Turkey with it's mix of sun, sea, mountains and lakes, offers the traveller a complete change from the stress and routine of everyday life. From April to October, most places in Turkey have an ideal climate that is perfect for relaxing on sandy beaches or enjoying the tranquility of mountains and lakes. Turkey has a magnificent past and is a land full of historic treasures from 13 successive successive civilizations spanning 10,000 years. Even if you spend only a short time in Turkey you can see a lot of this great heritage.

Population: 68.109.469

Largest Cities (over 1 million inhabitants):

Istanbul - 10.151.987, Ankara - 4.082.408, Izmir - 3.139.713, Konya - 2.253.789, Bursa - 2.109.357, Adana - 1.809.711, Trabzon - 1.007.869

Total area: 780,580 sq km
land: 770,760 sq km
water: 9,820 sq km

Istanbul

Istanbul (Turkish: İstanbul; contraction of the city's previous Greek name Constantinople) is the largest city in Turkey, and arguably the most important. It is located on the Bosphorus strait and encompasses the natural harbor known as the Golden Horn (Turkish: Haliç), in the northwest of the country. It is officially in both Europe and Asia, but is generally considered Asian. The city is also the administrative capital of Istanbul Province. Its population of over 10 million people, make it, by some counts, one of the largest cities in Europe. Originally founded by Greek colonists as Byzantium, it was made the seat of government in 324 AD by the Roman Emperor Constantine; Byzantium was renamed Nova Roma (New Rome) but this name failed to impress and the city soon became known as Constantinople, the City of Constantine. Then, after the Roman Empire split in two, it became the capital of the eastern half, known as the Byzantine Empire (or Romania to the Byzantines themselves). This empire quickly became distinctly Greek in culture and the centre of Greek Orthodox Christianity and was adorned with many impressive churches including the once world's largest cathedral: Hagia Sophia. The seat of the Patriarch of Constantinople, spiritual leader of the Greek Orthodox Church is located in Istanbul until our days. After the Fall of Constantinople to the invading Turks, in 1453, Constantinople became part of the Ottoman Empire and soon its capital. Before the conquest Turks called the city İstanbul, but officially used the name Qusţanţaniyyeh (قسطنطنيه), which means "City of Constantine" in Arabic. Only on March 28, 1930, was the city officially renamed Istanbul.

When the Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923, the capital was moved from Constantinople to Ankara. Istanbul became the official name in 1930. In the early years of the republic, Istanbul was overlooked in favour of the new capital Ankara, but during the 1950s-1960s Istanbul underwent great structural change. The city's once numerous and prosperous Greek community, remnants of the city's Greek origins, dwindled in the aftermath of violent anti-Greek riots organised by the Turkish police in the 1950's with most Greeks leaving their homes for Greece. In the 1960's the government of Adnan Menderes sought to develop the country as a whole and new roads and factories were constructed throughout the country. Wide modern road were built in Istanbul but some, unfortunately, were at the expense of historical buildings within the city. During the 1970s the population of Istanbul began to rapidly increase as people from Anatolia migrated to the city to find employment in the many new factories that were constructed on the outskirts of the city. This sudden sharp increase in the population caused a rapid rise in housing development (some of poor quality resulting in gread death and injury during the frequent eathquakes that hit the city) and many previously outlying villages became engulfed into the greater metropolis of Istanbul. Many Turks who have lived in Istanbul for over 30 or more years can still recollect how areas such as large parts of Maltepe, Kartal, Pendik and others were green fields when they were young. Other areas such as Tuzla were nothing more than sleepy villages.

