Turkey

Turchia, meaning "the land of the Turks", had begun to be used in European texts for Anatolia by the end of the 12th century. As a word in Turkic languages, Turk may mean "strong, strength, ripe" or "flourishing, in full strength". It may also mean ripe as in for a fruit or "in the prime of life, young, and vigorous" for a person. As an ethnonym, the etymology is still unknown. In addition to usage in languages such as Chinese in the 6th century, the earliest mention of Turk (𐱅𐰇𐰺𐰜, türü̲k̲; or 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰚, türk/tẄrk) in Turkic languages comes from the Second Turkic Khaganate.

In Byzantine sources in the 10th century, the name Tourkia was used for defining two medieval states: Hungary (Western Tourkia); and Khazaria (Eastern Tourkia). The Mamluk Sultanate, with its ruling elite of Turkic origin, was called the "State of the Turks" (Dawlat at-Turk, or Dawlat al-Atrāk, or Dawlat-at-Turkiyya). Turkestan, also meaning the "land of the Turks", was used for a historic region in Central Asia.

Middle English usage of Turkye or Turkeye is found in The Book of the Duchess (written in 1369–1372) to refer to Anatolia or the Ottoman Empire. The modern spelling Turkey dates back to at least 1719. The bird called turkey was named as such due to trade of guineafowl from Turkey to England. The name Turkey has been used in international treaties referring to the Ottoman Empire. The Government of the Grand National Assembly adopted the name Türkiye Devleti ("State of Turkey"). With the Treaty of Alexandropol in 1920, the name Türkiye entered international documents for the first time. In the treaty signed with Afghanistan in 1921, the expression Devlet-i Âliyye-i Türkiyye ("Sublime Turkish State") was used, likened to the Ottoman Empire's name.

Upon the proclamation of the republic on 29 October 1923, the name Türkiye Cumhuriyeti (توركيه جمهوريتى) was adopted. In December 2021, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called for expanded official usage of Türkiye, saying that Türkiye "represents and expresses the culture, civilization, and values of the Turkish nation in the best way". In May 2022, the Turkish government requested the United Nations and other international organizations to use Türkiye officially in English; the UN agreed. Until 2022, its official English name remained the Republic of Turkey. Though not official, the term Turkish Republic is sometimes used in descriptive, historic, or academic contexts.

=== Prehistory and ancient history ===

Present-day Turkey has been inhabited by modern humans since the late Paleolithic period and contains some of the world's oldest Neolithic sites. Göbekli Tepe is close to 12,000 years old. Parts of Anatolia include the Fertile Crescent, an origin of agriculture. Other important Anatolian Neolithic sites include Çatalhöyük and Alaca Höyük. Neolithic Anatolian farmers differed genetically from farmers in Iran and Jordan Valley. These early Anatolian farmers also migrated into Europe, starting around 9,000 years ago. Troy's earliest layers go back to around 4500 BC.

Anatolia's historical records start with clay tablets from approximately around 2000 BC that were found in modern-day Kültepe. These tablets belonged to an Assyrian trade colony. The languages in Anatolia at that time included Hattian, Hurrian, Hittite, Luwian, and Palaic. Hattian was a language indigenous to Anatolia, with no known modern-day connections. Hurrian language was used in northern Syria. Hittite, Palaic, and Luwian languages were "the oldest written Indo-European languages", forming the Anatolian sub-group.

Hattian rulers were gradually replaced by Hittite rulers. The Hittite kingdom was a large kingdom in Central Anatolia, with its capital of Hattusa. It co-existed in Anatolia with Palaians and Luwians, approximately between 1700 and 1200 BC. As the Hittite kingdom was disintegrating, further waves of Indo-European peoples migrated from southeastern Europe, which was followed by warfare. The Thracians were also present in modern-day Turkish Thrace. It is not known if the Trojan War is based on historical events. Troy's Late Bronze Age layers matches most with Iliad's story.

