1. Flesh of large domesticated fowl usually roasted.
2. Large gallinaceous bird with fan-shaped tail; widely domesticated for food; SYN. Meleagris gallopavo.

1. A Eurasian republic in Asia Minor and the Balkans.
2. City in Texas (USA); zip code 79261.
3. Town in North Carolina (USA); zip code 28393.
Country between the Black Sea to the N and the Mediterranean Sea to the S, bounded E by Armenia, Georgia, and Iran, SE by Iraq and Syria, W by Greece and the Aegean Sea, and NW by Bulgaria.
government.
The constitution of 1982 provides for a single-chamber, 450-member legislature, national assembly, elected by a system of proportional representation for a five-year term, and an executive president, elected by the assembly for a seven-year term. The assembly appoints a prime minister who works with the president in a somewhat diluted version of the French “dual executive”. The president is obliged to work in conjunction with the prime minister.
history.
The Turks originally came from Mongolia and spread into Turkestan in the 6th century AD. During the 7th century they adopted Islam. In 1055 the Seljuk Turks secured political control of the caliphate and established an empire in Asia Minor. The Ottoman Turks, driven from central Asia by the Mongols, entered the service of the Seljuks, and Osman I founded a kingdom of his own 1299. Having overrun Asia Minor, the Ottomans began their European conquests by seizing Gallipoli 1354; they captured Constantinople 1453 and by 1480 were masters of the Balkans. By 1550 they had conquered Egypt, Syria, Arabia, Mesopotamia, Tripoli, and most of Hungary; thereafter the empire ceased to expand, although Cyprus was taken 1571 and Crete 1669.
decline of Ottoman Empire.
The Christian counteroffensive opened 1683 with the defeat of the Turks before Vienna; in 1699 the Turks lost Hungary, and in 1774 Russia ousted them from Moldavia, Wallachia, and the Crimea. In the Balkans there was an unsuccessful revolt in Serbia 1804, but Greece threw off Turkish rule 1821–29. Russia's attempts to exploit this situation were resisted by Britain and France, which in the Crimean War (1854–56) fought on the Turkish side. The Bulgarian uprising of 1876 led to a new war between Turkey and Russia, and by the Treaty of Berlin 1878 Turkey lost Bulgaria, Bosnia, and Herzegovina. A militant nationalist group, the Young Turks, secured the grant of a constitution 1908; Italy took advantage of the ensuing crisis to seize Tripoli 1911–12, while the Balkan states expelled the Turks from Albania and Macedonia 1912–13. Turkey entered World War I on the German side 1914, only to lose Syria, Arabia, Mesopotamia, and its nominal suzerainty in Egypt.
independent republic.
The Greek occupation of Izmir 1919 provoked the establishment of a nationalist congress with Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) as president. Having defeated Italian and French forces, he expelled the Greeks 1922. Peace was concluded 1923 with the Treaty of Lausanne and Turkey was proclaimed an independent republic with Kemal as its first president. He introduced a policy of westernization and a new legal code. He died 1938, but his People's Party remained in power.
series of governments.
Turkey's first free elections were held 1950 and won by the Democratic Party, led by Celal Bayar and Adnan Menderes. Bayar became president and Menderes prime minister. In 1960, after a military coup, President Bayar was imprisoned and Menderes executed. A new constitution was adopted 1961 and civilian rule restored, but with the leader of the coup, General Cemal Gürsel, as president. There followed a series of civilian governments, led mainly by the veteran politician Ismet Inonu until 1965, when the Justice Party, led by Suleiman Demirel, came to power. Prompted by strikes and student unrest, the army forced Demirel to resign 1971, and for the next two years the country was under military rule again.
effective partition of Cyprus.
A civilian government was restored 1973, a coalition led by Bulent Ecevit. The following year Turkey sent troops to Cyprus to protect the Turkish-Cypriot community, resulting in the effective partition of the island. Ecevit's government fell when he refused to annex N Cyprus, and in 1975 Suleiman Demirel returned at the head of a right-wing coalition. Elections held 1977 were inconclusive, and Demirel precariously held on to power until 1978 when Ecevit returned, leading another coalition. He was faced with a deteriorating economy and outbreaks of sectional violence and by 1979 had lost his working majority and resigned.
international pressure.
Demirel returned in Nov, but the violence continued and in Sept l980 the army stepped in and set up a national security council, with Bulent Ulusu as prime minister. Martial law was imposed, political activity suspended, and a harsh regime established. Strong international pressure was put on Turkey to return to a more democratic system of government, and in May 1983 political parties were allowed to operate again. The old parties reformed under new names and in Nov three of them contested the assembly elections: the conservative Motherland Party (ANAP), the Nationalist Democracy Party (MDP), and the Populist Party (SDPP). The ANAP won a large majority and its leader, Turgut Özal, became prime minister. In 1989 Özal was elected president, with Yildirim Akbulut as prime minister. In 1991 Mesut Yilmaz replaced Akbulut as head of the ANAP and became prime minister.
Ethnic Kurds suffered discrimination, and from 1984 there was guerrilla fighting in Kurdistan and a separatist Workers' Party of Kurdistan (PKK) was active.
EC membership refused.
After World War II Turkey felt itself threatened by the USSR and joined a number of military alliances, including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization 1952 and the Baghdad Pact 1955, which became the Central Treaty Organization 1959 and was dissolved 1979. Turkey strengthened Western links and by 1987 was making overtures to the European Community (EC). Long criticized for its violations of human rights, at the end of 1989 Turkey learned that its application for membership in the EC had been refused and would not be considered again until at least the mid-1990s. During the 1990–91 Gulf War, Turkey supported the US-led forces, allowing use of vital bases in the country.
Demirel regains premiership.
Following an inconclusive general election held Oct 1991, Suleiman Demirel formed a coalition government with the support of the Social Democratic Populist Party, becoming premier for the seventh time.
earthquake causes chaos.
Two earthquakes March 1992 killed thousands of people and destroyed numerous buildings, bridges, and roads. The worst-hit areas centered around Tunceli and Erzincan; the latter had been the site of a major earthquake in 1939 which had left more than 30,000 dead.
President Turgut Özal died suddenly of a heart attack April 1993. Demirel was elected president in May, and Tansu Ciller of the the True Path Party became Turkey's first female prime minister. In the 1994 assembly elections, the Islamicist Welfare Party made substantial gains.
separatist activity.
During 1993 Kurdish separatist activity escalated both within Turkey and in Europe, where Turkish businesses were targetted in several leading cities. A government crackdown was announced. In 1993 alone 4,185 people were killed in battles between Kurdish separatists and Turkish government forces, while a total of 10,500 people were estimated to have been killed since the hostilities began 1984. In March 1995 the government launched a full-scale offensive into northern Iraq in an attempt to eliminate PKK bases there.
Any of several large game birds of the pheasant family, native to the Americas. The wild turkey Meleagris galloparvo reaches a length of 1.3 m/4.3 ft, and is native to North and Central American woodlands. The domesticated turkey derives from the wild species. The ocellated turkey Agriocharis ocellata is found in Central America; it has eyespots on the tail.
The domesticated turkey was introduced to Europe in the 16th century. Since World War II, it has been intensively bred, in the same way as the chicken. It is gregarious, except at breeding time.

An event that fails badly or is totally ineffectual; SYN. bomb, dud.