Formed in 1923 from the remnants of the former Ottoman Empire, Turkey serves as a unique cultural crossroads, serving as a bridge between Asia and Europe.
In recent years, a power struggle between the military-backed secular government and increasingly popular religious movements has raised concerns about the stability of the government. Turkey experienced a wave of terrorist attacks in 2015 and 2016, with attacks in Ankara, Istanbul and Kurdish-majority areas in southeastern Turkey taking hundreds of lives. On January 1, 2017, a terrorist attack occurred at a nightclub in Istanbul, killing 39 people.
The Turkish military attempted a failed coup against the government in the summer of 2016, resulting in the loss of more than 240 lives. The government’s subsequent response to public dissent, including the firing of military personnel, civil servants, educators and journalists allegedly involved in the coup attempt, led to a deterioration in relations between Turkey and the European Union.
Türkiye in pictures
10 things you need to know about Türkiye.
1. More than 99% of the country’s estimated population of 81 million identify as Sunni Muslim.
3. Since its founding in 1923, Turkey has adopted a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs.
4. Turkey remained in the fighting throughout most of World War II until it declared war on Germany and Japan in 1945. However, Turkey did not take part in the fighting.
5. Turkey joined NATO in 1952 and abandoned its neutrality policy.
6. In April 2017, voters approved constitutional amendments that changed the country’s system of government from a parliamentary to a presidential system.
9. Turkey’s largest ethnic minority is the Kurds, an ethnic Iranian people living in Turkey, northern Syria, northern Iraq, and northwestern Iran. Estimates of the number of Kurds in Turkey vary, ranging from about 16% of the country’s population by government estimates, 18% by the U.S. government, and 30% by Kurdish nationalist sources.
10. The causes of today’s conflict between the Turkish government and the Kurds, as well as other conflicts throughout the Middle East, can be traced back to the end of World War I. In 1920, the Treaty of Sèvres called for the creation of an independent Kurdish state. That promise was nullified three years later by the Treaty of Lausanne, which established the borders of modern-day Turkey and left the Kurds a minority in various countries in the region. Since then, there have been numerous genocides and rebellions, as well as guerilla conflicts in Turkey, Syria, and Iran. The Kurds have an autonomous region in Iraq.
