Türkiye

The country on two continents

Türkiye is a country in both Europe and Asia at once: the city of Istanbul sits on two continents with the Bosphorus strait between them! Turkish is related to Uzbek — you can understand many words. It has Hagia Sophia, Pamukkale and the hot-air balloons of Cappadocia. Turks are famous for coffee and Turkish delight. Ankara is the capital, but the biggest city is Istanbul (16 million).

Capital: Ankara. Language: Turkish.

The Republic of Türkiye covers 783,562 km² (97% Anatolia in Asia, 3% Thrace in Europe) with 85 million people. Nature: Ararat (5,137 m, the Noah's Ark legend), Cappadocia ('fairy chimneys' of volcanic tuff), Pamukkale, three seas (Black, Aegean, Mediterranean), the Bosphorus. History: Çatalhöyük (7500 BC — one of the oldest towns), the Hittites, Troy, Ephesus, Byzantium (Constantinople), the Seljuks (Manzikert, 1071), the Ottomans (1299–1922, the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, an empire on three continents), the Republic since 1923 under Atatürk (Latin alphabet, secular state). Turkish belongs to the Turkic family (the same family as Uzbek, Oghuz branch). Economy: 19th in the world, tourism (50 million a year — 4th in the world), cars, textiles, hazelnuts (70% of the world's). With Uzbekistan: the Organization of Turkic States, the Ahmed Yasawi heritage, Istanbul–Tashkent in 6 hours.

Fun facts

• Istanbul is the only major city in the world on two continents.
• 70% of the world's hazelnuts grow in Türkiye.
• Turkish and Uzbek are in the same language family — 'kitap', 'yol' and 'su' exist in both.