Other cities of interest

Antalya, formerly known as Adalia, is a city on a bay of the south Mediterranean coast of Turkey in the Antalya Province. It apparently dates from at least the Hellenistic period and the ruins of several ancient settlements are located nearby. Antalya was founded as Attalia or Attaleia by Attalus II, the King of Pergamum in the second century B.C., there are numerous ancient cities in the regions which are called by their historical names of Lycia in the west, Pamphylia in the east and Pisidia in the north. The chief port of Pamphylia, the city had towers and defensive walls, some of which have survived. Its harbor could be closed with a chain. Combining history and culture it deserves the title of "the capital of Turkish tourism". Kaleici where quaint Turkish and Greek houses are under protection, is the most popular center in Antalya. Traces of Byzantine, Roman and Seljuks architecture and culture can still be seen in the rustic old town. Take time to visit the archeological museum which houses the finds belonging to historic ages of Anatolia. Inside the city Yivli Minare and Kulliye, Karaalioglu park are in our host of places to see. Konyaalti and Lara coasts are well known with their crystal clear waters. The prominent sites accesible by daily tours are Side, Perge, Manavgat and Alanya. It's a must to add Kursunlu and Duden waterfalls to your list. Blue voyagers may set their sails to Phaselis, Olympos, Adrasan and Kekova.

The city of Antioch (modern Antakya) was founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, who made it the capital of his empire in Syria. Seleucus I had served as one of Alexander the Great's generals, and the name Antiochus occurred frequently amongst members of his family. Antioch occupies an important place in the history of Christianity. It was here that St. Paul preached his first Christian sermon in a synagogue, and here that followers of Jesus were first called Christians (Acts 11:26). As Christianity spread, Antioch became the seat of one of the four original patriarchates, along with Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Rome. Today it remains the seat of a patriarchate of the Roman Catholic and Oriental Orthodox churches. One of the canonical Eastern Orthodox churches is still called the Antiochian Orthodox Church, although it moved its headquarters from Antioch to Damascus, Syria, several centuries ago

Antioch was a capital city for many different cultures because of the economic, military and religious activities of the region. This is the reason why St. Paul visited the city once on each of his missionary journeys, helping to make Antioch a center of Christianity in Anatolia. The Emperor Constantine's liberalization of Christianity in 311 and the passing of new laws supporting it, caused people to adopt themselves to the new religion. Antioch played an important role as a metropolitan city at meetings of the church councils. It became the capital city of the Christian Pisidian Province, founded in the 4th century and welcomed the mayor of state and archbishop. In the 6th century two reasons that had helped Antioch to become a colony and gain importance: the fight for sharing Anatolia and the civil wars had both ceased. It was still an important centre of Christianity, but like many other colonies it remained off the main trade route, and it started to lose its importance. The Eastern Roman Empire was directing its economic, political and military power to the southeast because the warriors of a new religion from the Arab Peninsula were invading the furthest borders of the Empire. The Arab raids from the sea and land weakened the empire, the capital city Constantinople was surrounded by Arabs several times. Anatolian cities were damaged by these raids, especially after the time of the crusaders, and they started to become deserted. In the 8th century the raids increased. The fiercest of all against Antioch was conducted by Abbas, the Caliph's son, in 718 during the reign of Caliph Velid. Antioch never recovered again and hundreds years of glamour vanished.

In Antioch, which was visited by crusaders as well, new people appear in the 11th century. They were the Seljuk Turks who captured the area and founded the Anatolian Seljuk Empire-Sultanate in Central Anatolia. Until the 12th century Antioch was a base where soldiers stopped for a rest and it constantly changed hands. On the 11 September 1176, the armies of the Eastern Roman Empire and the Seljuk Sultanate met at Myriokephalon (thousand heads), the exact location is not know, but it is widely accepted that it is somewhere near Yalvaç. The Great Sultan Kılıçarslan won the battle against Manuel Commenos. After the battle the treaty signed in Antioch between Kılıçarslan and Manuel led to the introduction of Turkish culture which survives to the present day. The Turks preferred to settle down in the valley instead of on the acropolis because they now controlled the whole of Central Anatolia. They did not need defence walls and the valley was very suitable for agriculture.

