Name	Istanbul
Settlement type	City
Blank emblem type	Logo
Pushpin map	Turkey
Pushpin map caption	Location in Turkey
Pushpin mapsize	300px
Coordinates region	TR
Subdivision type	Country
Subdivision name
Subdivision type1	Region
Subdivision name1	Marmara
Subdivision type2	Province
Subdivision name2	Istanbul
Leader party	AKP
Leader title	Mayor
Leader name	Kadir Topbaş
Established title	Established
Established title1	- Byzantium
Established date1	c. 660 BC
Established title2	- Constantinople
Established date2	330 AD
Established title3	- Istanbul
Established date3	1453 (Ottoman Turkish)1923 (Modern Turkish)1930 (internationally)
Parts type	Districts
Parts	39
Area metro km2	5343
Area metro mi2	2063
Area metro footnotes
Population total	8,803,468
Population as of	2000–10 city proper, 2010–12 metro area
Population metro	13,255,685
Population rank	1st Turkish, 19th World
Population density metro km2	2481
Timezone	EET
Utc offset	+2
Timezone dst	EEST
Utc offset dst	+3
Postal code type	Postal code
Postal code	34000 to 34850
Area code	(+90) 212 (European side) (+90) 216 (Asian side)
Website	}}

Istanbul (), historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople (see names of Istanbul for further information), is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province (municipality) had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe(if its Asian half is counted) after London and Moscow. The city in its administrative limits had 8.8 million residents counted in the latest Turkish census from 2000. Istanbul is a megacity, as well as the cultural, economic, and financial centre of Turkey. It is located on the Bosphorus Strait and encompasses the natural harbour known as the Golden Horn, in the northwest of the country. It extends both on the European (Thrace) and on the Asian (Anatolia) sides of the Bosphorus, and is thereby the only metropolis in the world that is situated on two continents. Istanbul is a designated alpha world city.

During its long history, Istanbul has served as the capital of the Roman Empire (330–395), the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire (395–1204 and 1261–1453), the Latin Empire (1204–1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922). When the Republic of Turkey was proclaimed on 29 October 1923, Ankara, which had previously served as the headquarters of the Turkish national movement during the Turkish War of Independence, was chosen as the new Turkish State's capital. Istanbul was chosen as a joint European Capital of Culture for 2010 and the European Capital of Sports for 2012. Istanbul is currently bidding to host the 2020 Summer Olympics. The historic areas of the city were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985.

The city covers 39 districts of the Istanbul province.

Toponymy

Byzantium (, ''Byzántion'') is the first known name of the city. Around 660 BC, which came into existence around 685 BC. However, Eusebius of Caesarea, while concurring with 685 BC as the year Chalcedon was founded, places Byzantion's establishment in 659 BC. Among more modern historians, Carl Roebuck proposed the 640s BC while others have suggested even later. Further, the foundation date of Chalcedon is itself subject to some debate; while many sources place it in 685 BC, others put it in 675 BC or even 639 BC (with Byzantion's establishment placed in 619 BC). As such, some sources have opted to refer to Byzantium's foundation as simply located in the 7th century BC.|group="note"|name="byz-date"}} Greek settlers from the city-state of Megara founded a Doric colony on the present-day Istanbul, and named the new colony after their king, Byzas. After Constantine I (Constantine the Great) made the city the new eastern capital of the Roman Empire in 330 AD, the city became widely known as Constantinopolis or Constantinople, which, as the Latinised form of "Κωνσταντινούπολις" (Kōnstantinoúpolis), means the "City of Constantine". He also attempted to promote the name ''Nea Roma'' ("New Rome"), but this never caught on. Constantinople remained the official name of the city throughout the Byzantine period, and the most common name used for it in the West until the establishment of the Republic of Turkey.

By the 19th century, the city had acquired a number of names used by either foreigners or Turks. Europeans used ''Constantinople'' to refer to the whole of the city, while using the name ''Stamboul'' - as the Turks also did - to describe the walled peninsula between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara. ''Pera'' was used to describe the area between the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus, but Turks also used the name ''Beyoğlu'', which is still in use today. However, with the Turkish Postal Service Law of 28 March 1930, the Turkish authorities formally requested foreigners to adopt ''İstanbul'', a name in existence since the 10th century, as the sole name of the city within their own languages.

Etymologically, the name "İstanbul" (, colloquially ) derives from the Medieval Greek phrase or, in the Aegean dialect, (, Modern Greek "στην Πόλη" ), which means "in the city" or "to the city". In modern Turkish, the name is written "İstanbul", with a dotted İ, as the Turkish alphabet distinguishes between a dotted and dotless I. Also, while in English the stress is on the first syllable ("Is"), in Turkish it is on the second syllable ("tan"). Like Rome, Istanbul has been called "The City of Seven Hills" because the oldest part of the city is supposedly built on seven hills, each of which bears a historic mosque.

History

First settlements

Recent construction of the Marmaray tunnel unearthed a Neolithic settlement underneath Yenikapı on Istanbul's peninsula. Dating back to the 7th millennium BC, before the Bosphorus was even formed, the discovery indicated that the peninsula was settled thousands of years earlier than previously thought. Thracian tribes established two settlements—''Lygos'' and ''Semistra''—on the Seraglio Point, near where Topkapı Palace now stands, between the 13th and 11th centuries BC. On the Asian side, artifacts have been found in Fikirtepe (present-day Kadıköy) that date back to the Chalcolithic period. The same location was the site of a Phoenician trading post at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC as well as the town of Chalcedon, which was established by Greek settlers from Megara in 685 BCE.

However, the history of Istanbul generally begins around 660 BCE, when the settlers from Megara, under the command of King Byzas, established Byzantion (Latinised as Byzantium) on the European side of the Bosphorus. By the end of the century, an acropolis was established at the former locations of ''Lygos'' and ''Semistra'', on the Seraglio Point. The city experienced a brief period of Persian rule at the turn of the 5th century BC, but the Greeks recaptured it during the Greco-Persian Wars. Byzantium then continued as part of the Athenian League and its successor, the Second Athenian Empire, before ultimately gaining independence in 355 BCE. Long protected by the Roman Republic, Byzantium officially became a part of the Roman Empire in AD 73.

Byzantium's decision to side with the usurper Pescennius Niger against Roman Emperor Septimus Severus cost it dearly; by the time it surrendered at the end of 195, two years of siege had left the city devastated. Still, five years later, Severus began to rebuild Byzantium, and the city regained—and, by some accounts, surpassed—its previous prosperity.

Rise and fall of Constantinople

When Constantine I defeated Licinius at the Battle of Chrysopolis in September 324, he effectively became the emperor of the whole of the Roman Empire. Just two months later, Constantine laid out the plans for a new, Christian city to replace Byzantium. Intended to replace Nicomedia as the eastern capital of the empire, the city was named ''Nea Roma'' (New Rome); however, most simply called it Constantinople ("the city of Constantine"), a name that persisted into the 20th century. Six years later, on 11 May 330, Constantinople was proclaimed the capital of an empire that eventually became known as the Byzantine Empire or Eastern Roman Empire.

The establishment of Constantinople served as one of Constantine's most lasting accomplishments, shifting Roman power eastward and becoming a center of Greek culture and Christianity. Numerous churches were built across the city, including the Hagia Sofia, which remained the world's largest cathedral for a thousand years. The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople developed in the city, and its leader is still one of the foremost figures in the Greek Orthodox Church. Constantinople's location also ensured its existence would stand the test of time; for many centuries, its walls and seafront protected Europe against invaders from the east as well as from the advance of Islam. During most of the Middle Ages and the latter part of the Byzantine period, Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest city on the European continent, and during parts of this period the largest in the world.

Constantinople began to decline after the Fourth Crusade, during which it was sacked and pillaged. The city subsequently became the center of the Latin Empire, created by Catholic crusaders to replace the Orthodox Byzantine Empire, which was divided into splinter states. However, the Latin Empire was short-lived, and the Byzantine Empire was restored, weakened, in 1261. Constantinople's churches, defenses, and basic services were in disrepair, and its population had dwindled to forty thousand from nearly half a million during the 9th century.

Various economic and military policies instituted by Andronikos II, such as the reduction of forces, weakened the empire and left it more vulnerable to attack. In the mid-14th century, the Ottoman Turks began a strategy by which they took smaller towns and cities over time, cutting off Constantinople's supply routes and strangling it slowly. Finally, on 29 May 1453, after an eight-week siege (during which the last Roman Emperor, Constantine XI, was killed), Sultan Mehmed II "the Conqueror" captured Constantinople and declared it the new capital of the Ottoman Empire. Hours later, the sultan rode to the Hagia Sofia and summoned an imam to proclaim the Islamic creed, converting the grand cathedral into an imperial mosque.

Turkish rule

Following the fall of Constantinople, Mehmed II immediately set out to revitalize the city, now also known as Istanbul. He invited and forcibly resettled many Muslims, Jews, and Christians from other parts of Anatolia into the city, creating a cosmopolitan society that persisted through much of the Ottoman period. By the end of the century, Istanbul had returned to a population of two hundred thousand, making it the second-largest city in Europe. Meanwhile, Mehmed II repaired the city's damaged infrastructure and began to build the Grand Bazaar. Also constructed during this period was Topkapı Palace, which served as the official residence of the sultan for four hundred years.

The Ottomans quickly transformed Constantinople from a bastion of Christianity to a symbol of Islamic culture. Religious foundations were established to fund the construction of grand imperial mosques, often adjoined by schools, hospitals, and public baths. Suleiman the Magnificent's reign from 1520 to 1566 was a period of especially great artistic and architectural achievements; chief architect Mimar Sinan designed the Süleymaniye Mosque and other grand buildings in the city, while Ottoman arts of ceramics, calligraphy and miniature flourished. The total population of Constantinople amounted to 570,000 by the end of the 18th century.

A period of rebellion at the start of the 19th century led to the rise of the progressive Sultan Mahmud II and eventually the ''Tanzimat'' period, which produced reforms that aligned the empire along Western European standards. Bridges across the Golden Horn were constructed during this period, and Istanbul was connected to the rest of the European railway network in the 1880s. The Tünel, one of the world's oldest subterranean urban rail lines, opened in 1875; other modern facilities, such a stable water network, electricity, telephones, and trams, were gradually introduced to Istanbul over the following decades, although later than to other European cities.

Still, the modernization efforts were not enough to forestall the decline of the Ottoman regime. The early 20th century saw the Young Turk Revolution, which disposed of Sultan Abdul Hamid II, and a series of wars that plagued the ailing empire's capital. The last of these, World War I, resulted in the British, French, and Italian occupation of Istanbul. The final Ottoman sultan, Mehmed VI, was exiled in November 1922; the following year, the occupation of Istanbul ended with the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne and the recognition of the Republic of Turkey, which was declared by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk on 29 October 1923.

In the early years of the republic, Istanbul was overlooked in favor of the country's new capital, Ankara. However, starting from the late 1940s and early 1950s, Istanbul underwent great structural change, as new public squares (such as Taksim Square), boulevards, and avenues were constructed throughout the city, sometimes at the expense of historical buildings. In 1955, the Istanbul Pogrom targeted the city's ethnic Greek community. The pogrom greatly accelerated the emigration of the city's ethnic Greeks to Greece. The population of Istanbul began to rapidly increase in the 1970s, as people from Anatolia migrated to the city to find employment in the many new factories that were built on the outskirts of the sprawling metropolis. This sudden, sharp rise in the city's population caused a large demand for housing development, and many previously outlying villages and forests became engulfed into the greater metropolitan area of Istanbul. As a capital of empires, the city was not only an administrative, but also a religious center. The Patriarchate of Eastern Christians has been headquartered here since its establishment, and the largest early churches and monasteries of the Christian world rose in this city on top of the pagan temples. Within a century after the city was conquered, it was enriched with mosques, palaces, schools, baths and other architectural monuments that gave it a Turkish character, while some of the existing churches in ruins were repaired, altered and converted into mosques.Between the 16th century when the Ottoman sultans acquired themselves the title of the "Caliph of Islam" and 1924, the first year of the Republic, Istanbul was also the headquarters of the Caliphate. More Jews settled in Istanbul than any other port, and here they built themselves a new and happy life after they were rescued from Spain by the Turks in the 15th century. Istanbul has always been a city of tolerance where mosques, churches and synagogues existed side by side. The city was adorned with a large number of dazzling and impressive works even during the period of decline of the Ottomans. During this time, the influence of European art made itself felt in the new palaces, while the northern slopes of the Golden Horn, Galata and Beyoglu districts assumed a European character. Even when the Empire, which was a party to World War I, collapsed and the young Republic that replaced it moved the capital to Ankara, Istanbul did not lose its significance. The haphazard development that began in the years following World War II and accelerated in the 1950s has unfortunately had a negative impact on the fabric of the old city, and while old wooden houses disappeared rapidly, concrete buildings proliferated. Istanbul experienced a population explosion due to immigration, and within a very short period it expanded far beyond the historical city walls. The areas inside the walls were invaded by workshops, mills and offices; even the new thoroughfares could not solve the traffic problems, and the inadequacy of the infrastructure gave rise to a sea pollution problem, starting with the Golden Horn.

With the initiatives for saving the city in the 1980s, Istanbul embarked on a process of restructuring on a scale unseen in its history.Thousands of buildings along the Golden Horn were demolished to make way for a green belt on its shores; parks and gardens were built on the land claimed by filling up the beaches of the Sea of Marmara. In order to prevent sea pollution drainage systems were completed and physical and biological wastewater treatment plants were erected; the use of natural gas for heating has considerably reduced air pollution. Efforts are continuing for the restoration of the Roman city walls, and Beyoglu, the main artery, was rescued by building a newavenue. Improvements were made in ihe general cleaning, maintenance, garbage collection fields and these services are now at Western European standards. Ring roads cross the Bosphorus over two suspension bridges to connect the two continents. The European side has now a fast tramway system and a subway, and comfort and speed has been ensured in sea transportation with the hydrofoil terminals built on the seashores. All industrial establishments on the historic peninsula have been moved to new facilities in the suburbs, and the new international bus terminal has reduced traffic intensity. The old jail and the first large concrete building of the city were given over to tourism and converted into 5-star hotels.

The city is growing dynamically and developing at full speed on an east-west axis along the shores of the Marmara.

Geography

Istanbul is located in northwestern Turkey within the Marmara Region on a total area of . is given by them for the "MMI Authority Area", while another page states that "Each MM is sub-divided into District Municipalities ("DM") ''of which there are 27 in Istanbul''" [emphasis added] with a total area of . However, the Municipal History Page appears to be the most explicit and most updated, saying that in 2004, "Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality's jurisdiction was enlarged to cover all the area within the provincial limits". It also states a 2008 law merged the Eminönü district into the Fatih district (a point that is not reflected in the previous source) and increased the number of districts in Istanbul to 39. That total area, as corroborated on the Turkish version of the MMI website, is .|group="note"|name="city-area"}} The Bosphorus, which connects the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea, divides the city into a European side, comprising the historic and economic centers, and an Asian, Anatolian side; as such, Istanbul is one of the two bi-continental cities in Turkey among with Çanakkale. The city is further divided by the Golden Horn, a natural harbor bounding the peninsula where the former Byzantium and Constantinople were founded. In the late-19th century, a wharf was constructed in Galata at the mouth of the Golden Horn, replacing a sandy beach that once formed part of the inlet's coastline. The confluence of the Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus, and the Golden Horn at the heart of present-day Istanbul has deterred attacking forces for thousands of years and still remains a prominent feature of the city's landscape.

The historic peninsula is said to be built on seven hills, each topped by an imperial mosque, surrounded by of city walls; the largest of these hills is the site of Topkapı Palace on the Sarayburnu. Rising from the opposite side of the Golden Horn is another, conical hill, where the modern Beyoğlu district is situated. Because of the topography, buildings were once constructed with the help of terraced retaining walls (some of which are still visible in older parts of the city), and roads in Beyoğlu were laid out in the form of steps. Üsküdar on the Asian side exhibits similarly hilly characteristics, with the terrain gradually extending down to the Bosphorus coast, but the landscape in Şemsipaşa and Ayazma is more abrupt, akin to a promontory. The highest point in Istanbul is Çamlıca Hill (also on the Asian side), with an altitude of .

Istanbul is situated near the North Anatolian Fault on the boundary between the African and Eurasian plates. This fault zone, which runs from northern Anatolia to the Sea of Marmara, has been responsible for several deadly earthquakes throughout the city's history. Among the most devastating of these seismic events was the 1509 earthquake, which caused a tsunami that broke over the walls of the city, destroyed over 100 mosques, and killed more than 10,000 people. More recently, in 1999, an earthquake with its epicenter in nearby İzmit left 17,000 people dead, including 1,000 people in Istanbul's suburbs. Istanbulites remain concerned that an even more catastrophic seismic event may be in Istanbul's near future, as thousands of structures recently built to accommodate the city's rapidly increasing population may not have been constructed properly. Seismologists say the risk of a 7.6-magnitude earthquake striking Istanbul by 2030 is greater than sixty percent.

Climate

Istanbul has a Mediterranean climate according to the Köppen climate classification system, although its climate becomes more oceanic toward the north.

In summer the weather in Istanbul is hot and humid, with the temperature in July and August averaging . Summers are relatively dry, but rainfall is significant during that season. Extreme heat, however, is uncommon, as temperatures rise above on only five days per year on average. During winter it is cold, wet and often snowy, with the temperature in January and February averaging . Snowfalls tend to be heavy, but the snowcover and temperatures below the freezing point rarely last more than a few days. Spring and autumn are mild, but are unpredictable and often wet, and can range from chilly to warm, however the nights are chilly.

Istanbul has a persistently high humidity, which can exacerbate the moderate summer heat. The humidity is especially salient during the morning hours, when humidity generally reaches eighty percent and fog is very common. The city receives fog an average of 228 days each year, with the highest concentration of foggy days being in the winter months, although it usually dissipates by noontime. Thunderstorms are uncommon, occurring just 23 days each year, but they occur most frequently in the summer and early autumn months. Istanbul has an annual average of 124 days with significant precipitation, which together generate around of rain. The highest recorded temperature was on 12 July 2000, and the lowest recorded temperature was on 9 February 1927. Istanbul also tends to be a windy city, having an average wind speed of . Due to the city's huge size, topography and maritime influences, Istanbul exhibits a multitude of distinct microclimates.