Around 750 BC, Phrygia had been established, with its two centers in Gordium and modern-day Kayseri. Phrygians spoke an Indo-European language, which was closer to Greek than Anatolian languages. Phrygians shared Anatolia with Neo-Hittites and Urartu. Luwian-speakers were probably the majority in various Anatolian Neo-Hittite states. Urartians spoke a non-Indo-European language and their capital was around Lake Van. Urartu and Phrygia fell in seventh century BC. They were replaced by Carians, Lycians and Lydians. These three cultures "can be considered a reassertion of the ancient, indigenous culture of the Hattian cities of Anatolia".

In the late Bronze Age, there were three or four Greek-speaking settlements in Anatolia, including Miletus. Around 1000 BC, Greeks started migrating to the west coast of Anatolia. These eastern Greek settlements played a vital role in shaping the Archaic Greek civilization; important cities included Miletus, Ephesus, Halicarnassus, Smyrna (now İzmir) and Byzantium (now Istanbul). These settlements were grouped as Aeolis, Ionia, and Doris, after the specific Greek groups that settled them. Further Greek colonization in Anatolia was led by Miletus and Megara in 750–480 BC.

Cyrus attacked eastern Anatolia in 547 BC, and Achaemenid Empire eventually expanded into western Anatolia. In the east, the Armenian province was part of the Achaemenid Empire. Following the Greco-Persian Wars, the Greek city-states of the Anatolian Aegean coast regained independence, but most of the interior stayed part of the Achaemenid Empire. Two of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, and the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, were located in Anatolia.

Following the victories of Alexander in 334 BC and 333 BC, the Achaemenid Empire collapsed. This led to increasing cultural homogeneity and Hellenization of Anatolia, which met resistance in some places. Following Alexander's death, the Seleucids ruled large parts of Anatolia, while native Anatolian states emerged in the Marmara and Black Sea areas. In eastern Anatolia, the kingdom of Armenia appeared. In third century BC, Celts invaded central Anatolia and continued as a major ethnic group in the area for around 200 years. They were known as the Galatians.

When Pergamon requested assistance in its conflict with the Seleucids, Rome intervened in Anatolia in the second century BC. Without an heir, Pergamum's king left the kingdom to Rome, which was annexed as province of Asia. Roman influence grew in Anatolia afterwards. Following Asiatic Vespers massacre, and Mithridatic Wars with Pontus, Rome emerged victorious. Around the 1st century BC, Rome expanded into parts of Pontus and Bithynia, while turning rest of Anatolian states into Roman satellites. Several conflicts with Parthians ensued, with peace and wars alternating.

According to Acts of the Apostles, early Christian Church had significant growth in Anatolia because of St Paul's efforts. Letters from St. Paul in Anatolia comprise the oldest Christian literature. Under Roman authority, ecumenical councils such as Council of Nicaea (Iznik) in 325 served as a guide for developing "orthodox expressions of basic Christian teachings".

The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centered in Constantinople during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The eastern half of the Empire survived the conditions that caused the fall of the West in the 5th century AD, and continued to exist until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire remained the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in the Mediterranean world. The term Byzantine Empire was only coined following the empire's demise; its citizens referred to the polity as the "Roman Empire" and to themselves as Romans. Due to the imperial seat's move from Rome to Byzantium, the adoption of Christianity as the state religion, and the predominance of Greek instead of Latin, modern historians continue to make a distinction between the earlier Roman Empire and the later Byzantine Empire.

In the early Byzantine Empire period, the Anatolian coastal areas were Greek speaking. In addition to natives, interior Anatolia had diverse groups such as Goths, Celts, Persians and Jews. Interior Anatolia had been "heavily Hellenized". Anatolian languages eventually became extinct after Hellenization of Anatolia.

According to historians and linguists, the Proto-Turkic language originated in Central-East Asia. Initially, Proto-Turkic speakers were potentially both hunter-gatherers and farmers; they later became nomadic pastoralists. Early and medieval Turkic groups exhibited a wide range of both East Asian and West-Eurasian physical appearances and genetic origins, in part through long-term contact with neighboring peoples such as Iranic, Mongolic, Tocharian, Uralic, and Yeniseian peoples. During the 9th and 10th centuries CE, the Oghuz were a Turkic group that lived in the Caspian and Aral steppes. Partly due to pressure from the Kipchaks, the Oghuz migrated into Iran and Transoxiana. They mixed with Iranic-speaking groups in the area and converted to Islam. Oghuz Turks were also known as Turkmen or Turkoman.