Edirne is a city in Thrace, the northernmost part of Turkey, close to the borders with Greece and Bulgaria. Variations on the name of the city, founded as Hadrianopolis, include Adrianople, Edreneh, and Odrin. Conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1362, the city served as the Ottoman capital from 1365 until 1453. Edirne is the capital of Edirne Province and its estimated population in 2002 was 128,400. The Selimiye Mosque, built by Sultan Selim II in 1575 and designed by Ottoman master architect Sinan, has the highest minarets in Turkey, at 70.9 meters. The area around Edirne is also the site of no fewer than 15 major battles or sieges, from the ancient Greeks to the Romans modern day Turks, the last such encounter happening during the Balkan Wars of 1912–13. Edirne ranks after Istanbul, as the most important city of European Turkey. It was the seat of a Greek archbishop, and of one Armenian and two Bulgarian bishops. It is the chief fortress near the Bulgarian frontier, being defended by a ring of powerful modern forts. It occupies both banks of the Tundzha (Tunja river), at its confluence with the Maritza, which is navigable to this point in spring and winter. The nearest seaport by rail is Dedeagatch, west of the Maritza; Enos, at the river-mouth, is the nearest by water. It is on the railway from Belgrade and Sofia to Istanbul and Salonica. Edirne historically has been the commercial headquarters of all Thrace, and of a large portion of the region between the Balkans and the Danube, now Bulgaria.

Edirne was originally known as Uskadama, Uskudama or Uskodama, but was renamed and enlarged by the Roman emperor Hadrian. In 378 the Visigoths inflicted upon the Roman Empire one of the Empire's most severe defeats. It was the residence of the Turkish sultans from its capture by Murad I, until 1453, when Constantinople fell and Mehmed II moved the capital to that city. However many later Ottomon emperors, like Mehmet IV preferred Edirne over Constantinople, and spent most of their reigns ruling from Edirne rather than Istanbul, although the latter city still remained the official capital. The city was occupied by the Russians in 1829 and 1878 and by Bulgarians in 1912.

Turkish culture

The culture of Turkey is derived from various elements of the Ottoman Empire, European, and the Islamic traditions. The nation was modernized primarily by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, as he successfully transformed a religion-driven former Ottoman Empire into a modern nation-state with a very strong separation of state and religion. Turkey is around 97% Muslim, and so this plays a large role in day to day life for most people. However, when Kemal Atatürk was elected in 1928, he started a new form of Kemalist government, that emphasized secularism - this change included legislation such as the hat law and others which focused on making physical changes in Turkish society so as to appear more "modern" and secular, thinking that mental change would follow. Atatürk (which translates to "Father of Turkey") is revered in Turkey, and speaking ill of him is likely to get you in serious social, if not legal, trouble. Because of these different historical factors playing important roles in defining Turkish identity, the culture of Turkey is an interesting combination of clear efforts to be "modern" and western European, combined with the necessity felt of maintaining their religious and historical values. In the first years of the republic, a large amount of resources was invested into the fine arts, such as paintings, sculptures and architecture, amongst other things. This was done as both a process of modernization and creating a cultural identity. Turkish architecture is best shown in its mosques. Suleiman Mosque, for example is one of the most popular and beautiful structures in Turkey. The various other non-Turk population also follow their own different customs aside from the regional.

Turkish music includes elements of Central Asian folk music, Arabic, Persian classical music, ancient Greco-Roman music and modern European and American popular music. Western-style pop music could only become popular by the beginning of 1990s, as a result of opening economy and society, and still dominates the popular culture. The increasing popularity of pop music gave rise to several international Turkish pop stars such as Tarkan (Tarkan Tevetoğlu is best known for his song Şımarık (Spoilt/Kiss Kiss/Chanson Du Bisou/Besos)). This was reincarnated as Kiss Kiss by Holly Valance after Sezen Aksu sold the music rights. . Note that Turkish pop is still strongly influenced by Arabesk, Turkish folk and middle-eastern music. Turkish folk, which has been popular from time to time, again came into public attention by the end of 1990s. It now has a broader popularity regardless of subcultures. Moreover, the folk music of several ethnic cultures such as Kurdish and Laz, which were not able to express themselves openly due to language restrictions, are rediscovered and gain popularity following the recent democratization attempts. Turkey has produced a number of popular musicians from a wide range of styles, most famously including Arabesk performers. There is also a wide range of imported popular styles, including rock and roll, hip hop, heavy metal, tango and reggae. The biggest Turkish pop star of the 20th century was probably Sezen Aksu, known for overseeing the Turkish contribution to the Eurovision Song Contest and was known both for her light pop music and her controversial stances on feminism, Serbia and the Cumartesi Anneleri. Sertab Erener (born 1964, Istanbul) is a well-known Turkish pop star, who won Eurovision Song Contest 2003 with Everyway That I Can in Latvia. Initially working with Sezen Aksu, another significant Turkish music star, she released her first album Sakin Ol in 1992, followed by Lal (1994), Sertab Gibi (1996), Sertab (1999) and Turuncu (2001). Lal was included in the "Soundtrack For A Century" collection by Sony music. Sertab Erener is also remembered for her duets with José Carreras and Ricky Martin and her single with Greek singer Mando. In 2004 she released her first English album called "No Boundaries" and a few English singles, which increased the number of her international fans.

