Turkey is a republic straddling southeastern Europe and western Asia, founded from the territory of the Ottoman Empire after that empire's defeat in the First World War and the Turkish War of Independence that followed it. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk led the republic's founding and a sweeping programme of secularising reform, replacing the empire's millet system of religious communal law with a single civil code applied equally to all citizens; the country was governed as a parliamentary democracy for most of its republican history before a 2017 constitutional referendum shifted it toward a presidential system.
Facts
Founding Year29 October 1923 is the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey under Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and it is the date this entry uses rather than any of the other defensible candidates the transition from empire to republic offers. Not 1918, the Ottoman Empire's armistice and defeat in the First World War, which left the empire diminished but still a monarchy. Not 1 November 1922, when the Grand National Assembly abolished the Ottoman Sultanate itself, ending six centuries of Ottoman monarchy, because the country was governed for almost a year afterward with no head of state at all while the Assembly negotiated the Treaty of Lausanne, and no republic had yet been declared. Not 3 March 1924, when the Caliphate was abolished, a further secularising step that followed the republic rather than founding it. 29 October 1923 is the specific date the Grand National Assembly proclaimed Turkey a republic and elected Ataturk its first president, the moment a form of government, popular sovereignty exercised through an elected republic, replaced imperial monarchy outright. That is the same test this atlas applies to China's 1949 and Russia's 1991: not when the old order weakened or fell, but when the government presently in place was actually founded. Classification
Freedom Status Turkey
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Connections
Associated With
Source Constitution of Turkey (Wikipedia)
The millet system was seated at Constantinople/Istanbul, in modern Turkey's territory, though the source itself never names modern Turkey directly.
Source Ottoman Millet System (Encyclopedia.com)
This source names Turkey directly: "Britannica country overview of Turkey, covering the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the founding of the Republic of Turkey under Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and its subsequent constitutional history."
Source Turkey (Britannica)
Governed By
Source Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Wikipedia)
Practices
Source Party-list proportional representation (Wikipedia)
Source Turkey (Britannica)
Source Turkey (Britannica)
Shaped By
Source Turkey (Britannica)
Source Turkey (Britannica)
Signed
Signatory state, Treaty of Lausanne, 1923.
Source Treaty of Lausanne (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases
Has Member
Also in Economics Atlas: a member of this subject.
Also in Economics Atlas: a member of this subject.
Sources
1. Freedom House: Turkey (Freedom in the World 2025)
Freedom HouseOverview, Global Freedom Score 32/100 (not free)Quote, Overview, Global Freedom Score 32/100 (not free)
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, whose Justice and Development Party (AKP) has ruled Turkey since 2002, has become increasingly authoritarian over the past decade, consolidating power through constitutional changes and the imprisonment of political opponents, independent journalists, and members of civil society.
2. Turkey (Britannica)
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationGoverned By: Erdogan Administration, Lead section, opening sentenceQuote, Governed By: Erdogan Administration, Lead section, opening sentence
is a Turkish politician who has been the president of Turkey since 2014
Constitution of Turkey (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Constitution of Turkey, IntroductionQuote, Associated With: Constitution of Turkey, Introduction
The Constitution of Turkey, formally known as the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey, and informally as the Constitution of 1982, is Turkey's fundamental law.
Party-list proportional representation (Wikipedia)
Practices: Party-List Proportional Representation, Lead paragraphQuote, Practices: Party-List Proportional Representation, Lead paragraph
Voters may cast votes for parties, as in Spain, Turkey, and Israel (closed lists)
Justice and Development Party (CIA World Factbook archive, Turkey)
Encompasses: Justice and Development Party, Government: partiesQuote, Encompasses: Justice and Development Party, Government: parties
Justice and Development Party (Ak Party) (267); Republican People's Party (CHP) (130); Green and the Left Party of the Future (YSGP) (57); Nationalist Action Party (MHP) (50); Good Party (İyi Party) (44); Other (52)
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