TURKEY

Last updated: 25 February 2003
Turkey
Turkish

Language Family: Southwestern or Oghuz group of Turkic branch of Altaic language family
Location: Turkey (official language), Greece, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Cyprus (official language with Greek)
Related Languages: Azerbaijani, Turkmen; also Kazakh, Uzbek and Tatar

* * RAPID REFERENCE * *
  • I. Professional Associations/Organizations
  • II. Mega Resource Sites
  • III. Online Language Materials/Tutorials
  • IV. Online Dictionaries
  • V. Country Studies/Culture Sites
  • VI. Media Sites
    I. Professional Associations/Organizations
  • American Association of Teachers of Turkic Languages (AATT) (http://www.princeton.edu/~ehgilson/aatt.html)
    AATT, "founded in 1985 as the American Association of Teachers of Turkish, is a private, non-profit, non-political organization of individuals interested in the languages of the Turks. In 1993, the members voted to expand and include all languages of the Turks. The objective of the Association is to advance and improve the teaching of the languages of the Turks; to promote study, criticism, and research in the field of the languages and literatures of the Turks; and to further the common interests of teachers of these subjects."
  • Institute of Turkish Language Studies - Washington, DC (http://turkishstudies.org/links.html)
    At the "School of Foreign Service of the Georgetown University, the oldest and largest school of international affairs in the country, the Institute of Turkish Studies (ITS) is the only nonprofit, private educational foundation in the United States that sports the development of Turkish Studies in American higher education."
  • Middle East Studies Association (MESA)
    From About: "MESA is a private nonprofit, nonpolitical organization of scholars and other persons interested in the study of the Middle East, North Africa and the Islamic world. MESA is dedicated to promoting high standards of scholarship and instruction, to facilitating communication among scholars through annual meetings and publications, and to promoting cooperation among those who study the Middle East."
  • Assembly of Turkish-American Associations
    A very informative website with current affairs and links to some 54 component organizations throughout the U.S., Canada, and Turkey. From About: "The founding principle of ATAA was the need to create cohesion and cooperation between the large numbers of social-cultural Turkish American organizations around the US. The Assembly’s main goal is to be a link between all communities, large or small, and pursue their interests in Washington and beyond."
    II. Mega Resource Sites
  • Turkey - WWW Virtual Library
    From the Middle East and Jewish Studies Center at Columbia University, a part of the WWW Virtual Library system, this website provides numerous links to language and country related sites.
  • Middle East Network Information Center -- Turkey
    MENIC at the University of Texas at Austin offers this basic links site which is part of the WWW Virtual Library.
  • National Middle East Language Resource Center (NMELRC)
    NMELRC at Brigham Young University, " seeks to coordinate efforts aimed at increasing and improving opportunities for learning the languages of the Middle East. The center undertakes and supports projects in areas such as teacher training, materials development, testing and assessment, integration of pedagogy and technology, study abroad, and K-12 programs. It works across Middle East languages to foster cooperation and joint utilization of expertise and resources."
  • Yahoo Regional Countries Directory -- Turkey
    Yahoo! Search engine set for links to sites related to Turkey.
  • Library of Congress Portals to the World - Turkey
    Links to electronic resources selected by Library of Congress subject experts. Site is very conservative and somewhat disappointing in its offerings.
  • Turkey Web
    In-country link for English language resources.
  • Turkarama
    In-country Turkish language search engine.
  • Forsnet: Turkey
    General in-country search engine in English and Turkish.
    III. Online Language Materials/Tutorials
  • SEELRC -- Resources for Students and Instructors of Turkish: Culture, History, Language and Media
    This dynamic site from SEELRC at Duke/UNC-Chapel Hill is an excellent starting point for exploring Internet sites related to Turkish.
  • LanguagesOnTheWeb.com - Turkish
    Huge list of links to Turkish language and country/culture sites. Not all functional and not all freeshare.
  • Self Study: Turkish
    A list of resource links from the Yamada Language Center, University of Oregon
  • Turkish Teachionary
    Presents vocabulary, phrases and expressions in game format: you listen to speaker and guess term. Very good basic language comprehension materials.
