Persia (modern day Iran) and Turkey were among the first countries that developed rug making centres. Turkish  Carpets, whether knotted or flat woven (kilim) are among the best known art forms produced by the Turks from time immemorial.

There are environmental, sociological, economic, and religious reasons for the widespread art of carpet weaving among the Turkish people from Central Asia to Turkey. The geographical regions where Turks have lived throughout the centuries lie in the temperate zone. Temperature fluctuations between day and night, summer and winter may vary greatly.

Turks-nomadic or pastoral, agrarian or town-dwellers, living in tents or in sumptuous houses in large cities-have protected themselves from the extremes of the cold weather by covering the floors, and sometimes walls and doorways, with carpets.

The carpets are always hand made of wool or sometimes cotton, with occasional additions of silk. These carpets are natural barriers against the cold. The flat woven kilims which are frequently embroidered are used as blankets, curtains, and covers over sofas or as cushion covers.

Before they came to Anatolia, Turks reigned in Iran (Persia) and caucasus for several centuries. The art of weaving was introduced to Anatolia by the Seljuks toward the end of the 11th. and the beginning of 12th. centuries when Seljuk sovereignty was at its strongest. In addition to numerous carpet fragments, many of which are yet to be documented, there are 18 carpets and fragments which are known to be of Seljuk origin.

The technical aspects and vast variety of designs used proves the resource fullness and the plendor of Selcuk rug weaving. The oldest surviving Seljuk carpets are dated from the 13th.-14th. centuries. Eight of these carpets were discovered in the Alaeddin Mosque in Konya (capital of Anatolian Seljuks) in 1905 by Loytred, a member of German consulate staff, and were woven at some time between the years 1220 and 1250 at the appex of Seljuks reign.

Of these 8 striking rugs, 3 are large complete rugs; 3 are large fragments from small rugs, and 2 are fairly small fragments originating from large rugs.Three more carpet fragments from the Seljuk period were discovered in 1930 in the Esrefoglu Mosque in Beysehir. Today, these rugs are displayed in the Mevlana Museum in Konya and the Kier collection in London.

A third group of carpet remmants were recovered in Fostad (old Cairo) in 1935-1936. These 7 rugs from Fostad were identified as having originated in Anatolia in the 14th. century.The most common design characteristic of the 18 rugs before mentioned are the Kufic border, the eight pointed star, and the hooked (geometric) motif.

Marco Polo, who travelled through Anatolia in the late 13th century, commented on the beauty and artistry of the carpets. A number of carpets from this period, known as the Seljuk carpets, were discovered in several mosques in central Anatolia.

These were under many layers of subsequently placed carpets. The Seljuk carpets are today in the museums in Konya and Istanbul. We may be looking at the very same carpets that Marco Polo praised in the year 1272.

The Turkish rug, which originated in Central Asia, preserved all of its characteristics until the 14th. century. After the Ottomans gained control over the whole Anatolia, changes began to appearing the composition of the field, in the characteristics of the motifs, and in the sizes of the still traditionally woven Turkish rugs.

During the Ottoman reign, several Turkish tribes decided to settle down and built a number of villages and small towns. Notably, the village of Hereke was settled on the edge of Marmara Sea some 60 kilometres east of Istanbul.

The first court carpet workshop was established in Hereke and began to weave carpets of unusually large sizes to be used in decorating Ottoman palaces. These exceptionally fine rugs were also used to tie and retie relationships with European countries in time of war and peace and so they were given as gifts to kings and queens, as well as to key army commanders and statesmen. Towards the end of the 14th. century, these rugs which were the finest samples of the eye and hand harmony, began to enter European homes, churches and castles then to intermediaries such as merchants in Florence and Genoa.

Many examples of Anatolian (Turkish) rugs can be seen in European paintings from 1350 to 1450.

It is generally supposed that Turkish rugs first came to be known in Italy and the rest of the western world after the sack of Constantinople in 1204, during the Fourth Crusade. But it is only in the 14th century that they first appear in Western painting.

