The Turkey course
Facts about Turkey, for your next trip
Ten topics, two timed rounds each, played straight down this page. Finish a round and the next one starts itself, carrying you from Göbekli Tepe and the straits at Istanbul to kebab, coffee, migrating storks and the balloons over Cappadocia.
Capital Ankara · Europe · 10 topics · 20 rounds · 80 questions · 20 seconds each
Turkey straddles Europe and Asia across the straits at Istanbul, the only city in the world built on two continents. It was the seat of the Byzantine and Ottoman empires in succession, and the modern republic founded in 1923 remade the state along secular lines within a single decade.
Turkey is organized into 81 provinces spread across two continents, though only a small slice, Eastern Thrace, lies in Europe. The rest is Anatolia: a high interior plateau ringed by mountains, with a Mediterranean coast in the south, an Aegean coast strung with Greek and Roman ruins in the west, and a green, wet Black Sea coast in the north that surprises anyone expecting desert throughout. The land rises eastward toward Mount Ararat and the headwaters of both the Tigris and the Euphrates.
Istanbul holds over 15 million people, making it the most populous city in Europe, though Ankara on the central plateau has been the capital since 1923. Izmir faces the Aegean, Antalya anchors the southern resort coast, and Gaziantep in the southeast is the acknowledged capital of Turkish food. Over 50 million foreign visitors arrive each year, most for some combination of Istanbul’s mosques and bazaars, the beaches of the southwest, the rock landscape of Cappadocia and the classical ruins at Ephesus.
- Population
- 85 million
- Area
- 783,562 km²
- Currency
- Turkish lira (₺)
- Official language
- Turkish
- Provinces
- 81
- Highest point
- Mount Ararat, 5,137 m
Turkey · Geography
Geography of Turkey
A high plateau ringed by mountains, with the Black Sea above it, the Mediterranean below it and the Aegean on its western side. The straits at Istanbul cut the country in two and are the only sea route out of the Black Sea.
Commonly asked
- Is Turkey in Europe or Asia?
- Both. Most of the country is Anatolia, in Asia, while the smaller region of Eastern Thrace sits in Europe. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles separate the two, and Istanbul is built on either side of them.
- How big is Turkey, and what is its highest point?
- About 783,562 km², organized into 81 provinces. The interior is a high plateau that rises eastward to Mount Ararat at 5,137 meters, near the point where the Tigris and the Euphrates both begin.
- What is the capital of Turkey, and which are its biggest cities?
- Ankara, on the central plateau, has been the capital since 1923. Istanbul is far larger at over 15 million people, followed by Izmir on the Aegean, Antalya on the southern resort coast and Gaziantep in the southeast.
Turkey · History
History of Turkey
Anatolia holds some of the oldest settlements anywhere, then Hittites, Greeks, Persians and Romans in turn. Constantinople fell to the Ottomans in 1453, and the republic founded in 1923 remade the state in a decade.
Commonly asked
- What is Göbekli Tepe?
- A hilltop of carved stone pillars in the southeast, raised around 9500 BC and older than farming, pottery or writing. It is among the oldest known monumental sites on Earth, and the Neolithic town of Çatalhöyük lies in the same country.
- What happened to the Ottoman Empire?
- The Ottomans took Constantinople in 1453 and ruled an empire that reached the gates of Vienna. It lost ground through the 19th century, fought on the losing side of the First World War and was partitioned, and the sultanate was abolished in 1922.
- Who was Atatürk?
- Mustafa Kemal Atatürk led the independence war and founded the republic in 1923. He then abolished the caliphate, replaced Arabic script with a Latin alphabet in 1928 and rebuilt the legal system on European codes. Turkey joined NATO in 1952.
Turkey · Language
The Turkish language
Turkish builds grammar by stacking suffixes onto a root, so a single long word can carry what English needs a clause for. Which suffixes attach depends on vowel harmony, and the alphabet it is written in is younger than a century.
Commonly asked
- What language do they speak in Turkey?
- Turkish, spoken by around 85 million people and part of the Turkic family, with close relatives across Central Asia and the Caucasus. Kurdish is the largest minority language, concentrated in the southeast.
- What is vowel harmony?
- The vowels in a suffix shift to match the vowels in the root it attaches to, so the same ending is spelled and said several ways. It is why Turkish endings come in pairs or fours rather than one fixed form.
- Why does Turkish use the Latin alphabet?
- The 1928 alphabet reform replaced Arabic script with a Latin one designed around Turkish sounds. A later purge of Arabic and Persian loanwords changed the vocabulary so much that early republican texts can be hard for young readers today.
Turkey · Culture
Culture of Turkey
Ottoman, Islamic, Anatolian and Central Asian sources at once: music using quarter tones absent from Western scales, the mosques of Mimar Sinan, and a century-long public argument about secularism.
Commonly asked
- Is Turkey a secular country?
- Secularism is a constitutional principle of the republic, and the balance between it and public religious expression has been the defining political argument for a century. Around 99 percent of the population is nominally Muslim, mostly Sunni with a significant Alevi minority.
- Who were the whirling dervishes?
- Followers of the Mevlevi order founded on the teaching of Rumi at Konya. Their sema ceremony, turning slowly on one foot, is a form of worship rather than a folk dance, and it carries UNESCO heritage listing.
- Why are Turkish television dramas so popular abroad?
- Turkish series are exported to more than 150 countries and rank second only to American ones in international sales, with especially large audiences across the Middle East, the Balkans and Latin America.
