Turkey facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Republic of Turkey
Türkiye Cumhuriyeti (Turkish)
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
|
Anthem:
|
|
.svg) |
|
| Capital | Ankara 40°N 33°E / 40°N 33°E |
| Largest city | Istanbul 41°1′N 28°57′E / 41.017°N 28.950°E |
| Official languages | Turkish |
| Spoken languages | |
| Ethnic groups |
|
| Demonym(s) |
|
| Government | Unitary presidential constitutional republic |
| Recep Tayyip Erdoğan | |
| Fuat Oktay | |
|
• Assembly Speaker
|
Mustafa Şentop |
| Legislature | Grand National Assembly |
| Establishment | |
|
• War of Independence
|
19 May 1919 |
| 23 April 1920 | |
| 24 July 1923 | |
|
• Declaration of Republic
|
29 October 1923 |
| Area | |
|
• Total
|
783,356 km2 (302,455 sq mi) (36th) |
|
• Water (%)
|
1.3 |
| Population | |
|
• 2018 estimate
|
 82,003,882 (19th) |
|
• Density
|
105/km2 (271.9/sq mi) (107th) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2018 estimate |
|
• Total
|
 $2.274 trillion (13th) |
|
• Per capita
|
$27,956 (45th) |
| GDP (nominal) | 2018 estimate |
|
• Total
|
$706.237 billion (17th) |
|
• Per capita
|
$9,346 (60th) |
| Gini (2016) | ▼ 41.9 medium · 56th |
| HDI (2017) | 0.791 high · 64th |
| Currency | Turkish lira (₺) (TRY) |
| Time zone | UTC+3 (FET) |
| Date format | dd/mm/yyyy (AD) |
| Driving side | right |
| Calling code | +90 |
| ISO 3166 code | TR |
| Internet TLD | .tr |
Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye) is a country in both Europe and Asia. The area of Turkey is about 780,000 square kilometres.
Turkey is a republic. There are 81 provinces in Turkey. The money of Turkey is called Turkish Lira. The capital city is Ankara, a city in central Anatolia. The cultural and economic center is Istanbul, which is in Europe. In the past Istanbul was called Constantinople. The republic was founded in 1923, after World War I and a war of independence (Kurtuluş Savaşı). Before that, Turkey was the core of the Ottoman Empire.
Many civilizations were located in the area that is now Turkey, like the Hittites, the Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire. Many important events in the history of Christianity happened in Turkey. Because it lies in both Europe and Asia, some people see Turkey as the "door" between Europe and Asia.
Modern Turkey's warm and varied climate lets many kinds of food crops grow, and livestock and forestry are important industries. Turkey makes enough food to feed itself. Turkish manufactures include airplanes, electronics, cars, clothing and textiles for home and for other countries.
Turkey is a popular place for tourists to visit. It has hundreds of kilometers of beautiful beaches on its Aegean and Mediterranean coasts, and many important historical places. However, terrorist attacks during the 2010s have reduced its popularity.
Contents
History
People have been living in Anatolia (the Asian part of Turkey - also called Asia Minor) longer than almost anywhere else in the world, except Africa.
The first major empire in the area was the Hittites (during the 18th century to the 13th century BC). The Hittites, who spoke one of the Indo-European languages, developed a high culture in Central Anatolia. Their kingdom was destroyed by the Cimmerians in the 7th century BC and the successor states were Lydia, Caria and Lycia.
From 1950 BCE, Greeks and Assyrians inhabited parts of southeastern Turkey. The Assyrian capital was named Tushhan (900-600 BC). The Assyrians ruled over southeastern Turkey until the Assyrian Empire was conquered by Babylonia in the year 612 BC. Then Anatolia became home for various kingdoms including the Achaemenid Empire, Hellenistic kingdoms, Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire), Seljuk Empire, and Mongol Empire.
During the 14th century, after the fall of the Mongol Empire, Lord Osman built a new empire named after himself: the Ottoman Empire. It became one of the longest existing empires of all time. The Empire also stretched across the Balkans, (Yugoslavia and Bulgaria) in Europe. The Kingdom was ruled by Muslim law, but other religions had certain minority rights.
In World War I the Ottoman Empire was one of the Central Powers. During the war, 500,000 Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were massacred in the so-called Armenian Genocide. Turkey denies that the event was genocide. The Central Powers lost the war and the Ottoman Empire was destroyed, but after that Ataturk led the army to get rid of foreign enemies, like the Greeks. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was the first President of Turkey. He made many changes that made Turkey more modern. But some people did not like some of the things he did because they thought they were against Islam. Religious secondary schools were gotten rid of, for example.
