- İstanbul has been the capital of three great empires, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman for more than 2,000 years.
- The famous Trojan wars took place in Western Turkey.
- Many references point to Themiscrya on the southern coast of the Black Sea in Anatolia as the Amazon homeland.
- The first church built by man ( St. Peters’ Church) is in Antakya, Turkey.
- In the days of old, trade from the Silk Road, the Middle East and from Russia all passed through Istanbul.
- Napoleon Bonaparte once said that if the Earth was a single state, Istanbul would be its capital.
- Grand Bazaar is the biggest old covered bazaar in the world, with over 3.000 shops.
- The first man ever to fly was Turkish. Using two wings, Hezarfen Ahmet Celebi flew from the Galata Tower over the Bosphorus to land in Uskudar in the 17th century.
- The first known University in history is in Harran, Southeast Turkey.
- The oldest known human settlement is in Catalhoyuk, Turkey (7th Millenium B.C.)
- Ephesus (the place for the two of the seven wonders of the ancient world) are in Turkey.
- St. Nicholas ( Santa Claus), was born in Patara and became the bishop of Demre, Turkey.
- Noah’s Ark landed on Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey.
- The last meal on Noah’s Ark, a pudding of sweet and sour taste known as Asure , is still served throughout Turkey.
- Turks introduced coffee to Europe. Paris was introduced to coffee in 1669 by Hoşsohbet Nüktedan Süleyman Ağa, who was sent by Sultan Mehmet IV as ambassador to the court of King Louis XIV of France.
- Turks gave the Dutch their famous tulips.
- Istanbul is the only city in the world built on two continents.
- Turkey is noted for having one of the three most famous and distinctive traditional cousins in the world.
- Writing was first used by people in ancient Turkey. The first clay tablets in the ruins of Asyyrian Karum (Merchant Colony) date back to 1950 B.C.
- The first Neolithic paintings found on man-made walls are in Catalhoyuk, Turkey.
- Turkey is the birthplace of historic legends, such as Homer (the poet), King Midas and Herodotus
- Julius Caesar proclaimed his celebrated words, “Veni, Vidi, Vici (I came, I saw, I conquered)” in Turkey when he defeated in the Black Sea region, Turkey.
- The first church dedicated to Virgin Mary in Ephesus.
- Turkey has hundreds beaches and marinas which have the “Blue Flag.
- The first recorded international treaty in the world was the Treaty of Kadesh between the Hittite and Egyptian Empires, Hattusilis III and Ramses II, in c.1275 BC.
- In 640 BC, for the first time in history, coins made of electrum were used by the Lydian king in Aegean region of Turkey.
- Alexander Great cut the Gordian knot near Ankara, Turkey.
- The Garden of Eden in the Book of Genesis was said to be watered by a river which separated into four streams as it left the garden; two of them the Dicle and Firat rise from the mountains of eastern Turkey.