  • Turkish Language and Literature
    Columbia University offers this extensive Internet resources page which includes much more than the modest title, "Language and Literature," suggests.
  • Bilkent University, Center for Turkish Language and Speech Processing
    This academic site offers many resources, as well as links. The Turkish Natural Language Processing Initiative Homepage should be of particular interest to language students; it includes everything from a Computer Aided Turkish Tutor to a collection of Turkish palindromes. Probably the best site on the Internet for Turkish.
  • Turkish Language Homepage
    Requires native review
  • Turkish Lessons
    Requires native review. From the Computer Aided Language Instruction Group, the University of Arizona, this basic course consists of 10 online lessons.
  • Learning Practical Turkish Website - Index
    This is basically a commercial website that tries to sell you CDs, books, and the like. However, there are a lot of useful, functioning links and information provided free in the Index. Just scroll down past all the ads! See, for example,     English-Turkish GeoPolitical and General Historical Dictionary, 700 Essential Turkish Words. This is a site worth exploring.
    IV. Online Dictionaries
  • Turkish-English-Turkish Dictionary
    By Zargan Glossaries, this dictionary has a data base of more than 400,000 words. Very strong in business language.
  • Turkish Electronic Living Lexicon
    Requires native review. Produced by the Linguistics Department at the University of California, Berkeley, "TELL is a database of 30,000 Turkish words representing both print dictionaries and actual speaker knowledge. TELL was constructed from a master list composed of the following: 17,000 headwords from the 2d edition of the Oxford Turkish-English dictionary, 20,000 headwords from the 3d edition of the Oxford Turkish English-dictionary, 175 place names from an atlas of Istanbul, and 5,000 place names from a telephone area code directory of Turkey. Once duplicates were removed, the resulting list contained some 30,000 lexemes. These were elicited, in various morphological contexts, from a native speaker. The resulting database contains orthographic representations of these 30,000 headwords as well as phonemic transcriptions of all elicited forms. The native speaker knew, and supplied pronunciations for, some 17,500 of the elicited lexemes. In addition, TELL supplies morphological roots for approximately 17,000 lexical items; etymologies are supplied for around 11,000."
  • YourDictionary.com - Turkish
    Best list of available online Turkish dictionaries.
    V. Country Studies/Culture Sites
  • Turkey - A Country Study
    Exceptionally detailed presentation from the Library of Congress. Includes sections on: Geography, Society, Economy, Government and Politics, Very detailed History and Historical Development, Contemporary Trends, etc.
  • US Department of State Background Notes - Turkey
    Background Notes are updated/revised as they are received from regional bureaus and are added to the database of the Department of State web site. Categories include: Geography, People, History, Government, Political Conditions, Economy, Defense, Foreign Relations, US Relations, and Travel/Business.
  • CIA World Factbook - Turkey
    Good resource site for information on Geography, People, Government, Economy, Communications, Transportation, Military, and Transnational Issues.
  • BBC News Country Profiles - Turkey
    Full profiles provide an instant guide to history, politics and economic background of countries; also bio sketches of leaders, essay on media, and historic timelines. They also include audio and video clips from the BBC archives.
  • Political Resources on the Net - Turkey
    Listings of political sites available on the Internet sorted by country, with links to Parties, Organizations, Governments, Media and more from all around the world.
  • CountryWatch.com - Turkey
    "CountryWatch is a world leader in providing country specific geopolitical intelligence on each of the 192 countries of the world." Basic information is free; deeper resources require subscription.
  • United Nations Homepage
    Includes links to UN NewsCenter, which includes headlines in latest developments in Peace and Security, Economic Development, Humanitarian Aid/Refugees, Environment/Shelter, Human Rights, Women/Children/Population, Health/Poverty/Food Security, Culture/Education.
  • International Monetary Fund - Turkey
    Latest developments in Peace and Security, Economic Development, Humanitarian Aid/Refugees, Environment/Shelter, Human Rights, Women/Children/Population, Health/Poverty/Food Security, Culture/Education.
  • The World Bank Group
    This site is undergoing construction problems; however preset links to WBG Search - Turkey and Turkey at a Glance function.