The ruling family of the Seljuks originated from the Kınık branch of the Oghuz Turks. In 1040, the Seljuks defeated the Ghaznavids at the Battle of Dandanaqan and established the Seljuk Empire in Greater Khorasan. Baghdad, the Abbasid Caliphate's capital and center of the Islamic world, was taken by Seljuks in 1055. Given the role Khurasani traditions played in art, culture, and political traditions in the empire, the Seljuk period is described as a mixture of "Turkish, Persian and Islamic influences". In the latter half of the 11th century, the Seljuk Turks began penetrating into medieval Armenia and Anatolia. At the time, Anatolia was a diverse and largely Greek-speaking region after previously being Hellenized.

The Seljuk Turks defeated the Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, and later established the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum. During this period, there were also Turkish principalities such as Danishmendids. Seljuk arrival started the Turkification process in Anatolia; there were Turkic/Turkish migrations, intermarriages, and conversions into Islam. The shift took several centuries and happened gradually. Members of Islamic mysticism orders, such as Mevlevi Order, played a role in the Islamization of the diverse people of Anatolia. Seljuk expansion was one of the reasons for the Crusades. In 13th century, there was a second significant wave of Turkic migration, as people fled Mongol expansion. Seljuk sultanate was defeated by the Mongols at the Battle of Köse Dağ in 1243 and disappeared by the beginning of the 14th century. It was replaced by various Turkish principalities.

Based around Söğüt, Ottoman Beylik was founded by Osman I in the early 14th century. According to Ottoman chroniclers, Osman descended from the Kayı tribe of the Oghuz Turks. Ottomans started annexing the nearby Turkish beyliks (principalities) in Anatolia and expanded into the Balkans. Mehmed II completed Ottoman conquest of the Byzantine Empire by capturing its capital, Constantinople, on 29 May 1453. Selim I united Anatolia under Ottoman rule. Turkification continued as Ottomans mixed with various indigenous people in Anatolia and the Balkans.

The Ottoman Empire was a global power during the reigns of Selim I and Suleiman the Magnificent. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Sephardic Jews moved into Ottoman Empire following their expulsion from Spain. From the second half of the 18th century onwards, the Ottoman Empire began to decline. The Tanzimat reforms, initiated by Mahmud II in 1839, aimed to modernize the Ottoman state in line with the progress that had been made in Western Europe. The Ottoman constitution of 1876 was the first among Muslim states, but was short-lived.

As the empire gradually shrank in size, military power and wealth; especially after the Ottoman economic crisis and default in 1875 which led to uprisings in the Balkan provinces that culminated in the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878). The decline of the Ottoman Empire led to a rise in nationalist sentiment among its various subject peoples, leading to increased ethnic tensions which occasionally burst into violence, such as the Hamidian massacres of Armenians, which claimed up to 300,000 lives. Ottoman territories in Europe (Rumelia) were lost in the First Balkan War (1912–1913). Ottomans managed to recover some territory in Europe, such as Edirne, in the Second Balkan War (1913).

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, persecution of Muslims during the Ottoman contraction and in the Russian Empire resulted in estimated 5 million deaths, with the casualties including Turks. Five to seven or seven to nine million refugees migrated into modern-day Turkey from the Balkans, Caucasus, Crimea, and Mediterranean islands, shifting the center of the Ottoman Empire to Anatolia. In addition to a small number of Jews, the refugees were overwhelmingly Muslim; they were both Turkish and non-Turkish people, such as Circassians and Crimean Tatars. Paul Mojzes has called the Balkan Wars an "unrecognized genocide", where multiple sides were both victims and perpetrators. Circassian refugees included the survivors of the Circassian genocide.

