Order of the State of the Republic of Turkey

This article may require copy editing for bad grammar and sentence structure. You can assist by editing it. (December 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Order of the State of Republic of Turkey Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Devlet Nişanı
Awarded by President of Turkey
Type	State Orders
Eligibility	Foreign Presidents, Heads of State and royal members
Awarded for	"Given to people for the development of friendly relations with the Republic of Turkey"
Status	Currently constituted
Grades	Order of the State Order of the Gold Star
Statistics
First induction	14 July 1994 Lech Wałęsa
Last induction	28 November 2024 Haitham bin Tariq
Total inductees	32
Precedence
Next (higher)	None (highest)
Next (lower)	Order of the Republic
Ribbon bar of the order (since 2013)

The Order of the State of Republic of Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Devlet Nişanı) is the highest state order awarded to foreign nationals by the President of the Republic of Turkey.

The Order of the State is conferred by the President, upon the decision of the Council of Ministers, to heads of state, presidents and royal members in recognition of their contributions for enhancing the amicable relations between their respective countries and Turkey.^[1] The "Regulation on State Awards and Medals" numbered 19892 was prepared and entered in the Official Gazette on 7 August 1988.

The Order of the Republic of Turkey has a diameter of 8.9 cm. Composed of gold and silver, there is 18 carat green gold in the hexagonal center, crescent and star white enamel on a red background, and a pencil application on six crescents around it. There are a total of seven swords, four long and three short, with white and red metal applications from the middle of the crescents and six white and red star enamels at the ends of these swords. 18-carat green gold is used in the stars. The badge is a horizontal rectangle and measures 3.40 x 1.67 cm. There are 925 sterling silver frame pen application around it, Turkish flag motif on the ground, crescent and star enamel rhodium plating method in white and red colors in the middle. The order consists of 61.5 g (925 sterling silver) and 5.4 g (750 mil gold). The rosette is 7.15 gr (925 sterling silver).

On 5 November 2013, with the regulation issued by the Justice and Development Party and approved by the President Abdullah Gül and published in the Official Gazette, the Mustafa Kemal Atatürk silhouette on the front of the state badge and the caption of "Turkish Republic Order of the State" on the back were removed. Public Workers Unions Confederation of Turkey (Kamu-Sen) sued the State Council at the request of a stay of implementation and cancellation. In October 2016, the Council of State gave the cancellation of the missing regulation part of the state medal decision in the 6th article of the State Medals and Insignia Regulation, without including the "Atatürk Relief". The Prime Ministry appealed the decision. On October 10, 2018, a higher court of the Council of State, the Board of Trial Chambers, "emphasizing that Atatürk is the immortal leader", approved the decision of the lower court by majority vote and canceled the regulated part.

The Order of the State is given to the awardee together with the certificate and badge by the President of Turkey or a person appointed by the President at a ceremony. Otherwise, if he has not been left to one of the heirs; it is given to the sons starting from the eldest, otherwise to his daughters, to his father if he has no children, to his mother if he has no father, to his spouse if there is no mother. The absence of his spouse is transferred to his legal heirs in accordance with the provisions of the Turkish Civil Code.

The ceremony is according to a certain protocol and procedures. The ceremony starts with the National Anthem of Turkey and then decision regarding the aiming parties is read. The person who will present the award goes in front of the people who will attach them on, gives their badges and certificates and congratulates themselves. Award recipients stand at intervals from the right, separately for each medal and decoration group. The order of the groups is arranged according to the priority order of the awards or medal in the law, the priority of the persons according to the state protocol for the public officials and the surname for the private persons.

The order was first given to Lech Wałęsa, the second president of Poland, by President Süleyman Demirel in 1994. Demirel awarded the honor to the heads of state of 12 countries during his tenure. President Ahmet Necdet Sezer awarded the order only to the first president of the Czech Republic, Václav Havel. No order was given between 2001–2006. After President Abdullah Gül took office, the state order was given again beginning with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan awarded the order to King Philippe I of Belgium, King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, Emir of Kuwait Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jabir al-Sabah, and Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi. Azerbaijan, Poland, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are the only countries to have received the order twice. In total, 33 people have been awarded the Order of the State.

	Year	Country	Name	Title	Conferred by	Ref.
1	1994	Poland	Lech Wałęsa	President of Poland	Süleyman Demirel	[2]
2	1997	Azerbaijan	Heydar Aliyev	President of Azerbaijan		[2]
3		Bosnia and Herzegovina	Alija Izetbegović	Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina		[2]
4	1998	Egypt	Hosni Mubarak	President of Egypt		[2]
5	1999	Croatia	Franjo Tuđman	President of Croatia		[3]
6		Georgia	Eduard Shevardnadze	President of Georgia		[2]
7		Romania	Emil Constantinescu	President of Romania		[2]
8		United States	Bill Clinton	President of the United States		[2]
9		Finland	Martti Ahtisaari	President of Finland		[2]
10	2000	Germany	Johannes Rau	President of Germany		[4]
11		Poland	Aleksander Kwaśniewski	President of Poland		[2]
12		China	Jiang Zemin	President of the People's Republic of China		[5]
13		Czech Republic	Václav Havel	President of the Czech Republic	Ahmet Necdet Sezer	[6]
14	2007	Saudi Arabia	Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz	King of Saudi Arabia	Abdullah Gül	[7]
15	2008	United Kingdom	Elizabeth II	Queen of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth realm nations		[8]
16	2009	Portugal	Aníbal Cavaco Silva	President of Portugal		[9]
17		Kazakhstan	Nursultan Nazarbayev	President of Kazakhstan		[10]
18		Italy	Giorgio Napolitano	President of Italy		[11]
19	2011	Pakistan	Asif Ali Zardari	President of Pakistan		[12]
20	2012	Turkmenistan	Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow	President of Turkmenistan		[13]
21		Netherlands	Beatrix	Queen of the Netherlands		[14]
22	2013	Sweden	Carl XVI Gustaf	King of Sweden		[15]
23		Norway	Harald V	King of Norway		[16]
24		Azerbaijan	Ilham Aliyev	President of Azerbaijan		[17]
25		Luxembourg	Henri	Grand Duke of Luxembourg		[18]
26	2015	Belgium	Philippe	King of Belgium	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan	[19]
27	2016	Saudi Arabia	Salman bin Abdul Aziz	King of Saudi Arabia		[20]
28	2017	Kuwait	Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah	Emir of Kuwait		[21]
29		Tunisia	Beji Caid Essebsi	President of Tunisia		[22]
30	2022	Malaysia	Al-Sultan Abdullah	Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia		[23]
31	2024	Kuwait	Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah	Emir of Kuwait		[24]
32		Uzbekistan	Shavkat Mirziyoyev	President of Uzbekistan		[25]
33		Oman	Haitham bin Tariq	Sultan of Oman		[26]

• "Madalya ve Nişan Üretimi" (in Turkish). T.C. Hazine ve Maliye Bakanlığı Darphane ve Damga Matbaası Genel Müdürlüğü. Retrieved 14 February 2020.