TURKEY

Land and People

• West Asian
 Asia
 Europe
• North : Black Sea
• East: Iraqi and Iranian borders
• West: Aegean Sea
• South: Mediterranean Sea
• Capital City: Ankara ( Angora)
• Largest Seaport: Istanbul
• Two narrow straits:
 The Dardenelles (Hellesport)
 Bosporus
• Chromites
• Main products:
 Cotton
 Tobacco
 Cereals
 fruits
• Population: 64,556,511 (1998)
• Religion: Islam
• National language: Turkish

History

• In 658 BC: Byzas – founded the first Greek settlement on the Bosporus.
▪ Byzantium
• In 330 AD: Constantine the great- renamed it Constantinople and made it as the capital of
the eastern part of the Roman Empire
• AD 476: Byzantium was attacked by Oriental and Germanic people.
• Fall of Rome: Zeno- appointed Odoacer,patricius (patrician) of Italy.
▪ Odoacer- became an independent King in Italy
• Justinian (527-565) - became an Emperor of Constantinople in 527 AD
- He sent his brilliant general, Belisarius to North Africa to evict the Vandals
• 553: North Africa was annexed to the Byzantine Empire
• 552: Justinian sent a stronger force to Italy and succeed in recovering the peninsula from the
Goths.
• In AD 634: a new threat to Byzantium emerged: the Muslim Arabs began large- scale
attacks from their homeland in Arabia.
• In 644 AD: were able to seize Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and part of Asia Minor from the
Byzantine Empire
• In the 11th century: the Seljuk Turks- attacked Byzantine terittories in Asia Minor and
succeeded in controlling nearly all the peninsula
• In AD 1204: Christian crusaders from europe besieged and Captured Constantinople
− Crusaders established several Latin States in Byzantine territories, but
did not last long
 • In 1453: Ottoman Turks- began to extend their power and subdued most of the Balkan
Peninsula
− They attacked Constantinople and after the long siege, captured the city
− With the fall of its capital, the Byzantine Empire ended

Byzantine Cultural Contributions

,
• Hagia Sophia- built by Constantine in Constantinople, set a style, which most Orthodox
Church buildings later copied
• Codification of Roman law: Corpus Juris Civiles
▪ the Digest – which was the reduction of all principles of law which had gradually
evolced over the entire period of the Roman Empire.
▪ The Institutes- which was the textbook on legal classifications and the principles of
Jurisprudence
▪ the Codex- which was the compilation of imperial decrees
▪ the Noveliae- subsequent imperial decrees
• !0 century: the Russian princess and nobles were converted to Byzantine Christianity
th

Ottoman Empire

• In the 1300's: - a new group of Turks appeared

− they were called Ottomans after their first ruler Osman( 1290- 1396)
• Janizaries- group of slaves
− were taken as children from conquered Chrisitans
− they were taught carefully Islamic customs and law.
− Were a standing army of well discipilned and higly trained foot soldiers.
• th
16 Century: Suleyman the Magnificent established an empire that extended from Asia
Minor to Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula, the Balkans and Hungary to the borders of Austria
• Battle of Lepanto (the Last Crusade)
• The Treaty of 1920 was severe: the island of Cyprus, a britsh possession since 1878 and
annexed in 1914, was formally recognized as British colony.
• Palestine, Jordan, and Iraq- were under British mandate with the supervision of the League
of Nations
• Syria and Lebanon- were to be administered by France
• The kingdom of Hejaz- in Arabia was recognized as independent

Turkish Revolution

• Young Turks- a group of young Turkish military officers, intellectuals and student
had been trying to reform the inefficient and corrupt government.
• In 1992: Mustapha Kemal- a charismatic and able military officer led a revolution against
the Ottomans
• The revolutionist demanded that the Treaty of 1920 be abrogated.
• The allied powers agreed and a new treaty was written in 1923.
• Turkey regained eastern Thrace, Smyrna and full control of Constantinople
• The Straits were to be administered by a commision of the League of Nations
• The Turkish Revolution put an end to the Ottoman Empire, and establishe the modern state
of Turkey.
Mustapha Kemal

• He is an army general and a original “Young Turk” rallied his countrymen and successfully
resisted allied occupation
• October 1923: Turkish Legislature- proclaimed the Republic of Turkey with Kemal as its
first President
• He changed his name to Kemal Ataturk (“ Father of the Turks”)
• His radical reforms include:
▪ the abolition of polygamy
▪ the prohibition of the use of fez ( the traditional hat of Turkish men)
▪ use of veils by women
• He ordered his people to adopt western dress and insisted that all Turks adopt family
surnames.
• He also establpished a parliamentary democracy in Turkey.
• Turkish women for the first time were given the right to vote
• Turkey adopted the western calendar, the metric system of weights, and the Roman alphabet.
• In 1926: He transferred the capital to Ankara and changed the name of Constantinople to
Istanbul.

POST- ATATURK ERA

• November 10, 1938: Ataturk died and political instability followed

• Bulent Ecevit and Suleyman Demirel: controlled the government and took their turns as
premier- from 1965 to 1980.
• In 1979: Sunni Muslims and the Shiites conflict plunge Turkey into near anarchy that forced
the Ecevit government to sent troops and restored order.
• In July 1975: Turkish leaders took over all American installations in the country except the
US military base at Incirlik.
• On September 12, 1980: a military junta led by General Kenan Evren took over the
government
• In 1987: in a referendum, the Turks voted to restore political parties in Turkey.
• In 1993: Turkey elected its first womam premiere, Tansu Ciller
• In 1991: Turkey, a NATO member joined the US-led coalition forces against Iraq in the
Persian Gulf War.