The British influence on the Bosporus in the late nineteenth century was sufficiently strong to support expatriate cricket. The Hansons, a banking family, formed a club at Kandilli, on the eastern side of the Bosporus some six kilometres north of Scutari in the 1870s but it did not survive the collapse of the family’s fortunes.

The Mediterranean fleet played local residents at Moda, close to the ancient city of Chalcedon in 1879 and for some years in the 1880s there was a local league comprising teams from Moda, Bebek, Therapia and Istanbul.

The Turkish squad at the 2011 European Division 3 tournament in Llubljana

In 1923 I Zingari visited and played Constantinople at Chichli and the Dardanelles at Cannakale, winning both matches easily. Flight-Lt. Cecil Wigglesworth, who played one first-class match for the RAF in 1927, scored 128 for Constantinople.

Occasional matches were organised with Odessa and between Turkey and Romania. By the end of the 1920s, the British presence declined and the game became extinct. Cricket was not played again in Turkey until the mid-1990s when students from the Indian sub-continent at the Middle Eastern Technical University in Ankara formed a club.

Turkey v Bulgaria 2011: A wicket for Razak

Matches were organised against teams from various Commonwealth embassies and also Bilkent University where Indian students had formed a team. By 1999 there were enough teams to hold a tournament for the Faisal Khalid Memorial cup.

They were granted affiliate status in 2008 and the following year headed to Corfu where they took part in the ICC Europe Division Five competition which had six teams. They unfortunately finished last, but had the consolation of gaining their first win, beating Bulgaria by nine wickets after five wicket hauls for both Sajjad Haider (5-23) and Mohammad Razak (5-8). Imran Sharif (5-39) also claimed five wickets in an innings against the Czecj Republic, while Stuart Clarkson and Haider both took nine wickets in the tournament.

Turkey v Czech Republic 2011: Turkmenoglu bowls Storkek

Turkey Squad in 2009: Jonathan Stuart Clarkson, Muhammad Aasim, Syed Ateeq Ahmad, Stephen Guy, Ranney Bryant, Hunain Durrani, Sajjad Haider, Mubashir Khan, Athar Imran Opal, Mohammad Razak, Huseyin Sen, Imran Sharif, Colin Sutcliffe, Christopher Leslie Wade, Syed Tahir Mahmud (Manager), Raj Chaudhuri (Coach).

In 2011 they travelled to Slovenia and Austria for the Division Three tournament where they finished fourth out of the six teams, recording wins against the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, but losing to Sweden, Estonia and Slovenia.

Turkey v Czech Republic 2011: A stumping for wicketkeeper Aasim

2011 Squad: Muhammad Aasim, Muneer Ahmed, Salman Ali, Sajjad Haider, Mubashir Khan, Nabeel Munir, Abdullah Numan, Mohammad Razak, Huseyin Sen, Imran Sharif, Ali Turkmen, Mecit Turkmenoglu, Hammad Ul Haq, Athar Imran Opal (Coach), Syed Shahid Mahmud (Manager).

With the ICC culling tournaments and funding there was a seven-year hiatus with their next action coming as they played eight matches in the European T20 tournament in Corfu as they played Russia, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece twice.

Turkey v Bulgaria 2011: Celebrations from Salman Ali

They were given Associate status in 2018 and played their first T20 internationals in 2019 against Luxembourg, Romania, Czech Republic and Austria, losing all four games.

They are ranked 79th by ICC.

This article was first written by Roy Morgan in 2006 and has been updated by CricketEurope.