Following the 1913 coup d'état, the Three Pashas took control of the Ottoman government. The Ottoman Empire entered World War I on the side of the Central Powers and was ultimately defeated. During the war, the empire's Armenian subjects were deported to Syria as part of the Armenian genocide. As a result, an estimated 600,000 to more than 1 million, or up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed. The Turkish government has refused to acknowledge the events as genocide and states that Armenians were only "relocated" from the eastern war zone. Genocidal campaigns were also committed against the empire's other minority groups such as the Assyrians and Greeks. Following the Armistice of Mudros in 1918, the victorious Allied Powers sought the partition of the Ottoman Empire through the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres.

The occupation of Istanbul (1918) and İzmir (1919) by the Allies in the aftermath of World War I initiated the Turkish National Movement. Under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Pasha, a military commander who had distinguished himself during the Battle of Gallipoli, the Turkish War of Independence (1919–1923) was waged with the aim of revoking the terms of the Treaty of Sèvres (1920).

The Turkish Provisional Government in Ankara, which had declared itself the legitimate government of the country on 23 April 1920, started to formalize the legal transition from the old Ottoman into the new Republican political system. The Ankara Government engaged in armed and diplomatic struggle. In 1921–1923, the Armenian, Greek, French, and British armies had been expelled. The military advance and diplomatic success of the Ankara Government resulted in the signing of the Armistice of Mudanya on 11 October 1922. On 1 November 1922, the Turkish Parliament in Ankara formally abolished the Sultanate, thus ending 623 years of monarchical Ottoman rule.

The Treaty of Lausanne of 24 July 1923, which superseded the Treaty of Sèvres, led to the international recognition of the sovereignty of the Turkish state as the successor state of the Ottoman Empire. On 4 October 1923, the Allied occupation of Turkey ended with the withdrawal of the last Allied troops from Istanbul. The Turkish Republic was officially proclaimed on 29 October 1923 in Ankara, the country's new capital. The Lausanne Convention stipulated a population exchange between Greece and Turkey.

Mustafa Kemal became the republic's first president and introduced many reforms. The reforms aimed to transform the old religion-based and multi-communal Ottoman monarchy into a Turkish nation state that would be governed as a parliamentary republic under a secular constitution. Women gained the right to vote nationally in 1934. With the Surname Law, the Turkish Parliament bestowed upon Kemal the honorific surname "Atatürk" (Father Turk). Atatürk's reforms caused discontent in some Kurdish and Zaza tribes leading to the Sheikh Said rebellion in 1925 and the Dersim rebellion in 1937.

İsmet İnönü became the country's second president following Atatürk's death in 1938. In 1939, the Republic of Hatay voted in favor of joining Turkey with a referendum. Turkey remained neutral during almost all of World War II, but entered the war on the side of the Allies on 23 February 1945. Later that year, Turkey became a charter member of the United Nations. In 1950 Turkey became a member of the Council of Europe. After fighting as part of the UN forces in the Korean War, Turkey joined NATO in 1952, becoming a bulwark against Soviet expansion into the Mediterranean.

Military coups or memorandums, which happened in 1960, 1971, 1980, and 1997, complicated Turkey's transition to a democratic multiparty system. Between 1960 and the end of the 20th century, the prominent leaders in Turkish politics who achieved multiple election victories were Süleyman Demirel, Bülent Ecevit and Turgut Özal. PKK started a "campaign of terrorist attacks on civilian and military targets" in the 1980s. It is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union. Tansu Çiller became the first female prime minister of Turkey in 1993. Turkey applied for full membership of the EEC in 1987, joined the European Union Customs Union in 1995 and started accession negotiations with the European Union in 2005. Customs Union had an important impact on the Turkish manufacturing sector.

In 2014, prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan won Turkey's first direct presidential election. On 15 July 2016, an unsuccessful coup attempt tried to oust the government. According to the Turkish government, there are 13,251 arrested or convicted people in jail as of 2024, related to the 2016 coup attempt. With a referendum in 2017, the parliamentary republic was replaced by an executive presidential system. The office of the prime minister was abolished, and its powers and duties were transferred to the president. On the referendum day, while the voting was still underway, the Supreme Electoral Council lifted a rule that required each ballot to have an official stamp. The opposition parties claimed that as many as 2.5 million ballots without a stamp were accepted as valid. In 2025 the PKK declared a ceasefire.