Traditionally, there are three types of Kurdish performers -- storytellers (chirokbej), minstrels (stranbej) and bards (dengbej). Many songs are epic in nature, recounting the tales of Kurdish heroes like Saladin. For most of the 20th century, Kurdish language songs were banned in Turkey. Some singers, like Ibrahim Tatlises, sang in Turkish, while others violated the ban and were imprisoned, executed or fled to various countries, especially France. A black market, however, has long existed in Turkey, and pirate radio stations and underground recordings have always been available. The Mevlevi (whirling) dervishes are well-known outside of Turkey, in spite of frequent state oppression during the 20th century. Their music consists of long, complex compositions called ayin, which is both preceded and followed by songs using lyrics by the founder and poet Jelaleddin Rumi. Internationally well-known musicians include Necdet Yasar and Kudsi Ergüner.

Turkish cuisine has some Turkic elements brought from Central Asia but mostly the cuisine was simply adopted from the previously dominant cultures of Greece, Armenia, Georgia, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. As a result, Turkey shares cuisines with the countries of the eastern Mediterranean Sea. This wide circle of influence extends even to the Arabian peninsula, North Africa, present Russia and countries receiving Turkish immigrants like Germany and the United Kingdom.

Frequently used ingredients in Turkish dishes include eggplant, green pepper, onion, lentil, bean, tomato, garlic, and cucumber. Grape, apricot, cherry, melon, fig, lemon, pistachio, pine nut, almond, hazelnut, watermelon, and walnut are among the most abundantly used fruits and nuts. Preferred spices and herbs are parsley, cumin, pepper, paprika, mint, and thyme.

Meats (especially shish kebabs) are usually marinated and grilled over an open fire. Although every kind of meat other than that of pork is consumed, lamb from milk-fed lambs is especially favored. A famous beef delicacy is pastirma. Iskender kebap is a relatively recently invented type of döner kebap which is usually consumed in the northwestern parts of Turkey. Döner kebap has established itself as an alternative fast food in Western Europe countries like the Netherlands, Germany and Britain.

Best flavored white cheese and yogurt is also prepared from the sheep milk. Although rice, which is named as pilav (pilaf), is the essential part of many foods, bulgur (prepared from wheat) can also used for the same purpose. Especially in the western parts of Turkey, where olive trees are grown abundantly, olive oil is the major type of oil used for cooking. The bread is prepared from wheat, barley or corn. Pide (broad, round and flat kind of bread made of wheat) and tandır ekmeği (baked on the inner walls of a round oven) are some examples for authentic types of bread in Turkish cuisine.

Meze is the type of food served as the appetizer course with or without drinks or sometimes as the main course and consists olives, mature kashar cheese (similar to strong cheddar cheese in flavor) or white cheese, pickles, cacık (tzatziki), köfte (meatballs), pilaki (made of bean, garlic and olive oil), dolma (grape leaves, green pepper or eggplant stuffed with rice or meat), börek (very thin phyllo dough stuffed with cheese, meat or vegetables), hummus (prepared from sesame, chickpea, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice), seafood, and several other varieties.

