Türkiye

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TURKEY - Türkiye Cumhuriyeti

The National Emblem of Turkey	The National Flag	Location

Administrative division

Turkey is subdivided into 81 provinces for administrative purposes. Each province is divided into districts, for a total of 923 districts.

Heraldry of Turkey

Turkey does not have a heraldic tradition. I have no information on the use of any arms in the country.

National Emblem

Since the creation of the Turkish State in 1923 the country has not used arms, only the above emblem.

The predecessor, the Ottoman Empire also did not use proper heraldic arms, but used the composition below, which was officially adopted on April 17, 1882.

The composition shows the tughra, the symbol of the Sultans. It is surrounded by two flags: the red flag of the Ottoman dynasty with a star and crescent, and the green flag of the Islamic caliph, largely obscured by a cornucopia.

Behind the flags are a number of spears and other weapons, scales and a book for justice as well as an anchor and torch.

Hanging beneath the symbol are the medals of five of the Ottoman decorations, the Şefkat Nişanı, Osmani Nişanı, İmtiyaz Nişanı, Mecidiye Nişanı, and İftihar Nişanı.

The Ottoman arms on a coin from 1912 (image from auction site)

The use in collector's items has shown different variations of the arms with crescent and star, but the Ottoman arms I have never encountered:

The arms on a US tobacco card +/- 1887	The arms on a US tobacco card +/- 1910	The arms on a Dutch postcard +/- 1910
The arms on a tobacco card from Uruguay +/- 1914	The arms in the Continentale Verlags-Anstalt album, +/- 1910	The arms on a UK tobacco card 1912
The arms on a Danish card (+/- 1910)	The arms on a UK tobacco card 1907	The arms in the Abadie albums +/-1935
The arms on a Dutch matchbox label +/- 1950	The arms on a Dutch card +/- 1950