Cityscape

Istanbul has thirty-nine districts administered by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (MMI). The district of Fatih, which includes the neighborhood and former district of Eminönü, is among the most central of these, residing on the historic peninsula south of the Golden Horn. The district corresponds to what was until the Ottoman conquest the whole of the city, across from which stood the Genoese citadel of Galata in the late Byzantine era. Those Genoese fortifications were largely demolished in the 19th century, leaving only the Galata Tower, to make way for northward expansion of the city. Galata is now a part of the Beyoğlu district, which forms Istanbul's commercial and entertainment center and includes İstiklal Avenue and Taksim Square.

Dolmabahçe Palace, the seat of government during the late Ottoman period, is located in Beşiktaş, just north of Beyoğlu, across from BJK İnönü Stadium, home to Turkey's oldest football club. The former village of Ortaköy is situated within Beşiktaş and provides its name to the Ortaköy Mosque, along the Bosphorus near the First Bosphorus Bridge. Lining the shores of the Bosphorus north of there are ''yalıs'', luxurious chalet mansions originally built by 19th-century aristocrats and elites as summer homes. Today, some are homes within the city's most exclusive neighborhoods, including Bebek. Further inland, between the Bosphorus Bridge and the Fatih Sultan Mehmet (Second Bosphorus) Bridge, are Levent, Maslak, and Mecidiyeköy, Istanbul's primary economic centers. Officially part of the Beşiktaş and Şişli districts, they contain Istanbul's tallest buildings and the headquarters of Turkey's largest companies.

Like Beyoğlu, the districts of Üsküdar and Kadıköy on the Asian side were originally separate cities, Chrysopolis and Chalcedon, respectively. During the Ottoman period, they continued to remain outside the scope of urban Istanbul, serving as tranquil outposts with seaside ''yalıs'' and gardens. However, during the second half of the 20th century, the Asian side experienced massive urban growth, owning in part to the development of Bağdat Avenue into an upscale shopping hub similar to İstiklal Avenue on the European side. The fact that these areas were largely empty until the 1960s also provided the chance for developing better infrastructure and tidier urban planning when compared with most other residential areas in the city. While now officially parts of Istanbul, much of the Asian side of the Bosphorus, which accounts for one third of the city's population, functions as a suburb of the economic and commercial centers in European Istanbul.

As a result of Istanbul's exponential growth during the 20th century, a significant portion of the city's outskirts comprised ''gecekondus'' (a Turkish term meaning ''built overnight''), referring to the illegally constructed squatter buildings run rampant outside the centers of the country's largest cities. At present, some ''gecekondu'' areas are being gradually demolished and replaced by modern mass-housing compounds.

Architecture

Whs	Historic Areas of Istanbul
State party
Type	Cultural
Criteria	I, II, III, IV
Id	356
Region	Europe and North America
Year	1985
Session	9th
Link	http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/356 }}

Istanbul is primarily known for its Byzantine and Ottoman architecture, but its buildings reflect the various peoples and empires that have ruled its predecessors. Genoese, Roman, and even Greek forms of architecture remain visible in Istanbul alongside their Ottoman counterparts. Similarly, while the Hagia Sophia and imperial mosques dominate much of the city's skyline, the city is also home to a number of historic churches and synagogues.

More than two thousand years following the departure of the Greeks, few examples of Istanbul's Greek architecture have survived. Perhaps the most prominent relic of the Greek era is Maiden's (Leander's) Tower. Residing on an islet in the Bosphorus just off the coast of Üsküdar, Maiden's Tower was first built by the Greeks in 411 BC to guide ships within the strait. Since then, however, the tower has undergone a number of enlargements and restorations, rendering its connection to the Greeks tenuous, and today merely serves as an observation point.

Examples of Roman architecture have proved themselves to be more durable. Obelisks from the Hippodrome of Constantinople, modeled after the Circus Maximus in Rome, are still visible in Sultanahmet Square. A section of the Valens Aqueduct, constructed in the late 4th century to carry water to the city, stands relatively intact over in the west of the Fatih district. Similarly, the Walls of Constantinople, which were erected in stages well into the Byzantine period, are still visible along much of their original course from the Sea of Marmara to the Golden Horn. Finally, the Column of Constantine, erected in 330 AD to mark the new Roman capital, still stands not far from the Hippodrome.

Early Byzantine architecture followed the classical Roman model of domes and arches, but further improved these architectural concepts, as in the Church of the Saints Sergius and Bacchus. The oldest surviving Byzantine church in Istanbul (albeit partially in ruins) is the Stoudios (İmrahor) Monastery, which was built in 454. Other extant structures from the early Byzantine period include the Hagia Irene, initially the first church in the new capital, and the Prison of Anemas, which was incorporated into the city walls. After the recapture of Constantinople in 1261, the Byzantines constructed two of their most important churches, Chora Church and Pammakaristos Church. Across the Golden Horn, the Genoese contributed Galata Tower, then the highest point in the citadel of Galata. Still, the pinnacle of Byzantine architecture, and one of Istanbul's most iconic structures, is the Hagia Sophia. Topped by a dome in diameter, the Hagia Sofia stood as the largest cathedral for more than a thousand years, before being converted into a mosque and, now, a museum.

Among the oldest extant examples of Ottoman architecture in Istanbul are the Anadoluhisarı and Rumelihisarı fortresses, which helped block sea traffic aimed at assisting the Byzantines during the Turkish siege of the city. Over the next four centuries, the Ottomans continued to make an indelible impression on the skyline of Istanbul, building towering mosques and ornate palaces. These grand imperial mosques include Sultan Ahmed Mosque (the Blue Mosque), Süleymaniye Mosque, and Yeni Mosque, all of which were built at the peak of the Ottoman Empire, in the 16th and 17th centuries.

In the following centuries, and especially after the Tanzimat reforms, Ottoman architecture was supplanted by European styles. In contrast to the traditional elements of Topkapı Palace and the mosques on the historic peninsula, Dolmabahçe Palace, Yıldız Palace, and Ortaköy Mosque in Beşiktaş, and Beylerbeyi Palace across the Bosphorus in Üsküdar are clearly of Neo-Baroque style. At the same time, the areas around İstiklal Avenue were filled with grandiose European embassies and rows of buildings in European (mostly Neoclassical and, later, Art Nouveau) style started to appear along the avenue. Istanbul was one of the major centers of the Art Nouveau movement in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, with famous architects of this style building palaces and mansions in the city.

Administration

Since 2004, Istanbul, the capital of the Istanbul Province, has been one of only two cities in Turkey whose city boundaries are equivalent to the boundaries of its province. The city is administered by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (MMI), which oversees the thirty-nine districts of the city-province. The main decision-making body of the Municipality is the Municipal Council, headed by the mayor; among its responsibilities are controlling the award of contracts, setting the fare prices on public transport, and regulating taxes. All members of the council, including the mayor, are elected to five-year terms. The mayor of Istanbul has been Kadir Topbaş since first being elected in March 2004 and being re-elected in March 2009. The governor of Istanbul province is Hüseyin Avni Mutlu.

Istanbul is a home rule city and municipal elections are mainly partisan. The metropolitan model of governance has been used with the establishment of metropolitan administration in 1930. The metropolitan council is responsible for all authority when it comes to making city decisions.

The metropolitan government structure consists of three main organs: (1) The Metropolitan Mayor (elected every five years), (2) The Metropolitan Council (decision making body with the mayor, district Mayors, and one fifth of the district municipal councillors), (3) The metropolitan executive committee. There are three types of local authorities: (1) municipalities, (2) special provincial administrations, (3) village administrations. Among the local authorities, municipalities are gaining greater importance with the rise in urbanisation.

The current Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality City Hall building in the Saraçhane quarter of the Fatih district, the construction of which began on 17 December 1953 and was completed and inaugurated on 26 May 1960, will soon be demolished and replaced by a new building, designed by Istanbul-based Arolat Architects.

Demographics

! Year	! Population	! Year	! Population
330	40,000	1914	909,978
400	200,000	1927	680,857
530	550,000	1935	741,148
545	350,000	1940	793,949
715	300,000	1945	860,558
950	400,000	1950	983,041
1200	250,000	1955	1,268,771
1453	36,000	1960	1,466,535
1477	70,000	1965	1,742,978
1566	600,000	1970	2,132,407
1690	750,000–800,000	1975	2,547,364
1817	500,000	1980	2,772,708
1860	715,000	1985	5,475,982
1885	873,570	1990	6,629,431
1890	874,000	2000	8,803,468
1897	1,059,000	2007	11,372,613
1901	942,900	2010	13,120,596

The population of the metropolis more than tripled during the 25 years between 1980 and 2005. Roughly 70% of all Istanbulites live in the European section and around 30% in the Asian section. Due to high unemployment in the southeast of Turkey, many people from that region migrated to Istanbul, where they established themselves in the outskirts of the city. Migrants, predominantly from eastern Anatolia arrive in Istanbul expecting improved living conditions and employment, which usually end with little success. This results each year with new gecekondus at the outskirts of the city, which are later developed into neighbourhoods and integrated into the greater metropolis.

According to the address-based birth recording system of the Statistical Institute, the metropolitan municipality (entire Istanbul Province), had a population of 13,255,685 people as of 2010, making the city one of the largest metropolitan areas today. On the last census in 2000, Istanbul had a proper population of 8,803,468 inhabitants. According to present estimates the rate of population growth in the city is currently at 3.45% a year on average, mainly due to the influx of people from the surrounding rural areas. Istanbul's population density of 2,742 people per square mile (1,700 per square km) far exceeds Turkey's 130 people per square mile (81 people per square km).

During the early Middle Ages, Istanbul was the largest city in the world, and has been one of the world's largest and most important cities during much of its history (excepting the period of collapse of the Byzantine Empire, before the Ottomans). Its geopolitical significance since ancient times brought representatives of ethnic groups from all over Europe, Asia, and Africa, many of whom became assimilated with the local Greek and later Turkish populations.

The following overview shows the numbers of inhabitants by year. Population tallies up to 1914 are estimated with variations of up to 50% depending upon researcher. The numbers from 1927 to 2000 are results of censuses. The numbers of 2005 and 2006 are based on computer simulation forecasts. The doubling of the population of Istanbul between 1980 and 1985 is due to a natural increase in population as well as the expansion of municipal limits.

Religion

The urban landscape of Istanbul is shaped by many communities. The religion with the largest community of followers is Islam. Religious minorities include Orthodox Christians, Armenian Christians, Catholic Levantines and Sephardic Jews. According to the 2000 census, there were 2,691 active mosques, 123 active churches and 26 active synagogues in Istanbul; as well as 109 Muslim cemeteries and 57 non-Muslim cemeteries. Some districts used to have sizeable populations of these ethnic groups, such as the Kumkapı district, which had a sizeable Armenian population; the Balat district, which had a sizeable Jewish population; the Fener district, which had a sizeable Greek population; and some neighbourhoods in the Nişantaşı and Beyoğlu districts that had sizeable Levantine populations. Very few remain in these districts, as they either emigrated or moved to other districts. In some quarters, such as Kuzguncuk, an Armenian church sits next to a synagogue, and on the other side of the road a Greek Orthodox church is found beside a mosque.

The seat of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, patriarch of the autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church, is located in the Fener (Phanar) quarter. Also based in Istanbul are the archbishop of the Turkish Orthodox Church, an Armenian archbishop, and the Turkish Grand-Rabbi. A number of places reflect past movements of different communities into Istanbul, most notably Arnavutköy (Albanian village), Polonezköy (Polish village) and Yenibosna (New Bosnia).

The Muslims are by far the largest religious group in Istanbul. Among them, the Sunnis form the most populous sect, while a number of the local Muslims are Alevis. In 2007 there were 2,944 active mosques in Istanbul.

Istanbul was the final seat of the Islamic Caliphate, between 1517 and 1924, when the Caliphate was dissolved and its powers were handed over to the Turkish Parliament. On 2 September 1925, the tekkes and tarikats were banned, as their activities were deemed incompatible with the characteristics of the secular democratic Republic of Turkey; particularly with the secular education system and the laicist state's control over religious affairs through the Religious Affairs Directorate. Most followers of Sufism and other forms of Islamic mysticism practiced clandestinely afterwards, and some of these sects still boast numerous followers. To avoid the still active prohibition, these organisations represent themselves as "cultural associations."

The city has been the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople since the 4th century AD. The city is also seat of the Autocephalous Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate and the Armenian Patriarchate. The city was formerly also the seat of the reduced Bulgarian Orthodox Exarchate, before its autocephaly was recognised for a second time by other bodies of the Orthodox Church.

The everyday life of the Christians, particularly the Greeks and Armenians living in Istanbul changed significantly following the bitter conflicts between these ethnic groups and the Turks during the fall of the Ottoman Empire, which began in the 1820s and continued for a century. The conflicts reached their culmination in the decade between 1912 and 1922; during the Balkan Wars, the First World War and the Turkish War of Independence. The Christian population declined from 450,000 to 240,000 between 1914 and 1927. Today, most of Turkey's remaining Greek and Armenian minorities live in or near Istanbul. The number of the local Turkish Armenians in Istanbul today amount to approximately 45,000 (not including the nearly 40,000 Armenian workers in Turkey who came from Armenia after 1991 and mostly live and work in Istanbul); while the Greek community, which amounted to 150,000 citizens in 1924, currently amounts to approximately 4,000 citizens. There are also 60,000 Istanbulite Greeks who currently live in Greece but continue to retain their Turkish citizenship.

The Sephardic Jews have lived in the city for over 500 years. They fled the Iberian Peninsula during the Spanish Inquisition of 1492, when they were forced to convert to Christianity after the fall of the Moorish Kingdom of Andalucia. The Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II (1481–1512) sent a sizable fleet to Spain under the command of Kemal Reis to save the Sephardic Jews. At that point in the Caliphate's history it was a beacon of tolerance compared to most of Christendom. More than 200,000 Jews fled first to Tangier, Algiers, Genova, and Marseille, later to Salonica, and finally to Istanbul. The Sultan granted over 93,000 of these Spanish Jews to take refuge in the Ottoman Empire. Another large group of Sephardic Jews came from southern Italy, which was under Spanish control. The ''İtalyan Sinagogu'' (''Italian Synagogue'') in Galata is mostly frequented by the descendants of these Italian Jews in Istanbul.

At the beginning of the 20th century, there were over 200,000 Jews in Istanbul. However with the formation of the Turkish Republic and accompanying nationalism, many Jews emigrated along with other minorities. The 1934 anti-Jewish pogrom, the 1942 Varlık Vergisi ("Wealth Tax"), and recent terrorist bombings of synagogues have contributed to the exodus. Today, according to the World Jewish Congress, 23,000 Jews remain in Turkey, the vast majority being located in Istanbul. There are about 20 synagogues, the most important of them being the Neve Shalom Synagogue inaugurated in 1951, in the Beyoğlu district.

Economy

Apart from being the largest city and former political capital of the country, Istanbul has always been the centre of Turkey's economic life because of its location as a junction of international land and sea trade routes. Istanbul is also Turkey's largest industrial centre. It employs approximately 20% of Turkey's industrial labour and contributes 38% of Turkey's industrial workspace. Istanbul and its surrounding province produce cotton, fruit, olive oil, silk, and tobacco. Food processing, textile production, oil products, rubber, metal ware, leather, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, electronics, glass, machinery, automotive, transport vehicles, paper and paper products, and alcoholic drinks are among the city's major industrial products. According to ''Forbes'' magazine, Istanbul had a total of 35 billionaires as of March 2008, ranking fourth in the world.

Originally established as the Ottoman Stock Exchange (''Dersaadet Tahvilat Borsası'') in 1866, and reorganised to its current structure at the beginning of 1986, the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) is the sole securities market of Turkey. During the 19th century and early 20th century, Bankalar Caddesi (Banks Street) in Galata was the financial centre of the Ottoman Empire, where the headquarters of the Ottoman Central Bank (established as the ''Bank-ı Osmanî'' in 1856, and later reorganised as the ''Bank-ı Osmanî-i Şahane'' in 1863) and the Ottoman Stock Exchange (1866) were located. Bankalar Caddesi continued to be Istanbul's main financial district until the 1990s, when most Turkish banks began moving their headquarters to the modern central business districts of Levent and Maslak. In 1995, the Istanbul Stock Exchange moved to its current building in the İstinye quarter.

Today, the city generates 55% of Turkey's trade and 45% of the country's wholesale trade, and generates 21.2% of Turkey's gross national product. Istanbul contributes 40% of all taxes collected in Turkey and produces 27.5% of Turkey's national product. In 2005 the City of Istanbul had a GDP of $133 billion. In 2005 companies based in Istanbul made exports worth $41,397,000,000 and imports worth $69,883,000,000; which corresponded to 56.6% and 60.2% of Turkey's exports and imports, respectively, in that year.

Istanbul is one of the most important tourism spots of Turkey. There are thousands of hotels and other tourist oriented industries in the city, catering to both vacationers and visiting professionals. In 2006 a total of 23,148,669 tourists visited Turkey, most of whom entered the country through the airports and seaports of Istanbul and Antalya. The total number of tourists who entered Turkey through Atatürk International Airport and Sabiha Gökçen International Airport in Istanbul reached 5,346,658, rising from 4,849,353 in 2005. Istanbul is also one of the world's major conference destinations and is an increasingly popular choice for the world's leading international associations.

Public services

Education

Istanbul holds some of the finest institutions of higher education in Turkey, including more than 35 public and private universities. Most of the reputable universities are public, but in recent years there has also been an upsurge in the number of private universities. Istanbul University, founded as a madrasa in 1453, is the oldest Turkish educational institution in the city, while Istanbul Technical University (1773) is the world's third-oldest technical university dedicated entirely to engineering sciences. Other prominent state universities in Istanbul include Boğaziçi University, Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts, Yildiz Technical University and Marmara University. The major private universities in the city include Koç University, Sabancı University,Istanbul Bilgi University, Bahçeşehir University, Yeditepe University, Istanbul Kültür University, and Kadir Has University. Almost all Turkish private high schools and universities in Istanbul teach in English, German or French as the primary foreign language, usually accompanied by a secondary foreign language.

