turkish people

Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye Ð›â‚¬tyЙѕcije]), officially the Republic of Türkiye (Turkish: Türkiye Cumhuriyeti [Л€tyЙѕcije dК’umЛ€huЙѕijeti] (listen)), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia to the northeast; ArmeniaAzerbaijan, and Iran to the east; Iraq to the southeast; Syria and the Mediterranean Sea to the south; the Aegean Sea to the west; and Greece and Bulgaria to the northwest. Cyprus is off the south coast. Most people are Turks, and Kurds are the largest minority. Ankara is Turkey's capital, while Istanbul is its largest city and financial centre.

One of the world's earliest permanently settled regions, present-day Turkey was home to important Neolithic sites like Göbekli Tepe, and was inhabited by ancient civilisations including the HattiansHittitesAnatolian peoplesMycenaean GreeksPersians and others. Following the conquests of Alexander the Great which started the Hellenistic period, most of the ancient regions were culturally Hellenised, and this continued during the Byzantine era. The Seljuk Turks began migrating in the 11th century, and the Sultanate of Rum ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, when it disintegrated into small Turkish principalities. Beginning in the late 13th century, the Ottomans united the principalities and conquered the Balkans, and the Turkification of Anatolia increased during the Ottoman period. After Mehmed II conquered Constantinople (now Istanbul) in 1453, Ottoman expansion continued under Selim I. During the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman Empire became a global power. From the late 18th century onwards, the empire's power declined with a gradual loss of territories. Mahmud II started a period of modernisation in the early 19th century. The Young Turk Revolution of 1908 restricted the authority of the Sultan and restored the Ottoman Parliament after a 30-year suspension, ushering the empire into a multi-party period. The Three Pashas took control with the 1913 coup d'état, and entered World War I as one of the Central Powers in 1914. During the war, the Ottoman government committed genocides against its ArmenianGreek and Assyrian subjects. After its defeat in the war, the Ottoman Empire was partitioned.