Turkey covers an area of 783,562 square kilometres (302,535 square miles). With Turkish straits and Sea of Marmara in between, Turkey bridges Western Asia and Southeastern Europe. Turkey's Asian side covers 97% of its surface, and is often called Anatolia. Another definition of Anatolia's eastern boundary is an imprecise line from the Black Sea to Gulf of Iskenderun. Eastern Thrace, Turkey's European side, includes around 15% of the population and covers 3% of the surface area. The country is encircled by seas on three sides: the Aegean Sea to the west, the Black Sea to the north and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Turkey is bordered by Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Iran to the east. To the south, it's bordered by Syria and Iraq. To the north, its Thracian area is bordered by Greece and Bulgaria.

Turkey is divided into "seven major regions": Marmara, Aegean, Central Anatolia, Black Sea, Eastern Anatolia, Southeastern Anatolia and the Mediterranean. As a general trend, the inland Anatolian Plateau becomes increasingly rugged as it progresses eastward. Mountain ranges include Köroğlu and Pontic mountain ranges to the north, and the Taurus Mountains to the south. The Lakes Region contains some of the largest lakes in Turkey such as Lake Beyşehir and Lake Eğirdir.

Geographers have used the eastern Anatolian plateau, Iranian plateau, and Armenian plateau terms to refer to the mountainous area around where Arabian and Eurasian tectonic plates merge. The eastern Anatolian plateau and Armenian plateau definitions largely overlap. The Eastern Anatolia region contains Mount Ararat, Turkey's highest point at 5,137 metres (16,854 feet), and Lake Van, the largest lake in the country. Eastern Turkey is home to the sources of rivers such as the Euphrates, Tigris and Aras. The Southeastern Anatolia Region includes the northern plains of Upper Mesopotamia.

Earthquakes happen frequently in Turkey. Almost the entire population lives in areas with varying seismic risk levels, with around 70% in highest or second-highest seismic areas. Anatolian plate is bordered by North Anatolian Fault zone to the north; East Anatolian Fault zone and Bitlis–Zagros collision zone to the east; Hellenic and Cyprus subduction zones to the south; and Aegean extensional zone to the west. After 1999 İzmit and 1999 Düzce earthquakes, North Anatolian Fault zone activity "is considered to be one of the most dangerous natural hazards in Turkey". 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes were the deadliest in contemporary Turkish history. Turkey is sometimes unfavorably compared to Chile, a country with a similar developmental level that is more successful with earthquake preparedness.

Turkey has rich biodiversity, and includes three biodiversity hotspots out of the 36 in the world. These are the Mediterranean, Irano-Anatolian, and Caucasus hotspots. Central or Eastern Anatolian steppe ecosystems contain wild animal and plant species whose genetic variation have important implications for the food industry, agriculture, and medicine. Other ecosystems in Turkey include Mediterranean plant types, temperate deciduous forest, and Alpine tundra. An extensive number of species of plants and animals exist in Turkey. These include around 197 mammal species, 420 bird species, 820 marine and freshwater fish species, 130 reptile species, and 10,150 vascular plant species. Some of these are endangered or critically endangered. A lot of the animal and plant species are endemic.

Landscapes in Turkey face a variety of threats and risks such as desertification, soil erosion, declining groundwater levels, and salinization of soil. 27% of Turkey is protected, which includes conservation areas, forests, national parks, biosphere reserves, natural monuments, and historical sites. There are 50 national parks; most visited in 2022 were Marmaris National Park and Beydağları Coastal National Park. As of 2020, Turkey's forests covered 29% of Turkey's surface area. Turkey's forests include globally largest concentrations of Cedrus libani and Mediterranean cypress trees, while Turkey's wetlands are significant for migratory birds.

Turkey's climate is highly varied due to rising overall elevation eastwards and the mountains that run alongside the coasts. Warm summers, "cool to cold" winters, and year-round wet conditions are found in the northern coasts. Rainless and hot summers, and wet, cool to mild winters describe the western and southern coasts of the country. Inland areas feature more severe winters, sharper temperature swings, and relatively low precipitation.

