Interesting facts about Turkey


  1. Turkey has approximately 74 million inhabitants and 1/4 of all are younger than 15 years.
  2. Today the Republic of Turkey lies along 2 continents. When Ottoman empire reached its largest size, it spanned over 3 continents (Europe, Asia and Africa) and over more than 5,000,000 sq km. 
    Ottoman Empire in 1683, at its largest size
    (empires.findthedata.org)
  3. Istanbul is by far the biggest city, with (officially) approx. 14 million inhabitants and metropolitan area of 5343 km2
  4. Istanbul is 2. most populous city in the world, right behind Shanghai in China and Karachi in Pakistan
  5. Until 1954  the population of Istanbul was only 400,000 because Turkish citizens needed special visa to enter Istanbul.
  6. Since June 2013 most Turkish (youngsters) know what  pepper gas and lemon have in common.
  7. Turkey is officially a secular country, however 99% of its inhabitants are Muslim (80% belong to Sunni branch); other 1% is Christian, Jewish or Atheist.
  8. A lot of Catholic saints were supposed to be born in a region which today belongs to Turkey, for example Saint Nicholas and Saint George. Also it is believed that Virgin Mary herself spent her last years in a modest house close to Ephesus, Turkey.
  9. The Noah's Ark also landed in today's Turkey in Mount Ararat (Ağrı dağı)
  10. Constantinople has been the center of Eastern Christian church since 4th century and even today, the Orthodox Patriarchate has its seat in Istanbul.
  11. Istanbul also has special çeşme (fountain) which containts soup and not water :) It's so called çorba çeşmesi.
    Soup fountian :)
  12. The first intercontinental metro, between Europe and Asia, was opened in Istanbul on the 90th anniversary of Turkish Republic, on 29th of October 2013. It's underwater metro, called Marmaray.
  13. Çay (tea) forms very important part of turkish culture and everyday life. According to FAO in 2004 Turkey had the highest per capita consumption of tea in the world, 2,5 kg per person. In the same year, Turkey produced more than 205,000 tones of çay, which is 6,4% of the world's total tea production.
    Çay
  14. The honey you are consuming every day might have been produced in Turkey, since Turkey is second biggest honey producer (after China). Turkey produces about 70,000 tons of honey every year. (Bianet)
  15. Turkish is agglutinative language, so technically you can make endless words, however, the ''
    officially'' longest word is Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştirive- remeyebileceklerimizdenmişsinizcesine and it has 70 letters. The meaning of the word is: As though you are from those whom we may not be able to easily make into a maker of unsuccessful ones.
    16. The Grand Bazaar (Kapali çarşi) is the biggest covered bazaar on the world: it is 540 years old and is covered. It spans across 64 streets and has 4000 shops with 22 entrances and 25,000 workers. (WTF)
    17. Have you ever wondered what two turkeys have in common - the country and a bird? Well, the ''european'' mistake. The turkey bird gets its name from the country, though it is a native bird of the Americas. The Europeans mistook them for the Guinea fowl from Turkey when they noticed these birds first. (WTF)
    18. What have in common döner kebap and real turkish kebap?? Well, almost nothing :)




    Homemade turkish kebap



    Do you know more interesting facts? Please share them :)

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