Türkiye

Where the name comes from

Türkiye joins Türk, the Turks’ own name, with a country ending, giving “land of the Turks”; the origin of Türk is debated.

First people

Göbekli Tepe, built more than 11,000 years ago, is among the oldest known monumental sites, and Anatolia was later home to the Hittites and Greek cities.¹

Known for

Türkiye is known for Istanbul, which spans Europe and Asia, and for the Hagia Sophia, built in 537.²

Outside contact

Turkic-speaking groups moved from Central Asia into Anatolia, especially after the 1000s, mixing with older populations, and the Ottoman Empire grew from there.³

The modern country

The Republic of Türkiye was founded in 1923 after the end of the Ottoman Empire, and a 1928 reform replaced the Arabic-based script with a Latin alphabet.^4,5