal.[362]
Tourism
Tourism has increased almost every year in the 21st century[363] 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.[363] In 2022, Turkey ranked fourth in the world in terms of the number of international tourist arrivals with 50.5 million foreign tourists.[364] 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.[365] According to Euromonitor International report, Istanbul is the most visited city in the world, with more than 20.2 million foreign visitors in 2023.[366] 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.[366]
The motorway network spans 3,633 kilometres (2,257 mi) as of 2023,[374] with an expected expansion to 9,312 kilometres (5,786 miles) by 2035.[375]Istanbul Metro is the largest metro network in the country with 495 million annual ridership.[376] 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.[377]
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.[380] Konya-Karaman line started its operations in 2022 and 406 km (252 mi) long Ankara-Sivas line opened in 2023.[381]
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.[387] The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline is the second longest oil pipeline in the world.[388] 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,[389] began in 2023,[390] with an estimated peak production of 40 bcm in 2026.[391] As of 2022, the total volume of natural gas discovered in the Black Sea amounted to 710 billion cubic metres (bcm).[392]
Science and technology
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.[394]TÜBİTAK is the leading agency for developing science, technology and innovation policies.[395]TÜBA is an autonomous scholarly society acting to promote scientific activities in Turkey.[396]TAEK is the country's official nuclear energy institution, focused on academic research and the development and implementation of peaceful nuclear technology.[397] 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[398] 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.[407]
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;[410] however, the population growth rate was 0.1% in 2023.[7]
Ethnicity
Article 66 of the Turkish Constitution defines a Turk as anyone who is a citizen.[412] It is estimated that there are at least 47 ethnic groups represented in Turkey.[413] 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.[414] 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.[415] In 2021, 77% of adult citizens identified as such in a survey.[416]
Kurds are the largest ethnic minority.[417] Their exact numbers remain disputed,[417] with estimates ranging from 12 to 20% of the population.[418] According to a 1990 study, Kurds made up around 12% of the population.[419] 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%).[420] 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.[421] 19% of adult citizens identified as ethnic Kurds in a survey in 2021.[416] Some people have multiple ethnic identities, such as both Turk and Kurd.[422][423] In 2006, an estimated 2.7 million ethnic Turks and Kurds were related from interethnic marriages.[424]
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.[415] In 2021, 4% of adult citizens identified as non-ethnic Turk or non-ethnic Kurd in a survey.[416] 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][428][429][430] 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.[431][432][433] Other unrecognized ethnic groups include Albanians, Bosniaks, Circassians, Georgians, Laz, Pomaks, and Roma.[434][435][436] Turkey is also home to a Muslim community of Megleno-Romanians.[437]
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.[438] Turkey hosts the largest number of refugees in the world as of April 2020.[439] 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.[440]
In November 2020, there were 3.6 million Syrian refugees in Turkey;[441] these included other ethnic groups of Syria, such as Syrian Kurds[442] and Syrian Turkmens.[443] 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.[444] The government has granted citizenship to 238 thousand Syrians by November 2023.[445] As of May 2023, approximately 96,000 Ukrainian refugees of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine have sought refuge in Turkey.[446] 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.[447]
Turkey is a secular state with no official state religion; the constitution provides for freedom of religion and conscience.[457][458] 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.[459] 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'.[460][461] 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.[462][463]
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.[464][465][466]
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.[467] 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.[468] Academics suggest the Alevi population may be from 15 to 20 million, while the Alevi-Bektaşi Federation states that there are around 25 million.[469][470] According to Aksiyon magazine, the number of TwelverShias (excluding Alevis) is three million (4.2%).[471]
In a mid-2010s poll, 2.9% of Turkish respondents identified as atheists.[488] The Association of Atheism, the first official atheist organization in the Balkans and the Middle East, was founded in 2014.[489][490] Some religious and secular officials have claimed that atheism and deism are growing among Turkish people.[491][492][493][494]
Education
The Ministry of National Education is responsible for pre-tertiary education.[497] This is compulsory and lasts twelve years: four years each for primary school, middle school and high school.[498] All 12 years of compulsory education is free of charge in public schools.[499] Basic education is said to lag behind other OECD countries, with significant differences between high and low performers.[500] 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.[500]
Turkey is a member of the Socrates programme, Erasmus Programme and Erasmus+ Programmes.[505] Turkey is also a member of the Erasmus Student Network, a student organization with more than 15,000 volunteers across Europe.[506] Turkey has become a hub for foreign students in recent years, with 795,962 foreign students in 2016.[507] The government has announced a plan to draw around 500,000 foreign students at its universities by offering attractive scholarships.[508] In 2021 Türkiye Scholarships, a government-funded program, received 165,000 applications from prospective students in 178 countries.[509][510][511]
Health
The Ministry of Health has run a universal public healthcare system since 2003.[512] Known as Universal Health Insurance (Genel Sağlık Sigortası), it is funded by a tax surcharge on employers, currently at 5%.[512] Public-sector funding covers approximately 75.2% of health expenditures.[512] 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%.[512] The lower health care expenditure is due to lower median age in Turkey which is 32.4, compared to Italy which is 47.3.[513] Aging population is the prime reason for higher healthcare expenditure in the developed world.[514]
Average life expectancy is 78.6 years (75.9 for males and 81.3 for females), compared with the EU average of 81 years.[512] Turkey has high rates of obesity, with 29.5% of its adult population having a body mass index (BMI) value of 30 or above.[515]Air pollution is a major cause of early death.[516]
There are many private hospitals in the country. Medical tourism generated revenues of more than $1 billion in 2019.[517] 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.[517]
Culture
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.[518][519] 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.[518][520] 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.[518] 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.
Visual arts
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.[521] 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.[522] 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.[523] 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.[524]
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.[525]
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.[526]
Literature and theatre
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.[527]Turkish literature was heavily influenced by Persian and Arabic literature during most of the Ottoman era.[528] 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.[529]
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.[530]
The origin of Turkish theater dates back to ancient pagan rituals and oral legends.[531] 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.[531][532]Meddah were storytellers who performed in front of audiences during the Ottoman period.[531]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.[533]
Music and dance
Ajda Pekkan is known as "superstar" in the Turkish media. She became a prominent figure of Turkish pop music.
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.[534]
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.[535]
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.[536] 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.[537] 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.[538]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.[539]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.[540] 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.[546]
The traditional national sport of Turkey has been yağlı güreş (oilwrestling) since Ottoman times.[556] Edirne Province has hosted the annual Kırkpınar oil wrestling tournament since 1361, making it the oldest continuously held sporting competition in the world.[557][558] 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.[559]
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.[565] 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.[566][567] Turkey is today the world's second largest exporter of television series.[568][569][570]