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25 Interesting Facts About Turkey

We have brought together 25 interesting facts about Turkey that surprise foreigners for you. Happy reading…

  1. Santa Claus lived in Turkey but Turks do not celebrate Christmas.
  2. Turkey is the country where mosque per capita is the highest.
  3. Turks eat bread in every meal.
  4. Unlike Americans, most of the Turks do not eat bread with pasta.
  5. Turks answer the phone by saying “Efendim?” This expression sounds strange especially for foreigners; because the root of the word “efendi” (master) indicates a kind of hierarchy.
  6. 99% of the Turks are Muslim; however, they have a very rich legacy of Christianity.
  7. Most of the Turks drink 10 or more cups of turkish tea in a day.
  8. There is a room concept called “salon” in Turkey and in that room, the most beautiful furniture and goods are presented. “Salon” is only used when guests come.
  9. Arranged marriage is very common in Turkey.
  10. 3% of Turkey is located in Europe and the rest of it is a part of Asia.
  11. Turkish is an agglutinative language which means that the root of the words could be extended to the utmost by adding appendices. For example; a sentence that is made as “I will be able to come” can be made as a one-word sentence “Gelebileceğim” by adding appendices to a one word. It is known that the longest word in Turkish is “Çekoslavakyalılaştıramadıklarımızdan mısınız?” and this is how long it is in English: “You are said to be one of those that we couldn’t manage to convert to a Czechoslovak.”
  12. The equivalent of the word lion is “aslan” in Turkish.
  13. Jelly is an American sweet based on Turkish delight.
  14. Turkey borders eight country and three seas.
  15. Turks are very hospitable. It is not an unusual situation that people you do not know in Turkey talk to you and invite you to drink some tea.
  16. Turks have excellent cuisine culture; baklava, şiş kebap (shish kebab), biber dolması (stuffed green pepper), kabak dolması (stuffed zucchini), yaprak sarması (stuffed grape leaves), pirinç pilavı (rice pilaf), olive, many fruit and vegetables, etc.
  17. Turkey’s population is almost 85 million. This is twice the population of California (America).
  18. Bob Dylan is Turkish as well as Dr. Mehmet Öz, who often appears on the TV show of Oprah Winfrey a very famous presenter.
  19. If you have not eaten Maraş ice-cream in your life it is most likely that you do not know the exact meaning of the word “magnificent”. It is not known how or why; but, this ice-cream is so thick and you even need to cut it with a knife to eat it. “Magnificent” may not be enough to describe Maraş ice-cream.
  20. Incredible Roman remains are found in Turkey.
  21. It is believed that Noah’s Ark is located in Ağrı Mountain.
  22. The first church ever built is St. Peter Church in Antakya, Turkey. Seven churches mentioned in the Bible is located in Turkey.
  23. Turks gave the Dutch their famous tulips.
  24. The next time you sip your mocha you should remember that Turks are the ones that introduced coffee to Europeans.
  25. Maybe one of the biggest problems that Turkey has is the ambiguity that existed with the bird that is called “turkey” (“hindi” in Turkish) but has nothing to do with the country Turkey because the bird got its name long after this country had been entitled as Turkey. There is a bird in Turkey similar to “hindi” but a smaller one called çulluk. Long before the exploration of America, British merchants discovered çulluk and exported this delicious bird to England. The bird became widespread in the country and because it came to England from Turkey, they called it “Turk bird” or shortly “turkey” (hindi-Turkey). When the British came to America they saw the real hindi and they mistake hindi for çulluk and they called it “turkey”, too. Thus, hindi has been called turkey since then.

Which item surprised you the most?

Ece Nagihan

Hi, I'm Ece. I am a writer for Expat Guide Turkey and I strive to create the best content for you. To contact me, you can send an e-mail to info@expatguideturkey.com. Happy reading!

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