Among the best public schools of Turkey, the Galatasaray High School, established in 1481 as ''Galata Sarayı Enderun-u Hümayunu'' (''Galata Palace Imperial School'') and later known as ''Galatasaray Mekteb-i Sultanisi'' (''Galatasaray School of the Sultans''), is the oldest Turkish high school in Istanbul and the second oldest Turkish educational institution in the city. Istanbul High School, also commonly known as İstanbul Erkek Lisesi (established in 1884), abbreviated İEL, is one of the oldest and internationally renowned public high schools of Turkey. Kuleli Military High School is the only military high school in Istanbul, located in Çengelköy district. Another important school in Turkey is Darüşşafaka which has no similar world-wide, providing children opportunities around the Turkey without receiving any money from any of them. The school accepts only yetim children (a child without father), children with both parents or öksüz children (a child without mother) are not accepted. This school was built in 1873 by Darüşşafaka community. The primary person who came up with creating this school and community is Yusuf Ziya Pasha. Darüşşafaka is located in Maslak.

''Anadolu Liseleri'' (Anatolian High Schools) were originally furnished for the Turkish children who returned home from foreign countries, such as the Üsküdar Anadolu Lisesi with German as the primary foreign language and technical instruction in German. Kabataş Erkek Lisesi(Kabatas Highschool)is one of Anatolian High Schools and also one of the oldest and the most prominent schools in Turkey. Established in 1908 by the Ottoman Empire Sultan Abdulhamid II, the high school has been educating for 103 years and still does. The Queen of the UK has visited the school in 2008. Furthermore, Kadıköy Anadolu Lisesi which is also commonly known as Kadıköy Maarif College is one of the first six special Ministry of Education Colleges established in 1950s in big cities across Turkey. Those English-medium colleges were renamed as "Anadolu Lisesi" in subsequent decades. There are also many foreign high schools in Istanbul, most of which were established in the 19th century to educate foreigners in Istanbul. Following the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, most of these schools went under the administration of the Turkish Ministry of Education, but some of them still have considerable foreign administration, such as the Liceo Italiano Statale I.M.I. (Özel İtalyan Lisesi), which is still regarded as an Italian state school by the government of Italy and continues to receive funding and teachers from Rome. Robert College established in 1863 and Üsküdar American Academy established in 1876, are other remarkable foreign schools in the city, among numerous others.

''Fen Liseleri'' (Science High School) were originally furnished for the Turkish children who wants to be scientist, doctor or a job about the "Science", such as Atatürk Fen Lisesi, Yaşar Acar Fen Lisesi and 2 other science high schools.

Istanbul has numerous libraries, many of which contain vast collections of historic documents from the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman periods, as well as from other civilisations of the past. The most important libraries in terms of historic document collections include the Topkapı Palace Library, Library of the Archaeological Museum, Library of the Naval Museum, Beyazıt State Library, Nuruosmaniye Library, Süleymaniye Library, Istanbul University Library, Köprülüzade Fazıl Ahmed Paşa Library, Atatürk Library and Çelik Gülersoy Library.

Healthcare

The city has many public and private hospitals, clinics and laboratories within its bounds and numerous medical research centers. Many of these facilities have high technology equipment, which has contributed to the recent upsurge in "medical tourism" to Istanbul, particularly from West European countries like the United Kingdom and Germany where governments send patients with lower income to the city for the inexpensive service of high-tech medical treatment and operations. Istanbul has particularly become a global destination for laser eye surgery and plastic surgery. The city also has an Army Veterans Hospital in the military medical centre.

Pollution-related health problems increase especially in the winter, when the combustion of heating fuels increase. The rising number of new cars in the city and the slow development of public transportation often cause urban smog conditions. Mandatory use of unleaded gas was scheduled to begin only in January 2006.

Utilities

Istanbul's first water supply systems date back to the foundation of the city. The two greatest aqueducts from the Roman period are the Mazulkemer Aqueduct and the Valens Aqueduct. These were built to channel water from the Halkalı area in the western edge of the city to the Beyazıt district in the city centre, which was called the ''Forum Tauri'' in the Roman period. After reaching the city centre, the water was later collected in the city's numerous cisterns, such as the famous Philoxenos (Binbirdirek) Cistern and the Basilica (Yerebatan) Cistern. Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent commissioned Mimar Sinan, his engineer and architect-in-chief, to improve the water needs of the city. Sinan constructed the Kırkçeşme Water Supply System in 1555. In later years, with the aim of responding to the ever-increasing public demand, water from various springs was channeled to the public fountains by means of small supply lines; see German Fountain.

Today, Istanbul has a chlorinated and filtered water supply and a sewage disposal system managed by the government agency İSKİ. There are also several private sector organisations distributing clean water. Electricity distribution services are covered by the state-owned TEK. The first electricity production plant in the city, ''Silahtarağa Termik Santrali'', was established in 1914 and continued to supply electricity until 1983.

The Ottoman Ministry of Post and Telegraph was established in the city on 23 October 1840. The first post office was the ''Postahane-i Amire'' near the courtyard of Yeni Mosque. In 1876 the first international mailing network between Istanbul and the lands beyond the vast Ottoman Empire was established. In 1901 the first money transfers were made through the post offices and the first cargo services became operational. Samuel Morse received his first ever patent for the telegraph in 1847, at the old Beylerbeyi Palace (the present Beylerbeyi Palace was built in 1861–1865 on the same location) in Istanbul, which was issued by Sultan Abdülmecid who personally tested the new invention. Following this successful test, installation works of the first telegraph line between Istanbul and Edirne began on 9 August 1847. In 1855 the Telegraph Administration was established. In July 1881 the first telephone circuit in Istanbul was established between the Ministry of Post and Telegraph in Soğukçeşme and the Postahane-i Amire in Yenicami. On 23 May 1909, the first manual telephone exchange with a 50 line capacity was established in the ''Büyük Postane'' (Grand Post Office) of Sirkeci.

Transportation

Airports

Istanbul has two international airports: The larger one is the Atatürk International Airport located in the Yeşilköy district on the European side, about west from the city centre. When it was first built, the airport was situated at the western edge of the metropolitan area but now lies within the city bounds. The smaller one is the Sabiha Gökçen International Airport located in the Kurtköy district on the Asian side, close to the Istanbul Park GP Racing Circuit. It is situated approximately east of the Asian side and east of the European city centre.

Navigation

Sea transport is vital for Istanbul, as the city is practically surrounded by sea on all sides: the Sea of Marmara, the Golden Horn, the Bosphorus and the Black Sea. Many Istanbulites live on the Asian side of the city but work on the European side (or vice-versa) and the city's famous commuter ferries form the backbone of the daily transition between the two parts of the city – even more so than the two suspension bridges that span the Bosphorus. The commuter ferries, along with the high speed catamaran ''Seabus'' (''Deniz Otobüsü''), also form the main connection between the city and the Princes' Islands.

The first steam ferries appeared on the Bosphorus in 1837 and were operated by private sector companies. On 1 January 1851, the ''Şirket-i Hayriye'' (literally the ''Goodwill Company'', as the Istanbul Ferry Company was originally called) was established by the Ottoman state. The Şirket-i Hayriye continued to operate the city's landmark commuter ferries until the early years of the Republican period, when they went under the direction of Türkiye Denizcilik İşletmeleri (Turkish State Maritime Lines). Since March 2006, Istanbul's traditional commuter ferries are operated by İstanbul Deniz Otobüsleri (Istanbul Sea Buses), which also operates the high speed catamaran Seabus.

İDO (''İstanbul Deniz Otobüsleri'' – ''Istanbul Sea Buses'') was established in 1987 and operates the high speed catamaran ''Seabuses'' that run between the European and Asian parts of Istanbul—and also connect the city with the Princes' Islands and other destinations in the Sea of Marmara. The ''Yenikapı High Speed Car Ferry Port'' on the European side, and the ''Pendik High Speed Car Ferry Port'' on the Asian side, are where the high speed catamaran "car ferries" are based. The car ferries that operate between Yenikapı (on the European side of Istanbul) and Bandırma reduce the driving time between Istanbul and İzmir and other major destinations on Turkey's Aegean coast by several hours; while those that operate between Yenikapı or Pendik (on the Asian side of Istanbul) and Yalova significantly reduce the driving time between Istanbul and Bursa or Antalya.

The port of Istanbul is the most important one in the country. The old port on the Golden Horn serves primarily for personal navigation, while Karaköy port in Galata is used by the large cruise liners. Regular services as well as cruises from both Karaköy and Eminönü exist to several port cities in the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea. Istanbul's main cargo port is located in the Harem district on the Asian side of the city. Istanbul also has several marinas of varying size for personal navigation, the largest of which are the Ataköy Marina on the European side and Kalamış Marina on the Asian side.

Motorways

The State Road and the European route , the ''Trans European Motorway'' (TEM) are the two main motorway connections between Europe and Turkey. The motorway network around Istanbul is well developed and is constantly being extended. Motorways lead east to Ankara and west to Edirne. There are also two express highways circling the city. The older one, the , is mostly used for inner city traffic; while the more recent one, the , is mostly used by intercity or intercontinental traffic.

The Bosphorus Bridge on the and the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge on the establish the motorway connection between the European and the Asian sides of the Bosphorus. The southern and northern shores of the Golden Horn, an inlet of the Bosphorus on the European side of the city, are connected through the Galata Bridge, the Atatürk Bridge and the Haliç Bridge; the latter also being a part of the motorway network.

Büyükdere Avenue is the main artery that runs through the central business districts of Levent and Maslak on the European side, and is also accessible through a number of subway stations. At the point where the motorway junctions and tunnels between the quarters of Gayrettepe and Zincirlikuyu come together, Büyükdere Avenue connects with Barbaros Boulevard, which descends towards the ferry port of Beşiktaş. There it connects with the coastal highway that runs along the European shore of the Bosphorus, from Eminönü in the south to Sarıyer in the north.

Railways

In 1883, a Belgian entrepreneur, Georges Nagelmackers, began a rail service between Paris and Istanbul, using a steamship to ferry passengers from Varna to Constantinople. In 1889, a rail line was completed going directly from Istanbul to Bucharest, making the whole journey via land possible. The route was known as the Orient Express, made even more famous by the works of Agatha Christie and Graham Greene.

Today, the Sirkeci Terminal of the Turkish State Railways (TCDD), which was originally opened in 1890 as the terminus of the Orient Express, is the terminus of all the lines on the European side and the main connection node of the Turkish railway network with the rest of Europe.

Currently, international connections are provided by the line running between Istanbul and Thessaloniki, Greece, and the ''Bosphorus Express'' serving daily between Sirkeci and Bucharest, Romania. Lines to Sofia, Belgrade, Budapest are established over the ''Bosphorus Express'' connection to Bucharest.

Beyond the Bosphorus, the Haydarpaşa Terminal on the Asian side serves lines running several times daily to Ankara, and less frequently to other destinations in Anatolia. The railway networks on the European and Asian sides are currently connected by the train ferry across the Bosphorus, which will be replaced by an underwater tunnel connection with the completion of the Marmaray project, scheduled for 2012. Marmaray (Bosphorus Rail Tunnel) will also connect the metro lines on the European and Asian parts of the city. Inaugurated in 1908, the Haydarpaşa Terminal was originally opened as the terminus of the Istanbul-Konya-Baghdad and Istanbul-Damascus-Medina railways.

A suburban railway line runs between the main train station of the European part, the Sirkeci Terminal, and the Halkalı district towards the west of the city centre, with 18 stations along its 30 km length. A single trip takes 48 minutes. Another suburban line runs on the Anatolian part from the main train station, the Haydarpaşa Terminal, to Gebze at the eastern end of the city. The 44 km long line has 28 stations and the trip takes 65 minutes. 720,000 passengers use the urban rail lines on the European side of the city every day.

Trams

Trams first entered service in Istanbul on 3 September 1869, at the ''Tophane – Ortaköy'' line. In 1871 the ''Azapkapı – Galata''; ''Aksaray – Yedikule''; ''Aksaray – Topkapı''; and ''Eminönü – Aksaray'' lines entered service. Other lines that entered service in the late 19th century included the ''Voyvoda Caddesi – Kabristan Sokağı – Tepebaşı – Taksim – Pangaltı – Şişli'' line; the ''Bayezid – Şehzadebaşı'' line; the ''Fatih – Edirnekapı – Galatasaray – Tünel'' line; and the ''Eminönü – Bahçekapı'' line. Since 1939 the trams of the city are operated by the İETT. On 12 August 1961, the historic red trams of Istanbul were removed from the city's European side; and on 14 November 1966, they were removed from the city's Asian side. Towards the end of 1990, replicas of these historic red trams were put in service along the İstiklal Avenue between Taksim and Tünel, which is a single 1.6 km-long (1640 m) line. On 1 November 2003, another nostalgic tram line (T3) was reopened on the Anatolian part of Istanbul between Kadıköy and Moda. It has 10 stations on a 2.6 km long route. The trip takes 21 minutes.

A fast tram (T1) was put in service in 1992 on standard gauge track with modern cars, connecting Sirkeci with Topkapı. The line was extended on one end from Topkapı to Zeytinburnu in March 1994, and on the other end from Sirkeci to Eminönü in April 1996. On 30 January 2005 it was extended from Eminönü to Fındıklı, crossing the Golden Horn through the Galata Bridge for the first time after 44 years. A final extension to Kabataş was opened in June 2006. The line has 24 stations on a length of 14 km. Service was initially operated with 22 LRT vehicles built by ABB, now reassigned to other lines; while stations were provided with temporary high platforms. These vehicles were replaced by 55 low-floor Bombardier Flexity Swift trams in 2003. An entire trip takes 42 minutes. The daily transport capacity is 155,000 passengers. The amount of investment totaled US$110 million. In September 2006, a second tram line (T2) was added, running west from Zeytinburnu to Bağcılar. Service on this line is operated with 14 ABB LRT cars. Stations have high platforms at the level of the car floor.

Funiculars

Istanbul is served by two underground funicular railways, of very different ages and styles. The older of these lines is the Tünel (1875). Inaugurated on 17 January 1875, the Tünel is the second-oldest subterranean urban rail line in the world after the London Underground (1863) (arguably third in the world, if one counts Brooklyn, New York's abandoned Atlantic Avenue Tunnel) and the first subterranean urban rail line in continental Europe; though the first full subway line with multiple underground stations in continental Europe was the Line 1 of the Budapest Metro (1896). The Tünel is long with an altitude difference of 60 m and no intermediate stations between Karaköy and Tünel Square. It has been continuously in service since 1875. Two trains run on a single rail every 3.5 minutes, and a trip takes 1.5 minutes. Making 64,800 trips, totaling 37,066 kilometres a year, the Tünel carries 15,000 passengers per day.

A second funicular line, the Kabataş-Taksim Funicular, entered service on 29 June 2006, connecting Kabataş and Taksim. This system connects the Seabus station and the tram stop in Kabataş to the metro station at Taksim Square. It is about 600 meters long and climbs approximately 60 meters in 110 seconds, carrying 9,000 passengers per day.

Light rail

The Istanbul LRT is a light rail transit system consisting of 2 lines. The first line (M1) began service on 3 September 1989 between Aksaray and Kartaltepe. The line was further developed step-by-step and reached Atatürk Airport on 20 December 2002. The other line (T4) was opened in 2007 between Edirnekapı and Mescid-i Selam. There are 36 stations, including 12 underground and 3 viaduct stations, on the line's 32 km length. The lines are totally segregated from other traffic, without level crossings, and run underground for 10.4 km. Service is operated with LRT vehicles built by ABB in 1988.

Metro

Construction works of the Istanbul Metro (M2) began in 1992 and the first completed section between Taksim and 4. Levent entered service on 16 September 2000. This section of the line is long and has 6 stations. In 2000, there were 8 Alstom-built 4-car train sets in service, which ran every 5 minutes on average and transported 130,000 passengers daily. On 30 January 2009, the first train sets built by Eurotem entered service. Eurotem will build a total of 92 new wagons for the M2 line. As of 30 January 2009, a total of 34 train sets, each with 4 cars, were being used on the M2 line.

A northern extension from 4. Levent to Maslak was opened on 30 January 2009. The southern extension of the M2 line from Taksim to Yenikapı, across the Golden Horn on a bridge and underground through the historic peninsula, has thus far been completed up to the Şişhane station in Beyoğlu, which also entered service on 30 January 2009. At Yenikapı the M2 network will intersect with the extended light metro and suburban train lines, and with the Marmaray tunnel.

At present, the M2 line has 10 stations in service on the European side of the city; while 6 new stations on the European side and 16 new stations on the Asian side are currently under construction. The trip between the Şişhane station in Beyoğlu and the Atatürk Oto Sanayi station in Maslak is long and takes 21 minutes. The total length of the European side of the M2 line will reach when all 16 stations from Hacıosman to Yenikapı will be completed; not including the 936 metres long Golden Horn metro bridge, the 0.6 km long Taksim-Kabataş tunnel connection with the Seabus port, the 0.6 km long Yenikapı-Aksaray tunnel connection with the LRT network, and the 13.6 km long Marmaray tunnel.

On the Asian side, construction of the long M2 line from Kadıköy to Kartal continues, which will have a total of 16 stations. The Marmaray tunnel (Bosporus undersea railway tunnel) will connect the metro lines of the Asian and European parts of the city. According to the scheduled construction timeline, the tunnel will enter service in 2013.

Bus rapid transit

Bus rapid transit (also known as metrobus or quality bus) is a useful public transportation system in Istanbul.

Culture and contemporary life

Fine arts

Istanbul is becoming increasingly colourful in terms of its rich social, cultural, and commercial activities. While world famous pop stars fill stadiums, activities like opera, ballet and theatre continue throughout the year. During seasonal festivals, world famous orchestras, chorale ensembles, concerts and jazz legends can be found often playing to a full house. The Istanbul International Film Festival is one of the most important film festivals in Europe, while the Istanbul Biennial is another major event of fine arts.

Annually Istanbul hosts music and opera festivals. These festival are an outgrowth of Turkey's government policy starting in the early 1930s to introduce and instutionalize the teaching and performing of polyphonic music and opera. The policy was implemented using highly acclaimed musicologists, performers, composers, etc. who were at risk in their native Germany. Among them were Paul Hindemith, Licco Amar, Carl Ebert, and Ernst Praetorius. They are part of a music and opera directorate bound to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Istanbul Modern frequently hosts the exhibitions of renowned Turkish and foreign artists. Pera Museum and Sakıp Sabancı Museum have hosted the exhibitions of world famous artists and are among the most important private museums in the city. The Doğançay Museum – Turkey’s first contemporary art museum – is dedicated almost exclusively to the work of its founder Burhan Doğançay. The Rahmi M. Koç Museum on the Golden Horn is an industrial museum that exhibits historic industrial equipment such as cars and locomotives from the 19th century and early 20th century, as well as boats, submarines, aircraft, and other similar vintage machines from past epochs.

