Turkey, is the English-speaking name of the country
Turkiye. Turkiye is known to have one of the largest cities in the world,
Istanbul, as well as having many summer resorts on its southern coast.
The capital of Turkiye is
Ankara.
The common language in Turkiye is
Turkish. Turkish draws its roots from nowhere but itself. Before the 1950s(roughly) the Turkish language still used
Arabic characters, but the first
president of Turkey,
Ataturk, changed the
alphabet to
Roman. The Turkish alphabet contains 29 letters, and each letter has a
singular pronounciation unlike
English. (
More Information on Turkish Alphabet and Language)
The
flag of Turkey is a centered white
crescent moon with a
star inside the crescent, upon a red background. The flag is said to originate due to the
aftermath of a battle leaving
blood-filled water, in which the crescent moon and star
reflected upon.
Turkiye is brought up on mainly
Islamic ideals, with a large percentage of
Jews as well, but does not hold
religous laws to
country laws. In other words
women are equal in Turkiye, unlike in some of Turkiye's neighbors.
Most Turks, the name for citizens of Turkiye, claim creation of
baklava,
lokum(
Turkish Delight), and
doner, known in the states as
gyros.
During the time of the
Spanish Inquisition, many
Jews were forced out of their homes in European lands. However,
Turkiye welcomed them into their country.
If one should
visit the country of Turkiye, and one finds the want to buy an old
Ottoman Empire fez at some store. One tip:
DO NOT WEAR THE FEZ IN PUBLIC. The fez is considered a
symbol of the Ottoman empire, and has been deemed
illegal to wear. Wearing a fez indicates that you wish to return Turkiye to its
empire state.