According to the Köppen climate classification, Turkey has 14 distinct climate zones. The Mediterranean climate is found in the Mediterranean, Aegean, Marmara, and Southeastern Anatolia regions of the country. In the Black Sea area, humid subtropical and oceanic climate types are usually found. Large swaths of Central and Eastern Anatolia are classified into semi-arid or continental climate types.

Turkey is highly vulnerable to climate change, due to socioeconomic, climatic, and geographic factors. This applies to nine out of ten climate vulnerability dimensions, such as "average annual risk to wellbeing". OECD median is two out of ten. Inclusive and swift growth is needed for decreasing vulnerability. Turkey aims to achieve net zero emissions by 2053. Accomplishing climate goals would require large investments, but would benefit the economy due to less illness and death from Turkey's air pollution, and less fuel imports.

Turkey is a presidential republic within a multi-party system. Due to Erdoğan's judicial capture, imprisonment of opposition politicians and dissidents, and repression of protest movements, Turkey is not considered a democracy but rather as a competitive or fully authoritarian system. The current constitution was approved by referendum in 1982, which determines the government's structure, lays forth the ideals and standards of the state's conduct, and sets out the state's responsibility to its citizens. Furthermore, the constitution specifies the people's rights and obligations, as well as principles for the delegation and exercise of sovereignty that belongs to the people of Turkey.

In the Turkish unitary system, citizens are subject to three levels of government: national, provincial, and local. The local government's duties are commonly split between municipal governments and districts, in which the executive and legislative officials are elected by a plurality vote of citizens by district. Turkey is subdivided into 81 provinces for administrative purposes. Each province is divided into districts, for a total of 973 districts.

The government, regulated by a system of separation of powers as defined by the constitution of Turkey, comprises three branches:

Legislative: The unicameral Parliament makes laws, debates and adopts the budget bills, declares war, approves treaties, proclaims amnesty and pardon, and has the power of impeachment, by which it can remove incumbent members of the government. The Parliament has 600 voting members, each representing a constituency for a five-year term. Parliamentary seats are distributed among the provinces by population, conforming with the census apportionment.

Executive: The president is the commander-in-chief of the military, can veto legislative bills before they become law (subject to parliamentary override), can issue presidential decrees on matters regarding executive power with the exception of fundamental rights, individual rights and certain political rights (parliamentary laws prevail presidential decrees), and appoints the members of the Cabinet and other officers, who administer and enforce national laws and policies. The president is elected by direct vote and serves a five-year term. The president cannot run for re-elections after two terms of five-years, unless the parliament prematurely renews the presidential elections during the second term of the President. Elections for the Parliament and presidential elections are held on the same day.

Judicial: The Constitutional Court (for constitutional adjudication and review of individual applications concerning human rights), the Court of Cassation (final decision maker in ordinary judiciary), the Council of State (final decision maker in administrative judiciary) and the Court of Jurisdictional Disputes (for resolving the disputes between courts for constitutional jurisdiction) are the four organizations that are described by the Constitution as supreme courts. The Constitutional Court is composed of fifteen judges and are appointed by the president and the parliament. A member is elected for a term of twelve years and cannot be re-elected. The members of the Constitutional Court are obliged to retire when they are over the age of sixty-five.

The three-branch system is known as the presidential system, in contrast to the parliamentary system where the executive is part of the legislative body.

Turkey is a unitary state. Its administrative system includes central and local administration. Central administration consists of the central government in Ankara, and local departments such as 81 provinces and their subdivisions. Local administration authorities consist of metropolitan municipalities, municipalities, neighborhoods or villages, and special provincial administrations. For economic and geographic reasons, Turkey is also categorized into seven regions and 21 sub-regions.

Elections in Turkey are held for six functions of government: presidential (national), parliamentary (national), municipality mayors (local), district mayors (local), provincial or municipal council members (local), and muhtars (local). Referendums are also held occasionally. Every Turkish citizen who has turned 18 has the right to vote and stand as a candidate at elections. Universal suffrage for both sexes has been applied throughout Turkey since 1934. In Turkey, turnout rates of both local and general elections are high compared to many other countries, which usually stands higher than 80%. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is currently serving as the head of state and head of government. Özgür Özel is the Main Opposition Leader.

