Celiac disease (CD) is a disease having the characteristic pathology of the mu cosa of the small intestine. The prevalence of CD in the Turkish population has not been investigated previously. The present study was designed to determine th e prevalence of CD in healthy blood donors. Serum samples of 2000 healthy blood donors presenting to Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine Hospital Blood Ban k were tested for tissue transglutaminase (tTG) IgA and IgG antibodies with enzy me-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA; Euroimmune, Germany). The histopathologic al findings for the cases with positive serology were evaluated. The distributio n of sex was 95.7%male, and 4.3%female. The mean age was 33±9. Among 2000 don ors, 23 (1.15%) were positive for tTG IgA antibody and 3 (0.15%) were positive for tTG IgG antibody. None of the samples was positive for both antibodies. Ser um total IgA was measured in two cases with only tTG IgG positivity and was foun d to be low in one case. Twelve subjects positive for tTG agreed to endoscopy an d biopsy. Histopathological examination revealed changes classified as Marsh III -II in one,Marsh II in two, Marsh I in seven, and Marsh 0 in two donors. This w as the first study conducted to determine the prevalence of tTG positivity in th e Turkish population. The tTG antibody positivity prevalence in healthy blood do nors was as high as 1.3%. This study shows that the prevalence of CD in the Tur kish population is relatively high in comparison to that in the Western world. The prevalence of CD in the Turkish population has not been investigated previously. The present study was designed to determine th e prevalence of CD in healthy blood. donors. Serum samples of 2000 healthy blood donors presenting to Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine Hospital Blood Ban k were tested for tissue transglutaminase (tTG) IgA and IgG antibodies with enzy me-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA; Euroimmune, Germany). The histopathologic al Results for the cases with positive serology were evaluated. The distributio n of sex was 95.7% male, and 4.3% female. The mean age was 33 ± 9. Among 2000 donors, 23 (1.15%) were positive for tTG IgA antibody and 3 (0.15%) were positive for tTG IgG antibody. None of the samples was positive for both antibodies. Serum total IgA was measured in two cases with only tTG IgG positivity and was foun d to be low in one case. Twelve subjec ts positive for tTG agreed to endoscopy an d biopsy. Histopathological examination revealed changes classified as Marsh III -II in one, Marsh II in two, Marsh I in seven, and Marsh 0 in two donors. This w as the first study conducted to determine the prevalence of tTG positivity in th e Turkish population. The tTG antibody positivity prevalence in healthy blood do nors was as high as 1.3%. This study shows that prevalence of CD in the Tur kish population is relatively high in comparison to that in the the Western world.