Istanbul Archaeology Museum, established in 1881, is one of the largest museums of its kind in the world. The museum contains more than 1,000,000 archaeological pieces from the Mediterranean basin, the Balkans, Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia. Istanbul Mosaic Museum contains the late Roman and early Byzantine floor mosaics and wall ornaments of the Great Palace of Constantinople. The nearby Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum displays a vast collection of items from various Islamic civilisations. Sadberk Hanım Museum contains a wide variety of artifacts, dating from the earliest Anatolian civilisations to the Ottomans.

Occasionally, in November, the ''Silahhane'' (Armory Hall) of Yıldız Palace hosts the ''Istanbul Antiques Fair'', which brings together rare pieces of antiques from the Orient and Occident. The multi-storey ''Mecidiyeköy Antikacılar Çarşısı'' (Mecidiyeköy Antiques Bazaar) in the Mecidiyeköy quarter of Şişli is the largest antiques market in the city, while the ''Çukurcuma'' neighbourhood of Beyoğlu has rows of antiques shops in its streets. The Grand Bazaar, edificed between 1455–1461 by the order of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror also has numerous antiques shops, along with shops selling jewels, carpets and other items of art and artisanship. Historic and rare books are found in the ''Sahaflar Çarşısı'' near Beyazıt Square, and it is one of the oldest book markets in the world, and has continuously been active in the same location since the late Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman periods.

Live shows and concerts are hosted at a number of locations including historical sites such as the Hagia Irene, Rumeli Fortress, Yedikule Castle, the courtyard of Topkapı Palace, and Gülhane Park; as well as the Atatürk Cultural Center, Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall and other open air and modern theatre halls.

Turkish baths

A significant culture has been developed around what is known as a Hamam, the Turkish word for a Turkish Bath. It was a culture of leisure during the Ottoman period, one of the finest example being the Çemberlitaş Hamamı (1584) in Istanbul, located on the Çemberlitaş (Column of Constantine) Square. Another fine example from the 17^th Century is the ''Galatasaray Hamamı'', located on the Beyoğlu district, known for the quality of service and its cleanliness. In the Ottoman Empire, many Hamams were also actually build adjacent to mosques, as part of the "külliye" (complex). A very fine example to this is the Hamam of the Kılıç Ali Paşa Mosque built by Mimar Sinan.

Recreation

Recently, old beaches have reopened in the city. The most popular places for swimming in the city are in Bakırköy, Küçükçekmece, Sarıyer and the Bosphorus. Outside the city are the Marmara Sea's Princes' Islands, Silivri and Tuzla; as well as Kilyos and Şile on the Black Sea.

The Princes' Islands (Adalar) are a group of islands where motor transportation is prohibited, located in the Marmara Sea, south of the Kartal and Pendik districts. Pine and stone-pine wooden ''neoclassical'' and ''art nouveau''-style Ottoman era summer mansions from the 19th century and early 20th century, horse-drawn carriages and seafood restaurants make them a popular destination. They can be reached by commuter ferries or high-speed catamaran ''Seabus'' (''Deniz otobüsü'') from Eminönü and Bostancı. Of the nine islands, only five are settled.

Şile is a distant and well-known Turkish seaside resort on the Black Sea, from Istanbul, where unspoiled white sand beaches can be found. Kilyos is a small calm seaside resort not far from the northern European entrance of the Bosphorus at the Black Sea. The place has good swimming possibilities and has become popular in the recent years among the inhabitants of Istanbul as a place for excursions. Kilyos offers a beach park with seafood restaurants and night clubs, being particularly active in the summer with many night parties and live concerts on the beach.

Shopping

Istanbul has numerous historic shopping centers, such as the Grand Bazaar (1461), Mahmutpaşa Bazaar (1462) and the Egyptian Bazaar (1660). The first modern shopping mall in Turkey was Galleria Ataköy (1987), which was followed by dozens of others in the later decades, such as Akmerkez (1993), which is the only mall to win both "Europe's Best" and "World's Best" awards by the ICSC; Metrocity (2003); Cevahir Mall (2005), which is the largest mall in Europe; and Kanyon Mall (2006), which won the 2006 Cityscape Architectural Review Award for its interesting design. İstinye Park (2007) and City's Nişantaşı (2008) are two new malls that target high-end consumers and are almost exclusively dedicated to world-famous fashion brands.

Restaurants

Along with the traditional Turkish restaurants, many European and Far Eastern restaurants and numerous other cuisines are also thriving in the city. Most of the city's historic winehouses (''meyhane'' in Turkish) and pubs are located in the areas around İstiklal Avenue in Beyoğlu. The 19th century Çiçek Pasajı (literally ''Flower Passage'' in Turkish, or ''Cité de Péra'' in French) on İstiklal Avenue, which has many historic meyhanes, pubs and restaurants, was built by Hristaki Zoğrafos Efendi at the former site of the Naum Theatre and was inaugurated in 1876. The famous ''Nevizâde Street'', which has rows of historic meyhanes next to each other, is also in this area.

Other historic pubs are found in the areas around ''Tünel Pasajı'' and the nearby ''Asmalımescit Sokağı''. Some historic neighbourhoods around İstiklal Avenue have recently been recreated, with differing levels of success; such as ''Cezayir Sokağı'' near Galatasaray High School, that has rows of pubs, cafés and restaurants playing live music.

Istanbul is also famous for its historic seafood restaurants; as an example, the Kumkapı neighbourhood has a pedestrian-only area that is dedicated to fish restaurants. Some 30 fish restaurants are found there, many of them among the best of the city. Also, many of the most popular and upscale seafood restaurants (with picturesque views) are found along the shores of the Bosphorus, particularly in Bebek, Arnavutköy, Yeniköy, Beylerbeyi and Çengelköy; and by the Marmara Sea shore towards the south of the city. The largest of the Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara (namely Büyükada, Heybeliada, Burgazada and Kınalıada) and ''Anadolu Kavağı'' near the northern entrance of the Bosphorus towards the Black Sea (close to Yoros Castle, which was also known as the ''Genoese Castle'' due to Genoa's possession of it in the mid-15th century) also have many historic seafood restaurants.

Nightlife

There are many night clubs, pubs, restaurants and taverns with live music in the city. The night clubs, restaurants and bars increase in number and move to open air spaces in the summer. The areas around Istiklal Avenue, Nişantaşı, Bebek and Kadıköy offer all sorts of cafés, restaurants, pubs and clubs as well as art galleries, theaters and cinemas. ''Babylon'' and ''Nu Pera'' in Beyoğlu are popular night clubs both in the summer and in the winter.

The most popular open air summer time seaside night clubs are found on the Bosphorus, such as ''Sortie'', ''Reina'' and ''Anjelique'' in the Ortaköy district. ''Q Jazz Bar'' in Ortaköy offers live jazz music in a stylish environment.

Venues such as ''Istanbul Arena'' in Maslak and ''Kuruçeşme Arena'' on the Bosphorus frequently host the live concerts of famous singers and bands from all corners of the world. ''Parkorman'' in Maslak hosted the Isle of MTV Party in 2002 and is a popular venue for live concerts and rave parties in the summer.

Media

The first Turkish newspaper, Takvim-i Vekayi, was printed on 1 August 1831 in the Bâbıâli (''Bâb-ı Âli'', meaning ''The Sublime Porte'') district. Bâbıâli became the main centre for print media. Istanbul is also the printing capital of Turkey with a wide variety of domestic and foreign periodicals expressing diverse views, and domestic newspapers are extremely competitive. Most nationwide newspapers are based in Istanbul, with simultaneous Ankara and İzmir editions.

Sports

During the Roman and Byzantine periods, the most important sporting events were the quadriga chariot races that were held at the Hippodrome of Constantinople, which had a capacity to accommodate more than 100,000 spectators. Today, sports like football, basketball and volleyball are very popular in the city. In addition to Beşiktaş, Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe, which field teams in multiple sports, several other clubs have also excelled in particular team sports; such as Efes Pilsen, Fenerbahçe Ülker, Galatasaray Cafe Crown and Beşiktaş Cola Turka in basketball; or Eczacıbaşı, Vakıfbank and Fenerbahçe in volleyball.

The Atatürk Olympic Stadium, the largest multi-purpose stadium in Turkey, is a 5-star UEFA stadium and a first-class venue for track and field; having reached the highest required standards set by the International Olympic Committee and sports federations such as the IAAF, FIFA and UEFA. The stadium hosted the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final. The Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, home of Fenerbahçe, which is also a 5-star UEFA stadium, hosted the 2009 UEFA Cup Final that went down to history as the last Final of the UEFA Cup football tournament. The UEFA Cup will be replaced by the UEFA Europa League starting from the 2009–2010 season.

The Sinan Erdem Dome, the largest multi-purpose indoor arena in Turkey, hosted the Final of the 2010 FIBA World Basketball Championship, and will also be the venue for the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships and the 2012 FINA Short Course World Championships. The Abdi İpekçi Arena hosted the Final of EuroBasket 2001, and was also the venue for the 1992 Euroleague Final Four.

Istanbul hosts several annual motorsports events, such as the Formula One Turkish Grand Prix, the MotoGP Grand Prix of Turkey, the FIA World Touring Car Championship, the GP2 and the Le Mans Series races at the Istanbul Park GP Racing Circuit. From time to time Istanbul also hosts the Turkish leg of the F1 Powerboat Racing on the Bosphorus. Several annual sailing and yacht races take place on the Bosphorus and the Sea of Marmara. The Golden Horn is where the rowing races take place. Major clubs like Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş, and major universities such as the Bosphorus University have rowing teams. Air racing is new to the city. On 29 July 2006, Istanbul hosted the 5th leg of the spectacular Red Bull Air Race World Series, as well as the 4th leg on 2 June 2007, in both cases above the Golden Horn.

Personal sports like golf, horse riding and tennis are gaining popularity as the city hosts international tournaments such as the WTA Istanbul Cup. For aerobics and bodybuilding, numerous fitness clubs are available. The Paintball sport has recently gained popularity and is practiced by two large clubs in the proximity of Istanbul. Martial arts and other Eastern disciplines and practices such as Aikido and Yoga can be exercised in several centers across the city. Istanbul also hosts the annual MTB races in the nearby Belgrad Forest and Büyükada Island. Two of the most prominent cycling teams of Turkey, namely the Scott/Marintek MTB Team and the Kron/Sektor Bikes/Efor Bisiklet MTB Team, are from Istanbul.

Twin towns: Sistership, Cooperation and Goodwill agreements

Sister cities

Rio de Janeiro (1965) Shimonoseki (1972) Lahore (1975) Johor Bahru (1983) Jeddah (1984) Budapest (1985) Houston (1988) Cairo (1988) Berlin (1989) Shanghai (1989) St. Petersburg (1990) Rabat (1991) Merv (1994) Barcelona (1997) Dubai (1997) Cologne (1997) Sarajevo (1997) Odessa (1997) Amman (1997) Osh (1997) Durrës (1998) Almaty (1998) Jakarta (1998) Plovdiv (2001) Constanța (2001) Khartoum (2001) Busan (2002) Kazan (2002) Skopje (2003) Rotterdam (2005) Damascus (2006) Venice (2007) Bangkok (2009) Mexico City (2010) Tabriz (2010) Beirut (2010)

Cooperation protocols

Florence (1988) Berlin (1989) Stockholm (1990) Toronto (1990) Strasbourg (1991) Warsaw (1991) Budapest (1992) Havana (1992) Plovdiv (1992) Kabul (1992) Prague (1992) Venice (1993) Cologne (1997) Xi'an (1997) Athens (2000) Naples (2000) St. Petersburg (2003) Seoul (2005) Bucharest (2006) Shanghai (2006) Moscow (2006) Paris (2009) Casablanca (2009)

Goodwill protocols

Paris (2000) Rotterdam (2000) Milan (2005) Berlin (2005) Tbilisi (2006) Pécs (2008) Shanghai (2008)

Further reading

Gul, Murat. ''The Emergence of Modern Istanbul: Transformation and Modernisation of a City'' (I.B. Tauris, distributed by Palgrave Macmillan; 242 pages; 2010). Pays particular attention to modernization under the Democratic Party government (1950–60) of Prime Minister Adnan Menderes.

Notes

References

References

Bibliography

''Istanbul: Where the Continents Meet''

External links

Official website of Istanbul Governorship

Official website of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality: Interactive aerial photos (maps) of Istanbul from 1946, 1966, 1982 and 2005

Official Istanbul Travel Guide

Istanbul City Guide

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Istanbul Category:Ancient Greek cities Category:Archaeological sites in Turkey Istanbul Category:Populated places along the Silk Road Istanbul Istanbul Category:Cities in the Ottoman Empire Istanbul Category:Former national capitals Category:Capitals of former nations Category:Places illustrated on Turkish banknotes Category:European Capitals of Culture Category:IOC Session Host Cities

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Native name
Conventional long name	Republic of Turkey
Common name	Turkey
National anthem	''İstiklâl Marşı''''Independence March''File:Istiklal Marsi-TSK.ogg
Map caption	Location of Turkey
Capital	Ankara
Largest city	Istanbul
Official languages	Turkish
Demonym	Turkish
Government type	Parliamentary republic
Leader title1	Founder
Leader name1	Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Leader title2	President
Leader name2	Abdullah Gül
Leader title3	Prime Minister
Leader name3	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Leader title4	Speaker of the Parliament
Leader name4	Cemil Çiçek
Leader title5	President of the Constitutional Court
Leader name5	Haşim Kılıç
Legislature	Grand National Assembly
Sovereignty type	Succession
Sovereignty note
Established event1
Established date1	July 24, 1923
Established event2
Established date2	October 29, 1923
Area km2	783562
Area sq mi	302535
Area rank	37th
Area magnitude	1 E11
Percent water	1.3
Population census	67,803,927
Population census year	2000
Population estimate	73,722,988
Population estimate year	2010
Population estimate rank	18th
Population density km2	94.1
Population density sq mi	239.8
Population density rank	108th
Gdp ppp year	2010
Gdp ppp	$1.116 trillion
Gdp ppp rank	15th
Gdp ppp per capita	$15,340
Gdp nominal	$735.264 billion
Gdp nominal rank	17th
Gdp nominal year	2010
Gdp nominal per capita	$10,106
Hdi year	2011
Hdi	0.699
Hdi rank	92nd
Hdi category	high
Gini	40
Gini year	2008
Currency	Turkish lira
Currency code	TRY
Time zone	EET
Utc offset	+2
Time zone dst	EEST
Utc offset dst	+3
Date format	dd/mm/yyyy (AD)
Drives on	right
Cctld	.tr
Calling code	90
Website	www.turkiye.gov.tr }}

Turkey (), known officially as the Republic of Turkey (), is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia (mostly in the Anatolian peninsula) and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan (the exclave of Nakhchivan) and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus are to the south; the Aegean Sea to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. The Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between East Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia.

Turkey is one of the six independent Turkic states. The vast majority of the population are Muslims. The country's official language is Turkish, whereas Kurdish and Zazaki languages are spoken by Kurds and Zazas, who constitute 18% of the population.

Oghuz Turks began migrating into the area now called Turkey (derived from the Medieval Latin ''Turchia'', i.e. "Land of the Turks") in the 11th century. The process was greatly accelerated by the Seljuk victory over the Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert. Several small beyliks and the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion. Starting from the 13th century, the Ottoman beylik united Anatolia and created an empire encompassing much of Southeastern Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. After the Ottoman Empire collapsed following its defeat in World War I, parts of it were occupied by the victorious Allies. A cadre of young military officers, led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his colleagues, organized a successful resistance to the Allies; in 1923, they would establish the modern Republic of Turkey with Atatürk as its first president.

Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic with an ancient cultural heritage. Turkey has become increasingly integrated with the West through membership in organizations such as the Council of Europe, NATO, OECD, OSCE and the G-20 major economies. Turkey began full membership negotiations with the European Union in 2005, having been an associate member of the European Economic Community since 1963 and having reached a customs union agreement in 1995. Turkey has also fostered close cultural, political, economic and industrial relations with the Middle East, the Turkic states of Central Asia and the African countries through membership in organizations such as the Turkic Council, Joint Administration of Turkic Arts and Culture, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Economic Cooperation Organization.

Turkey's location at the crossroads of Europe and Asia makes it a country of significant geostrategic importance. Given its strategic location, large economy and military strength, Turkey is a major regional power.

Etymology

The name of Turkey, ''Türkiye'' in the Turkish language, can be divided into two components: the ethnonym ''Türk'' and the abstract suffix ''–iye'' meaning "owner", "land of" or "related to" (derived from the Arabic suffix ''–iyya'', which is similar to the Greek and Latin suffixes ''–ia''). The first recorded use of the term "Türk" or "Türük" as an autonym is contained in the Orkhon inscriptions of the Göktürks (''Celestial Turks'') of Central Asia (c. 8th century CE). The English word "Turkey" is derived from the Medieval Latin ''Turchia'' (c. 1369). The Greek cognate of this name, ''Tourkia'', was originally used by the Byzantines to describe medieval Hungary (since pre-Magyar Hungary was occupied by proto-Turkic and Turkic tribes, such as the Huns, Avars, Bulgars, Kabars, Pechenegs and Cumans.) 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. However, the Byzantines later began using this name to define the Seljuk-controlled parts of Anatolia in the centuries that followed the Battle of Manzikert in 1071.

History

Antiquity

The Anatolian peninsula, comprising most of modern Turkey, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited regions in the world. The earliest Neolithic settlements such as Çatalhöyük (Pottery Neolithic), Çayönü (Pre-Pottery Neolithic A to Pottery Neolithic), Nevalı Çori (Pre-Pottery Neolithic B), Hacılar (Pottery Neolithic), Göbekli Tepe (Pre-Pottery Neolithic A) and Mersin (Yumuktepe) are considered to be among the earliest human settlements in the world.