Turkey · Economy
Economy of Turkey
Cars, white goods, textiles and steel sold mainly into the European Union, construction firms working across three continents, tourism in the tens of millions, and inflation that passed 80 percent in 2022.
Commonly asked
- What does Turkey produce and export?
- Vehicles, white goods, textiles, steel and food, sold mostly to the European Union under a customs union in force since 1995. Turkish construction firms operate across the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia, and the country is a growing arms exporter, particularly of drones.
- Why is inflation so high in Turkey?
- Annual inflation passed 80 percent in 2022 after years of unorthodox monetary policy that cut interest rates while prices were rising. The lira lost much of its value against the dollar and euro over the same period.
- How important is tourism to Turkey?
- Over 50 million foreign visitors arrive each year, making it one of the most visited countries in the world. Most come for Istanbul, the southwestern beaches, Cappadocia and the classical ruins at Ephesus.
Turkey · Politics
Politics of Turkey
A presidential republic since a narrowly approved referendum in 2017 abolished the office of prime minister, with a single 600-member assembly and a military that intervened in politics repeatedly until 1997.
Commonly asked
- How does the government of Turkey work?
- A referendum in 2017 abolished the prime minister and concentrated executive power in the presidency. The Grand National Assembly is a single chamber of 600 members elected proportionally, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has led the country as prime minister and then president since 2003.
- What happened in the 2016 coup attempt?
- A faction of the military tried to seize power in July 2016 and was defeated within a day. Extensive purges followed, removing tens of thousands of people from the armed forces, courts, universities and civil service.
- Is Turkey joining the European Union?
- Turkey applied in 1987 and formal accession talks opened in 2005, but they have been effectively frozen since 2018. The customs union with the EU continues regardless, and Turkey has been a NATO member since 1952.
Turkey · Nature & Wildlife
Nature and wildlife of Turkey
European, Asian and Middle Eastern ecosystems meet here, giving around 9,000 plant species, roughly a third of them found nowhere else. Hundreds of thousands of migrating birds funnel over the Bosphorus each autumn.
Commonly asked
- Why is Turkey so biodiverse?
- It sits where three ecological regions meet, with coast, high mountain, steppe and forest inside one country. Its roughly 9,000 plant species compare with the whole of the rest of Europe combined, and about a third grow nowhere else.
- What wild animals live in Turkey?
- Brown bears, wolves, lynx and wild goats live in the eastern mountains, along with the rare Anatolian leopard. Loggerhead and green turtles nest on Mediterranean beaches, and the country lies on one of the busiest bird migration routes in the world.
- What is Lake Van?
- The largest lake in Turkey and the largest soda lake on Earth, in the far east of the country. Its water is too alkaline for most fish, and the endemic pearl mullet is the one species that lives in it.
Turkey · Food & Cuisine
Food of Turkey
The kitchens of the Ottoman palace drew on Balkan, Levantine and Central Asian cooking at once. Lamb, yoghurt, aubergine, bulgur and olive oil run through nearly all of it, and kebab covers dozens of regional forms.
Commonly asked
- What food is Turkey famous for?
- Kebab in many regional forms, mezze plates that open a long meal, pide and lahmacun, stuffed vegetables, and baklava. Aubergine, yoghurt, bulgur, lamb and olive oil appear across the whole repertoire.
- Is döner the only Turkish kebab?
- No. Döner is one form among dozens: şiş grilled on skewers, Adana and Urfa minced and spiced to different heats, İskender served over bread with yoghurt and butter, and many more tied to particular cities.
- Do Turks drink more coffee or tea?
- Tea, by a wide margin, drunk through the day in small tulip glasses. Turkish coffee is prepared unfiltered in a small pot and carries UNESCO heritage listing, but it is the occasion rather than the daily drink.
Turkey · Landmarks
Landmarks of Turkey
Hagia Sophia held the largest dome in the world for nearly a thousand years. Beyond it are the underground cities of Cappadocia, the Roman streets of Ephesus and the white terraces of Pamukkale.
Commonly asked
- What is Hagia Sophia?
- Completed in Istanbul in 537 as a cathedral, converted to a mosque after 1453, made a museum in 1935 and returned to use as a mosque in 2020. Its dome was the largest in the world for nearly a thousand years and changed how architects thought about enclosing space.
- What is Cappadocia?
- A region of soft volcanic rock in central Anatolia, eroded into pinnacles and carved into churches and underground cities deep enough to shelter thousands of people. Hot air balloons launch over it at dawn most days.
- What is Pamukkale?
- A hillside of white travertine terraces near Denizli, built up by mineral-rich hot springs and holding pools that have drawn bathers since antiquity. The ruins of the Roman spa city of Hierapolis stand on top of it.
Turkey · People & Society
People and society of Turkey
About 85 million people with a median age near 34, younger than any large European country though ageing fast. Roughly 77 percent live in cities, and Istanbul alone is the most populous city in Europe.
Commonly asked
- How many people live in Turkey?
- About 85 million, with a median age near 34. Fertility has fallen below replacement level to around 1.5 births per woman, so the population is ageing quickly from a young starting point.
- Who are the Kurds in Turkey?
- The largest minority, roughly 15 to 20 percent of the population and concentrated in the southeast. Conflict between the state and Kurdish armed groups has run since 1984, and Kurdish is the country’s largest minority language.
- How many refugees does Turkey host?
- Turkey has hosted more refugees than any other country for most of the past decade, several million of them Syrians who arrived after 2011. Most live in cities rather than camps.