One of the best-known desserts in Turkish cuisine is baklava. Rice and starch puddings (muhallebi, sütlaç), helva (halvah), kadayıf (kataifi), revani (made of semolina and starch) are among other varieties. Kaymak (clotted cream) is often served with sweet desserts to cut through the sweetness. Tea or thick Turkish coffee (with or without sugar) is usually served after dinner or more rarely together with desserts. And one must never forget lokum (Turkish Delight)!

Notwithstanding that the majority of Turkish profess the Islamic faith, alcoholic beverages are as widely available as in Europe. However, most of the Turks restrain from alcohol during the holy month of Ramadan. There are a few local brands of lager and a variety of local wines. Rakı, an alcoholic beverage flavoured with anise, is the usual tipple with meze.

Yagli Gures, or properly, Yağlı Güreş, is the Turkish national sport. It is commonly known as oil wrestling (sometimes as grease wrestling) because the wrestlers douse themselves with olive oil. The wrestlers are known as pehlivan, meaning hero, and wear a type of hand-stitched lederhosen called kisbet (sometimes kispet), which were traditionally made of water buffalo hide, but now also of calf leather. The sport of oil wrestling dates back to 2650 BC in Egypt and Assyria. In the Ottoman Empire, wrestlers learned the art in special schools called tekke, which were not merely athletic centres, but also spiritual centres, similar to those attended by the Japanese Sumo wrestlers, where it was taught that man is not just matter, but also spirit. Since competition without the harmony of matter and spirit would be detrimental to the development of good character, wrestlers oil one another prior to matches as a demonstration of balance and mutual respect. Equally, if a younger man should defeat an older man, he kisses the latter's hand. Wrestling was introduced to the Turks by the neighbouring Iranians, who call it Pahlavani, who in turn received it from India, where it is known by many names, among them, Pehalwani. Matches are held all over Turkey throughout the year, but in early summer the wrestlers gather in Kirkpinar for the annual 3-day wrestling tournament to determine who will be the baspehlivan (chief hero) of Turkey. Every year, around 1000 wrestlers attend the tournament. Ottoman chroniclers and writers attest that the Kirkpinar Games have been held every year since 1362, making them the world's oldest continually sanctioned sporting competition. Kirkpinar, on the outskirts of Edirne (the second capital of the Ottoman Empire until the fall of Constantinople in 1453), was once the site of the summer hunting palace of the Ottoman Sultan.

Turkey has risen to prominence in a number of sporting areas in recent decades. Its national sport, football, has seen a rapid transformation earning it third place in the coveted 2002 World Cup. Its domestic teams are dominated by Galatasaray, Fenerbahce and Besiktas. Of these, Galatasaray has seen the most success, winning the 2000 UEFA Cup and European Super Cup, as well as fielding many of the players for the international team. In recent years Turkey has exported many of its players into top foreign teams including Inter Milan, Barcelona, Parma, AC Milan and Bayer Leverkusen among others. As well as sending players abroad, the Turkish league has also attracted players into Turkey. World class players such as Gheorghe Hagi, Ariel Ortega, Pierre Van Hooijdonk, Mario Jardel, Nicolas Anelka and many more have played at some point, or continue to play in Turkey.

Weightlifting has been another successful sport for Turkey, regulary relied upon to provide gold medals in the Olympics. Its most famous weightlifters Naim Suleymanoglu and Halil Mutlu are only two of four weightlifters in the world to have won 3 gold medals in 3 olympics. Athletics is another fast improving sport, Sureyya Ayhan set the 1500m world record in 2003 and Elvan Abeylegesse set a new 5000m record in 2004. Turkey placed a bid to become a candidate for the 2012 olympics but was eliminated in the initial rounds. Part of its bid included the building of the 80,000 seater Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul. The stadium was used for the 2005 European Champions League final. Another world event for Turkey will be its addition to the Formula 1 season. The track located at Istanbul will have a planned seating capacity of 155,000 people, is just over 5,340 m long and will run anti-clockwise. The track was designed by Hermann Tilke, designer of the Sepang, Bahrain and Shanghai tracks, and will make its debut on the August 21, 2005. Basketball is also gaining popularity in Turkey. Two Turkish nationals, Hedo Turkoglu and Mehmet Okur, have achieved success in the prestigious NBA of North America, generally considered the world's top basketball league.

