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Hagia Sophia is a museum in Istanbul, Turkey's largest city.

PHOTOGRAPH BY AHMET IHSAN ARITURK, DREAMSTIME

Turkey
Turkey is a large peninsula that bridges the continents of Europe and Asia.

FAST FACTS

OFFICIAL NAME: Republic of Turkey

FORM OF GOVERNMENT: Parliamentary democracy

CAPITAL: Ankara

AREA: 302,535 square miles (783,562 square kilometers)

POPULATION: 81,257,239

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: Turkish

MONEY: Turkish lira

GEOGRAPHY

Turkey is a large peninsula that bridges the continents of Europe

and Asia. Turkey is surrounded on three sides by the Black Sea,
the Mediterranean Sea, and the Aegean Sea. Istanbul, the largest
city in Turkey, is built on land in the Bosporus seaway. The city is
partly in Europe and partly in Asia. Turkey is larger than the state
of Texas.

Turkey is one of the most earthquake prone areas on Earth and

has suffered from 13 earthquakes in the past 70 years. The North
Anatolian Fault extends hundreds of miles from the Sea of
Marmara in the western part of the country to the Eastern
Anatolian Highlands. The fault moves back and forth about 8
inches (20 centimeters) a year.

Turkey's highest mountain, Mount Ararat has two peaks, with

Great Ararat reaching 16,945 feet (5,165 meters). The mountain is
considered sacred by many people and is believed to be where
Noah beached his ark after the great flood.

Whirling dervishes perform in Turkey.

PHOTOGRAPH BY HSAN GERCELMAN, DREAMSTIME

PEOPLE & CULTURE

The Turkish people are from diverse backgrounds, a reminder of
the many different groups that conquered Turkey over
thousands of years. The majority of the population lives in cities,
and children who want to go to high school must move to a city.
The people are primarily Sunni Muslim. One fifth of the
population is Kurdish.

Children who live in the European side of Istanbul may cross the
Bosporus by ferry to visit grandparents in Asia. Turks are family
oriented and are very hospitable people. They invite visitors to
their homes and make sure they have something to eat and drink
before they leave.

One of their favorite meals is kebab made from grilled lamb. Their
diet includes lamb, eggplant, and yogurt. A sweet flavored candy
with rose petals called Turkish delight, or lokum, is sold in many
flavors and colors.

To find work, about two million Turks are currently guest workers
in Germany and have formed their own communities there.

Soccer is the most popular sport in Turkey. There are three

popular teams based in Istanbul. Turks excel at weightlifting and
a form of wrestling called Turkish wrestling.

NATURE
Turkey is a resting location for birds on their migratory journey
between their summer and winter homes. They flock to Kus Golu,
or Bird Lake in a protected national forest that is surrounded by
reed marshes. The first national park in Turkey opened in 1958.

Today there are 39 parks where rare species and their habitats are
protected. Several species are at risk, including the northern bald
eagle which is critically endangered.

At one time, Turkey was home to jackals, lynx, wolves, and bears
but those animal species are rare now. The Turkish horned viper
snake has spikelike scales that poke upward near their eyes.

Once known as Cotton Castle, the white cliffs in Pamukkale in

western Turkey are made of a calcium-rich mineral called
travertine. The cliffs look like a sheet of ice covering a hillside
from a distance. A spring flows from pool to pool. The cascade is
1.7 miles (2.7 kilometers) long.

LEFT: TURKISH FLAG, RIGHT: TURKISH LIRA

Photograph by Ahmet Ihsan Ariturk, Dreamstime

GOVERNMENT
The prime minister is considered the head of the government
and is in charge of the country. The Grand National Assembly is a
550-member body that is elected by the people. The Assembly
elects the president, a position that is largely ceremonial.

Turkey was a founding member of the United Nations, which was

created after World War II. Turkey has been an associate member
of the European Union since 1963, but it has not been accepted as
a full member. Turkey is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) which is a defense alliance. Because of its
location in the Middle East, Turkey is strategic in world affairs.

Kurds in southern Turkey started a guerrilla war in 1984 to create a

Kurdish state. In 1995, Turkish troops invaded northern Iraq to
attack Kurds.

HISTORY
Turkey is home to one of the earliest settlements in the world.
Built 8,800 years ago, Catal Hoyuk was a labyrinth of 150 mud
homes joined together. There were no streets in between, so
people had to enter the homes through holes in the roof!

About 4,000 years ago, the Hittites created an empire in the

central part of what is now called Turkey in Anatolia. They ruled
for hundreds of years. The Trojan War took place when the
Hittites were losing power. The ruins of the city of Troy are
believed to be in the city of Hissarlik in Anatolia.

King Midas ruled western Turkey around 700 B.C. In 334 B.C.,
Alexander the Great took Anatolia under Macedonian Greek rule
until Rome took over and Anatolia became part of Roman Asia
Minor. In A.D. 330, Constantine became the Roman emperor and
formed a new capital called Constantinople. After the fall of the
Roman Empire it became part of the Byzantine Empire.

The city of Constantinople was conquered by the Ottomans in

1453 and Turkey became part of the Ottoman Empire. After
World War I, the country was invaded by Greece, which led to the
Turkish war of Independence in 1920, led by Mustafa Kemal
Atatürk. In 1923, the Turkish assembly declared Turkey a republic.

The city formally became Istanbul in 1923. Turkey became a

secular country, meaning there is a separation between religion
and government. Women gained the right to vote in 1934.

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