  • U.S. Commercial Service - Turkey
    " The Country Commercial Guides (CCG) are prepared by US Embassy Staff once a year and contain information on the business and economic situation of foreign countries and the political climate as it affects U.S. business."
  • TradePort Country Library - Turkey
    From About: "TradePort is designed to be an easy-to-use tool offering one place to go for comprehensive trade information,
    trade leads, and company databases."
  • Energy Information Administration Country Analysis Briefs - Turkey
    From About: "The Energy Information Administration (EIA), created by Congress in 1977, the a statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Energy. We provide policy-independent data, forecasts, and analysis to promote sound policy making efficient markets and public understanding regarding energy and its interaction with the economy and environment."
  • The World Trade Organization
    "The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business." Includes detailed information on Members and Observers - Turkey (Member).
  • World Health Organization - Turkey
    About WHO" "The World Health Organization, the United Nations specialized agency for health, was established on 7 April 1948. WHO's objective, as set out in its Constitution, is the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health. Health is defined in WHO's Constitution as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."
  • International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - Turkey
    The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is the world's largest humanitarian organisation, with 178 member National Societies.
  • Amnesty International - Turkey
    Amnesty International is a champion defender of human rights worldwide. Familiarity with a given country's human rights issues can provide a unique insight into many other aspects of its culture and politics.
  • Human Rights Watch - Turkey
    Human Rights Watch is dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world.
  • International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights
    "The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights is a self-governing group of non-governmental, not-for-profit organizations that act to protect human rights throughout Europe, North America, and the Central Asian republics formed from the territories of the former Soviet Union. A primary specific goal is to monitor compliance with the human rights provisions of the Helsinki Final Act and its Follow-up Documents.    "
  • North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Homepage
    The NATO homepage is an excellent resource for information on member and affiliate nations and their policies and activities in the world at large. Of particular interest to linguists is the "Other Languages" section which provides links to NATO documents and reports translated into some 25 languages.
  • Lonely Planet World Guide - Turkey
     The people at Lonely Planet are not your typical travel guides. They're bright and on top of situations in the countries they write about. A lot can be learned from them. Typical headings include: Introduction, Facts for the Traveler, When to Go, Events, Money and Costs, Attractions, Off the Beaten Track, Activities, History, Culture, Environment, Getting There and Away, Getting Around, and Further Reading and Related Weblinks.
  • Dangerous Places - Turkey
    This is an unusual website: "The authors and publishers assume no liability nor do they encourage you to do, see, visit or try any of the activities or actions discussed in this site." Nonetheless, there is some very good, hard to find information here - whether you're a soldier of fortune or just an interested student of the country.
  • Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
    Official Turkish government website with links to Ministry, News and Media, Foreign Affairs, etc.
  • Discover Turkey
    The hotlink "Greek Government Sponsors International Terrorism" aside, this website, which is produced by Turkish News, provides many links to language and culture sites. There are history and media links as well, including a recording of the Turkish National Anthem. NOTE: the link to Culture and Language Resources is not always available through the main site, so it is offered separately here.
    VI. Media Sites
  • Kidon Media Links -- Turkey
    Newspapers, magazines, radio, internet and television online.
  • Online Newspapers.com - Turkey
    Selection of national newspapers -- with some regional.
  • Turkish Daily News.com
    Recommended online newspaper in English for latest domestic and international news. "Turkey's First And ONLY English Daily."
  • Turkish-Media.com
    This site is available in English and in Turkish. It provides links not only to media but to numerous cultural and social sites.
  • Radio Locator.com - Turkey
    Formerly "The MIT List of Radios on the Internet," this site describes itself as "the most comprehensive radio station search engine on the Internet We have links to over 10,000 radio station web pages and over 2500 audio streams from radio stations in the US and around the world."
  • Voice of America Turkish Services Website
  • BBC World Service
    Offers the news in Turkish.
  • Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty - Latest News from Turkey
    This is the Turkish News Service from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. In English.
  • Yahoo! News - Turkey
    Current and recent events news stories in English from various media sources.
  • TVRadioWorld - Turkey
    About: "TvRadioWorld is an informational directory dealing with radio and television broadcasters worldwide." Site allows you to bookmark favorite radio stations for listening.