Turkish, like Finnish and Hungarian, is an agglutinative language. Turkish is known for having an abundance of suffixes and it has no prefixes (some Arabic loan words have their own prefixes, but those are the common prefixes of Arabic). There can be up to four or five suffixes attached to one word at the same time. Suffixes can derive words and also establish the tense meanings. Two examples are as follows:

• göz means "eye." By adding the suffix -lük, we have gözlük, which means "glasses." If we add another suffix -çü, we have gözlükçü, which means "someone who sells glasses." By adding another suffix -lük, we have gözlükçülük, which means "the business of selling glasses." To this word, we can add the suffix -te (which is the suffix for "in","on","at"), making the word gözlükçülükte, which means "in the business of selling glasses."

• gel is the root for verb "come."
  • By adding the negation suffix -me, we have gelme, which means "do not come."
  • By adding the suffix -miş (the suffix for perfective tense), we have gelmemiş, which means "he/she/it has not come."
  • By adding another suffix, -ti (the suffix for simple past tense), we have gelmemişti, meaning "he/she/it had not come."
  • By adding the suffix -n (the suffix for singular second person in verbal system), we obtain gelmemiştin, meaning "you had not come."
  • We can add another suffix -iz (the suffix which pluralizes the second person singular): gelmemiştiniz "you (plural) had not come."
  • We can go even one step further and insert the question particle -mi (with the addition of consonant -y-, which becomes necessary to avoid having two contiguous sounds of i and d) between the two suffixes of -miş and -ti: gelmemiş miydiniz? ("hadn't you (plural) come?").
  • Finally, we can add the suffix -e (meaning not be able to) right after the verb root: gelememiş miydiniz? ("hadn't you (plural) been able to come?").

In Turkish, all verbs are regular.

Word order in Turkish is Subject Object Verb similar to Japanese and Latin, but unlike English.

A brief history of Turkey

The Ottoman Empire (Osmanlı İmparatorluğu in Turkish) was an imperial power that existed from 1299 to 1923 (634 years), one of the largest empires to rule the borders of the Mediterranean Sea. At the height of its power, it included Anatolia, the Middle East, part of North Africa, and south-eastern Europe. It was established by a tribe of Oghuz Turks in western Anatolia and ruled by the Osmanlı dynasty. In diplomatic circles it was often referred to as the Sublime Porte or simply as the Porte, from the French translation of the Ottoman name Bâb-i-âlî "high gate", due to the greeting ceremony the sultan held for foreign ambassadors at the Palace Gate. This has also been interpreted as referring to the Empire's position as gateway between Europe and Asia. In its day, the Ottoman Empire was also commonly referred to as the Turkish Empire or Turkey, though it should not be confused with the modern nation-state of that name.

The Byzantine Empire became the successor of Rome and lasted for more than a thousand years. Following the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 the Byzantines lost control of Anatolia to the Seljuk Sultanate of Rüm. In the late 13th century the Ottoman Empire rose to power.

The Ottoman State originated as a Beylik within the Seljuk Empire in the 13th century. In 1299, Osman I declared independence of the Ottoman Principality. Murad I was the first Ottoman to claim the title of sultan (king). With the capture of Constantinople in 1453, the state became a mighty empire with Mehmed II as its emperor. The Empire reached its apex under Suleiman I in the 16th century, when it stretched from the Persian Gulf in the east to Hungary in the northwest, and from Egypt in the south to the Caucasus in the north. The Empire was situated in the middle of East and West and interacted throughout its six-century history with both the East and the West.

During this period, the Empire vied with the emerging European colonial powers in the Indian Ocean. Fleets with soldiers and arms were sent to support Muslim rulers in Kenya and Aceh and to defend the Ottoman slave and spice trade. In Aceh, the Ottomans built a fortress and supplied huge cannon. The Dutch Protestants were helped by the Ottomans against Catholic Spain.

