Turkish culture and traditions : All you need to know. To summarize Turkish culture and traditions in one article is impossible because the diversity of heritage across the country varies and other cultures such as Greek, Armenian, Georgian, and Arabic … It may be the only country that contains every extreme of Eastern and Western culture. Defeat in the Balkan Wars of 1912-13 and World War 1 led to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the subsequent declaration by President Kemal Ataturk, of a secular Turkish Republic, and the ‘exchange of populations’, when more than a million ethnic G… The Sanliurfa (southeastern Turkey) branch of the Mesopotamian Cultural Center, a corporation established to promote the Kurdish language and culture, was banned in 1997 by the provincial governor. Turkey, country that occupies a unique geographic position, lying partly in Asia and partly in Europe and serving as both a bridge and a barrier between them. Turkey - Turkey - Cultural life: Culturally, as in so many other respects, Turkey sits between East and West, drawing elements from both to produce its own unique blend. Volcanic Mt. There is also … The modern Turkish republic was founded in 1923 after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, and … Turkish culture has undergone a huge amount of change in the last century. Many of these traditions were initially brought together by the Ottoman Empire, a multi-ethnic and multi-religious state. It is known fact that Turkey has been home for three major religions in the world – Judaism, Christianity and Islam. However, its recent past is more turbulent. Turkey is a relatively stable, secular democracy that remains broadly pro-Western, seeking to eventually become part of European Union. Turkey is seismically active, prone to large earthquakes, and also has some very unusual landforms such as the cone-shaped hills of Cappadocia. The culture of Turkey combines a heavily diverse and heterogeneous set of elements that have been derived from the various cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean (West Asian) and Central Asian region and Eastern European, and Caucasian traditions. It is Turkey… Ararat, near the Turkish border with Iran, is believed to be the landing-place of Noah's Ark. In 1997, the governor's office in Istanbul refused the Kurdish Culture and Research Foundation permission to offer Kurdish-language classes. Nowadays most of Turkey’s people are Muslims but this is not an obstacle to the fact that Ecumenical Patriarch of Orthodox Christian Church is located in Constantinople (Istanbul) therefore there is a number of active Orthodox Christian churches in Turkey as well as some Roman Catholic Churches.