Turkey

11 October 1922 – 24 July 1923

The Turkish War of Independence (15 May 1919 – 24 July 1923) was a series of military campaigns and a revolution waged by the Turkish National Movement, after the Ottoman Empire was occupied and partitioned following its defeat in World War I. The conflict was between the Turkish Nationalists and the Allied and separatist forces over the application of Wilsonian principles, especially self-determination, in post-World War I Anatolia and eastern Thrace. The revolution concluded the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the Eastern question, ending the Ottoman sultanate and the Ottoman…

1 May 1937 – 1 September 1938

The Dersim massacre, also known as the Dersim genocide, was carried out by the Turkish military over the course of three operations in the Dersim Province (renamed Tunceli) against Kurdish rebels of Alevi faith, and civilians in 1937 and 1938. Although most Kurds in Dersim remained in their home villages, thousands were killed and many others were expelled to other parts of Turkey.

12 September 1980

The 1980 Turkish coup d'état (Turkish: 12 Eylül darbesi, lit. '12 September coup d'état'), headed by Chief of the General Staff General Kenan Evren, was the third coup d'état in the history of the Republic of Turkey, the previous having been the 1960 coup and the 1971 coup by memorandum. During the Cold War era, Turkey saw political violence (1976–1980) between the far-left, the far-right (Grey Wolves), the Islamist militant groups, and the state.

23 October 2011

The 2011 Van earthquakes occurred in eastern Turkey near the city of Van. The first earthquake happened on 23 October at 13:41 local time.

28 June 2016

The Atatürk Airport attack, consisting of shootings and suicide bombings, occurred on 28 June 2016 at Atatürk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey. Gunmen armed with automatic weapons and explosive belts staged a simultaneous attack at the international terminal of Terminal 2.

1 January 2017

The Istanbul nightclub shooting (also known as Reina massacre in Turkey) was a mass shooting that occurred on 1 January 2017 around 01:18 local time, in which a terrorist shot and killed 39 people and wounded 79 others at the Reina nightclub in the Ortaköy neighborhood of Istanbul, Turkey, where hundreds had been celebrating New Year's Day. Uzbekistan-born Abdulkadir Masharipov was arrested in Istanbul on 17 January 2017.

24 January 2020

The global COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Europe with its first confirmed case in Bordeaux, France, on 24 January 2020, and subsequently spread widely across the continent. By 17 March 2020, every country in Europe had confirmed a case, and all have reported at least one death, with the exception of Vatican City.

30 October 2020

An earthquake with a moment magnitude of 7.0 occurred on 30 October 2020 about 14 km (8.7 mi) northeast of the Greek island of Samos. Although Samos was closest to the epicentre, it was the large Turkish city İzmir, 70 km (43 mi) northeast that was heavily affected—more than 700 residential and commercial structures were seriously damaged or destroyed.

13 November 2022

A terrorist attack occurred on İstiklal Avenue in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, Turkey, on 13 November 2022 (2022-11-13), killing 6 people and injuring 81 others. No group has claimed responsibility, but Turkish authorities announced that Kurdish separatists were behind the attack, implicating the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Syrian Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

21 January 2025

On 21 January 2025, a fire occurred at the Grand Kartal Hotel at the Kartalkaya ski resort in Bolu Province, Turkey; at least 78 people died, 51 others were injured. The fire started in the hotel's fourth floor kitchen/restaurant section.