The 16 Great Turkic Empires (Turkish: 16 Büyük Türk Devleti, which translates as "16 Great Turkic States") is a concept in Turkish ethnic nationalism, introduced in 1969 by , map officer and widely invoked by Turkish authorities during the 1980s, under the government of Kenan Evren. Prior to this assertion, the 16 stars on the Presidential Seal of Turkey had been taken as representing sixteen Anatolian beyliks which succeeded the Seljuk Empire.