page_title: Turkey
section_title: Sports
hierarchical_section_title: Turkey / Culture / Sports
caption_attribution_description: Español: La selección Turquía tras recibir la medalla de plata en el Mundial de baloncesto 2010, celebrado en su país.English: Basketballplayers: Jersey-No. #5 Sinan Güler, #7 Ömer Onan, #8 Ersan İlyasova, #9 Semih Erden, #12 Kerem Gönlüm, #13 Ender Arslan, #14 Ömer Aşık, #11 Oğuz Savaş.
context_page_description: Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey, is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula in Southeastern Europe. East Thrace, the part of Turkey in Europe, is separated from Anatolia by the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus and the Dardanelles. Istanbul, which straddles Europe and Asia, is the largest city in the country, while Ankara is the capital. Turkey is bordered on its northwest by Greece and Bulgaria; north by the Black Sea; northeast by Georgia; east by Armenia, the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan and Iran; southeast by Iraq; south by Syria and the Mediterranean Sea; and west by the Aegean Sea. Approximately 70 to 80 percent of the country's citizens identify as Turkish, while Kurds are the largest minority, at between 15 to 20 percent of the population.
  At various points in its history, the region has been inhabited by diverse civilisations including the Anatolian peoples, Assyrians, Greeks, Thracians, Phrygians, Urartians, and Armenians. Hellenization started during the era of Alexander the Great and continued into the Byzantine era.
context_section_description: The most popular sport in Turkey is association football. Galatasaray won the UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup in 2000. The Turkish national football team has won the bronze medal at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup and UEFA Euro 2008.
  Other mainstream sports such as basketball and volleyball are also popular. The men's national basketball team won the silver medal at the 2010 FIBA World Championship and at the EuroBasket 2001, which were both hosted by Turkey; and is one of the most successful at the Mediterranean Games. Turkish basketball club Fenerbahçe played the Final of the EuroLeague in three consecutive seasons (2016, 2017 and 2018), becoming the European champions in 2017 and runners-up in 2016 and 2018. Another Turkish basketball club, Anadolu Efes S.K. won the 1995–96 FIBA Korać Cup, were the runners-up of the 2018–19 EuroLeague and the 1992–93 FIBA Saporta Cup, and finished third at the 1999–2000 EuroLeague and the 2000–01 SuproLeague. Beşiktaş won the 2011–12 FIBA EuroChallenge, and Galatasaray won the 2015–16 Eurocup. The Final of the 2013–14 EuroLeague Women basketball championship was played between two Turkish teams, Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe, and won by Galatasaray. The women's national basketball team won the silver medal at the EuroBasket Women 2011 and the bronze medal at the EuroBasket Women 2013. Like the men's team, the women's basketball team is one of the most successful at the Mediterranean Games.
  The women's national volleyball team won the gold medal at the 2015 European Games, the silver medal at the 2003 European Championship, the bronze medal at the 2011 European Championship, and the bronze medal at the 2012 FIVB World Grand Prix. They also won multiple medals over multiple decades at the Mediterranean Games. Women's volleyball clubs, namely Fenerbahçe, Eczacıbaşı and Vakıfbank, have won numerous European championship titles and medals. Fenerbahçe won the 2010 FIVB Women's Club World Championship and the 2012 CEV Women's Champions League. Representing Europe as the winner of the 2012–13 CEV Women's Champions League, Vakıfbank also became the world champion by winning the 2013 FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship. Recently Vakıfbank has won the 2017 FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship and the 2017–18 CEV Women's Champions League for the fourth time in their history.
  The traditional national sport of Turkey has been yağlı güreş (oil wrestling) since Ottoman times. Edirne Province has hosted the annual Kırkpınar oil wrestling tournament since 1361, making it the oldest continuously held sporting competition in the world. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Ottoman Turkish oil wrestling champions such as Koca Yusuf, Nurullah Hasan and Kızılcıklı Mahmut acquired international fame in Europe and North America by winning world heavyweight wrestling championship titles. International wrestling styles governed by FILA such as freestyle wrestling and Greco-Roman wrestling are also popular, with many European, World and Olympic championship titles won by Turkish wrestlers both individually and as a national team. Renowned Turkish freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestlers who won international competitions include Yaşar Doğu, Celal Atik, Mahmut Atalay, Hamza Yerlikaya, Rıza Kayaalp and Taha Akgül.
caption: Turkey won the silver medal at the 2010 FIBA World Championship.
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 7D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2010:09:13 05:39:49", "Image Artist": "Chris Johnson", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "Chris Johnson", "Image ExifOffset": "360", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "9098", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "10988", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "20532", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/400", "EXIF FNumber": "8", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Shutter Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "1600", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:09:13 05:39:49", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:09:13 05:39:49", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "69/8", "EXIF ApertureValue": "6", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "-1/3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "70", "EXIF SubSecTime": "92", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "92", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "92", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "5184", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3456", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "9052", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "5184000/907", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "691200/119", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}