18 Nisan 2009 Cumartesi

16 Nisan 2009 Perşembe

My country : Turkiye
















Capital: Ankara

Largest City: Istanbul

RepublicFounder: Mustafa Kemal ATATURK

Population: 71,517,100

Internet TLD: .tr

Calling Code: 90














A BRIEF HISTORY
The Ottoman Empire entered World War I through the Ottoman-German Alliance in 1914, and was ultimately defeated. After the war, the victorious Allied Powers sought the dismemberment of the Ottoman state through the Treaty of Sèvres.The occupation of İstanbul and İzmir by the Allies in the aftermath of World War I prompted the establishment of 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 Independencewas waged with the aim of revoking the terms of the Treaty of Sèvres.By September 18, 1922, the occupying armies were repelled and thecountry saw the birth of the new Turkish state. On November 1, the newly founded parliament formally abolished the Sultanate, thus ending 623 years of Ottoman rule. The Treaty of Lausanne of July 24, 1923, led to the international recognition of the sovereignty of the newly formed "Republic of Turkey" as the successor state of the Ottoman Empire, and the republic was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923, in the new capital of Ankara.Mustafa Kemal became the republic's first president and subsequently introduced many radical reformswith the aim of founding a new secular republic from the remnants ofits Ottoman past.According to the Law on Family Names, the Turkishparliament presented Mustafa Kemal with the honorific name "Atatürk" (Father of the Turks) in 1934.



Turkey is a founding member of the United Nations (1945), the OECD (1961), the OIC (1969), the OSCE (1973), the ECO (1985), the BSEC (1992) and the G-20 major economies (1999). On October 17, 2008, Turkey received the votes of 151 countries and was elected as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, on behalf of the Western European and Others Group, together with Austriawhich received 132 votes. Turkey's membership of the councileffectively began on January 1, 2009. Turkey had previously been amember of the U.N. Security Council in 1951-1952, 1954-1955 and 1961.


The capital city of Turkey is Ankara. The territory of Turkey is subdivided into 81 provinces for administrative purposes. The provinces are organized into 7 regions for censuspurposes; however, they do not represent an administrative structure.Each province is divided into districts, for a total of 923districts.The biggest city and the pre-Republican capital İstanbul is the financial, economic and cultural heart of the country. Other important cities include İzmir, Bursa, Adana, Trabzon, Malatya, Gaziantep, Erzurum, Kayseri, Kocaeli, Konya, Mersin, Eskişehir, Diyarbakır, Antalya and Samsun.An estimated 70.5% of Turkey's population live in urban centersIn all,18 provinces have populations that exceed 1 million inhabitants, and 21provinces have populations between 1 million and 500,000 inhabitants.Only two provinces have populations less than 100,000.


Turkey is a transcontinental Eurasian country. Asian Turkey (made up largely of Anatolia), which includes 97% of the country, is separated from European Turkey by the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles (which together form a water link between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean). European Turkey (eastern Thrace or Rumelia in the Balkan peninsula) includes 3% of the country.


The territory of Turkey is more than 1,600 kilometres (1,000 mi) longand 800 km (500 mi) wide, with a roughly rectangular shape. Turkey'shighest point at 5,165 metres (16,946 ft).
Turkey has a very diverse culture that is a blend of various elements of the Oğuz Turkic, Anatolian, Ottoman (which was itself a continuation of both Greco-Roman and Islamic cultures) and Western culture and traditions, which started with the Westernization of the Ottoman Empireand still continues today. This mix originally began as a result of theencounter of Turks and their culture with those of the peoples who werein their path during their migrationfrom Central Asia to the West. As Turkey successfully transformed fromthe religion-based former Ottoman Empire into a modern nation-statewith a very strong separation of state and religion, an increase in themethods of artistic expression followed. During the first years of therepublic, the government invested a large amount of resources into finearts; such as museums, theatres, opera houses and architecture. Becauseof different historical factors playing an important role in definingthe modern Turkish identity, Turkish culture is a product of efforts tobe "modern" and Western, combined with the necessity felt to maintaintraditional religious and historical values.


Turkish music and literature form great examples of such a mixof cultural influences, which were a result of the interaction betweenthe Ottoman Empire and the Islamic world along with Europe, thuscontributing to a blend of Turkic, Islamic and European traditions in modern-day Turkish music and literary arts (In picture Eurovision Music Contest Winner-Sertap ERENER, 2003)


Architectural elements found in Turkey are also testaments to the unique mix oftraditions that have influenced the region over the centuries. Inaddition to the traditional Byzantine elements present in numerous parts of Turkey, many artifacts of the later Ottoman architecture,with its exquisite blend of local and Islamic traditions, are to befound throughout the country, as well as in many former territories ofthe Ottoman Empire. Sinanis widely regarded as the greatest architect of the classical period inOttoman architecture. Since the 18th century, Turkish architecture hasbeen increasingly influenced by Western styles, and this can beparticularly seen in Istanbul where buildings like the Blue Mosque and the Dolmabahçe Palace are juxtaposed next to numerous modern skyscrapers, all of them representing different traditions.



The most popular sport in Turkey is football. Turkey's top teams include Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş. In 2000, Galatasaray cemented its role as a major European club by winning the UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup. Two years later the Turkish national team finished third in the 2002 World Cup Finals in Japan and South Korea, while in 2008 the national team reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Euro 2008 competition. The Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul hosted the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final, while the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium in Istanbul will host the 2009 UEFA Cup Final.

10 Nisan 2009 Cuma

The Pandora Box Project

This is a project of eTwinning. It is about cultural characteristics of the participant countries. We are Netherlands,UK,Turkiye for now. But I do beleive that we will be much more :)