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| 1999, Feb. 16 |
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| Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdish militant group the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), was captured, tried, and convicted of treason and separatism. In June Ocalan was sentenced to death. | 1 |
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| April 18 |
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| Deputy Premier Bulent Ecevit, temporarily the head of state after Yilmaz's resignation, saw a victory for his Democratic Left Party, which won 136 seats in Turkey's parliamentary elections. | 2 |
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| Aug. 5 |
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| The PKK announced that it would cease its 14-year armed rebellion, following the wishes of the imprisoned leader, Ocalan. Officials worried that should his death sentence be carried out, Ocalan's supporters would renew hostilities. | 3 |
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| Nov. 18 |
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| Representatives attending a summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) approved a 1000-mile oil pipeline to run from Azerbaijan to the Mediterranean city of Ceyhan. The estimated cost of the international pipeline was more than $2.4 billion; the accord was seen as a major foreign policy victory. | 4 |
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| Aug. 17 |
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| An earthquake of Richter magnitude 7.4 hit Izmit, Turkey. The entire country was without electric power for several days; deaths were estimated at between 30,000 and 40,000. This was the largest recorded earthquake to have struck an industrialized area since the 1906 San Francisco and the 1923 Tokyo events. | 5 |
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