Modern Turkey

-Turkey is the only secular Muslim country among all the Muslim countries in the world.

-In 1923 the democratic Republic of Turkey was established under the leadership of Kemal Atatürk.

-Turkey is a young country in more ways than one: over two-thirds of the Turkish population is under age thirty.

-Turkey is physically one of the highest countries in the world, the average height is 6,000 feet.

-Turkey is one of the few agriculturally self-sufficient countries in the world.

-More than two-thirds of Turkey´s borders are coastline, these stretch for fully 6,000 km (3,730 miles) along the Aegean, eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea.

-Turkey is one of the riches countries in species of flowers due to its varied landscape and climate.  There are approximately 9,000 species of which 3,000 are native.  In Europe there are only 11,500 species.

-Turks introduced coffee to Europe.

-Tradition in Turkey says that a stranger at one’s doorstep is considered "God’s guest" for at least three days.

-Turkey is noted for having one of the three most famous and distinctive traditional cuisines in the world.

Turkish History

-The Turkish people trace their ethnic origins to a group of Ural-Altaic tribes who were located in the 2nd c. BC in what is today Mongolia.  

-Esperanto is based on the structure of the Turkish language.

-The majority of Turks were converted to Islam in the 9th c. AD. 

-The Ottoman Navy brought the Jewish people who were expelled from Spain to safety in the Ottoman lands in 1492.

-Tulips are not native to Holland.  They were actually introduced from Anatolia in the 16th c.

-The famous Trojan Wars took place in Western Turkey, around the site where the Trojan horse rests today.

Christian History in Turkey

-The first church built by man (St. Peter’s Church) is in Antioch (Antakya), Turkey.

-St. Paul was born in Tarsus (located in southern Turkey).  His missionary journeys signalled the arrival of Christianity in Asia Minor from 47 AD.

-Christianity first bloomed in Anatolia with the first church of Christianity dedicated to St. Peter in Antioch.

-Early Christians fleeing from Roman persecution found refuge in Cappadocia´s underground cities.

-Anatolia became the heartland of the eastern realm of the Roman (Byzantine) Empire.

-The Greek Orthodox church is still located in Istanbul.

-The Garden of Eden was said to be watered by a river which separated into four streams as it left the garden.   Two of them, the Tigris and the Euphrates, are found in the  mountains of eastern Turkey.

-Mount Ararat, the highest mountain in Turkey, is believed to be the place where Noah´s Ark landed. 

-The Seven Churches of the Apocalypse were all located in Anatolia -  Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.

-St. Nicholas - today´s Santa Claus, was born in Patara (next to Kalkan) and lived as the bishop of Myra in Demre (also near Kalkan).  

-Followers of Jesus were first called "Christians" in today´s Antakya.

-All Ecumenical Councils were held in western Anatolia.The First Ecumenical Council was held in Iznik, Turkey.

-Over one hundred Christian churches of many different sects are found in the city of Istanbul. 

Ancient History in Turkey

-The oldest known human settlement is in Catalhoyuk, Turkey (7th Millenium B.C.)

-"Anatolia" means "east" in Greek.  In the Turkish language it means "the land full of mothers".

-The oldest known shipwreck was excavated near Kaş (a coastal town next to Kalkan).

-King Midas, son of Gordius, the last and the most famous of the Phrygian kings, ruled over the whole of Asia Minor in the 6th century BC.

-Writing was first used by people in ancient Anatolia. The first clay tablets in the ruins of Assyrian Karum (Merchant Colony) date back to 1950 B.C.

-Many city names originated in Anatolia such as Philadelphia, Paris, Antioch, Troy and the continental name "Europe". 

-Alexander the Great embarked on a campaign against the Persians in 334 BC crossing the Dardanelles, occupying Gordium (this is where the fabled cutting of the Gordian knot took place) and defeating Darius the Third.

-Two of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World stood in Anatolia -  the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus and the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus.  

-The words "Veni, vidi, vici (I came, I saw, I conquered)" were said by Julius Caesar when he went to Anatolia in 47 BC.

-The Lycian federal system of government with proportional representation was used as a model by the authors of the United States constitution.

-Noah’s Ark landed on Mount Ararat (Agri Dagi) in Eastern Turkey.  

-The last meal on Noah’s Ark, a pudding of sweet and  sour taste (asure), is still served throughout Turkey.

-Female goddesses like Cybele dominated the Central Anatolian  pantheon for thousands of years before these supernatural powers were transformed to male gods.

It will be safer to add your personal comment to this article before you get in a trouble like non adders their opinions got in.

No facts about the ottomans?!?!

They are not Dutch, I know  but they are not only Turkish as well: The tulip, or "Lale" (from Persian لاله, lâleh) as it is called in Turkey, is a flower indigenous to Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey and other parts of Central Asia.

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip 

eh, just one of the widespread western lies about Turkey, and surprisingly even the Turks believe this crap. The truth is all the Turkic countries you can name are both Muslim and secular.

haha +1

Advice: search on wiki for ´Turkic´ and then to each of the listed groups. Very much information about ´strong´ Islam, little about liberalism. (Oops, sorry, wiki are of course western lies, I forgot.)

yeah, i also noticed that about wiki also!

Haha!  Çok komik!

