The History of Neurosurgery in Anatolia and Turkey: The Turkish Neurosurgical Society

Although the history of neurosurgery in Anatolia goes back ten thousand years, modern surgery began in Turkey in 1890. Neurosurgery in Turkey began in the first half of the 20th century. However, general surgeons began applying neurosurgical techniques back in the late 19th century. Most of these applications included procedures for craniocerebral traumas and infections. Dr. Cemil Topuzlu (1868-1958) is the founder of modern surgery in Turkey. Dr. Abdulkadir Cahit Tuner became the first neurosurgeon with a degree in Turkey in 1923. The first neurosurgery department was established in Istanbul in 1923, and the first training program began in the late 1940s. Currently there are almost 1200 neurosurgeons in Turkey and 75 training clinics at university hospitals and Training and Research Hospitals of the Ministry of Health provide neurosurgery training. The current state of neurosurgery in Turkey is parallel to that of the advanced Western countries. Apart from the application of neurosurgical procedures, there have been many scientific studies from Turkish neurosurgeons contributing to the total body of literature in neurosurgery.