The electoral threshold for political parties at national level is seven percent of the votes. Smaller parties can avoid the electoral threshold by forming an alliance with other parties. Independent candidates are not subject to an electoral threshold.

On the right side of the Turkish political spectrum, parties like the Democrat Party, Justice Party, Motherland Party, and Justice and Development Party became the most popular political parties in Turkey, winning numerous elections. Turkish right-wing parties are more likely to embrace the principles of political ideologies such as conservatism, nationalism or Islamism. On the left side of the spectrum, parties like the Republican People's Party, Social Democratic Populist Party and Democratic Left Party once enjoyed the largest electoral success. Left-wing parties are more likely to embrace the principles of socialism, Kemalism or secularism.

The Constitutional Court can strip the public financing of political parties that it deems anti-secular or having ties to terrorism, or ban their existence altogether.

On 20 May 2016, the Turkish parliament stripped almost a quarter of its members of immunity from prosecution, including 101 deputies from the pro-Kurdish HDP and the main opposition CHP party. In its 2023 report, the European Commission criticized how democratic institutions in Turkey operate. The criticism was rejected by Turkey.

With the founding of the Republic, Turkey adopted a civil law legal system, replacing Sharia-derived Ottoman law. The Civil Code, adopted in 1926, was based on the Swiss Civil Code of 1907 and the Swiss Code of Obligations of 1911. Although it underwent a number of changes in 2002, it retains much of the basis of the original Code. The Criminal Code, originally based on the Italian Criminal Code, was replaced in 2005 by a Code with principles similar to the German Penal Code and German law generally. Administrative law is based on the French equivalent and procedural law generally shows the influence of the Swiss, German and French legal systems. Islamic principles do not play a part in the legal system.

Law enforcement in Turkey is carried out by several agencies under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. These agencies are the General Directorate of Security, the Gendarmerie General Command and the Coast Guard Command. In the years of government by the Justice and Development Party and Erdoğan, particularly since 2013, the independence and integrity of the Turkish judiciary has increasingly been said to be in doubt by institutions, parliamentarians and journalists both within and outside of Turkey, because of political interference in the promotion of judges and prosecutors and in their pursuit of public duty.

Turkey has been characterized as an emerging, rising, middle, quasi-regional, and a regional power. Turkey's constant foreign policy goal is to pursue its national interests. These interests are mainly growing the economy, and maintaining security from internal terrorist and external threats. After the establishment of the Republic, Atatürk and İnönü followed the "peace at home, peace in the world" principle until the Cold War's start. Following threats from the Soviet Union, Turkey sought to ally with the United States and joined NATO in 1952.

Overall, Turkey aims for good relations with Central Asia, the Caucasus, Russia, the Middle East, and Iran. With the West, Turkey also aims to keep its arrangements. By trading with the east and joining the EU, Turkey pursues economic growth. Turkey joined the European Union Customs Union in 1995, but its EU accession talks are frozen as of 2024.

Turkey has sought closer relations with the Central Asian Turkic states after the breakup of the Soviet Union. Closer relations with Azerbaijan, a culturally close country, was achieved. Turkey is a founding member of the International Organization of Turkic Culture and Organization of Turkic States. It is also a member of Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Council of Europe, and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

Following the Arab Spring, Turkey had problems with countries such as United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. Relations with these countries have improved since then. There are disputes with Greece over maritime boundaries and with Cyprus. In 2018, the Turkish military and the Turkish-backed forces began an operation in Syria aimed at ousting US-backed YPG (which Turkey considers to be an offshoot of the outlawed PKK) from the enclave of Afrin. Turkey has also conducted airstrikes in Iraqi Kurdistan, which was criticized by Iraq for violating its sovereignty and killing civilians. Diplomatic relations with Israel were damaged after the 2010 Gaza flotilla raid, normalized in 2016, and cut again following the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip. In 2024, Turkey stopped trading with Israel.