Until the 1960's, criminality was not considered a serious problem in Turkey. Thereafter and especially in 1968, the situation rapidly deteriorated. Ideological and political terrorism has become a more serious concern, and urbanization and industrialization have increased the criminogenic character of the environment. Criminology became a university discipline in Turkey as late as 1953. Prior to that time, a tradition was established to give considerable attention to the problems of theoretical criminology in the teaching of criminal law. In 1943, an institute of criminology was founded first in the law school of Istanbul University and another later in the law school of Ankara University. Since then, the Institute of Criminology of Istanbul has been particularly active in research. Conferences and symposia are sponsored at the national and international levels, and a library of criminological literature has been established. Significant criminological monographs have also been published in Turkey in the last 25 years. Twenty-five notes and 32 bibliographic listings are provided.