Ankara, historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and 5.8 million in Ankara Province, making it Turkey's second-largest city after Istanbul, but first by the urban area (4,130 km2).
Cyprus, officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. It is geographically a part of West Asia, but its cultural ties and geopolitics are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the third largest and third-most populous island in the Mediterranean. It is east of Greece, north of Egypt, south of Turkey, and west of Lebanon and Syria. Its capital and largest city is Nicosia. The northeast portion of the island is de facto governed by the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
The Ottoman Empire, historically and colloquially known as the Turkish Empire, was an imperial realm centred in Anatolia that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Central Europe between the early 16th and early 18th centuries.
Turkish is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, with around 90 to 100 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and Cyprus. Significant smaller groups of Turkish speakers also exist in Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Greece,, other parts of Europe, the South Caucasus, and some parts of Central Asia, Iraq, and Syria. Turkish is the 18th most spoken language in the world.
The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement which historically operated throughout Kurdistan but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq. Since 1984, the PKK has been involved in asymmetric warfare in the Kurdish–Turkish conflict. Although the PKK initially sought an independent Kurdish state, in the 1990s its official platform changed to seeking autonomy and increased political and cultural rights for Kurds within Turkey.
Kurdistan, or Greater Kurdistan, is a roughly defined geo-cultural region in West Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages, and national identity have historically been based. Geographically, Kurdistan roughly encompasses the northwestern Zagros and the eastern Taurus mountain ranges.
The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily through the mass murder of around one million Armenians during death marches to the Syrian Desert and the forced Islamization of others, primarily women and children.
Turkish Airlines, or legally Türk Hava Yolları Anonim Ortaklığı, is the flag carrier of Turkey. As of June 2024, it operates scheduled services to 349 destinations in Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa, and the Americas, making it the largest mainline carrier in the world by number of passenger destinations. The airline serves more destinations non-stop from a single airport than any other airline in the world and flies to 130 countries, more than any other airline. With an operational fleet of 24 cargo aircraft, the airline's cargo division Turkish Cargo serves 82 destinations. The airline also owns a low cost subsidiary, AJet.
Northern Cyprus, officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a de facto state that comprises the northeastern portion of the island of Cyprus. It is recognised only by Turkey, and its territory is considered by all other states to be part of the Republic of Cyprus.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), which he co-founded in 2001. He also served as mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998.
The Turkish Radio and Television Corporation is the national public broadcaster of Turkey, founded in 1964. TRT was for many years the only television and radio broadcaster in Turkey. Before the introduction of commercial radio in 1990, and subsequently commercial television in 1992, it held a monopoly on broadcasting. More recent deregulation of the Turkish television broadcasting market produced analogue cable television. Today, TRT broadcasts around the world, including in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, the United States, and Australia.
The Turkey national football team, recognized as Türkiye by FIFA, represents Türkiye in men's international football matches. The team is controlled by the Turkish Football Federation, the governing body for football in Türkiye, which was founded in 1923 and has been a member of FIFA since 1923 and UEFA since 1962.
Beşiktaş Jimnastik Kulübü, abbreviated as BJK, is a Turkish professional sports club founded in 1903 that is based in the Beşiktaş district of Istanbul. The club's football team is one of the Big Three in Turkey and one of the most successful teams in the country, having never been relegated to a lower division. It was the first registered sports club in the country and one of the few that acquired the right to bear the Turkish flag on its crest.
The Süper Lig, officially known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the Turkish Football Federation. In the 2023-2024 season, twenty clubs compete, where a champion is decided and three clubs are promoted from, and another four relegated to the 1. Lig. The season runs from August to May, with each club playing 38 matches. Matches are played Friday through Monday.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, also known as Mustafa Kemal Pasha until 1921, and Ghazi Mustafa Kemal from 1921 until the Surname Law of 1934, was a Turkish field marshal, revolutionary statesman, author, and the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first president from 1923 until his death in 1938. He undertook sweeping progressive reforms, which modernized Turkey into a secular, industrializing nation. Ideologically a secularist and nationalist, his policies and socio-political theories became known as Kemalism (Atatürkism).
Turkish people or Turks are the largest Turkic people who speak various dialects of the Turkish language and form a majority in Turkey and Northern Cyprus. In addition, centuries-old ethnic Turkish communities still live across other former territories of the Ottoman Empire. Article 66 of the Turkish Constitution defines a Turk as anyone who is a citizen of Turkey. While the legal use of the term Turkish as it pertains to a citizen of Turkey is different from the term's ethnic definition, the majority of the Turkish population are of Turkish ethnicity. The vast majority of Turks are Muslims and follow the Sunni faith.
Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, straddling the Bosporus Strait, the boundary between Europe and Asia. It is considered the country's economic, cultural and historic capital. The city has a population of over 15 million residents, comprising 19% of the population of Turkey, and is the most populous city in Europe and the world's fifteenth-largest city.
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a smaller part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran to the east; Iraq, Syria, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south; and the Aegean Sea, Greece, and Bulgaria to the west. Turkey is home to over 85 million people; most are ethnic Turks, while ethnic Kurds are the largest ethnic minority. Officially a secular state, Turkey has a Muslim-majority population. Ankara is Turkey's capital and second-largest city, while Istanbul is its largest city and economic and financial center, as well as the largest city in Europe. Other major cities include İzmir, Bursa, and Antalya.
Galatasaray Spor Kulübü, more commonly referred to as simply Galatasaray and also known as Galatasaray AŞ or Gala in UEFA competitions, is a Turkish professional football club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul. It is the association football branch of the larger Galatasaray Sports Club of the same name, itself a part of the Galatasaray Community Cooperation Committee which includes Galatasaray High School where the football club was founded in October 1905 consisting entirely of student members. The team traditionally play in dark shades of red and yellow at home, with the shirts split down the middle between the two colours.
Fenerbahçe Spor Kulübü, commonly known simply as Fenerbahçe or colloquially as Fener, is a professional football club based in Kadıköy, Istanbul, Turkey. They represent the men's football department of the Fenerbahçe S.K. sports club and compete in the Süper Lig, the top flight of Turkish football. In domestic football, Fenerbahçe have won a record 28 league titles and seven Turkish Cups. In international football, the club has won the Balkans Cup, which was the first non-domestic trophy won by a Turkish club.
Istanbul, Turkey 
