The art of carpet weaving has been a centuries-old tradition in Turkey for 3,500 years and is one of the oldest professions in the world.

Turkey has a long and distinguished history of carpet-making including classical products of bygone days and the current carpet styles which are very popular as export items. This traditional art form has been preserved in its original pure form, faithfully keeping the original designs and colour combinations of each production region using mostly local raw materials.

There are important carpet weaving centres in Turkey whose names reveal the value of their carpets. Each region produces its own unique style and design. The most well known of these include Hereke, Kula, Bünyan, Kayseri, Yahyalı, Milas, Uşak, Isparta, Yağcıbedir, Kars and Gördes carpets.

Turkey has machine-made carpet factories producing Wilton type carpets and wall-to- wall carpeting. Machine-made production in Turkey is concentrated mainly in Gaziantep, Kayseri and İstanbul. Machine-made carpets are produced both in workshops and industrial scale manufacturing units. Machine-made carpets production is highly fragmented among a large number of small workshops. Raw materials used in production of machine-made carpets are supplied both from Turkey and from abroad.

In 1998, Turkish carpet production included 28 million square metres of machine-made carpets, 3 million square metres of handmade carpets and 49 million square metres of tufted, felt carpets and kilims.

Turkish carpet exports totalled $ 270 million in 1999, handmade carpets reached at $103 million, machine-made carpets at $152.6 million and kilims at $10.9 million, respectively.

The USA is the most important export market and almost 24 % of Turkish handmade carpets are sent there. Other major handmade carpet export markets include Germany, United Kingdom, Japan, Spain and Saudi Arabia.

            Main export markets for machine made carpets include Saudi Arabia, Romania, the USA, U.A.E., Kazakhistan and Uzbekistan.