Portal:Turkey

Turkish art (Turkish: Türk sanatı) refers to all works of visual art originating from the geographical area of what is present day Turkey since the arrival of the Turks in the Middle Ages. Turkey also was the home of much significant art produced by earlier cultures, including the Hittites, Ancient Greeks, and Byzantines. Ottoman art is therefore the dominant element of Turkish art before the 20th century, although the Seljuks and other earlier Turks also contributed. The 16th and 17th centuries are generally recognized as the finest period for art in the Ottoman Empire, much of it associated with the huge Imperial court. In particular the long reign of Suleiman the Magnificent from 1520 to 1566 brought a combination, rare in any ruling dynasty, of political and military success with strong encouragement of the arts.

The nakkashane, as the palace workshops are now generally known, were evidently very important and productive, but though there is a fair amount of surviving documentation, much remains unclear about how they operated. They operated over many different media, but apparently not including pottery or textiles, with the craftsmen or artists apparently a mixture of slaves, especially Persians, captured in war (at least in the early periods), trained Turks, and foreign specialists. They were not necessarily physically located in the palace, and may have been able to undertake work for other clients as well as the sultan. Many specialities were passed from father to son. (Full article...)

• ... that Yavuz Yapıcıoğlu, nicknamed the "Screwdriver Killer", is the serial killer with the highest known victim count in Turkey? (March 22, 2014)
• ... that Turkish poet Süleyman Nazif witnessed first hand the decaying corpses of persecuted Christians in his home town of Diyarbakır in July 1915? (November 17, 2008) Wikipedia:Recent additions 235
• ... that according to US and Turkish officials, the MV Kısmetim-1 was deliberately sunk in December 1992 by its crew in order to prevent the capture of the illicit drug load? (February 1, 2009) Wikipedia:Recent additions 239
• ... that, when completed, the Deriner Dam will be the tallest in Turkey? (September 7, 2010)
• ... that the Ottoman torpedo boat Sultanhisar attacked and seriously damaged the Australian submarine HMAS AE2 in 1915 but rescued all the crew before the submarine went down in the Sea of Marmara? (April 12, 2011)
• ... that 14th-century Turkish polymath Al-Taftazani completed one of his best-known works at the age of 16? (December 22, 2008) Wikipedia:Recent additions 237
• ... that the Vefa Kilise Mosque

  

  (pictured) in Istanbul is one of the first examples of byzantine churches of Constantinople which were converted into mosques by the Ottomans? (July 13, 2007) Wikipedia:Recent additions 154

Statue of Piri Reis in Karaman, Turkey

Piri Reis (Turkish: Pîrî Reis; born Muhiddin Piri c. 1465–1470; died 1553) was an Ottoman Turkish cartographer, admiral, and corsair. He is best known for his 1513 world map and his nautical atlas, the Kitab-ı Bahriye (Book of the Sea). His cartography engaged more directly with the Age of Discovery than other Ottoman works from the period. His maps provide a glimpse into the world during a time of major geopolitical change, when the Americas were explored and the Ottoman Empire came to dominate the Eastern Mediterranean.

Piri Reis began his maritime career sailing with his uncle, the corsair Kemal Reis, with whom he entered Ottoman naval service. He later commanded his own ship in the Ottoman–Venetian wars and, after his uncle's death, began the cartographic work. After blockading the port of Alexandria during the 1517 conquest of Egypt, Piri Reis presented his world map as a gift to Selim I, and he dedicated his atlases to Selim's successor, Suleiman the Magnificent. Decades later, as grand admiral of the Ottoman fleet in the Indian Ocean, Piri Reis led successful campaigns in the Red Sea, but was beheaded following his retreat from the siege of Hormuz. (Full article...)