In the 17th century, the Ottomans were weakened both internally as well as externally by costly wars especially against Persia, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Russia and Austria-Hungary. There was a long succession of sultans who were not as good as the generation of Mehmed II, Selim I and Suleyman I. The scientific advantage the Ottomans had over the other European countries also diminished. While the Ottomans were stagnating in a stalemate with their European and Asian neighbor countries, the European development went into overdrive. Eventually, after a defeat at the Battle of Vienna, in 1683, it was clear the Ottoman Empire was no longer the sole superpower in Europe. In 1699, for the first time in its history the Ottomans acknowledged that the Austrian empire could sign a treaty with the Ottomans on equal terms, and actually lost a large territory which had been in Ottoman possesion for two centuries. Through a series of reforms, the empire continued to be one of the major political powers of Europe. The banking system was reformed and the guilds were replaced by modern factories. The Janissary were disbanded, and a modern conscripted army was formed. Externally, the empire stopped going into conflicts alone, and started entering alliances like the other European countries. There was a series of alliances with countries such as France, Holland, Britain and Russia. A prime example of this was the Crimean war of the English, French, Ottomans etc. against the Russian empire.

By the end of the 19th century the empire was weakened to a great extent. Economically, it had trouble paying the loans to the European banks. Militarily, it had trouble defending itself from foreign occupation (e.g. Egypt occupied by the French in 1798, Cyprus occupied by the British in 1876 etc.). Socially, the advent of nationalism and the yearning for democracy was making the population restless. This eventually led to a series of military coups and counter coups, resulting in a constitutional monarchy, in which the sultan had little to no power and the Ittihad ve Terakki party was ruling the empire. The nationalistic policies of the Ittihad and Terakki party resulted in the secession of the Balkans in the Balkan war of 1910-12.

In a last-ditch effort to keep power in their hands by regaining at least some of the lost territories, the triumvirate led by Enver Pasha joined the Central Powers in World War I. The Ottoman Empire had some successes in the beginning years of the war. The Allies, including the newly formed ANZACs were defeated in Gallipoli, Iraq and the Balkans, some territories were regained. However, the Ottomans were eventually defeated by the Allies in the Balkans, Thrace, Syria, Palestine and Iraq and its territories were colonized by the victors. In the Caucasus there was a stalemate between the Ottomans and the Russians. The Russians used their advanced guns and cannons and out-manouvered the Ottomans using their Armenian allies within the empire. The subsequent persecution of the Armenians is today viewed as genocide by most historians. Militarily the Ottomans made use of the mountainous terrain and the cold climate, launching a series of surprise attacks. The Russian forces retreated after the Communist revolution in Russia, resulting in Ottoman victory on this front. Mustafa Kemal Pasha, who had made his reputation earlier during the Gallipoli and Palestine campaigns, was offically sent from occupied Istanbul to take control of the victorius Caucasus army , and to disband it. This army was instrumental in winning the Turkish War of Independence (1918–1923), and the Republic of Turkey was founded on October 29, 1923 from the remnants of the fallen empire.

The history of modern Turkey begins with the foundation of the republic on October 29, 1923 (the Republic was declared on January 20, 1921), from the Turkish remnants of the Ottoman Empire, with Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) as its first president. The government was formed from the Ankara-based revolutionary group, led by Atatürk, which had defeated Greece in western Turkey. The Treaty of Lausanne, signed on July 24, 1923, and negotiated by Ismet Pasha (Inönü) on behalf of the Ankara government, established most of the modern boundaries of the country (except the province of Hatay which was given to Turkey by France in 1939). On March 3, 1924, the National Assembly abolished the ministry of sacred law, all schools were placed under the ministry of education and a new constitution was approved on April 20, 1924. For the next 10 years, there was a steady process of secular westernization, guided by Mustafa Kemal. Some of the reforms:

 

• Latin alphabet replaces Arabic script. May 24, 1928
• The wearing of a fez, a traditional Muslim hat, is outlawed.
• All people are required to adopt family names. Mustafa Kemal himself is given the name Atatürk (Father Turk) and all others are banned from using this name.
• The use of Persian and Arabic words is discouraged. Instead, words from Central Asia (including countries north of Turkey) are imported and their use is encouraged, with spotty success. The climax of this movement is the proposal of the Sun Language Theory by Mustafa Kemal himself. Many government documents from this period are unreadable by anybody because they use a language which nobody adopted.
• Imams are now appointed by the government.