The current independent Turkic countries are Azerbaijan, Turkey, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Can you tell us which ones of these countries are non-secular?but If you can`t point out one, I will ask you to admit that what is argued is a Western lie as I say.

I didn´t know that there was a place in Turkey called Philadelphia. I only live 50 miles from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

(Unfortunately this also proves I don´t read the Bible much either)

And I believe Bethlehem PA is down the street from you..

Yes, not too far away. About an hour or so. We spent one Christmas there and stayed at the Bethlehem hotel.

 See you have the bible right in front of you.

Your Turkish is good.

 Haha! ve bence çok iğneleyicisin!

I found some more intersesting facts, i know some of them are repeated:

1. The famous Trojan Wars took place in Western Turkey, around the site where the Trojan horse rests today.
2. The first church built by man (St. Peter’s Church) is in Antioch (Antakya), Turkey.
3. The oldest known human settlement is in Catalhoyuk, Turkey (7th Millenium B.C.)
4. Ephesus and Halicarnasus (the place for the two of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world) are in Turkey.
5. St. Nicholas, also known as Santa Claus, was born in Demre, on Turkey’s Mediterranean Coast.
6. Noah’s Ark landed on Mount Ararat (Agri Dagi) in Eastern Turkey.
7. The last meal on Noah’s Ark, a pudding of sweet and  sour taste (asure), is still served throughout Turkey.
8. Turks introduced coffee to Europe.
9. Turks gave the Dutch their famous tulips.
10. Istanbul is the only city in the world built on two continents.
11. Tradition in Turkey says that a stranger at one’s doorstep is considered "God’s guest" for at least three days.
12. Turkey is noted for having one of the three most famous and distinctive traditional cuisines in the world.
13. The First Ecumenical Council was held in Iznik, Turkey.
14. Writing was first used by people in ancient Anatolia. The first clay tablets in the ruins of Assyrian Karum (Merchant Colony) date back to 1950 B.C.
15. The oldest tin mine was found in Göltepe, 60 miles south of Tarsus.
16. The first Neolithic paintings found on man-made walls are in Catalhöyük, Turkey.
17. Anatolia is the birthplace of historic legends, such as Homer (the poet), King Midas, Herodotus (the father of history), and St. Paul the Apostle.
18. Julius Caesar proclaimed his celebrated words, "Veni, Vidi, Vici (I came, I saw, I conquered)" in Turkey when he defeated the Pontus, a formidable kingdom in the Black Sea region of Turkey.
19. Female goddesses like Cybele dominated the Central Anatolian  pantheon for thousands of years before these supernatural powers were transformed to male gods.
20. The Hittites sold Abraham the cave where he buried his wife Sarah, when the Israelites came to Palestine.
21. The first church dedicated to Virgin Mary is in Ephesus.
22. Cherry was first introduced to Europe from Giresun (Northern Turkey)
23. Turkey has hundreds beaches and marinas which have the "Blue Flag" (A European award for the best clean water) on the Mediterranean and Aegean.
24. The first recorded international treaty in the world was the Treaty of Kadesh between the Hittite and Egyptian Empires, Hattusilis III and Ramses II, in c.1275 BC.
25. The oldest known shipwreck on Earth was found and excavated in Uluburun near Kas, in the Mediterranean region of Turkey.
26. In 640 BC, for the first time in history, coins made of electrum were used by the Lydian king Croesus in Sardis, in Aegean region of Turkey.
27. King Midas lived in Gordion, capital of Phrigia.
28. Alexander the Great cut the Gordian knot near Ankara. The double knotting technique used in Turkish rugs is also called as Gordian Knot.
29. The Garden of Eden in the Book of Genesis was said to be watered by a river which separated into four streams as it left the garden; two of them the Tigris (Dicle) and Euphrates (Firat) rise from the mountains of Eastern Turkey.
30. Early Christians escaping from Roman persecutions found shelter in Cappadocia.
31. The Seven Churches of Apocalypse are all situated in the Aegean region of Anatolia; Ephesus, Smyrna (Izmir), Pergamum, Thyatira (Nazilli), Sardis, Philadelphia (Alasehir) and Laodicea.
32. Sultan Beyazit II dispatched the Ottoman Navy to bring the Jewish people who were expelled from Spain in 1492 and they were brought safely to the Ottoman lands.
33. Istanbul has the historical building of Sirkeci Train Station. This was the last stop of the Simplon-Orient Express - "kings of trains and train of kings" - between Paris and Constantinople (Istanbul) from 1883 to 1977. Agatha Christie was one of the passengers of this famous train.
34. The number of species of flowers in Turkey is approximately 9,000, of which 3,000 are endemic. In Europe for instance there are 11,500 species. This shows the richness of flora and fauna in Anatolia.

 This is an old-fashioned crap ,comes from the period when Turkic countries ruled by Soviets.

 It seems you felt a bit ailment, actually tulip was carried to Persia and Anatolia by Seljuks, its motherland is the steps of Turkistan where Turkic nomads were living and today 45% percent population of Iran is still Azeris. The word lale used in Turkish inherited from Ottomans and art language in Ottomans was Persian since tulip was used very much in arts...

Yes a little, but it is still good. "iğneleyicisin" iyiydi.

Yeah, you are right. A living Bible!!

 hahahaha ... deme!!!!