For many years Kurdish guerrillas (usually called the "PKK") led by Abdullah Öcalan have been fighting the Turkish government. They said they were fighting so that the Kurds in the south east of Turkey could have autonomy and decide more things for themselves. But the government and most countries in the world call them terrorists.
On 15 July 2016, a coup d'état was attempted.
People
About 80 million people live in Turkey. Most of them are ethnic Turks. About 15% are ethnic Kurds. Many refugees from Syria (over 2 million) live in Turkey because they have run away from the Syrian civil war.
The vast majority of Turks are Muslim. The biggest city in Turkey is Istanbul which has the biggest population of any city in Europe.
Turkish people have many ethnic and famous foods, such as mantı (Turkish ravioli), döner, kebabs, Turkish delight, baklava, börek, köfte, and other foods.
Much of the population in Turkey is made up of teenagers and young adults.
According to a study, Anatolia is genetically more closely related to the Balkan populations than to the Central Asian populations. The Turks of Anatolia (Asian part of Turkey) have only 13% of genes from populations from Central Asia. The population is mainly from the Greeks, Armenians and Kurds.
European Union
Turkey is trying to join the European Union (EU). The EU says that before Turkey can join, it must start trading with the Republic of Cyprus and improve human rights.
Economy
Turkey is in the OECD and the G-20, and is one of the 20 richest countries. The Turkish currency is called the Lira. The first coins were made in Turkey.
In the 1970s, many Turks moved to other countries, like Germany, to escape the bad economy at the time and to get better jobs. They often come back to Turkey for their summer holidays. Today, many of the people who left in the 1970s want to move back to Turkey.
Until the 1980s the government owned most companies, but then Prime Minister Turgut Özal sold them. Before, foreigners were usually not allowed to buy companies, land or property. Earthquakes in 1994, 1999, and 2001 slowed economic growth a bit.
Turkey mostly buys and sells with the EU, the United States, the Russian Federation, and Japan. Turkey and the EU agreed not to put a lot of tax on what they buy and sell to each other. After that it was easier for Turkish factories to sell products to the EU and for business people in the EU to buy companies in Turkey.
Turkey's exports in 2010 were worth 117 billion United States dollars.
Turkey has no petroleum or natural gas so it buys them from other countries, like Russia. In 2010, oil was found in the Turkish City of Diyarbakir, but there was not enough oil to extract. Turkey is searching for natural gas in Northern Turkish Cyprus.
Provinces
The capital and second-largest city of Turkey is Ankara. The largest and the most crowded city is Istanbul which is the only city in the world that has land on two different continents. The third largest city is the coastal city of Izmir which is the main port of the country. Turkey is divided into 81 provinces. Each province has its own little government but they can only make decisions about small things: the government in Ankara decides important issues. The provinces are in 7 regions. Each province is divided into districts. There are 923 districts altogether.
Culture
Language
Most people in Turkey speak Turkish. It belongs to the Turkic language group, which also includes many other languages spoken across Asia, such as Azerbaijani and Tatar. The Turkish language came from central Asia, but now it is a bit different from the languages spoken in central Asia.
In Turkey there are also minorities who speak languages such as Arabic, Kurdish, Armenian, Greek or Ladino, and many others.
Many of the young adults can also speak English, which is taught throughout Middle and High school.
Lifestyle
Turkey has a modern culture. The life style of the Turks is similar to that of the Europeans. Turkish culture is a cross between Western countries and modern Islamic culture.
Different parts of Turkey have similar but not exactly the same lifestyles. The Lifestyle in the West, South West and North West is more modern. People living in that area have modern accents. Southern Turkey also has a modern life style but Turks living by the Mediterranean have southern, much thicker, and more masculine accents than western Turkey. Northerners, by the Black Sea have softer accents and also have modern lifestyles. Eastern and South Eastern Turkey is made up of mostly Kurds. They generally have less modern and more Islamic lifestyles.
Rich cities in Turkey include Istanbul, İzmir, Ankara, Mersin (also known as Icel), and Antalya.
Majority and minorities
The majority of Turkey is made up of Turks. The largest?? minority is the Kurds. Kurds live mostly in South Eastern and Eastern Turkey and have poor financial situations. The second largest minority are Syrians.
Education
Turkey's literacy rate is currently 95%. People in Turkey are required to go to school for 12 years.
İstanbul University was the first university in Turkey. It was established in 1453. Ankara University was the first university that was started after Turkey became a republic. It was established in 1946.
There were 6065 high schools in Turkey in 2002 according to Ministry of National Education.[1] In 2011, there were 166 universities in Turkey.
