Turkey
Once the centre of the Ottoman Empire.
Once the centre of the Ottoman Empire, the modern secular republic was established in the 1920s by nationalist leader Kemal Ataturk. This amounted to a repudiation of the former Ottoman legacy with the fez and veil outlawed and rights given to women.
Playing cards were not common during the Ottoman Empire due to religious reasons, and there are hardly any examples of 19th-century playing cards being imported. In a recent ordinance regarding the same type of card, Turkey imposed a 1984 law stipulating that cards had to be sold in hospitals and pharmacies. The profit from the sale went to the Turkish Red Crescent, the counterpart of the Red Cross.
However, in more recent years the government has reverted to culturally conservative and authoritarian politics, whilst remaining open to trade and economic development.
By Simon Wintle
Member since February 01, 1996
Founder and editor of the World of Playing Cards since 1996. He is a former committee member of the IPCS and was graphics editor of The Playing-Card journal for many years. He has lived at various times in Chile, England and Wales and is currently living in Extremadura, Spain. Simon's first limited edition pack of playing cards was a replica of a seventeenth century traditional English pack, which he produced from woodblocks and stencils.
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