Turkey

ABOUT Turkey

Country Briefs: Spreading in an area of 780,580 square kilometers, located in the Balkan region of southwestern Europe, turkey is a place where Orient meets Occident, a junction of beliefs cultures, art, architecture, music from the Roman, Byzantine and Seljuk era, Turkey is definitely a place to be.

With an estimated population of 74,709,412 people Turkey is not just ranked 17th in the world but it is also acclaimed for the unrivalled hospitality of its citizens. Besides this the ideal location of this country makes it a place worth visiting.

Turkey is a bi-continental country located mainly in the Anatolian peninsula and Balkan region of southeastern Europe. Because of its geographical position between Europe and Asia and the three seas, turkey has been a historical crossroad and battleground for several civilizations.

Turkey shares its borders with Greece and Bulgaria to northwest, Georgia, Armenia to northeast, Iran to the east and Iraq and Syria to the south.

On pondering over the history of turkey it is revealed that the first inhabitants in this region were the Hittites, worshippers of sun and storm who dominated the Anatolia region of the country.

Around 550 BC Cyrus, the emperor of Persia swept Anatolia. The Alexander the Great, who conquered the entire Middle East from Greece to India around 330 BC, ousted the Persians.

The Romans were prosperous rulers. But the Roman Empire that was wrecked around 250 AD was reunited by Constantine who build a new capital in the country. Over the years the armies of Islam threatened the walls of Constantinople and invaded almost the entire region.

After Islamic rule, came the Seljuks Turks and the Mongols and around 13th century the country witnessed the governance of the Ottoman Empire. By 1453 the Ottomans became strong enough to overtake Constantinople.

Gradually the Ottoman dynasty established itself as the full powerful force in the region. In 16th century the Ottomans grew to cover Anatolia, North Africa, the Middle East, South Eastern Europe and the Caucasus.

The Ottoman Empire signed the Treaty of Serves on 10th August 1920, after the First World War. As a result of this treaty Kemal Ataturk, a Turkish army officer declared himself the rightful government of Turkey, replacing the long-lived monarchy based in Constantinople with a republic based in Ankara.

 

Moreover with the support of the Allies, Greece had invaded and occupied Izmir as written in the treaty and this had led to the emergence of a nationalist movement under the command of military commander, Mustafa Kemal Pasha.

Pasha endeavored to cancel the terms of the treaty, which involved rallying every part of Turkish society in what would become the Turkish War of Independence.

However after years of struggle Turkey was finally liberated on 18th September 1922. As a result the Sultan's office was abolished thereby putting an end to the 631 years of ottoman rule.

In 1923 the Treaty of Lausanne was signed between Turkey and the Entente powers that had fought in the First World War and the Turkish Independence War. This treaty delimited the boundaries of Greece and Turkey, granted sovereignty to Turkey and Kemal was given the name Ataturk or the father of Turks.

Over the years the Republic of Turkey has developed in every sphere and at present turkey is a member states of the United Nations and NATO.

