Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye) Official Name The Turkish Republic (Turkish: Türkiye Cumhuriyeti) About This File Listen (? info) is a transcontinental country located mostly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, and the smaller part of the Southeast Balkan Peninsula Europe. Eastern Thrace, the European part of Turkey, is separated from Anatolia by the Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. Istanbul, which straddles Europe and Asia, is the country's largest city, while Ankara is the capital. Turkey is bordered to the northwest by Greece and Bulgaria. To the north is the Black Sea; To the northeast, Georgia; and to the east by Armenia, surrounded by Azerbaijani Nakhchivan and Iran; and from the southeast of Iraq; From the south, Syria and the Mediterranean Sea; The west overlooks the Aegean Sea. Approximately 70 to 80 percent of the country's citizens identify themselves as Turkish.
While the Kurds are the largest minority, representing between 15 and 20 percent of the population.
In different periods of its history, the region that makes up Turkey has been inhabited by diverse civilizations including the peoples of Anatolia, Assyrians, Greeks, Thracians, Phrygians, Urartians, and Armenians.
Hellenization began during the era of Alexander the Great and continued until the Byzantine era. The Seljuk Turks began to migrate to the region in the eleventh century, and their victory over the Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 symbolized the founding of Turkey for many Turkish nationalists. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rum ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, when it disintegrated into small Turkish principalities. Beginning in the late thirteenth century, the Ottomans began to unify the principalities and conquer the Balkans. The Turkification of Anatolia increased during the Ottoman period. After Mehmed II conquered Constantinople in 1453, Ottoman expansion continued during the reign of Selim I. During the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman Empire included much of Southeast Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa and became a global power. From the late eighteenth century onwards, the empire's power declined with the gradual loss of territory and wars. In an attempt to solidify the weak social and political foundations of the empire, Mahmud II began a period of modernization in the early nineteenth century, undertaking reforms in all areas of the state including the army and the bureaucracy, along with the emancipation of all slaves. The coup of 1913 placed the country under the control of the three pashas, who were They are largely responsible for the empire's entry into World War I in 1914. During World War I, the Ottoman government committed genocide against its Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek subjects. After the Ottomans and the other Axis powers lost the war, the lands that made up the Ottoman Empire were divided into several new states. The Turkish War of Independence, initiated by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his companions against the occupying Allied countries, led to the abolition of the Sultanate on November 1, 1922, the replacement of the Treaty of Sèvres (1920) with the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), the establishment of the Republic of Turkey on October 29, 1923, and Atatürk becoming its first president. Atatürk carried out numerous reforms, incorporating various aspects of Western thought, philosophy, and customs into the new form of Turkish government. Turkey is a member of the United Nations, a longtime member of NATO, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, a founding member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the Organization Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the Group of Twenty. After becoming one of the first members of the Council of Europe in 1950, Turkey became an associate member of the European Economic Community in 1963, joined the EU Customs Union in 1995, and began negotiations for accession to the European Union in 2005. In a non-binding vote in March 13, 2019, the European Parliament calls on EU governments to suspend Turkey's accession talks; Which, although discontinued since 2018, remains open as of 2020. The development of the Turkish economy and other factors has led to its recognition as a regional power and a new industrial country by many analysts, while its location has given it geopolitical and strategic importance throughout history. Turkey is a centralized secular republic that was parliamentary until it adopted a presidential system in a referendum in 2017. The new regime came into effect with the 2018 presidential elections. The Turkish opposition claims that the current administration in Turkey, headed by the AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has enacted Islamist policies and has undermined Kemalist policies and freedom of the press, and has been described as authoritarian.