The settlement of Troy started in the Neolithic and continued into the Iron Age. Through recorded history, Anatolians have spoken Indo-European, Semitic and Kartvelian languages, as well as many languages of uncertain affiliation. In fact, given the antiquity of the Indo-European Hittite and Luwian languages, some scholars have proposed Anatolia as the hypothetical center from which the Indo-European languages radiated. The Hattians were an ancient people who inhabited the Central Anatolia, noted at least as early as ca. 2300. Indo-European Hittites came to Anatolia and gradually absorbed Hattians ca. 2000–1700 BC. The first major empire in the area was founded by the Hittites, from the eighteenth through the 13th century BC. The Assyrians colonized parts of southeastern Turkey as far back as 1950 BC until the year 612 BC, when the Assyrian Empire was conquered by the Chaldean dynasty in Babylon. Following the Hittite collapse, the Phrygians, an Indo-European people, achieved ascendancy until their kingdom was destroyed by the Cimmerians in the 7th century BC. The most powerful of Phrygia's successor states were Lydia, Caria and Lycia. The Lydians and Lycians spoke languages that were fundamentally Indo-European, but both languages had acquired non-Indo-European elements prior to the Hittite and Hellenistic periods.

Starting around 1200 BC, the coast of Anatolia was heavily settled by Aeolian and Ionian Greeks. Numerous important cities were founded by these colonists, such as Miletus, Ephesus, Smyrna (modern İzmir), and Byzantium (later Constantinople and Istanbul). The first state established in Anatolia that was called Armenia by neighboring peoples (Hecataeus of Miletus and Behistun Inscription) was the state of the Armenian Orontid dynasty. Anatolia was conquered by the Persian Achaemenid Empire during the 6th and 5th centuries BC and later fell to Alexander the Great in 334 BC. Anatolia was subsequently divided into a number of small Hellenistic kingdoms (including Bithynia, Cappadocia, Pergamum, and Pontus), all of which had succumbed to the Roman Republic by the mid-1st century BC.

In 324, the Roman emperor Constantine I chose Byzantium to be the new capital of the Roman Empire, renaming it New Rome (later Constantinople and Istanbul). After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, it became the capital of the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire).

Turks and the Ottoman Empire

The ''House of Seljuk'' was a branch of the ''Kınık'' Oğuz Turks who resided on the periphery of the Muslim world, north of the Caspian and Aral Seas in the Yabghu Khaganate of the Oğuz confederacy in the 10th century. In the 11th century, the Seljuks started migrating from their ancestral homelands towards the eastern regions of Anatolia, which eventually became the new homeland of Oghuz Turkic tribes following the Battle of Manzikert in 1071.

The victory of the Seljuks gave rise to the Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate; which developed as a separate branch of the larger Seljuk Empire that covered parts of Central Asia, Iran, Anatolia and Southwest Asia.

In 1243, the Seljuk armies were defeated by the Mongols, causing the Seljuk empire's power to slowly disintegrate. In its wake, one of the Turkish principalities governed by Osman I would, over the next 200 years, evolve into the Ottoman Empire, expanding throughout Anatolia, the Balkans and the Levant. In 1453, the Ottomans completed their conquest of the Byzantine Empire by capturing its capital, Constantinople.

The Ottoman Empire's power and prestige peaked in the 16th and 17th centuries, particularly during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. The empire was often at odds with the Holy Roman Empire in its steady advance towards Central Europe through the Balkans and the southern part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. At sea, the empire contended with the Holy Leagues, composed of Habsburg Spain, the Republic of Venice and the Knights of St. John, for control of the Mediterranean. In the Indian Ocean, the Ottoman navy frequently confronted Portuguese fleets in order to defend its traditional monopoly over the maritime trade routes between East Asia and Western Europe; these routes faced new competition with the Portuguese discovery of the Cape of Good Hope in 1488. In addition, the Ottomans were occasionally at war with Persia over territorial disputes or caused by religious differences between 16th and 18th centuries.

During nearly two centuries of decline, the Ottoman Empire gradually shrank in size, military power, and wealth. It entered World War I on the side of the Central Powers and was ultimately defeated. During the war, an estimated 1.5 million Armenians were deported and exterminated in the Armenian Genocide. The Turkish government denies that there was an Armenian genocide and claims that Armenians were only relocated from the eastern war zone. Large scale massacres were also committed against the empire's other minority groups such as the Greeks and Assyrians. Following the Armistice of Mudros on October 30, 1918, the victorious Allied Powers sought to partition the Ottoman state through the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres.

Republic era

The occupation of Constantinople and Smyrna by the Allies in the aftermath of World War I prompted the establishment of the Turkish national movement. Under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Pasha, a military commander who had distinguished himself during the Battle of Gallipoli, the Turkish War of Independence was waged with the aim of revoking the terms of the Treaty of Sèvres.

By September 18, 1922, the occupying armies were expelled, and the new Turkish state was established. On November 1, the newly founded parliament formally abolished the Sultanate, thus ending 623 years of Ottoman rule. The Treaty of Lausanne of July 24, 1923, led to the international recognition of the sovereignty of the newly formed "Republic of Turkey" as the successor state of the Ottoman Empire, and the republic was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923, in the new capital of Ankara.

Mustafa Kemal became the republic's first President and subsequently introduced many radical reforms with the aim of founding a new secular republic from the remnants of its Ottoman past. With the Surname Law of 1934, the Turkish Parliament bestowed upon Mustafa Kemal the honorific surname "Atatürk" (''Father of the Turks''.)

Turkey remained neutral during most of World War II but entered on the side of the Allies on February 23, 1945, as a ceremonial gesture and in 1945 became a charter member of the United Nations. Difficulties faced by Greece after the war in quelling a communist rebellion, along with demands by the Soviet Union for military bases in the Turkish Straits, prompted the United States to declare the Truman Doctrine in 1947. The doctrine enunciated American intentions to guarantee the security of Turkey and Greece, and resulted in large-scale U.S. military and economic support.

After participating with the United Nations forces in the Korean War, Turkey joined NATO in 1952, becoming a bulwark against Soviet expansion into the Mediterranean. Following a decade of Cypriot intercommunal violence and the Greek military coup of 15 July 1974, overthrowing President Makarios and installing Nikos Sampson as dictator, Turkey invaded the island Republic of Cyprus on 20 July. Nine years later the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus which is only recognised by Turkey was established.

The single-party period ended in 1945. It was followed by a tumultuous transition to multiparty democracy over the next few decades, which was interrupted by military coups d'état in 1960, 1971, 1980 and 1997. In 1984, the PKK began an insurgency against the Turkish government; the conflict, which has claimed over 40,000 lives, continues today. Since the liberalization of the Turkish economy during the 1980s, the country has enjoyed stronger economic growth and greater political stability.

Politics

Turkey is a parliamentary representative democracy. Since its foundation as a republic in 1923, Turkey has developed a strong tradition of secularism. Turkey's constitution governs the legal framework of the country. It sets out the main principles of government and establishes Turkey as a unitary centralized state.

The President of the Republic is the head of state and has a largely ceremonial role. The president is elected for a five-year term by direct elections. Abdullah Gül was elected as president on August 28, 2007, by a popular parliament round of votes, succeeding Ahmet Necdet Sezer.

Executive power is exercised by the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers which make up the government, while the legislative power is vested in the unicameral parliament, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature, and the Constitutional Court is charged with ruling on the conformity of laws and decrees with the constitution. The Council of State is the tribunal of last resort for administrative cases, and the High Court of Appeals for all others.

The prime minister is elected by the parliament through a vote of confidence in the government and is most often the head of the party having the most seats in parliament. The current prime minister is the former mayor of İstanbul, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, whose conservative Justice and Development Party won an absolute majority of parliamentary seats in the 2002 general elections, organized in the aftermath of the economic crisis of 2001, with 34% of the suffrage.

In the 2007 general elections, the AKP received 46.6% of the votes and could defend its majority in parliament. Although the ministers do not have to be members of the parliament, ministers with parliament membership are common in Turkish politics. In 2007, a series of events regarding state secularism and the role of the judiciary in the legislature has occurred. These included the controversial presidential election of Abdullah Gül, who in the past had been involved with Islamist parties; and the government's proposal to lift the headscarf ban in universities, which was annulled by the Constitutional Court, leading to a fine and a near ban of the ruling party.

Universal suffrage for both sexes has been applied throughout Turkey since 1933, and every Turkish citizen who has turned 18 years of age has the right to vote. As of 2004, there were 50 registered political parties in the country. The Constitutional Court can strip the public financing of political parties that it deems anti-secular or separatist, or ban their existence altogether.

There are 550 members of parliament who are elected for a four-year term by a party-list proportional representation system from 85 electoral districts which represent the 81 administrative provinces of Turkey (İstanbul is divided into three electoral districts, whereas Ankara and İzmir are divided into two each because of their large populations). To avoid a hung parliament and its excessive political fragmentation, only parties winning at least 10% of the votes cast in a national parliamentary election gain the right to representation in the parliament. Because of this threshold, in the 2007 elections only three parties formally entered the parliament (compared to two in 2002).

Human rights in Turkey have been the subject of much controversy and international condemnation. Between 1998 and 2008 the European Court of Human Rights made more than 1,600 judgements against Turkey for human rights violations, particularly the right to life and freedom from torture. Other issues such as Kurdish rights, women's rights and press freedom have also attracted controversy. Turkey's human rights record continues to be a significant obstacle to future membership of the EU. The Turkish Journalists Association says that 58 of the country's journalists have been imprisoned. A former U.S. State Department spokesman, Philip J. Crowley, said that the United States had "broad concerns about trends involving intimidation of journalists in Turkey."

Foreign relations

Turkey is a founding member of the United Nations (1945), the OECD (1961), the OIC (1969), the OSCE (1973), the ECO (1985), the BSEC (1992) and the G-20 major economies (1999). On October 17, 2008, Turkey was elected as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Turkey's membership of the council effectively began on January 1, 2009. Turkey had previously been a member of the U.N. Security Council in 1951–1952, 1954–1955 and 1961.

In line with its traditional Western orientation, relations with Europe have always been a central part of Turkish foreign policy. Turkey became a founding member of the Council of Europe in 1949, applied for associate membership of the EEC (predecessor of the European Union) in 1959 and became an associate member in 1963. After decades of political negotiations, Turkey applied for full membership of the EEC in 1987, became an associate member of the Western European Union in 1992, reached a Customs Union agreement with the EU in 1995 and has been in formal accession negotiations with the EU since 2005.

Since 1974, Turkey has not recognized the (essentially Greek Cypriot) Republic of Cyprus as the sole authority on the island, but instead supports the Turkish Cypriot community in the form of the de facto Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus which is recognized only by Turkey.

The other defining aspect of Turkey's foreign relations has been its ties with the United States. Based on the common threat posed by the Soviet Union, Turkey joined NATO in 1952, ensuring close bilateral relations with Washington throughout the Cold War. In the post–Cold War environment, Turkey's geostrategic importance shifted towards its proximity to the Middle East, the Caucasus and the Balkans. In return, Turkey has 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.

The independence of the Turkic states of the Soviet Union in 1991, with which Turkey shares a common cultural and linguistic heritage, allowed Turkey to extend its economic and political relations deep into Central Asia, thus enabling the completion of a multi-billion-dollar oil and natural gas pipeline from Baku in Azerbaijan to the port of Ceyhan in Turkey. The Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline forms part of Turkey's foreign policy strategy to become an energy conduit to the West. However, Turkey's border with Armenia, a state in the Caucasus, remains closed following its occupation of Azerbaijani territory during the Nagorno-Karabakh War.

Military

The Turkish Armed Forces consists of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. The Gendarmerie and the Coast Guard operate as parts of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in peacetime, although they are subordinated to the Army and Navy Commands respectively in wartime, during which they have both internal law enforcement and military functions.

The Turkish Armed Forces is the second largest standing armed force in NATO, after the U.S. Armed Forces, with a combined strength of just over a million uniformed personnel serving in its five branches. Turkey is considered to be the strongest military power of the Middle East region besides Israel.

Every fit male Turkish citizen otherwise not barred is required to serve in the military for a period ranging from three weeks to fifteen months, dependent on education and job location. Turkey does not recognise conscientious objection and does not offer a civilian alternative to military service.

Turkey is one of five NATO member states which are part of the nuclear sharing policy of the alliance, together with Belgium, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. A total of 90 B61 nuclear bombs are hosted at the Incirlik Air Base, 40 of which are allocated for use by the Turkish Air Force.

In 1998, Turkey announced a program of modernization worth US$160 billion over a twenty year period in various projects including tanks, fighter jets, helicopters, submarines, warships and assault rifles. Turkey is a Level 3 contributor to the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program.

Turkey has maintained forces in international missions under the United Nations and NATO since 1950, including peacekeeping missions in Somalia and former Yugoslavia, and support to coalition forces in the First Gulf War. Turkey maintains 36,000 troops in northern Cyprus; their presence is supported and approved by the ''de facto'' local government, but the Republic of Cyprus and the international community regard it as an illegal occupation force, and its presence has also been denounced in several United Nations Security Council resolutions. Turkey has had troops deployed in Afghanistan as part of the U.S. stabilization force and the UN-authorized, NATO-commanded International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) since 2001. In 2006, the Turkish parliament deployed a peacekeeping force of Navy patrol vessels and around 700 ground troops as part of an expanded United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in the wake of the Israeli-Lebanon conflict.

The Chief of the General Staff is appointed by the president and is responsible to the prime minister. The Council of Ministers is responsible to 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. The actual commander of the armed forces is the Chief of the General Staff General Necdet Özel since August 4, 2011.

Administrative divisions

The capital city of Turkey is Ankara. The territory of Turkey is subdivided into 81 provinces for administrative purposes. The provinces are organized into 7 regions for census purposes; however, they do not represent an administrative structure. Each province is divided into districts, for a total of 923 districts.

Provinces usually bear the same name as their provincial capitals, also called the central district; exceptions to this custom are the provinces of Hatay (capital: Antakya), Kocaeli (capital: İzmit) and Sakarya (capital: Adapazarı). Provinces with the largest populations are Istanbul (13 million), Ankara (5 million), İzmir (4 million), Bursa (3 million) and Adana (2 million).

The biggest city and the pre-Republican capital Istanbul is the financial, economic and cultural heart of the country. An estimated 75.5% of Turkey's population live in urban centers. In all, 19 provinces have populations that exceed 1 million inhabitants, and 20 provinces have populations between 1 million and 500,000 inhabitants. Only two provinces have populations less than 100,000.

Geography

Turkey is a transcontinental Eurasian country. Asian Turkey (made up largely of Anatolia), which includes 97% of the country, is separated from European Turkey by the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles (which together form a water link between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean). European Turkey (eastern Thrace or Rumelia in the Balkan peninsula) comprises 3% of the country.

The territory of Turkey is more than 1,600 kilometres (1,000 mi) long and 800 km (500 mi) wide, with a roughly rectangular shape. It lies between latitudes 35° and 43° N, and longitudes 25° and 45° E. Turkey's area, including lakes, occupies 783,562 square kilometres (300,948 sq mi), of which 755,688 square kilometres (291,773 sq mi) are in Southwest Asia and 23,764 square kilometres (9,174 sq mi) in Europe. Turkey is the world's 37th-largest country in terms of area. The country is encircled by seas on three sides: the Aegean Sea to the west, the Black Sea to the north and the Mediterranean to the south. Turkey also contains the Sea of Marmara in the northwest.

The European section of Turkey, East Thrace, forms the borders of Turkey with Greece and Bulgaria. The Asian part of the country, Anatolia, 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. Eastern Turkey has a more mountainous landscape and is home to the sources of rivers such as the Euphrates, Tigris and Aras, and contains Lake Van and Mount Ararat, Turkey's highest point at 5,165 metres (16,946 ft). Lake Tuz, Turkey's third-largest lake, is a macroscopically visible feature in the middle of the country.

Turkey is divided into seven census regions: Marmara, Aegean, Black Sea, Central Anatolia, Eastern Anatolia, Southeastern Anatolia and the Mediterranean. The uneven north Anatolian terrain running along the Black Sea resembles a long, narrow belt. This region comprises approximately one-sixth of Turkey's total land area. As a general trend, the inland Anatolian plateau becomes increasingly rugged as it progresses eastward.

Turkey's varied landscapes are the product of complex earth movements that have shaped the region over thousands of years and still manifest themselves in fairly frequent earthquakes and occasional volcanic eruptions. The Bosporus and the Dardanelles owe their existence to the fault lines running through Turkey that led to the creation of the Black Sea. There is an earthquake fault line across the north of the country from west to east, which caused a major earthquake in 1999.

Climate

The coastal areas of Turkey bordering the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea have a temperate Mediterranean climate, with hot, dry summers and mild to cool, wet winters. The coastal areas of Turkey bordering the Black Sea have a temperate Oceanic climate with warm, wet summers and cool to cold, wet winters. The Turkish Black Sea coast receives the greatest amount of precipitation and is the only region of Turkey that receives high precipitation throughout the year. The eastern part of that coast averages 2,500 millimeters annually which is the highest precipitation in the country.

The coastal areas of Turkey bordering the Sea of Marmara (including Istanbul), 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. Snow does occur on the coastal areas of the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea almost every winter, but it usually lies no more than a few days. Snow on the other hand is rare in the coastal areas of the Aegean Sea and very rare in the coastal areas of the Mediterranean Sea.

Conditions can be much harsher in the more arid interior. Mountains close to the coast prevent Mediterranean influences from extending inland, giving the central Anatolian plateau of the interior of Turkey a continental climate with sharply contrasting seasons.

Winters on the plateau are especially severe. Temperatures of −30 °C to −40 °C (−22 °F to −40 °F) can occur in eastern Anatolia, and snow may lie on the ground at least 120 days of the year. In the west, winter temperatures average below 1 °C (34 °F). Summers are hot and dry, with temperatures generally above 30 °C (86 °F) in the day. Annual precipitation averages about 400 millimetres (15 in), with actual amounts determined by elevation. The driest regions are the Konya plain and the Malatya plain, where annual rainfall frequently is less than 300 millimetres (12 in). May is generally the wettest month, whereas July and August are the driest.

Economy

Turkey has the world's 15th largest GDP-PPP and 17th largest Nominal GDP. The country is a founding member of the OECD and the G-20 major economies. During the first six decades of the republic, between 1923 and 1983, Turkey has mostly adhered to a quasi-statist approach with strict government planning of the budget and government-imposed limitations over private sector participation, foreign trade, flow of foreign currency, and foreign direct investment. However in 1983 Prime Minister Turgut Özal initiated a series of reforms designed to shift the economy from a statist, insulated system to a more private-sector, market-based model.

