- published: 05 Dec 2015
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Turkey does not have an official coat of arms or national emblem. The symbol on the cover page of Turkish passports is simply the star and crescent as found in the flag of Turkey. Various official institutions of Turkey use instead their own several emblems, most of which have no legal basis.
A circular section of the red Flag of Turkey containing the white star and crescent is used in the current emblems of a number of Turkish ministries and government organizations, in the emblem of the Turkish Parliament, and as the flag badge on the uniforms of Turkish national sports teams and athletes. It was also used on the old (non-digital) Turkish identity cards.
Circular emblem
Seal of the Parliament
Older seal of the Prime Ministry
Seal of the Prime Ministry
The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs uses a red oval-shaped escutcheon, whose colour is that of the Turkish flag and whose shape echoes the oval shield at the center of the late 19th-century Ottoman coat of arms. The escutcheon contains a gold-tone star and crescent which are vertically oriented (with the star on top) and surrounded by the gold-tone text T.C. Dışişleri Bakanlığı. A variant of this oval escutcheon (containing the gold-tone text Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Büyükelçiliği) is used by the Turkish embassies.
Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye), known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( Türkiye Cumhuriyeti (help·info)), is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia (mostly in the Anatolian peninsula) and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan (the exclave of Nakhchivan) and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus are to the south; the Aegean Sea is to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. The Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between East Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia.
Turkey is one of the six independent Turkic states. The vast majority of the population are Muslims. The country's official language is Turkish, whereas Kurdish and Zazaki languages are spoken by Kurds and Zazas, who constitute 18% of the population.