The following lists events in the year 2013 in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Incumbents

* President: Abdullah Gül *

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

* Speaker: Cemil Çiçek

Events

January

*7 January - An explosion at a coal mine in the

Zonguldak Zonguldak () is a List of cities in Turkey, city of about 100 thousand people in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is the seat of Zonguldak Province and Zonguldak District.Diyarbakır Diyarbakır is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province. Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortress, it is ...

to mourn the death of Sakine Cansız, the founder of the

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or the PKK, isDespite the PKK's 12th Congress announcing plans for total organisational dissolution, the PKK has not yet been dissolved de facto or de jure. a Kurds, Kurdish militant political organization and armed ...

, who was killed in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

on the 9th.

February

*1 February - The United States embassy is bombed in the capital of

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

, killing 2 people. *2 February - Radical leftist group Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front claims responsibility for yesterday's bombing.

March

*13 March - Kurdish rebels free eight Turkish citizens who have been held captive for two years. *19 March - Two people are injured in bombings on Turkey's justice ministry and headquarters of the governing

AK Party The Justice and Development Party ( , AK PARTİ), abbreviated officially as AK Party in English, is a political party in Turkey self-describing as conservative-democratic. It has been the ruling party of Turkey since 2002. Third-party sources ...

in Ankara. This was allegedly done by Kurdish militants. *21 March - PKK leader

Abdullah Öcalan Abdullah Öcalan ( ; ; born 4 April 1948 or 1949), also known as Apo (short for Abdullah in Turkish; Kurdish for "uncle"), is a founding member of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Öcalan was based in Syria from 1979 to 1998. He ...

makes historic calls for peace talks with Turkey after nearly 30 years of violent conflict. *22 March -

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

apologises to Prime Minister Erdogan for the killing of nine activists in a raid on Gaza and the US reports they are normalising relations.

April

*7 April - US Secretary of State

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as the 68th United States secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 in the Presidency of Barack Obama#Administration, administration of Barac ...

arrives in Turkey where discussions over relations with Israel and the Syrian civil war are expected to take place.

May

*20 May - A hot air balloon crashes in

Cappadocia Cappadocia (; , from ) is a historical region in Central Anatolia region, Turkey. It is largely in the provinces of Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde. Today, the touristic Cappadocia Region is located in Nevşehir ...

resulting in 2 tourists dying and another 20 injured. *31 May - Protesters are violently removed by riot police in Gezi Park, Taksim Square,

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

after days of anti-government unrest based on government attempts in making the country more religious.

June

*3 June - Riot police fire tear gas on protesters continuing to demand the downfall of the current government in Istanbul and Ankara.

Deaths

*19 January – Toktamış Ateş (born 1944), Turkish academician, political commentator, columnist, writer and professor of

political sciences Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...

Istanbul University Istanbul University, also known as University of Istanbul (), is a Public university, public research university located in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded by Mehmed II on May 30, 1453, a day after Fall of Constantinople, the conquest of Constantinop ...

*22 February – Behsat Üvez, singer-songwriter, 53 (lung cancer) *20 September – Ercan Aktuna *29 September – İsmet Kür (born 1916), educator, journalist, columnist and writer *6 November – Hayri Polat (born 1948), wrestler *25 December – Adnan Şenses

References

{{Year in Europe, 2013 Years of the 21st century in Turkey 2010s in Turkey