The reforms spurred rapid growth, but this growth was punctuated by sharp recessions and financial crises in 1994, 1999 (following the earthquake of that year), and 2001, resulting in an average of 4% GDP growth per annum between 1981 and 2003. Lack of additional fiscal reforms, combined with large and growing public sector deficits and widespread corruption, resulted in high inflation, a weak banking sector and increased macroeconomic volatility. Since the economic crisis of 2001 and the reforms initiated by the finance minister of the time, Kemal Derviş, inflation has fallen to single-digit numbers, investor confidence and foreign investment have soared, and unemployment has fallen. The International Monetary Fund forecasts a 6% inflation rate for Turkey in 2008.

Turkey has gradually opened up its markets through economic reforms by reducing government controls on foreign trade and investment and the privatisation of publicly owned industries, and the liberalisation of many sectors to private and foreign participation has continued amid political debate. The public debt to GDP ratio, while well below its levels during the recession of 2001, reached 46% in 2010 Q3. The GDP growth rate from 2002 to 2007 averaged 7%, which made Turkey one of the fastest growing economies in the world during that period. However, growth slowed to 1% in 2008, and in 2009 the Turkish economy was affected by the global financial crisis, with a recession of 5%. The economy was estimated to have returned to 8% growth in 2010.

In the early years of this century the chronically high inflation was brought under control and this led to the launch of a new currency, the Turkish new lira, on January 1, 2005, to cement the acquisition of the economic reforms and erase the vestiges of an unstable economy. On January 1, 2009, the new Turkish lira was renamed once again as the Turkish lira, with the introduction of new banknotes and coins. As a result of continuing economic reforms, inflation dropped to 8% in 2005, and the unemployment rate to 10%.

Tourism in Turkey has experienced rapid growth in the last twenty years, and constitutes an important part of the economy. In 2008 there were 31 million visitors to the country, who contributed $22 billion to Turkey's revenues. Other key sectors of the Turkish economy are banking, construction, home appliances, electronics, textiles, oil refining, petrochemical products, food, mining, iron and steel, machine industry and automotive. Turkey has a large and growing automotive industry, which produced 1,147,110 motor vehicles in 2008, ranking as the 6th largest producer in Europe (behind the United Kingdom and above Italy) and the 15th largest producer in the world. Turkey is also one of the leading shipbuilding nations; in 2007 the country ranked 4th in the world (behind China, South Korea and Japan) in terms of the number of ordered ships, and also 4th in the world (behind Italy, USA and Canada) in terms of the number of ordered mega yachts.

Turkey's economy is becoming more dependent on industry in major cities, mostly concentrated in the western provinces of the country, and less on agriculture. However, traditional agriculture is still a major pillar of the Turkish economy. In 2010, the agricultural sector accounted for 9% of GDP, while the industrial sector accounted for 26% and the services sector 65%. However, agriculture still accounted for 27% of employment. In 2004, it was estimated that 46% of total disposable income was received by the top of 20% income earners, while the lowest 20% received 6%. According to Eurostat data, Turkish PPS GDP per capita stood at 45 per cent of the EU average in 2008.

Turkey has taken advantage of the European Union – Turkey Customs Union, signed in 1995, to increase its industrial production destined for exports, while at the same time benefiting from EU-origin foreign investment into the country. Turkey now has also opportunity of a free trade agreement with the European Union (EU) – without full membership – that allows it to manufacture for tarif-free sale throughout the EU market.

By 2009 exports were $110 bn and in 2010 it was $117 bn (main export partners in 2009: Germany 10%, France 6%, UK 6%, Italy 6%, Iraq 5%). However larger imports, which amounted to $166 billion in 2010, threatened the balance of trade (main import partners in 2009: Russia 14%, Germany 10%, China 9%, US 6%, Italy 5%, France 5%).

After years of low levels of foreign direct investment (FDI), Turkey succeeded in attracting $22 billion in FDI in 2007 and is expected to attract a higher figure in following years. A series of large privatizations, the stability fostered by the start of Turkey's EU accession negotiations, strong and stable growth, and structural changes in the banking, retail, and telecommunications sectors have all contributed to a rise in foreign investment.

Demographics

{{bar box | title=Ethnic groups in Turkey (2008) | titlebar=#ddd | left1=Ethnic groups | right1=Percent | float=right | bars= }}

The last official census was in 2000 and recorded a total country population of 67,803,927 inhabitants. According to the ''Address-Based Birth Recording System'' of Turkey, the country's population was 73.7 million people in 2010, nearly three-quarters of whom lived in towns and cities. According to the 2009 estimate, the population is increasing by 1.5% each year. Turkey has an average population density of 92 people per km². People within the 15–64 age group constitute 67% of the total population; the 0–14 age group corresponds to 26%; while senior citizens aged 65 years or older make up 7%. In 1927, when the first official census was recorded in the Republic of Turkey, the population was 13.6 million.

Life expectancy stands at 71.1 years for men and 75.3 years for women, with an overall average of 73.2 years for the populace as a whole. Education is compulsory and free from ages 6 to 15. The literacy rate is 96% for men and 80.4% for women, with an overall average of 88.1%. The low figures for women are mainly due to the traditional customs of the Arabs and Kurds who live in the southeastern provinces of the country.

Article 66 of the Turkish Constitution defines a "Turk" as "anyone who is bound to the Turkish state through the bond of citizenship"; therefore, the legal use of the term "Turkish" as a citizen of Turkey is different from the ethnic definition. However, the majority of the Turkish population are of Turkish ethnicity. They are estimated at 70–75% by the CIA and at 76.0% by a survey of Milliyet in 2007.

The Kurds, a distinct ethnic group concentrated mainly in the southeastern provinces of the country, are the largest non-Turkic ethnicity, estimated at about 18% of the population according to the CIA and at 15.7% according to a survey by the Milliyet daily newspaper. Minorities other than the three officially recognized ones do not have any special group privileges, while the term "minority" itself remains a sensitive issue in Turkey. Reliable data on the ethnic mix of the population is not available, because Turkish census figures do not include statistics on ethnicity.

The three officially recognized major minorities ethnic groups (per the Treaty of Lausanne), i.e. are: Armenians, Greeks and Jews. Signed on January 30, 1923, a bilateral accord of population exchange between Greece and Turkey took effect in the 1920s, with close to 1.5 million Greeks moving from Turkey and some 500,000 Turks coming from Greece. Other ethnic groups include Abkhazians, Albanians, Arabs, Assyrians, Bosniaks, Circassians, Georgians, Hamshenis, Laz, Pomaks (Bulgarians), Roma.

Minorities of West European origin include the Levantines (or ''Levanter'', mostly of French, Genoese and Venetian descent) who have been present in the country (particularly in Istanbul and İzmir) since the medieval period.

Urbanization

An estimated 71% of the population live in urban centers. In all, 18 provinces have populations that exceed 1 million inhabitants, and 21 provinces have populations between 1 million and 500,000 inhabitants. Only two provinces have populations less than 100,000.

Language

Turkish is the sole official language throughout Turkey. Reliable figures for the linguistic breakdown of the populace are not available for reasons similar to those cited above. According to the CIA World Factbook, the Turkish language is spoken by circa 70–75% of Turkey's population, while the Kurdish language is spoken by approximately 18%. The public broadcaster TRT broadcasts programmes in the local languages and dialects of Arabic, Bosnian, Circassian and Kurdish a few hours a week. A public television channel, TRT 6, which airs programs of Kurdish-language most of the time, was opened in early 2009.

Religion

{{bar box |title=Religions in Turkey |titlebar=#ddd |left1=Religions |right1=Percent |float=right |bars= }}

Turkey is a secular state with no official state religion; the Turkish Constitution provides for freedom of religion and conscience. Islam is the dominant religion of Turkey, it exceeds 99% if secular people of Muslim background are included. Research firms suggest the actual Muslim figure is around 98%, or 97%.

There are about 120,000 people of different Christian denominations, including an estimated 80,000 Oriental Orthodox, 35,000 Roman Catholics, 5,000 Orthodox (of them 3,000–4,000 being Greeks) and smaller numbers of Protestants. Today there are 236 churches open for worship in Turkey. The Orthodox Church has been headquartered in Istanbul since the 4th century AD. Christians represent less than 0.2% of Turkey's population, according to the ''CIA World Factbook''.

There are about 26,000 people who are Jewish, the vast majority of whom are Sephardi.

The Bahá'í Faith in Turkey has roots in Bahá'u'lláh's, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, being exiled to Constantinople, current-day Istanbul, by the Ottoman authorities. Bahá'ís cannot register with the government officially but there are probably 10 to 20 thousand Bahá'ís, and around a hundred Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assemblies in Turkey.

Though academics suggest the Alevi population may be from 15 to 20 million. According to Aksiyon magazine, the number of Shiite Twelvers (excluding Alevis) is 3 million (4.2%), and they live in Istanbul, Iğdır, Kars, Ankara, İzmir, Manisa, Çorum, Muğla, Ağrı and Aydın. There are also some Sufi practitioners. The highest Islamic religious authority is the Presidency of Religious Affairs (), it interprets the Hanafi school of law, and is responsible for regulating the operation of the country's 80,000 registered mosques and employing local and provincial imams. The role of religion has been controversial debate over the years since the formation of Islamist parties. Turkey was founded upon a strict secular constitution which forbids the influence of any religion, including Islam. There are sensitive issues, such as the fact that the wearing of the Hijab is banned in universities and public or government buildings as some view it as a symbol of Islam – though there have been efforts to lift the ban. The vast majority of the present-day Turkish people are Muslim and the most popular sect is the Hanafite school of Sunni Islam, which was officially espoused by the Ottoman Empire; according to the KONDA Research and Consultancy survey carried out throughout Turkey on 2007: 52.8% defined themselves as ''"a religious person who strives to fulfill religious obligations"'' (religious); 34.3 % defined themselves as ''"a believer who does not fulfill religious obligations"'' (believer); 9.7% defined themselves as ''"a fully devout person fulfilling all religious obligations"'' (fully devout); 2.3% defined themselves as ''"someone who does not believe in religious obligations"'' (non-believer/agnostic); and 0.9% defined themselves as ''"someone with no religious conviction"'' (atheist).

Culture

Turkey has a very diverse culture that is a blend of various elements of the Oğuz Turkic, Anatolian, Ottoman (which was itself a continuation of both Greco-Roman and Islamic cultures) and Western culture and traditions, which started with the Westernization of the Ottoman Empire and still continues today. This mix originally began as a result of the encounter of Turks and their culture with those of the peoples who were in their path during their migration from Central Asia to the West.

As Turkey successfully transformed from the religion-based former Ottoman Empire into a modern nation-state with a very strong separation of state and religion, an increase in the modes of artistic expression followed. During the first years of the republic, the government invested a large amount of resources into fine arts; such as museums, theatres, opera houses and architecture. Diverse historical factors play important roles in defining the modern Turkish identity. Turkish culture is a product of efforts to be a "modern" Western state, while maintaining traditional religious and historical values.

Turkish music and literature form great examples of such a mix of cultural influences, which were a result of the interaction between the Ottoman Empire and the Islamic world along with Europe, thus contributing to a blend of Turkic, Islamic and European traditions in modern-day Turkish music and literary arts. Turkish literature was heavily influenced by Persian and Arabic literature during most of the Ottoman era, though towards the end of the Ottoman Empire, particularly after the Tanzimat period, the effect of both Turkish folk and European literary traditions became increasingly felt. The mix of cultural influences is dramatized, for example, in the form of the "new symbols [of] the clash and interlacing of cultures" enacted in the works of Orhan Pamuk, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. According to Konda public opinion researchers, 70% of Turkish citizens never read books.

Architectural elements found in Turkey are also testaments to the unique mix of traditions that have influenced the region over the centuries. In addition to the traditional Byzantine elements present in numerous parts of Turkey, many artifacts of the later Ottoman architecture, with its exquisite blend of local and Islamic traditions, are to be found throughout the country, as well as in many former territories of the Ottoman Empire. Mimar Sinan is widely regarded as the greatest architect of the classical period in Ottoman architecture. Since the 18th century, Turkish architecture has been increasingly influenced by Western styles, and this can be particularly seen in Istanbul where buildings like Dolmabahçe and Çırağan Palaces are juxtaposed next to numerous modern skyscrapers, all of them representing different traditions.

Sports

The most popular sport in Turkey is Association football. Turkey's top teams include Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe, Trabzonspor and Beşiktaş. In 2000, Galatasaray cemented its role as a major European club by winning the UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup. Two years later the Turkish national team finished third in the 2002 World Cup Finals in Japan and South Korea, while in 2008 the national team reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Euro 2008 competition. The Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul hosted the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final, while the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium in Istanbul hosted the 2009 UEFA Cup Final.

Other mainstream sports such as basketball and volleyball are also popular. Turkey hosted the finals of EuroBasket 2001 and the finals of the 2010 FIBA World Championship, winning second place on both occasions; while Efes Pilsen S.K. won the Korać Cup in 1996, finished second in the Saporta Cup of 1993, and made it to the Final Four of Euroleague and Suproleague in 2000 and 2001. Turkish basketball players such as Mehmet Okur and Hedo Turkoglu have also been successful in the NBA. Women's volleyball teams, namely Eczacıbaşı, Vakıfbank Güneş Sigorta and Fenerbahçe Acıbadem, have won numerous European championship titles and medals.

The traditional Turkish national sport has been yağlı güreş (''oiled wrestling'') since Ottoman times. Edirne has hosted the annual Kırkpınar oiled wrestling tournament since 1361. 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.

Weightlifting has been a successful Turkish sport. Turkish weightlifters, both male and female, have broken numerous world records and won several European, World and Olympic championship titles. Naim Süleymanoğlu and Halil Mutlu have achieved legendary status as one of the few weightlifters to have won three gold medals in three Olympics.

Motorsports are also popular in Turkey. The Rally of Turkey was included in the FIA World Rally Championship calendar in 2003, while Formula One race weekends held at the Istanbul Park racing circuit occurred annually between the 2005 and 2011 Formula One seasons. The Turkish Grand Prix was, however, not included in the 2012 Formula One season's calendar. Other important annual motorsports events which are held at the Istanbul Park racing circuit include the MotoGP Grand Prix of Turkey, the FIA World Touring Car Championship, the GP2 Series and the Le Mans Series. From time to time Istanbul and Antalya also host the Turkish leg of the F1 Powerboat Racing championship; while the Turkish leg of the Red Bull Air Race World Series, an air racing competition, takes place above the Golden Horn in Istanbul. Surfing, snowboarding, skateboarding, paragliding and other extreme sports are becoming more popular every year.

See also

List of Turkish people

List of twin towns and sister cities in Turkey

Public holidays in Turkey

Timeline of Turkish history

Footnotes

References

Bibliography

;History

;Politics and foreign policy

Kosebalaban, Hasan. ''Turkish Foreign Policy: Islam, Nationalism, and Globalization'' (Palgrave Macmillan; 2011) 240 pages; examines tensions among secularist nationalism, Islamic nationalism, secular liberalism, and Islamic liberalism in shaping foreign policy since the 1920s; concentrates on era since 2003

;Foreign relations and military

;Geography and climate

;Economy

;Demographics

;Culture

Further reading

Bozarslan, Hamit 'Turkey: Postcolonial discourse in a non-colonised state', in Prem Poddar ''et al.'', Historical Companion to Postcolonial Literatures—Continental Europe and its Colonies, Edinburgh University Press, 2008

Roxburgh, David J. (ed.) (2005). ''Turks: A Journey of a Thousand Years, 600–1600.'' Royal Academy of Arts. ISBN 1-903973-56-2.

''Turkey: A Country Study'' (1996). Federal Research Division, Library of Congress. ISBN 0-8444-0864-6.

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Official name	Ankara
Settlement type	City
Timezone	EET
Utc offset	+2
Map caption	Location of Ankara within Turkey.
Timezone dst	EEST
Utc offset dst	+3
Subdivision type	Country
Subdivision name	Turkey
Coordinates region	TR
Subdivision type1	Region
Subdivision name1	Central Anatolia
Subdivision type2	Province
Subdivision name2	Ankara
Population metro	4,431,719
Population as of	2010
Population density km2	1551.00
Area total km2	2516.00
Pushpin map	Turkey
Pushpin label position
Pushpin map caption	Location of Ankara
Elevation m	938
Postal code type	Postal code
Postal code	06xxx
Area code	312
Blank info	06
Blank name	Licence plate
Leader name	Melih Gökçek
Leader party	AKP
Leader title	Mayor
Leader title1	Governor
Leader name1	Alaaddin Yüksel
Website	http://www.ankara.bel.tr/ http://www.ankara.gov.tr/ }}

Ankara () is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million.

Centrally located in Anatolia, Ankara is an important commercial and industrial city. It is the center of the Turkish Government, and houses all foreign embassies. It is an important crossroads of trade, strategically located at the centre of Turkey's highway and railway networks, and serves as the marketing centre for the surrounding agricultural area. The city was famous for its long-haired Angora goat and its prized wool (mohair), a unique breed of cat (Angora cat), white rabbits and their prized wool (Angora wool), pears, honey, and the region's muscat grapes.

The historical center of Ankara is situated upon a rocky hill, which rises above the plain on the left bank of the ''Ankara Çayı'', a tributary of the Sakarya (Sangarius) river. The city is located at 39°52'30" North, 32°52' East (), about to the southeast of Istanbul, the country's largest city. Although situated in one of the driest places of Turkey and surrounded mostly by steppe vegetation except for the forested areas on the southern periphery, Ankara can be considered a green city in terms of green areas per inhabitant, which is 72 m² per head.

Ankara is a very old city with various Hittite, Phrygian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman archaeological sites. The hill which overlooks the city is crowned by the ruins of the old castle, which adds to the picturesqueness of the view, but only a few historic structures surrounding the old citadel have survived to the present day. There are, however, many finely preserved remains of Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine architecture, the most remarkable being the Temple of Augustus and Rome (20 BC) which is also known as the ''Monumentum Ancyranum''.