Earthquakes
The 1999 İzmit earthquake was an approximately 7.4 magnitude earthquake that struck northwestern Turkey on August 17, 1999, at about 3:02 am local time. 18.000 people died in the earthquake. Many people have been killed by earthquakes in Turkey.
The New York Times estimated that over 570 people died in the Erzincan earthquake of March 13 1992. The earthquake was a 6.8 on the Richter Scale.
Images for kids
-
Some henges at Göbekli Tepe were erected as far back as 9600 BC, predating those of Stonehenge, England by over seven millennia.
-
The Lion Gate in Hattusa, capital of the Hittite Empire. The city's history dates back to the 6th millennium BC.
-
The Library of Celsus in Ephesus was built by the Romans in 114–117 CE. The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, built by king Croesus of Lydia in the 6th century BC, was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
-
Originally a church, later a mosque, and now a museum, the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul was built by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I in 532–537 CE.
-
Mevlana Museum in Konya was built by the Seljuk Turks in 1274. Konya was the capital of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum (Anatolia).
-
Eighteen female MPs joined the Turkish Parliament with the 1935 general elections. Turkish women gained the right to vote a decade or more before women in such Western European countries as France, Italy, and Belgium — a mark of Atatürk's far-reaching social changes.
-
During the politically unstable periods of the Turkish Republic, the military exercised power directly or through figures like Cemal Gürsel (far right).
-
-
A view from the Gezi Park protests a view from Taksim, Istanbul on 4th June 2013.
-
Leaders of the G-20 at the 2015 Antalya summit in Turkey.
-
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 full membership negotiations with the European Union in 2005.
-
The Turkish Armed Forces collectively rank as the second largest standing military force in NATO, after the US Armed Forces. Turkey joined the alliance in 1952.
-
The MILGEM project aims to design and build locally a fleet of hi-tech stealth multipurpose corvettes and frigates. TCG Heybeliada is one of the warships built under the scope of this project.
-
Sümela Monastery on the Pontic Mountains. These mountains form an ecoregion with diverse temperate rainforest types, flora and fauna.
-
Climate diagram of Turkey
-
Skyscrapers of Levent business district in Istanbul, Turkey's largest city and leading economic centre.
-
A view of Bankalar Caddesi (Banks Street) in the early years of the Turkish Republic. Completed in 1892, the Ottoman Central Bank headquarters is seen at left. In 1995 the Istanbul Stock Exchange moved to İstinye, while numerous Turkish banks moved their headquarters to the central business districts of Levent and Maslak.
-
Most of the beach resorts in Turkey are located in the Turkish Riviera.
-
The Osman Gazi Bridge, located at the Gulf of İzmit, is the fourth-longest suspension bridge in the world by the length of its central span.
-
The Atatürk Dam is the third-largest dam in the world by volume of fill/structure.
-
TAI ranks among the top 100 global players in the aerospace and defence sectors.
-
Areas in Turkey with a Kurdish-majority population.
-
Turkish speakers according to the official census of 1965.
-
Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul is popularly known as the Blue Mosque due to the blue İznik tiles which adorn its interior.
-
Bulgarian St. Stephen Church in Fatih, Istanbul, is famous for being made of prefabricated cast iron elements in the neo-Gothic style.
-
The Grand Synagogue in Edirne.
-
Istanbul University was founded in 1453 as a Darülfünûn. On 1 August 1933 it was reorganised and became Turkey's first university.
-
Imperial College of Medicine, currently the Haydarpaşa campus of Marmara University.
-
A 13th century Turkish carpet from the Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate period, originally at the Alâeddin Mosque in Konya.
-
Tevfik Fikret is considered the founder of the modern school of Turkish poetry.
-
Characters of Karagöz and Hacivat.
-
Bağlama, a traditional stringed musical instrument.
-
Turkish coffee with Turkish delight. Turkish coffee is a UNESCO-listed intangible cultural heritage of Turks.
-
Turkey won the silver medal at the 2010 FIBA World Championship.
-
Turkey won the gold medal at the 2015 European Games.
-
Kenan Sofuoğlu won the highest number of Supersport World Championship titles.
-
TRT World is the international news platform of the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation.
-
Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkish film director, photographer and screenwriter who won the 2014 Palme d'Or.
.jpg)
.jpg)
_from_aboard_the_guided_missile_destroyer_USS_Ross_(DDG_71)_in_the_Mediterranean_Sea_during_a_passing_exercise_Sept_140902-N-IY142-159.jpg)
.png)
.png)
.JPG)
.jpg)
