Turkey: 15 Things You Didn’t Know (Part 2)


Turkey is a large country, filled with history and culture. More than enough for 15 interesting facts. But here are some more things you might not know about the fascinating nation.

Number Eight: Turkey is in Not One, But Two Continents. The majority of the country is located in Asia. But the westernmost part of the country – including much of Istanbul, it’s the countries major cultural center – is in Europe. Not many countries can claim this distinction (Russia is another).

Number Seven: Turkey May Have Given Us Agriculture. That’s right: agriculture. Farming. Some historians suggest that the first ever farmers were located in Turkey over 11,000 years ago.

Number Six: It Contains Many Important Christian Locations. Turkey is one of many majority-Muslim countries today, but at one point, much of its population was Christian. Because of this, there are numerous significant Christian sites in the nation, including the first Christian house or worship in Antioch.

Number Five: Its National Sport is Oil Wrestling. It’s exactly what it sounds like. Well, unless you’re imagining that women would oil wrestle. Because for the most part, women do not oil wrestle. For the most part, only large, muscular men cover themselves in oil and try and throw each other to the ground.

Number Four: It Has Its Own Cinema. Most countries can claim some homegrown filmmakers, but Turkey is rare in that Turkish films make more money there than Hollywood films (this isn’t the case for much of the world).

Number Three: Turkey is an Easy Language to Learn. Its alphabet contains some letters and symbols that are foreign to English-speakers, but apparently it’s an easy language to pick up on.

Number Two: Turks Committed One of the Worst Genocides in History. Turkey was still The Ottoman Empire at the time, but during World War II, a million and a half Armenians were killed in forced relocation and in camps. The Turkish government denies that a genocide took place, but many in the world disagree.

Number One: There Are a Lot of Plants. This might seem like an anticlimactic end to a list about a fascinating country, but it’s not, because a new plant is discovered every ten days in Turkey. Every ten days – that’s incredible.