There are over 50,000 Germans living in Turkey , primarily Germans married to Turkish spouses, employees, retirees and long-term tourists who buy properties across the Turkish coastline, often spending most of the year in the country. [1]
Caucasus Germans inhabited the northeast of the country since 18th century. Especially in the city of Kars.
The officials and the artisans sent to Istanbul during the close relations with the Ottoman Empire at the time of Kaiser Wilhelm II formed the so-called Bosporus Germans. The Germans in this group returned home after the First World War.
In 1933, the rise to power of the Nazis caused the second wave of immigration from Germany to Turkey. It has been reported that the number of these “exiled Germans”, concentrated in Istanbul and Ankara, reached 800 (190 of whom were academics [2] who took up positions at Turkish universities). See, for example, Curt Kosswig for an example of a German emigrant academic. He stayed in Turkey from 1937 to 1955.
The Bosporus or Bosphorus Strait is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul, Turkey. The Bosporus connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and forms one of the continental boundaries between Asia and Europe. It also divides Turkey by separating Asia minor from Thrace. It is the world's narrowest strait used for international navigation.
The (Montreux) Convention regarding the Regime of the Straits, often known simply as the Montreux Convention, is an international agreement governing the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits in Turkey. Signed on 20 July 1936 at the Montreux Palace in Switzerland, it went into effect on 9 November 1936, addressing the long running Straits Question over who should control the strategically vital link between the Black and Mediterranean seas.
Istanbul University, also known as University of Istanbul, is a prominent public research university located in Istanbul, Turkey.
Georgians in Turkey refers to citizens and denizens of Turkey who are, or descend from, ethnic Georgians.
The history of the Jews in Turkey covers the 2400 years that Jews have lived in what is now Turkey.
Bosporus Germans is the nickname given to ethnic Germans who were living in Istanbul from the second half of the 19th century.
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 sixteenth-largest city.
Istanbul High School, also commonly known as Istanbul Boys' High School, is one of the oldest and internationally renowned high schools of Turkey. The school is considered elite among Turkish public high schools. Germany recognizes the school as a Deutsche Auslandsschule.
The MV Savarona is the presidential yacht of the Republic of Turkey. She was the largest in the world when launched February 28, 1931, and remains, with a length of 136 m (446 ft), one of the world’s longest. Although owned by the Government of Turkey, she had been leased out to Turkish businessman Kahraman Sadıkoğlu. However, upon orders of the Turkish Government her lease was terminated and she reverted to the Turkish State. The first time she was used again for an official reception was in March 2015.
Oskar Rescher, also known as Osman Reşer, was a prolific German-Turkish scholar in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish literature who specialized in pre-Islamic Arabic poetry and Ottoman studies.
Russia–Turkey relations are the bilateral relations between Russia and Turkey and their antecedent states. Relations between the two are rather cyclical. From the late 16th until the early 20th centuries, relations between the Ottoman and Russian empires were normally adverse and hostile and the two powers were engaged in numerous Russo-Turkish wars, including one of the longest wars in modern history. Russia attempted to extend its influence in the Balkans and gain control of the Bosphorus at the expense of the weakening Ottoman Empire. As a result, the diplomatic history between the two powers was extremely bitter and acrimonious up to World War I. However, in the early 1920s, as a result of the Bolshevik Russian government's assistance to Turkish revolutionaries during the Turkish War of Independence, the governments' relations warmed. Relations again turned sour at the end of WWII as the Soviet government laid territorial claims and demanded other concessions from Turkey. Turkey joined NATO in 1952 and placed itself within the Western alliance against the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War, when relations between the two countries were at their lowest level. Relations began to improve the following year, when the Soviet Union renounced its territorial claims after the death of Stalin.
Hezarfen Airfield is a privately owned airport for general aviation in the Çatalca district of Istanbul, Turkey. It is one of a total of five airports in Istanbul along with Istanbul Airport (LTFM), Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (LTFJ), Atatürk Airport (LTBA), and Samandıra Army Air Base (LTBX). Hezarfen Airfield is named after Hezârfen Ahmet Çelebi, a legendary Ottoman aviator, who flew across the Bosporus in the 17th century, as told by a contemporary traveler Evliya Çelebi.
Rumeli Feneri, also Türkeli Feneri, a historical lighthouse still in use, is located on the European side of the Bosporus Strait's Black Sea entrance in Istanbul.
Ernst Jäckh was a German journalist, diplomat, author, and academic who later lived in Great Britain and the United States. He is most known for having advocated for first Germany, and then the United States, having better relations with Turkey. He was the founder and leader of the Deutsche Hochschule für Politik in Berlin from 1920 to 1933.
Curt Kosswig was a German zoologist and geneticist, who spent most of his career at the University of Istanbul (1937–1955) and Hamburg University (1955–1969). Curt Kosswig is known as the Father of Turkish Zoology.
Hellmut Ritter was a leading German Orientalist specializing in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, and an authority on Sufi ritual and mystical beliefs.
Philipp Schwartz was a Hungarian-born neuropathologist. In the interwar period he was a professor in Frankfurt, Germany. He became a major figure in the community of German émigré scientists after 1933 and founded the Emergency Association of German Scientists Abroad.
Prior to joining the Allied Powers late in the war, Turkey was officially neutral in World War II. Despite its neutrality, Turkey maintained strong diplomatic relations with Nazi Germany during the period of the Holocaust. During the war, Turkey denaturalized 3,000 to 5,000 Jews living abroad; between 2,200 and 2,500 Turkish Jews were deported to extermination camps such as Auschwitz and Sobibor; and several hundred confined in Nazi concentration camps. When Nazi Germany encouraged neutral countries to repatriate their Jewish diaspora, Turkish diplomats received instructions to avoid repatriating Jews even if they could prove their Turkish nationality. Turkey was also the only neutral country to implement anti-Jewish laws during the war. Between 1940 and 1944, around 13,000 Jews passed through Turkey from Europe to Mandatory Palestine. According to the research of historian Rıfat Bali, more Turkish Jews suffered as a result of discriminatory policies during the war than were saved by Turkey. Since the war, Turkey and parts of the Turkish Jewish community have promoted exaggerated claims of rescuing Jews, using this myth to promote Armenian genocide denial.
Türkische Post was a German language daily newspaper published in Istanbul, Turkey. The daily was in circulation between 1926 and 1944 with some interruptions.