Etymology

As with many ancient cities, Ankara has gone by several names over the ages. It has been identified with the Hittite cult center Ankuwaš, although this remains a matter of debate. In classical antiquity and during the medieval period, the city was known as Ánkyra (, "anchor") in Greek and Ancyra in Latin; the Galatian Celtic name was probably a similar variant. Following its annexation by the Seljuq Turks in 1073, the city became known in many European languages as Angora, a usage which continued until its official renaming to "Ankara" under the Turkish Postal Service Law of 1930. Another proposed theory show that the original name of the city might be taken over from the Angara River of Asia by the invading Seljuk Turks.

History

The region's history can be traced back to the Bronze Age Hatti civilization, which was succeeded in the 2nd millennium BC by the Hittites, in the 10th century BC by the Phrygians, and later by the Lydians, Persians, Greeks, Galatians, Romans, Byzantines, and Turks (the Seljuq Sultanate of Rûm, the Ottoman Empire and Turkey.)

Ancient history

The oldest settlements in and around the city centre of Ankara belonged to the Hatti's civilization which existed during the Bronze Age. The city grew significantly in size and importance under the Phrygians starting around 1000 BC, and experienced a large expansion following the mass migration from Gordion, (the capital of Phrygia), after an earthquake which severely damaged that city around that time. In Phrygian tradition, King Midas was venerated as the founder of Ancyra, but Pausanias mentions that the city was actually far older, which accords with present archaeological knowledge.

Phrygian rule was succeeded first by Lydian and later by Persian rule, though the strongly Phrygian character of the peasantry remained, as evidenced by the gravestones of the much later Roman period. Persian sovereignty lasted until the Persians' defeat at the hands of Alexander the Great who conquered the city in 333 BC. Alexander came from Gordion to Ankara and stayed in the city for a short period. After his death at Babylon in 323 BC and the subsequent division of his empire amongst his generals, Ankara and its environs fell into the share of Antigonus.

Another important expansion took place under the Greeks of Pontos who came there around 300 BC and developed the city as a trading centre for the commerce of goods between the Black Sea ports and Crimea to the north; Assyria, Cyprus, and Lebanon to the south; and Georgia, Armenia and Persia to the east. By that time the city also took its name ''Áγκυρα'' (''Ànkyra'', meaning ''Anchor'' in Greek) which in slightly modified form provides the modern name of ''Ankara''.

Celtic history

In 278 BC, the city, along with the rest of central Anatolia, was occupied by the Celtic race of Galatians, who were the first to make Ankara one of their main tribal centres, the headquarters of the Tectosages tribe. Other centres were Pessinos, today's ''Balhisar'', for the Trocmi tribe, and Tavium, to the east of Ankara, for the ''Tolstibogii'' tribe. The city was then known as ''Ancyra''. The Celtic element was probably relatively small in numbers; a warrior aristocracy which ruled over Phrygian-speaking peasants. However, the Celtic language continued to be spoken in Galatia for many centuries. At the end of the 4th century, St. Jerome, a native of Dalmatia, observed that the language spoken around Ankara was very similar to that being spoken in the northwest of the Roman world near Trier.

Roman history

The city was subsequently conquered by Augustus in 25 BC and passed under the control of the Roman Empire. Now the capital city of the Roman province of Galatia, Ancyra continued to be a center of great commercial importance. Ankara is also famous for the ''Monumentum Ancyranum'' (''Temple of Augustus and Rome'') which contains the official record of the ''Acts of Augustus'', known as the ''Res Gestae Divi Augusti'', an inscription cut in marble on the walls of this temple. The ruins of Ancyra still furnish today valuable bas-reliefs, inscriptions and other architectural fragments.

Augustus decided to make Ancyra one of three main administrative centres in central Anatolia. The town was then populated by Phrygians and Celts—the ''Galatians'' who spoke a language somewhat closely related to Welsh and Gaelic. Ancyra was the center of a tribe known as the ''Tectosages'', and Augustus upgraded it into a major provincial capital for his empire. Two other Galatian tribal centres, Tavium near Yozgat, and Pessinus (Balhisar) to the west, near Sivrihisar, continued to be reasonably important settlements in the Roman period, but it was Ancyra that grew into a grand metropolis.

An estimated 200,000 people lived in Ancyra in good times during the Roman Empire, a far greater number than was to be the case from after the fall of the Roman Empire until the early 20th century. A small river, the Ankara Çayı, ran through the centre of the Roman town. It has now been covered and diverted, but it formed the northern boundary of the old town during the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman periods. Çankaya, the rim of the majestic hill to the south of the present city center, stood well outside the Roman city, but may have been a summer resort. In the 19th century, the remains of at least one Roman villa or large house were still standing not far from where the Çankaya Presidential Residence stands today. To the west, the Roman city extended until the area of the Gençlik Park and Railway Station, while on the southern side of the hill, it may have extended downwards as far as the site presently occupied by Hacettepe University. It was thus a sizeable city by any standards and much larger than the Roman towns of Gaul or Britannia.

Ancyra's importance rested on the fact was that it was the junction point where the roads in northern Anatolia running north-south and east-west intersected. The great imperial road running east passed through Ankara and a succession of emperors and their armies came this way. They were not the only ones to use the Roman highway network, which was equally convenient for invaders. In the second half of the 3rd century, Ancyra was invaded in rapid succession by the Goths coming from the west (who rode far into the heart of Cappadocia, taking slaves and pillaging) and later by the Arabs. For about a decade, the town was one of the western outposts of one of the most brilliant queens of the ancient world, the Arab empress Zenobia from Palmyra in the Syrian desert, who took advantage of a period of weakness and disorder in the Roman Empire to set up a short-lived state of her own.

The town was reincorporated into the Roman Empire under Emperor Aurelian in 272. The tetrarchy, a system of multiple (up to four) emperors introduced by Diocletian (284-305), seems to have engaged in a substantial programme of rebuilding and of road construction from Ankara westwards to Germe and Dorylaeum (now Eskişehir).

In its heyday, Roman Ankara was a large market and trading center but it also functioned as a major administrative capital, where a high official ruled from the city's Praetorium, a large administrative palace or office. During the 3rd century, life in Ancyra, as in other Anatolian towns, seems to have become somewhat militarised in response to the invasions and instability of the town. In this period, like other cities of central Anatolia, Ankara was also undergoing Christianisation.

Early martyrs, about whom little is known, included Proklos and Hilarios who were natives of the otherwise unknown village of Kallippi, near Ancyra, and suffered repression under the emperor Trajan (98-117). In the 280s AD we hear of Philumenos, a Christian corn merchant from southern Anatolia, being captured and martyred in Ankara, and Eustathius.

As in other Roman towns, the reign of Diocletian marked the culmination of the persecution of the Christians. In 303, Ancyra was one of the towns where the co-Emperors Diocletian and his deputy Galerius launched their anti-Christian persecution. In Ancyra, their first target was the 38-year-old Bishop of the town, whose name was Clement. Clement's life describes how he was taken to Rome, then sent back, and forced to undergo many interrogations and hardship before he, and his brother, and various companions were put to death. The remains of the church of St. Clement can be found today in a building just off Işıklar Caddesi in the Ulus district. Quite possibly this marks the site where Clement was originally buried. Four years later, a doctor of the town named Plato and his brother Antiochus also became celebrated martyrs under Galerius. Theodotus of Ancyra is also venerated as a saint.

However, the persecution proved unsuccessful and in 314 Ancyra was the center of an important council of the early church; which considered ecclesiastical policy for the reconstruction of the Christian church after the persecutions, and in particular the treatment of 'lapsi'—Christians who had given in and conformed to paganism during these persecutions.

Three councils were held in the former capital of Galatia in Asia Minor, during the 4th century. The first, an orthodox plenary synod, was held in 314, and its 25 disciplinary canons constitute one of the most important documents in the early history of the administration of the Sacrament of Penance. Nine of them deal with conditions for the reconciliation of the lapsi; the others, with marriage, alienations of church property, etc.

Though paganism was probably tottering in Ancyra in Clement's day, it may still have been the majority religion. Twenty years later, Christianity and monotheism had taken its place. Ancyra quickly turned into a Christian city, with a life dominated by monks and priests and theological disputes. The town council or senate gave way to the bishop as the main local figurehead. During the middle of the 4th century, Ancyra was involved in the complex theological disputes over the nature of Christ, and a form of Arianism seems to have originated there.

The synod of 358 was a Semi-Arian conciliabulum, presided over by Basil of Ancyra. It condemned the grosser Arian blasphemies, but set forth an equally heretical doctrine in the proposition that the Son was in all things similar to the Father, but not identical in substance. In 362-363, the Emperor Julian the Apostate passed through Ancyra on his way to an ill-fated campaign against the Persians, and according to Christian sources, engaged in a persecution of various holy men. The stone base for a statue, with an inscription describing Julian as ''"Lord of the whole world from the British Ocean to the barbarian nations"'', can still be seen, built into the eastern side of the inner circuit of the walls of Ankara Castle. The Column of Julian which was erected in honor of the emperor's visit to the city in 362 still stands today. In 375, Arian bishops met at Ancyra and deposed several bishops, among them St. Gregory of Nyssa. The modern Ankara, also known in some Western texts as ''Angora'', remains a Roman Catholic titular see in the former Roman province of Galatia in Asia Minor, suffragan of Laodicea. Its episcopal list is given in Gams, "Series episc. Eccl. cath."; also that of another Ancyra in Phrygia Pacatiana.

In the late 4th century AD, Ancyra became something of an imperial holiday resort. After Constantinople became the East Roman capital, emperors in the 4th and 5th centuries would retire from the humid summer weather on the Bosporus to the drier mountain atmosphere of Ancyra. Theodosius II (408-450) kept his court in Ancyra in the summers. Laws issued in Ancyra testify to the time they spent there. The city's military as well as logistical significance lasted well into the long Byzantine rule. Although Ancyra temporarily fell into the hands of several Arab Muslim armies numerous times after the 7th century, it remained an important crossroads polis within the Byzantine Empire until the late 11th century. It was also the capital of the powerful Opsician Theme, and after ca. 750 of the Bucellarian Theme.

Turkish history

In 1071, the Turkish Seljuq Sultan Alp Arslan conquered much of eastern and central Anatolia after his victory at the Battle of Manzikert. He then annexed Ankara, an important location for military transportation and natural resources, to his territory in 1073. After the Battle of Köse Dağ in 1243 in which the Mongols defeated the Seljuqs, most of Anatolia became part of the dominion of the Mongols. Taking advantage of Seljuq decline, a semi religious cast of craftsmen and trade people named ''Ahiler'' chose Ankara as their independent city state in 1290. Orhan I, the second Bey of the Ottoman Empire, captured the city in 1356. Timur defeated the Ottomans at the Battle of Ankara in 1402 and took the city, but in 1403 Ankara was again under Ottoman control.

Following the Ottoman defeat at World War I, the Ottoman capital Istanbul and much of Anatolia were occupied by the Allies, who planned to share these lands between Armenia, France, Greece, Italy and the United Kingdom, leaving for the Turks the core piece of land in central Anatolia. In response, the leader of the Turkish nationalist movement, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, established the headquarters of his resistance movement in Ankara in 1920 (see the Treaty of Sèvres and the Turkish War of Independence.) After the War of Independence was won and the Treaty of Sèvres was superseded by the Treaty of Lausanne, the Turkish nationalists replaced the Ottoman Empire with the Republic of Turkey on 29 October 1923. A few days earlier, Ankara had officially replaced Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) as the new Turkish capital city, on 13 October 1923.

After Ankara became the capital of the newly founded Republic of Turkey, new development divided the city into an old section, called ''Ulus'', and a new section, called ''Yenişehir''. Ancient buildings reflecting Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman history and narrow winding streets mark the old section. The new section, now centered on ''Kızılay'', has the trappings of a more modern city: wide streets, hotels, theaters, shopping malls, and high-rises. Government offices and foreign embassies are also located in the new section. Ankara has experienced a phenomenal growth since it was made Turkey's capital. It was "a small town of no importance" when it was made the capital of Turkey. In 1924, the year after the government had moved there, Ankara had about 35,000 residents. By 1927 there were 44,553 residents and by 1950 the population had grown to 286,781.

Economy

Historically, the production of Mohair from the Angora goat; and Angora wool from the Angora rabbit; have been an important part of the city's economy. These fabrics have been exported from Ankara to Europe and other parts of the globe for centuries.

The Central Anatolia Region is one of the primary locations of grape and wine production in Turkey, and Ankara is particularly famous for its Kalecik Karası and Muscat grapes; and its Kavaklıdere wine, which is produced in the Kavaklıdere neighbourhood within the Çankaya district of the city. Ankara is also famous for its pears. Another renowned natural product of Ankara is its indigenous type of honey (''Ankara Balı'') which is known for its light colour and is mostly produced by the Atatürk Forest Farm and Zoo in the Gazi district, and by other facilities in the Elmadağ, Çubuk and Beypazarı districts.

A number of the global automotive companies have production facilities in Ankara, such as the German bus and truck manufacturer MAN AG. Ankara is also the center of the state-owned and private Turkish defence and aerospace companies, where the industrial plants and headquarters of the TAI, MKE, Aselsan, Havelsan, Roketsan, FNSS, Nurol, and numerous other firms are located. Exports to foreign countries from these defence firms have steadily increased in the past decades. The IDEF in Ankara is one of the largest international expositions of the global arms industry.

A large percentage of the employment in Ankara is provided by the state institutions; such as the ministries, undersecretariats, and other administrative bodies of the Turkish government. There are also many foreign citizens working as diplomats or clerks in the embassies of their respective countries.

Climate

Ankara has a continental climate, with cold, snowy winters due to its elevation and inland location, and hot, dry summers. Rainfall occurs mostly during the spring and autumn. Under Köppen's climate classification, Ankara features a semi-arid climate. Because of Ankara's high altitude and its dry summers, nightly temperatures in the summer months are cool. Ankara's annual average precipitation is fairly low at , nevertheless precipitation can be observed throughout the year. Monthly mean temperatures range from in January to in July, with an annual mean of .

Demographics

Central Ankara has a population of 3,763,591 (2007) of which 1,870,831 are men and 1,892,760 are women. The metropolitan municipality, containing the central part of the city and the surrounding 8 districts under its jurisdiction, had a total population of 3,901,201 the same year.

When Ankara became the capital of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, it was designated as a planned city for 500,000 future inhabitants. During the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, the city grew in a planned and orderly pace. However, from the 1950s onward, the city grew much faster than envisioned, because unemployment and poverty forced people to migrate from the countryside into the city in order to seek a better standard of living. As a result, many illegal houses called gecekondu were built around the city, causing the unplanned and uncontrolled urban landscape of Ankara, as not enough planned housing could be built fast enough. Although precariously built, the vast majority of them have electricity, running water and modern household amenities.

Nevertheless, many of these gecekondus have been replaced by huge public housing projects in the form of tower blocks such as Elvankent, Eryaman and Güzelkent; and also as mass housing compounds for military and civil service accommodation. Although many gecekondus still remain, they too are gradually being replaced by mass housing compounds, as empty land plots in the city of Ankara for new construction projects are becoming impossible to find.

Population of Ankara

Main sights

Museums

Anıtkabir

:is located on an imposing hill, ''Anıttepe'' quarter of the city, where the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Republic of Turkey, stands. Completed in 1953, it is an impressive fusion of ancient and modern architectural styles. An adjacent museum houses a wax statue of Atatürk, his writings, letters and personal items, as well as an exhibition of photographs recording important moments in his life and during the establishment of the Republic. Anıtkabir is open every day, while the adjacent museum is open every day except Mondays.

Ankara Ethnography Museum (''Etnoğrafya Müzesi'')

:This museum is opposite the Opera House on Talat Paşa Boulevard, in the Ulus district. There is a fine collection of folkloric as well as Seljuq- and Ottoman-era artifacts.

Museum of Anatolian Civilizations (''Anadolu Medeniyetleri Müzesi'')

:Situated at the entrance of Ankara Castle, it is an old "bedesten" (covered bazaar) that has been beautifully restored and now houses a unique collection of Paleolithic, Neolithic, Hatti, Hittite, Phrygian, Urartian, and Roman works as well as a major section dedicated to Lydian treasures.

State Art and Sculpture Museum (''Resim-Heykel Müzesi'')

:This museum is close to the Ethnography Museum and houses a rich collection of Turkish art from the late 19th century to the present day. There are also galleries which host guest exhibitions. Cer Modern :is the modern-arts museum of Ankara inaugurated in 01 April 2010. It is situated in the renovated building of the historic TCDD Cer Atölyeleri, the workshop of the Turkish National Railways. The museum incorporates the largest exhibition hall in Turkey. The museum holds periodic exhibitions of modern and contemporary art as well as hosting other contemporary arts events.

War of Independence Museum (''Kurtuluş Savaşı Müzesi'')

:This building, located on Ulus Square, was originally the first Parliament building (TBMM) of the Republic of Turkey. The War of Independence was planned and directed here as recorded in various photographs and items presently on exhibition. In another display, wax figures of former presidents of the Republic of Turkey are on exhibit.

TCDD Open Air Steam Locomotive Museum - An open-air museum which traces the history of steam locomotives.

Çengelhan Rahmi Koç Museum

:is a museum of industrial technology situated in Çengelhan, an Ottoman Era caravanserai. The exhibits include industrial/technological artifacts from 1850s onwards.

Ankara Aviation Museum (Hava Kuvvetleri Müzesi Komutanlığı)

:The museum is near the Istanbul Road in Etimesgut. It is home to various missiles, avionics, aviation materials and aircraft that have served in the Turkish Air Force (e.g. combat aircraft such as the F-86 Sabre, F-100 Super Sabre, F-102 Delta Dagger, F-104 Starfighter, F-5 Freedom Fighter, F-4 Phantom; and cargo planes such as the Transall C-160.) Also, a Hungarian MiG-21, a Pakistani MiG-19, and a Bulgarian MiG-17 are on display in the museum.

METU Science and Technology Museum (ODTÜ Bilim ve Teknoloji Müzesi)

:is based in the Middle East Technical University campus.

Archeological sites

Ankara Citadel

The foundations of the citadel or castle were laid by the Galatians on a prominent lava outcrop (), and the rest was completed by the Romans. The Byzantines and Seljuqs further made restorations and additions. The area around and inside the citadel, being the oldest part of Ankara, contains many fine examples of traditional architecture. There are also recreational areas to relax. Many restored traditional Turkish houses inside the citadel area have found new life as restaurants, serving local cuisine.

The citadel was depicted in various Turkish banknotes during 1927–1952 and 1983–1989.

