Türkiye trivia: 45 questions and answers

Ankara. Ankara has been the capital since 13 October 1923. Istanbul is much bigger, and as Constantinople it was the Ottoman capital, but it is not the capital of the republic.

Istanbul. Istanbul has about 15.8 million people, more than two and a half times as many as Ankara, the second-largest city.

The Turkish lira. The Turkish lira, symbol ₺, is divided into 100 kuruş.

True. True. The UN received the request on 1 June 2022 and the change took effect at once. 'Turkey' is still the common name in everyday English, and both names mean the same country.

Mount Ararat. Mount Ararat, 5,137 m, is a dormant volcano in the far east of the country. Erciyes near Kayseri and Uludağ near Bursa are well-known peaks, but much lower.

About 11,000 years. About 11,000 years: it was built from about 9500 BC by hunter-gatherers, thousands of years before Stonehenge or the pyramids.

Mehmed II. Mehmed II, known as 'the Conqueror', took the city on 29 May 1453 after a 53-day siege. Osman I founded the Ottoman state about 150 years earlier, and Suleiman and Selim II ruled in the 1500s.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (he took the surname Atatürk later) was elected the first president when the republic was proclaimed on 29 October 1923. İsmet İnönü became his prime minister and later the second president.

True. True. A law of 1 November 1928 replaced the Arabic script with a new alphabet of 29 Latin letters, which Atatürk himself helped to teach.

False. False. The Seljuks under Alp Arslan won and captured the Byzantine emperor Romanos IV, which opened Anatolia to Turkish settlement.

25 April. 25 April: Allied troops, including Australians and New Zealanders, landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. 11 November is Armistice Day, 29 October is Turkish Republic Day and 6 June is D-Day.

True. True. Turkish women won the vote in national elections in December 1934; in France this came in 1944.

Turkish coffee. Turkish coffee culture and tradition was inscribed by UNESCO in 2013. It is boiled in a small pot called a cezve and served unfiltered, often with a glass of water.

Bursa. Bursa: it is named after İskender Efendi, who served it there in the late 19th century. Adana gave its name to a different kebab, of minced meat on a wide skewer.

True. True. The name means 'raw meatball', but since 2008 the raw-meat version may not be sold, so today it is made from bulgur, pepper paste and spices.

The imam fainted. It means 'the imam fainted'. Stories say he fainted with pleasure at the taste, or at the cost of all the olive oil.

Kayseri. Kayseri mantı are tiny dumplings served with garlic yoghurt, melted butter and red pepper. Antalya, Trabzon and İzmir are on the coast.

Yoghurt, water and salt. Yoghurt, water and salt: ayran is yoghurt whisked with water and a little salt, served cold with kebabs, lahmacun and pide.

Gaziantep. Gaziantep, the centre of Türkiye's pistachio trade. In 2013 Gaziantep baklava became the first Turkish product with a protected name in the EU.

Göreme. Göreme, in the heart of Cappadocia, where many hotels are carved into the soft volcanic rock.

True. True. The Bosphorus divides the city: about two thirds of its people live on the European side and one third on the Asian side.

Edirne. Edirne, then called Adrianople, was the Ottoman capital from the 1360s until 1453. Konya had been the capital of the earlier Seljuk Sultanate of Rum.

Justinian I. Justinian I had it rebuilt in about five years, and it was inaugurated in December 537. Constantine had founded Constantinople two centuries earlier.

True. True. The Sultan Ahmed Mosque, built from 1609 to 1617, has six minarets, and its popular name comes from the blue İznik tiles inside.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Anıtkabir is the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, completed in 1953. Rumi's tomb is in Konya, and the great sultans are buried in Istanbul.

Mimar Sinan. Mimar Sinan, chief architect of the Ottoman Empire, finished it in about 1575 for Sultan Selim II. Sedefkar Mehmed Agha built the Blue Mosque, and Isidore of Miletus helped design Hagia Sophia.

True. True. It was a church until 1453, a mosque until 1935, a museum until 2020, and is now a mosque again, open to visitors outside prayer times.

Myra. Myra, today the town of Demre on the Mediterranean coast. Nicholas was born in nearby Patara.

The Temple of Artemis. The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, in today's Bodrum, was also in Türkiye. The Lighthouse was in Egypt, Babylon in Iraq and Rhodes is a Greek island.

True. True. He broke through a wall and found a room behind it. The city goes down about 85 m and could shelter up to 20,000 people with their animals.

False. False. Tulips were loved and bred in the Ottoman Empire first, and they first flowered in the Netherlands in the 1590s.

9:05. 9:05 in the morning, the moment Atatürk died on 10 November 1938. Sirens sound and even traffic stops.

The Black Sea coast. The Black Sea coast, around Rize, where the climate is mild and very rainy.

Hello. Merhaba means hello, the everyday greeting at any time of day.

False. False. 'Evet' means yes; 'hayır' means no.

Like 'ch' in 'chair'. Ç sounds like 'ch' in 'chair', so çay sounds like 'chai'. The plain letter c sounds like 'j' in 'joy'.

Expensive. Pahalı means expensive, handy in the bazaar: 'çok pahalı' means 'very expensive'.

Afiyet olsun. Afiyet olsun, 'may it be good for you'. Şerefe is 'cheers', güle güle is a goodbye, and kolay gelsin is said to people at work.

Hesap, lütfen. 'Hesap, lütfen' means 'the bill, please'. 'Kaç para?' asks the price of something, and 'tuvalet nerede?' asks where the toilet is.

True. True. The person leaving says 'hoşça kal', and the one staying answers 'güle güle', literally 'smiling, smiling'.

112. 112 brings together police, ambulance, fire and other services in one number. The older numbers 155 (police), 110 (fire) and 177 (forest fires) each cover only one service. They still work, but calls now go through the 112 system.

True. True. Leave your shoes at the entrance or carry them in a bag, cover shoulders and knees, and women should also cover their hair.

A rechargeable card for public transport. A rechargeable card for public transport: the Istanbulkart is used on Istanbul's trams, metro, buses and ferries, and you can buy one from machines at metro stations.

True. True. In the bazaars, prices for carpets and souvenirs are open to bargaining. In ordinary shops and supermarkets prices are fixed.

True. True. UK travel advice says it is illegal not to carry photo ID in Türkiye, so always carry your passport.