By that time, trading concessions had been granted and travel by foreign merchants in Turkey was well established. The frequent presence of Turkish rugs in Western paintings between the 14th and 17th centuries and their mention in the inventories and wills of European royalty and nobility testify to their importance as symbols of status and objects of great aesthetic merit and exotic appeal.

They were described by writers and travellers such as Marco Polo, coveted and collected by powerful monarchs like Henry VIII of England, and depicted by painters such as Fra Angelico, Van Eyck, Memling, Mantegna, Crivelli, Bellini, Lotto, Holbein, Tintoretto, Rubens, Van Dyck, Brueghel, Metsu and many others.

Rugs were initially reproduced at the feet of saints and Madonnas in order to define and enhance their aura. The rarity and aesthetic diversity of the rugs was used to underline the holiness and uniqueness of the Gods and semi-Gods of the Christian pantheon.

In the same way in the 16th century, the depiction of rugs at the feet of kings and princes was a clear signal of the uniqueness of their secular power. Rugs also start appearing on tables or in the background of portraits of the rich and powerful as symbols of wealth and acquired social status, the depth of colour and complexity of pattern frequently contrasting with the austere attires of the period.

In Ottoman Turkey, weaving patterns and techniques changed in the early sixteenth century after conquests in Persia and Egypt. Anatolia had been known for carpets with stylized animal and geometric designs, but with these new cultural contacts, carpets designed around a central medallion and with flowing saz-style vegetation came into vogue.

Similar motifs also appeared on book covers, textiles, and in manuscript borders. The style of these Ottoman court rugs, first produced in Istanbul, then spread to other weaving centres in Cairo and Ushak, but never fully overtook the various regional carpet traditions. Caucasian and Armenian carpets retained their customary geometric patterns, and kilims (or flat-weaves) remained popular.

In the 17th century, Turkish rugs appeared in the fashionable still lives which glorified symbols of wealth including textiles, precious objects in gold, silver and glass, musical instruments and food, and at the same time underlined the vanity, uselessness and tragedy of human desire and lust for riches.

It can be seen from literary evidence that 'Turkey carpets', as they were generally termed, were extremely expensive and only affordable to the very few. They were knotted in professional workshops under the supervision of master weavers in different centres in Anatolia, and were bought by western merchants who would subsequently sell them for very high sums.

The great fashion for the eastern rug in the West started to wane in the 18th century, due in part to the decadence of production and its diffusion in Europe. Love for the exotic and the building of museums in the 19th century caused a reawakening in appreciation in the West of arts from other cultures, and the oriental rug regained its importance.

Under the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal dynasties, carpet weaving was transformed from a minor craft based on patterns passed down from generation to generation into a statewide industry with patterns created in court workshops.

In the 19th. century, additional court workshops were opened in Istanbul in the district of Kumkapi, Topkapi and Uskudar. And in 1891, Sultan Abdullhamid II increased the number and sizes of the carpet workshops in Hereke, and thus, the exquisite carpets woven in Hereke became more plentiful.

Throughout their development from Central Asia to the Caucasus region to the Anatolian plains, steppes, and coastal areas, and through the Seljuk and Ottoman areas Anatolian rugs have maintained the purity and characteristics of their origin.

Turkish carpets are among the most sought after household items all over the world. Their rich colours, warm tones, and extraordinary patterns with traditional motifs have contributed to the status that Turkish carpets have maintained since the 13th century.

Rugs produced today are generally very beautiful and high quality. In the late 1970s the government began a program to improve the quality and profitability of the rug industry. The program reintroduced the use of natural dyes and traditional weaving methods. Thus, DOBAG (a Turkish acronym meaning Natural Dye Research and Development Project) was created. Turkey produces a wide variety of village and workshop rugs particularly in Hereke, which also produces one of the best silk rugs in the world and, to a lesser extent, in Kayseria.

Anatolian rugs are sometimes woven with traditional designs and colors and sometimes for the Western market and taste.