Roman Theatre

The remains, the stage, and the backstage can be seen outside the castle. Roman statues that were found here are exhibited in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations (see above). The seating area is still under excavation.

Temple of Augustus and Rome

The temple, also known as the Monumentum Ancyranum, was built between 25 BC - 20 BC following the conquest of Central Anatolia by the Roman Empire and the formation of the Roman province of Galatia, with Ancyra (modern Ankara) as its administrative capital. After the death of Augustus in 14 AD, a copy of the text of Res Gestae Divi Augusti was inscribed on the interior of the ''pronaos'' in Latin, whereas a Greek translation is also present on an exterior wall of the ''cella''. The temple, on the ancient Acropolis of Ancyra, was enlarged by the Romans in the 2nd century. In the 5th century it was converted into a church by the Byzantines. It is located in the Ulus quarter of the city.

Roman Bath

This bath has all the typical features of a classical Roman bath: a ''frigidarium'' (cold room), ''tepidarium'' (warm room) and ''caldarium'' (hot room). The bath was built during the reign of Emperor Caracalla in the 3rd century AD to honour Asclepios, the God of Medicine. Today, only the basement and first floors remain. It is situated in the Ulus quarter.

Column of Julian

The Column of Julian or Julianus, now in the Ulus district, was erected in honor of the Roman Emperor Julian the Apostate's visit to Ancyra in 362.

Mosques

The Alaaddin Mosque. It has a carved walnut mimber, the inscription on which records that the mosque was built in the 12th century by the Seljuq ruler, Mesut.

Ahi Elvan Mosque, founded in the Ulus quarter near the Ankara Citadel and was constructed during the late 14th and early 15th centuries. The finely carved walnut mimber (pulpit) is of particular interest.

Hacı Bayram Mosque. This mosque, in the Ulus quarter next to the Temple of Augustus, was built in the early 15th century in Seljuq style by an unknown architect. It was subsequently restored by architect Mimar Sinan in the 16th century, with Kütahya tiles being added in the 18th century. The mosque was built in honor of Hacı Bayram Veli, whose tomb is next to the mosque, two years before his death (1427–28). The usable space inside this mosque is on the first floor and on the second floor.

Yeni (Cenab Ahmet) Mosque. It is the largest Ottoman mosque in Ankara and was built by the famous architect Sinan in the 16th century. The mimber (pulpit) and mihrap (prayer niche) are of white marble, and the mosque itself is of Ankara stone (red porphyry), an example of very fine workmanship. Yeni Cami is on Ulucanlar Avenue.

Kocatepe Mosque, the largest mosque in the city. Located in the Kocatepe quarter, it was constructed between 1967 and 1987 in classical Ottoman style with four minarets. Its size and prominent location have made it a landmark for the city.

Historic buildings

Çankaya Köşkü, the residence of the President of Turkey.

Pembe Köşk, the residence of Turkish President İsmet İnönü from 1925 to 1973.

Modern monuments

Victory Monument

It was erected in 1927 on Zafer Square in the Sıhhiye quarter and depicts Atatürk in uniform.

Monument to a Secure, Confident Future

This monument, located in Güven Park near Kızılay Square, was erected in 1935 and bears Atatürk's advice to his people: "Turk! Be proud, work hard, and believe in yourself."

The monument was depicted on the reverse of the Turkish 5 lira banknote of 1937–1952 and of the 1000 lira banknotes of 1939–1946.

Hatti Monument

Built in the 1970s on Sıhhiye Square, this impressive monument symbolizes the Hatti gods and commemorates Anatolia's earliest known civilization. The symbol derived from this monument has been used as the logo of the city for a long time.

Parks

Ankara has many parks and open spaces mainly established in the early years of the Republic and well maintained and expanded thereafter. The most important of these parks are: Gençlik Parkı (houses an amusement park with a large pond for rowing), the Botanical Garden, Seğmenler Park, Anayasa Park, Kuğulu Park (famous for the swans received as a gift from the Chinese government), Abdi İpekçi Park, Güven Park (see above for the monument), Kurtuluş Park (has an ice-skating rink), Altınpark (also a prominent exposition/fair area), Harikalar Diyarı (claimed to be Biggest Park of Europe inside city borders) and Göksu Park.

Gençlik Park was depicted on the reverse of the Turkish 100 lira banknotes of 1952–1976.

Atatürk Forest Farm and Zoo (''Atatürk Orman Çiftliği'') is an expansive recreational farming area which houses a zoo, several small agricultural farms, greenhouses, restaurants, a dairy farm and a brewery. It is a pleasant place to spend a day with family, be it for having picnics, hiking, biking or simply enjoying good food and nature. There is also an exact replica of the house where Atatürk was born in 1881, in Thessaloniki, Greece. Visitors to the "Çiftlik" (farm) as it is affectionately called by Ankarans, can sample such famous products of the farm such as old-fashioned beer and ice cream, fresh dairy products and meat rolls/kebaps made on charcoal, at a traditional restaurant (''Merkez Lokantası'', Central Restaurant), cafés and other establishments scattered around the farm.

Shopping

Foreign visitors to Ankara usually like to visit the old shops in ''Çıkrıkçılar Yokuşu'' (Weavers' Road) near Ulus, where myriad things ranging from traditional fabrics, hand-woven carpets and leather products can be found at bargain prices. ''Bakırcılar Çarşısı'' (Bazaar of Coppersmiths) is particularly popular, and many interesting items, not just of copper, can be found here like jewelry, carpets, costumes, antiques and embroidery. Up the hill to the castle gate, there are many shops selling a huge and fresh collection of spices, dried fruits, nuts, and other produce.

Modern shopping areas are mostly found in Kızılay, or on Tunalı Hilmi Avenue, including the modern mall of Karum (named after the ancient Assyrian merchant colonies (Karum) that were established in central Anatolia at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC) which is located towards the end of the Avenue; and in the Atakule Tower at Çankaya, the quarter with the highest elevation in the city, which commands a magnificent view over the whole city and also has a revolving restaurant at the top where the complete panorama can be enjoyed in a more leisurely fashion. The symbol of the Armada Shopping Mall is an anchor, and there's a large anchor monument at its entrance, as a reference to the ancient Greek name of the city, Ἄγκυρα (Ánkyra), which means anchor. Likewise, the anchor is also related with the Spanish name of the mall, Armada, which means naval fleet.

As Ankara started expanding westward in the 1970s, several modern, suburbia-style developments and mini-cities began to rise along the western highway, also known as the Eskişehir Road. The ''Armada'' and ''CEPA'' malls on the highway, the ''Galleria'' in Ümitköy, and a huge mall, ''Real'' in Bilkent Center, offer North American and European style shopping opportunities (these places can be reached through the Eskişehir Highway.) There is also the newly expanded ''Ankamall'' at the outskirts, on the Istanbul Highway, which houses most of the well-known international brands. This mall is the largest throughout the Ankara region.

Culture and education

Turkish State Opera and Ballet, the national directorate of opera and ballet companies of Turkey, has its headquarters in Ankara, and serves the city with three venues:

Ankara Opera House (''Opera Sahnesi'', also known as ''Büyük Tiyatro'')

Leyla Gencer Sahnesi (named after world-famous soprano Leyla Gencer)

Operet Sahnesi (also known as the ''Türkocağı Binası'')

The Turkish State Theatres also has its head office in Ankara and runs the following stages in the city:

125. Yıl Çayyolu Sahnesi

Büyük Tiyatro (also doubling as the Ankara Opera House)

Küçük Tiyatro,

Şinasi Sahnesi,

Akün Sahnesi,

Altındağ Tiyatrosu,

İrfan Şahinbaş Atölye Sahnesi,

Oda Tiyatrosu,

Mahir Canova Sahnesi,

Muhsin Ertuğrul Sahnesi.

In addition, the city is served by several private theatre companies among which Ankara Sanat Tiyatrosu who have their own stage in the city centre is a notable example.

Ankara is host to five classical music orchestras:

Cumhurbaşkanlığı Senfoni Orkestrası (Turkish Presidential Symphony Orchestra)

Bilkent Senfoni Orkestrası

Hacettepe Senfoni Orkestrası

Orkestra Akademik Başkent

Başkent Oda Orkestrası (Chamber Orchestra of the Capital)

There are four concert halls in the city:

CSO Konser Salonu

Bilkent Konser Salonu

MEB Şura Salonu (also known as the Festival Hall)

Çankaya Çağdaş Sanatlar Merkezi Konser Salonu

The city has been host to several well-established, annual theatre, music, film festivals:

Ankara Film Festivali (Ankara Film Festival)

Ankara Uluslararası Müzik Festivali (International Ankara Music Festival)

Ankara Tiyatro Festivali (Ankara Theatre Festival)

Ankara Caz Festivali (Ankara Jazz Festival)

Universities

Ankara is noted, within Turkey, for the multitude of universities it is home to. These include the following, several of them being among the most reputable in the country:

{| |- |valign="top"|

Ankara University

Atılım University

Başkent University

Bilkent University

Çankaya University

Gazi University

Hacettepe University

Middle East Technical University

TOBB University of Economics and Technology

Turgut Özal University

Ufuk University

Yıldırım Beyazıt University

|valign="top"|

Gülhane Military Medical Academy

Turkish Military Academy

Turkish National Police Academy

|}

Transportation

Esenboğa International Airport, located in the north-east of the city, is the main airport of Ankara. Ankara Intercity Bus Terminal () is an important part of the bus network which covers every neighbourhood in the city.

The Ankara Central Station is a major rail hub in Turkey. The Turkish State Railways operates passenger train service from Ankara to other major cities, such as: İstanbul, Eskişehir, Balıkesir, Kütahya, İzmir, Kayseri, Adana, Kars, Malatya, Diyarbakır, Karabük, Zonguldak and Sivas. Commuter rail also services the station to Sincan and Kayaş. In 2009, the new Yüksek Hızlı Tren high-speed rail service began operation between Ankara and Eskişehir.

The ''Electricity, Gas, Bus General Directorate'' (EGO) operates the Ankara Metro and other forms of public transportation. Ankara is currently served by suburban rail and two subway lines with about 300,000 total daily commuters, and three additional subway lines are under construction.

Sports

As with all other cities of Turkey, football is the most popular sport in Ankara. The city has two football clubs currently competing in the Turkcell Super League: Ankaragücü founded in 1910 is the oldest club in Ankara and associated with Ankara's military arsenal manufacturing company MKE. They were the Turkish Cup winners in 1972 and 1981. Their rival is Gençlerbirliği founded in 1923 known as Ankara Gale or the Poppies because of their colours: red and black. They were the Turkish Cup winners in 1987 and 2001. All these three teams have their home at the Ankara 19 Mayıs Stadium in Ulus, which has a capacity of 21,250 (all-seater). Gençler's B team, Hacettepe SK (formerly known as Gençlerbirliği OFTAŞ) played in the Super League for a while until being relegated. A fourth team, Büyükşehir Belediye Ankaraspor, played in the Super League until 2010 when they were expelled, and currently are not a member of the Turkish league system. Their home is the Yenikent Asaş Stadium in the Sincan district of Yenikent, outside the city center.

Ankara has a large number of minor teams, playing at regional levels: Bugsaşspor in Sincan; Etimesgut Şekerspor in Etimesgut; Türk Telekomspor owned by the phone company in Yenimahalle; Ankara Demirspor in Çankaya; Keçiörengücü, Keçiörenspor, Pursaklarspor, Bağlumspor in Keçiören; and Petrol Ofisi Spor owned by the oil company in Altındağ. Most of them, including Hacettepespor, play their matches at Cebeci İnönü Stadium in the Cebeci district.

In the Turkish Basketball League, Ankara is represented by Türk Telekom, whose home is the Ankara Arena, and CASA TED Kolejliler, whose home is the TOBB Sports Hall.

Ankara Buz Pateni Sarayı is where the ice skating and ice hockey competitions take place in the city.

There are many popular spots for skateboarding which is active in the city since the 1980s. Skaters in Ankara usually meet in the park near the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.

Fauna

Angora cat

Ankara is home to a world famous cat breed — the Turkish Angora, called ''Ankara kedisi'' (Ankara cat) in Turkish. It is a breed of domestic cat. Turkish Angoras are one of the ancient, naturally-occurring cat breeds, having originated in Ankara and its surrounding region in central Anatolia.

They mostly have a white, silky, medium to long length coat, no undercoat and a fine bone structure. There seems to be a connection between the Angora Cats and Persians, and the Turkish Angora is also a distant cousin of the Turkish Van. Although they are known for their shimmery white coat, currently there are more than twenty varieties including black, blue and reddish fur. They come in tabby and tabby-white, along with smoke varieties, and are in every color other than pointed, lavender, and cinnamon (all of which would indicate breeding to an outcross.)

Eyes may be blue, green, or amber, or even one blue and one amber or green. The W gene which is responsible for the white coat and blue eye is closely related to the hearing ability, and the presence of a blue eye can indicate that the cat is deaf to the side the blue eye is located. However, a great many blue and odd-eyed white cats have normal hearing, and even deaf cats lead a very normal life if kept indoors.

Ears are pointed and large, eyes are almond shaped and the head is massive with a two plane profile. Another characteristic is the tail, which is often kept parallel to the back.

Angora rabbit

The Angora rabbit () is a variety of domestic rabbit bred for its long, soft hair. The Angora is one of the oldest types of domestic rabbit, originating in Ankara and its surrounding region in central Anatolia, along with the Angora cat and Angora goat. The rabbits were popular pets with French royalty in the mid 18th century, and spread to other parts of Europe by the end of the century. They first appeared in the United States in the early 20th century. They are bred largely for their long Angora wool, which may be removed by shearing, combing, or plucking (gently pulling loose wool.)

Angoras are bred mainly for their wool because it is silky and soft. They have a humorous appearance, as they oddly resemble a fur ball. Most are calm and docile but should be handled carefully. Grooming is necessary to prevent the fiber from matting and felting on the rabbit. A condition called "wool block" is common in Angora rabbits and should be treated quickly. Sometimes they are shorn in the summer as the long fur can cause the rabbits to overheat.

Angora goat

The Angora goat () is a breed of domestic goat that originated in Ankara and its surrounding region in central Anatolia.

This breed was first mentioned in the time of Moses, roughly in 1500 BC. The first Angora goats were brought to Europe by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, about 1554, but, like later imports, were not very successful. Angora goats were first introduced in the United States in 1849 by Dr. James P. Davis. Seven adult goats were a gift from Sultan Abdülmecid I in appreciation for his services and advice on the raising of cotton.

The fleece taken from an Angora goat is called mohair. A single goat produces between five and eight kilograms of hair per year. Angoras are shorn twice a year, unlike sheep, which are shorn only once. Angoras have high nutritional requirements due to their rapid hair growth. A poor quality diet will curtail mohair development. The United States, Turkey, and South Africa are the top producers of mohair.

For a long period of time, Angora goats were bred for their white coat. In 1998, the Colored Angora Goat Breeders Association was set up to promote breeding of colored Angoras. Today, Angora goats produce white, black (deep black to greys and silver), red (the color fades significantly as the goat gets older), and brownish fiber.

Angora goats were depicted on the reverse of the Turkish 50 lira banknotes of 1938–1952.

Ankara image gallery

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Ankara is twinned with:

	;Africa	* Cairo, Egypt, since 2004	* Khartoum, Sudan, since 1992	* Mogadishu, Somalia, since 1959

	;Americas	* Havana, Cuba, since 1993	* Santiago, Chile, since 2000	* Washington, D.C., United States, since 2011

;Asia

* Bangkok, Thailand, since 2006

* Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, since 1994

* Astana, Kazakhstan, since 2001

* Beijing, People's Republic of China, since 1990

* Hanoi, Vietnam, since 1998

* Islamabad, Pakistan, since 1982

* Shiraz, Iran

* Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, since 1984

* Kuwait City, Kuwait, since 1994

* Manama, Bahrain, since 2000

* Seoul, South Korea, since 1971

;Europe

* Bourg en Bresse, France

* Baku, Azerbaijan

* Skopje, Macedonia, since 1995

* Bucharest, Romania, since 1998

* Kiev, Ukraine, since 1993

* Moscow, Russia, since 1992

* Pristina, Kosovo, since 2005

* Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (1994)

* Sofia, Bulgaria, since 1992

* Tbilisi, Georgia, since 1996

* Tirana, Albania, since 1995

Notable people from Ankara

Filiz Akın, actress

Mazhar Alanson, musician

Huseyin Bahri Alptekin, artist, writer, educator and curator

Emre Araci, music historian, composer, conductor

Funda Arar, musician

Bülent Atalay, author, scientist and artist

Bedri Baykam, artist

Bülent Bezdüz, tenor

İdil Biret, concert pianist, recording artist

André Couteaux, writer and scenarist

Emin Çölaşan, journalist

Hande Dalkılıç, musician

Yasemin Dalkılıç, free diver

Vedat Dalokay, architect

Ordal Demokan, physicist

Can Dündar, journalist

Barış Erdemir, computer scientist

Moris Farhi, writer

Gizem Girişmen, archer

Erdal İnönü, politician and physicist

Nil Karaibrahimgil, musician

Vehbi Koç, pioneer industrialist

Yasemin Mori, musician

Aydın Örs, basketball coach

Yeliz Özel, famous handball player

Zerrin Özer, musician

Eren Ozker, Puppeteer (Jim Henson's Muppets), Actress and founder of SAG Puppeteers' Caucus

Yağmur Sarıgül, musician

Fazil Say, concert pianist, composer

Joe Strummer, lead singer, guitarist and lyricist of the English band The Clash

Özlem Tekin, musician

Kartal Tibet, actor

Buket Uzuner, writer

Religious figures

Haji Bektash Veli, Islamic mystic, humanist and philosopher

St. Theodotus of Ancyra, Christian martyr and saint

St. Nilus of Ancyra, Christian saint

Clement of Ancyra, Christian hieromartyr and bishop

Theodotus of Ancyra, Christian saint and bishop

Marcellus of Ancyra, Christian bishop

Basil of Ancyra, Christian priest

See also

Synod of Ancyra

Behzat Ç. Bir Ankara Polisiyesi

References

Bibliography

Notes

External links

Governorship of Ankara

Municipality of Ankara

Esenboğa International Airport

Ankara Citadel

Category:Ankara Province Category:Capitals in Asia Category:Capitals in Europe Category:Populated places in Ankara Province

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