Modern Turkey was founded in 1923 from the remnants of the Ottoman Empire by reformer and national hero Mustafa KEMAL, known as Ataturk or "Father of the Turks." One-party rule ended in 1950, and periods of instability and military coups have since fractured the multiparty democracy, in 1960, 1971, 1980, 1997, and 2016. 

Turkey joined the UN in 1945 and NATO in 1952. In 1963, Turkey became an associate member of the European Community; it began accession talks with the EU in 2005. Turkey intervened militarily on Cyprus in 1974 to prevent a Greek takeover of the island and has since acted as patron state to the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus," which only Turkey recognizes. The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a US-designated terrorist organization, began a separatist insurgency in Turkey in 1984, and the struggle has long dominated the attention of Turkish security forces. In 2013, the Turkish Government and the PKK conducted negotiations aimed at ending the violence, but intense fighting resumed in 2015. 

The Turkish Government conducted a referendum in 2017 in which voters approved constitutional amendments changing Turkey from a parliamentary to a presidential system. 

Turkish Space Agency (TUA; established 2018); TÜBİTAK Space Technologies Research Institute (UZAY; established in 1985 as Ankara Electronics Research and Development Institute) (2024)

Has an ambitious space program with a large focus on satellites, software development, ground station technologies, and building up the country’s space industries; in recent years has also initiated a space launch program with the goal of placing domestically produced satellites into orbit independently and a probe on the Moon; manufactures and operates remote sensing and telecommunications satellites, as well as satellite components; has a space/satellite launch vehicle program; space sector is heavily import-reliant, particularly at the component level; has established relations with more than 25 foreign space agencies and corporations, including those of Azerbaijan, China, France, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Russia, South Korea, Ukraine, and the US, as well as the European Space Agency; has state-owned rocket development and satellite communications companies, including some under the Ministry of Defense (2024)