page_title: Postage stamps and postal history of Turkey
section_title: The Republic of Turkey
hierarchical_section_title: Postage stamps and postal history of Turkey / The Republic of Turkey
context_page_description: The postal history of Turkey and its predecessor state, the Ottoman Empire, dates to the 18th century when foreign countries maintained courier services through their consular offices in the Empire. Although delayed in the development of its own postal service, in 1863 the Ottoman Empire became the second independent country in Asia to issue adhesive postage stamps, and in 1875, it became a founding member of the General Postal Union, soon to become the Universal Postal Union. The Ottoman Empire became the Republic of Turkey in 1923, and in the following years, its postal service became more modernized and efficient and its postage stamps expertly designed and manufactured.
  The Ottoman Empire's early or "classic" stamp issues between 1863 and 1888 are popular among philatelists, and its postal cancellations have received extensive study. Philatelists collect stamps used in various parts of the Ottoman Empire, such as Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, and Greece. Turkey's stamps also have a complex history of overprints of interest to philatelists.
context_section_description: On 1 November 1922, the National Assembly, led by Mustafa Kemal, abolished the Sultinate and the last Sultan, Mehmed VI abdicated and fled the country. Turkey was declared a republic on 28 October 1923. The republic's first stamp issue was a definitive series depicting a star and crescent, somewhat reminiscent of the Duloz issue. This issue marked the end of the use of the Tughra which had appeared as a design element in most of Turkey's stamps from 1863 to 1922.
  The first republic issue was followed by an issue commemorating the Treaty of Peace at Lausanne, and other issues depicting national scenes and Mustafa Kemal. From the late 1920s up to 1940, Turkey overprinted a number of stamps to commemorate events such as exhibitions or the opening of a railroad.
  In 1931, Turkey began a new stamp issue in a more contemporary style depicting Mustafa Kemal. Mustafa Kemal would continue to be a common subject of Turkey's stamps thereafter. In the following decades, Turkey's stamp production became more varied, producing colorful stamps with a great diversity of images including scenes of the country, archeological sites, famous Turks, native flora and fauna, and folk costumes, to name just a few.
  Up to 1937, all of Turkey's stamps had been printed by either engraving or typography.   In 1937, Turkey issued its first stamp printed by lithography  and in 1938 it printed a stamp issue by photogravure, which thereafter became the standard methods for printing its stamps.
caption: First issue of the republic, 1923.
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