Meryem Uzerli: Interesting facts about Turkey

Why Turkey (country) is called Turkey(bird)? Actually, opposite is true. The bird Turkey takes its name from the country named Turkey. Turkey (bird) is native to Americas and when Europeans first encountered them, they incorrectly identified these birds as a type of guineafowl (Numididae). At that time guineafowl were also known as turkey fowl (or turkey hen and turkey cock) because they were imported to Central Europe through Turkey. The name turkey fowl, shortened to just the name of the country, stuck as the name of the North American bird.[1]
The largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date is in Turkey. The place is named Çatalhöyük and is in southern Anatolia. The settlement existed from approximately 7500 BCE to 5700 BCE! 9,000 years ago, at a time when most of the world's population were wandering hunter-gatherers, Catalhoyuk was one of the world's largest settlements with a population of 10,000. The settlement is composed of domestic buildings an was home to 10,000 people at some time before being abandoned before Bronze age. Many in Turkey think this place is the oldest settlement ever found but this record probably goes to Jericho (Israel) where earliest settlements goes to 11,000 years back!

Troy, the legendary city best known for being the setting of the Trojan War described in the Greek Epic Cycle and especially in the Iliad, is in Turkey. It is located in located in northwest Anatolia, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida. So basically, the famous Trojan Wars took place in Western Turkey. There is an urban legends circulated in Turkey which hints Turks relate themselves to the people of Troy: According to the Turkish writer Sabahattin Eyüboglu’s book "Mavi ve Kara" (Blue and Black), Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, told an officer besides him "We’ve got revenge of Troy at Dumlupinar". Dumlupinar was a war between Turkish army and Greek army which was invading Anatolia after WWI.
Santa Claus was born in the town of Patara on the South West coast of Turkey between the years of 260 and 280AD. Technically, the republic of Turkey was not formed until 1923 so if you want to split hairs, Patara at that time was under Lycian rule. 2 – The true name of Santa Claus was Nicholas and in adult life, he became the bishop of Myra which was a town further up the coast from Patara. It is now called Demre.[2]
Another interesting thing is that, the trojan horse built for the famous 2004 movie Troy is currently in Canakkale city in western Turkey near Ancient Troy.

Trojan Horse built for the movie Troy in Canakkale Turkey - Source : mlahanas

Istanbul, the largest and the most famous city in Turkey, is the only city in the world built on two continents. The city lies both on Europe and Asia and two sides are connected by 2 large bridges (and a 3rd one is under construction).
No, Istanbul is not the capital of Turkey. Istanbul was the capital of the Ottoman Empire and still the cultural, economical and social capital of Turkey but it lost its title as political capital to Ankara when Turkey was founded.
According to IMF, Turkey has the 18th largest economy in the world in terms of nominal GDP.

Meryem Uzerli