Turkey Provinces
Province HASC ISO FIPS Population Area(km.²) Old capital Reg
Adana TR.AA 01 TU81 1,849,478 12,788 Seyhan MD
Adıyaman TR.AD 02 TU02 623,811 7,614   SE
Afyon TR.AF 03 TU03 812,416 14,230 Afyon Karahisar AG
Ağri TR.AG 04 TU04 528,744 11,376 Karaköse EA
Aksaray TR.AK 68 TU75 396,084 7,626   CA
Amasya TR.AM 05 TU05 365,231 5,520   BS
Ankara TR.AN 06 TU68 4,007,860 25,706 Angora CA
Antalya TR.AL 07 TU07 1,719,751 20,591 Adalia MD
Ardahan TR.AR 75 TU86 133,756 5,576   EA
Artvin TR.AV 08 TU08 191,934 7,436   BS
Aydın TR.AY 09 TU09 950,757 8,007   AG
Balıkesir TR.BK 10 TU10 1,076,347 14,292   MM
Bartın TR.BR 74 TU87 184,178 2,140   BS
Batman TR.BM 72 TU76 456,734 4,694   SE
Bayburt TR.BB 69 TU77 97,358 3,652   BS
Bilecik TR.BC 11 TU11 194,326 4,307   MM
Bingöl TR.BG 12 TU12 253,739 8,125 Çapakçur EA
Bitlis TR.BT 13 TU13 388,678 6,707   EA
Bolu TR.BL 14 TU14 270,654 10,037   BS
Burdur TR.BD 15 TU15 256,803 6,887   MD
Bursa TR.BU 16 TU16 2,125,140 10,963 Brusa MM
Çanakkale TR.CK 17 TU17 464,975 9,737   MM
Çankırı TR.CI 18 TU82 270,355 7,388   CA
Çorum TR.CM 19 TU19 597,065 12,820   BS
Denizli TR.DN 20 TU20 850,029 11,868   AG
Diyarbakır TR.DY 21 TU21 1,362,708 15,355   SE
Düzce TR.DU 81 TU93 314,266 1,014   BS
Edirne TR.ED 22 TU22 402,606 6,276 Adrianople MM
Elazığ TR.EG 23 TU23 569,616 9,153   EA
Erzincan TR.EN 24 TU24 316,841 11,903   EA
Erzurum TR.EM 25 TU25 937,389 25,066   EA
Eskişehir TR.ES 26 TU26 706,009 13,652   CA
Gaziantep TR.GA 27 TU83 1,285,249 6,207   SE
Giresun TR.GI 28 TU28 523,819 6,934   BS
Gümüşhane TR.GU 29 TU69 186,953 6,575   BS
Hakkari TR.HK 30 TU70 236,581 7,121 Çölemerik EA
Hatay TR.HT 31 TU31 1,253,726 5,403 Antioch (Antakya, Antioquia) MD
Iğdir TR.IG 76 TU88 168,634 3,539   EA
Isparta TR.IP 32 TU33 513,681 8,933   MD
İstanbul TR.IB 34 TU34 10,018,735 5,220 Constantinople MM
İzmir TR.IZ 35 TU35 3,370,866 11,973 Smyrna AG
Kahramanmaraş TR.KM 46 TU46 1,002,384 14,327 Maraş MD
Karabük TR.KB 78 TU89 225,102 4,074   BS
Karaman TR.KR 70 TU78 243,210 9,163   CA
Kars TR.KA 36 TU84 325,016 9,442   EA
Kastamonu TR.KS 37 TU37 375,476 13,108 Kostambul BS
Kayseri TR.KY 38 TU38 1,060,432 16,917   CA
Kilis TR.KI 79 TU90 114,724 1,338   SE
Kırıkkale TR.KK 71 TU79 383,508 4,365   CA
Kırklareli TR.KL 39 TU39 328,461 6,550   MM
Kırşehir TR.KH 40 TU40 253,239 6,570   CA
Kocaeli TR.KC 41 TU41 1,206,085 3,626 İzmit, Ismid MM
Konya TR.KO 42 TU71 2,192,166 38,157   CA
Kütahya TR.KU 43 TU43 656,903 11,875   AG
Malatya TR.ML 44 TU44 853,658 12,313   EA
Manisa TR.MN 45 TU45 1,260,169 13,810   AG
Mardin TR.MR 47 TU72 705,098 8,891   SE
Mersin TR.IC 33 TU32 1,651,400 15,853 İçel MD
Muğla TR.MG 48 TU48 715,328 13,338   AG
Muş TR.MS 49 TU49 453,654 8,196   EA
Nevşehir TR.NV 50 TU50 309,914 5,467   CA
Niğde TR.NG 51 TU73 348,081 7,312   CA
Ordu TR.OR 52 TU52 887,765 6,001   BS
Osmaniye TR.OS 80 TU91 458,782 3,320   MD
Rize TR.RI 53 TU53 365,938 3,920 Çoruh BS
Sakarya TR.SK 54 TU54 756,168 4,817 Adapazarı MM
Samsun TR.SS 55 TU55 1,209,137 9,579   BS
Şanlıurfa TR.SU 63 TU63 1,443,422 18,584 Urfa SE
Siirt TR.SI 56 TU74 263,676 5,406   SE
Sinop TR.SP 57 TU57 225,574 5,862   BS
Şırnak TR.SR 73 TU80 353,197 7,172   SE
Sivas TR.SV 58 TU58 755,091 28,488   CA
Tekirdağ TR.TG 59 TU59 623,591 6,218   MM
Tokat TR.TT 60 TU60 828,027 9,958   BS
Trabzon TR.TB 61 TU61 975,137 4,685   BS
Tunceli TR.TC 62 TU62 93,584 7,774 Kalan EA
Uşak TR.US 64 TU64 322,313 5,341   AG
Van TR.VA 65 TU65 877,524 19,069   EA
Yalova TR.YL 77 TU92 168,593 674   MM
Yozgat TR.YZ 66 TU66 682,919 14,123   CA
Zonguldak TR.ZO 67 TU85 615,599 3,481   BS
81 provinces 67,803,927 773,575    
  • HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes.
  • ISO: Codes from ISO 3166-2. These codes are the first two digits on license plates issued in the province, except for a few provinces created after this system was instituted (numbers greater than 74).
  • FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4.
  • Population: 2000-10-22 census.
  • Capital: Currently, the standard name of each provincial capital is the same as its province's name.
  • Old capital: Some capitals have other historical names, which in many cases are still in common use.
  • Reg: Arbitrary code for census-defined regions. For key, see table below.
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