The modern, secular republic of Turkey was established in the 1920s by nationalist leader Kemal Ataturk.
Before the birth of present-day Turkey, the region had been part of the Ottoman Empire since the 15th century, when the city of Constantinople – now Istanbul – was taken over by the Ottomans. Until then, it was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, having been founded by the Romans under the name of Byzantium.
With territory stretching from Europe to Asia, Turkey’s strategically important location has given it great influence in the region – and control over the entrance to the Black Sea. The city of Istanbul is divided between the European and Asian continents, with the Bosphorus Strait separating the two sides.
After Ataturk’s death in 1938, the Army saw itself as a protective power of the Constitution. In that capacity, he repeatedly overthrew governments he saw as threats to the republic’s secular values.
Turkey’s entry into the European Union has been a major ambition of the country for many years. Negotiations for its possible acceptance began in 2005, but failed to move forward due to many questions about Turkey’s record in the area of human rights.
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Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, is divided between Europe and Asia, with the Bosphorus Strait separating the two sides
With the arrival of Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the helm of the country and the concentration of power in his hands, the possibility of Turkey joining the European bloc has become even more remote.
Kurds make up about 20% of the population. Kurdish separatists, who accuse the Turkish state of seeking to destroy their cultural identity, launched an armed campaign in the 1980s that lasted for decades to come.
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Capital: Ankara
Population80 million
Area779,452 square kilometers
main languagesTurkish (official), Kurdish
main religionislam
Life expectancy72 years old (male), 79 years old (female)
CoinTurkish lira
Source: UN, World Bank
President: Recep Tayyip Erdogan
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Recep Erdogan changed the Turkish constitution to introduce presidentialism, increasing the power of his office
In addition to winning a new mandate in the June 2018 presidential election, Recep Tayyip Erdogan also gained significant new powers under a new system approved by voters the previous year.
He first came to power in 2003, in a sweeping election victory for his political group, the Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP), of which he is a founding member.
Erdogan spent 11 years as Turkish prime minister before becoming the country’s first directly elected president in August 2014 – a post that is supposed to be more figurative.
His followers praise him for bringing years of economic growth to Turkey, but his critics see him as an autocratic leader, intolerant of dissent and harshly silencing anyone who opposes him.
In July 2016, the AKP government survived an attempted coup, in which clashes in the streets of Istanbul and Ankara left 256 people dead. Authorities subsequently detained thousands of soldiers, judges, teachers and civil servants suspected of involvement in the attempt to overthrow the government. According to President Erdogan, the frustrated uprising was inspired by exiled opponent Fethullah Gulen.
A referendum in 2017 narrowly approved a constitutional change that gave the country a presidential system, which significantly increased Erdogan’s powers.
The Turkish media sector is vibrant, with hundreds of private radio and TV stations competing with the state-owned communications company, TRT. Television is by far the most influential medium, and both print and electronic media are operated by powerful corporations.
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The press in Turkey has been the target of prosecution and intimidation by the country’s government.
For journalists, the Armed Forces, Kurds and political aspects of Islam are extremely sensitive topics, coverage of which can lead to arrest and prosecution. Some of the most repressive restrictions have been removed in the process of joining the European Union, but it is still a crime to insult the Turkish nation and the country’s president. A wave of prosecutions against journalists under Erdogan has raised new concerns about press freedom in Turkey.
Relations between Brazil and Turkey were born when both were not mere countries, they were empires. In the case of Brazil, the category reflected only the political system, for the Turks it was an empire that included the Balkans, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Syria, as well as Tunisia, northern Libya and other parts of the Middle East.
Within this different configuration, in 1858 the Empire of Brazil and the Ottoman Empire signed the Bilateral Treaty of Friendship and Commerce. In 1927, a new Treaty of Friendship was signed, this time between the still young Republic of Turkey and a now republican Brazil.
Cordial relations became closer at the beginning of the 21st century. In 2009, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva became the first Brazilian head of state to visit Turkey.
The following year, Brasilia and Ankara proposed an agreement to Iran in an attempt to end the impasse over its nuclear program. The agreement, which provided for Iran to send uranium to be enriched abroad, was not put into practice because it was not accepted by the United States.
The initiative, however, brought Brazil and Turkey closer together, which at the time were two emerging forces politically and economically, representing two different parts of the world.
Political rapprochement led to an increase in bilateral trade, which jumped from US$ 1.15 billion a year in 2008 to US$ 2.89 billion in 2018 – with a balance strongly favorable to Brazil.
Important dates in Turkish history:
Antique – Region constantly invaded and dominated by Greeks, Persians and other peoples.
324 – The city of Byzantium, present-day Istanbul, is chosen by Emperor Constantine as the new capital of the Roman Empire. Later, the city would be called Constantinople.
1453 – Sultan Mehmed II – known as Mehmed the Conqueror – captures the city of Constantinople, ending the Byzantine Empire and consolidating the Ottoman Empire in Asia Minor and the Balkans.
15th and 16th centuries – Expansion towards Asia and Africa.
1683 – The Ottoman advance into Europe is stopped at the Battle of Vienna. A long decline of the empire begins.
1908 – The Young Turkish Revolution establishes a constitutional regime, but turns into a military dictatorship during World War I, in which the Ottoman Empire fights in an alliance with Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
1918-22 – The partition of the defeated Ottoman Empire leads to the eventual triumph of the Turkish National Movement in a war of independence against foreign occupation and the sultan’s regime.
1923 – Turkey declares the creation of a republic with Kemal Ataturk as president. Then the country becomes secular.
1952 – Turkey abandons Ataturk’s policy of neutrality and becomes a member of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), the western military alliance.
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Hagia Sophia, originally a cathedral and museum since 1935, has been returned to use as a mosque
1960 – Military coup against the government of the Democratic Party.
1974 – Turkish troops occupy northern Cyprus, dividing the island.
1984 – The Kurdish group PKK launches a separatist guerrilla campaign that turns into a civil conflict that remains active for decades.
2011 – Civil war in Syria begins, leading to tension on the Turkish border and a huge influx of Syrian refugees into Turkey.
2013 – Protests against the redevelopment of the Taksim Gezi park turn into a wave of demonstrations against the government, accused of threatening secularism in the country.
2016 – Military coup against President Erdogan failed.
2017 – Referendum approves the change of system, from parliamentarism to presidentialism, increasing Erdogan’s power.
2020 – Government allows Hagia Sophia, Istanbul’s tourist reference and maintained as a museum since 1935, to be used again as a mosque for prayers. Built in 537 as a cathedral for the then Eastern Roman Empire, it had already been transformed into a mosque after the city was taken over by the Ottomans in 1453.
2023 – A strong earthquake of magnitude 7.8 hits the border between Turkey and Syria causing the death of hundreds of people in addition to great destruction. On the Turkish side, the city of Kahramanmaraş in the east of the country received the greatest impact from the tremor and recorded a large number of victims.