Turkish Angora History history

Like all domestic cats, Turkish Angoras descended from the African wildcat (Felis silvestris lybica). The mountainous regions of Eastern Turkey isolated cats brought by traders from Egypt, and through inbreeding and natural selection they developed into longhaired breeds like the Turkish Van and the Turkish Angora.

Longhaired cats were imported to Britain and France from Asia Minor, Persia and Russia as early as the late 1500s, though there are indications that they appeared in Europe as early as 1300s due to the Crusades. The Turkish Angora was recognized as a distinct breed in Europe by the early 1600s.

In 1917, The Government of Turkey in conjunction with the Ankara Zoo began a meticulous breeding program to protect and preserve what they considered a national treasure, pure white Turkish Angoras with blue and amber eyes. The program continues today. The zoo particularly prized odd-eyed Angoras (ie. Turkish Angoras with one blue eye and one amber eye). The Zoo has its own cat facility which houses both the Turkish Van as well as the Turkish Angora.

Turkish Angora, which was most recently brought to the United States in 1963, was accepted as a championship pedigreed breed in 1973 by the Cat Fanciers' Association. However, until 1978 only white Angoras were recognized. Today, all North American registries accept the Turkish Angora in many colors and patterns. While numbers are still relatively small, the gene pool and base of fanciers are growing.

A Turkish Angora was regularly held by Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film You Only Live Twice.

Complete List
Felis catus	American Bobtail	American Keuda	Angora (British Angora) renamed Oriental Longhair in 2002	Asian Semi-longhair (or Tiffanie)
Balinese	Birman	British Longhair	Chantilly/Tiffany cat	Cherubim (or Honeybear)
Colourpoint Longhair	Exotic cat	Himalayan	Javanese	Maine Coon
Nebelung	Neva Masquerade	Norwegian Forest Cat	Oriental Longhair	Persian
Ragdoll (and Ragamuffin)	Siberian	Snow Cat	Somali	Sterling
Turkish Van	Turkish Angora	York Chocolate cat	Abyssinian	American Shorthair
Antipodean (New Zealand Shorthair)	Australian Mist (or Spotted Mist)	Bombay	British Shorthair	Brazilian Shorthair
Burmese	Burmilla	Chartreux	Colorpoint Shorthair	Cornish Rex
Egyptian Mau	European Shorthair	Havana Brown	Jungala	Khao Manee
Korat	Kucing Malaysia	Malayan Burmese	Oriental Shorthair	Russian Blue
Savannah	Siamese (and Traditional Siamese or Applehead Siamese)	Tonkinese	American Curl	American Ringtail
American Wirehair	Bengal cat	California Spangled Cat	Chausie	Cymric
Desert Lynx	Devon Rex	Don Sphynx	Foldex Cat	German Rex
Japanese Bobtail	Kurilian Bobtail Shorthair	LaPerm	Manx	Mojave Spotted
Munchkin	Ocicat	Ojos Azules	Peterbald	Pixie-bob
Selkirk Rex	Serengeti	Singapura	Sphynx	Scottish Fold
Snowshoe	Sokoke	Suqutranese	Thai	Toyger
Ussuri	Wild Abyssinian