The German, so comfortable with his time that he was parked up in the garage and out of the car with a minute of the final session still to run, was joined at the front by Australian teammate Mark Webber.
Vettel's time of one minute 25.049 seconds, was 0.405 quicker than Webber.
It was Red Bull's third Turkish pole in a row and, in a race that has always been won by a driver starting from the first two places, left the champions with high hopes of being third time lucky — providing they stay clear of each other.
Vettel and Webber, who was on pole in 2010, were heading for a one-two last year when they collided while fighting for the lead, handing the one-two to McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button instead.
"I am very happy and very pleased after the bad shunt yesterday and the work load I managed to give to all the mechanics," grinned Vettel, who missed Friday's second practice after crashing heavily in the morning.
"It was a pretty big hit. They did a very good job and I had a fantastic car today," added the German, who showed he had also learned a lesson from the last Chinese Grand Prix by not going out for a final lap and saving a set of fresh tires.
"We talked about it before the qualifying," the championship leader, winner of the first two races and second in the third, said of his decision to end the session early.
"Both of us after the first run had the feeling we might be safe...but in the end you never know. If it works you are the hero but if it doesn't you are not." The pole was the 19th of Vettel's career, one more than Hamilton, and fourth in four races this season. He was also on pole in last year's Abu Dhabi season-ender.
That left him just three short of equaling the late Brazilian triple champion Ayrton Senna's record of eight in a row set in 1988/89.
Vettel leads the standings with 68 points after three races, with Hamilton on 47, Button on 38 and Webber 37.
Hamilton, who beat Vettel in Shanghai on strategy after saving a set of tires and doing one more stop than the German, will start in fourth place and with Mercedes' Nico Rosberg alongside.
"It's not pole position but it's better than nothing," said Hamilton.
"We're starting on the dirty side, but we're in the fight. We don't have an extra set (of tires). We went out, whether that was right or not I don't know," added the 2008 champion.
"We're not far away but now you see the Mercedes have picked up their pace and also the Ferraris have. I'm looking forward to a strong race. It's a long one here but there are chances to overtake and it should be good." Ferrari's double world champion Fernando Alonso qualified fifth with Button, winner in 2009 after Vettel had taken pole, back in sixth place.
Russian Vitaly Petrov starts seventh for Renault, with Mercedes' Michael Schumacher eighth.
Sauber's Japanese Kamui Kobayashi will have to do a lot of his famed overtaking moves to secure a point after he was left at the back of the grid due to a fuel system problem stopping the car on track without him setting a timed lap.