Atatürk's successor after his death on November 10, 1938 was Ismet Inönü. When all its western neighbours were under Axis occupation during World War II, Turkey signed a peace treaty with Germany and officially remained neutral until near the end of war. In 1945 Turkey joined the UN, and in February 1945 it declared war on Germany and Japan. This was largely symbolic, as no Turkish troops engaged in battle. Turkey joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1952. The government became plagued by high inflation and a massive debt. It also attempted to use the army to suppress its political rivals. The army balked at this, however, and on May 27, 1960 General Cemal Gürsel led a military coup d'état removing President Celal Bayar and Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, the second of whom was executed. Unlike in most countries where military juntas take over the military stood by its promise and returned the country to civilian control in October of 1961.

The political system that emerged in the wake of the 1960 coup was a fractured one, producing a series of unstable government coalitions in parliament alternating between the True Path Party of Suleyman Demirel on the right and the Republican People's Party of Ismet Inonu and Bulent Ecevit on the left. A coup was staged in 1971, ousting a fractured parliament under the Prime Minsitry of Demirel. Under Prime Minister Ecevit in coalition with the religious National Salvation Party, Turkey carried out an operation in Cyprus in order to prevent a coup intended to unify the island with Greece, creating a conflict that to this day is still not resolved. The fractured political scene and poor economy led to mounting violence between ultranationalists and communists in the streets of Turkey's cities. A paralyzed parliament and increasing death-toll prompted a coup in 1980, once again on Demirel's watch. Within two years, the military had returned the government to civilian hands, but had banned Demirel, Ecevit, and a number of other politicians from politics for life. Upon the retirement of President Kenan Evren, the leader of the 1980 coup, Ozal was elected President, leaving parliament in the hands of the feckless Yildirim Akbulut, and then, in 1991, to Mesut Yilmaz. Yilmaz redoubled Turkey's economic profile and renewed its orientation toward Europe. But political instability followed as the host of banned politicians reentered politics, fracturing the vote, and the Motherland Party became increasingly corrupt. Ozal died of a heart attack in 1993 and Suleyman Demirel was elected president. The 1995 elections brought a short-lived coalition between Yilmaz's Motherland Party and The True Path Party, now with Tansu Ciller at the helm. Ciller then turned to the Welfare Party (RP), headed by Necmettin Erbakan, the former leader of the National Salvation Party, allowing Erbakan to enter the Prime Ministry. In 1998, the military, citing his government's support for religious policies deemed dangerous to Turkey's secular nature, sent a memorandum to Erbakan requesting that he resign, which he did. Shortly thereafter, the RP was banned and re-born under the name Virtue Party (FP). A new government was formed by ANAP and Ecevit's Democratic Left Party (DSP) supported from the outside by the center-left Republican People's Party (CHP), led by Deniz Baykal. Under this government, Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the Kurdish separatist organisation PKK, was captured in Kenya. He was tried for treason and sentenced to death, but he has since sent the case to the European Court of Human Rights.

The DSP won big in the 1999 elections on the strength of the Öcalan abduction. Second place went, surprisingly, to the Nationalist Action Party (MHP). These two parties, alongside Yilmaz's ANAP formed a government. The popular perception was that it would fail; these were, after all, the inheritors of the two groups that were fighting so violently in the streets during the 1970s. However, the government was somewhat effective, if not harmonious, bringing about much-needed economic reform, instituting human rights legislation, and bringing Turkey ever closer to the European Union. A series of economic shocks led to new elections in 2002, bringing into power the religiously conservative Justice and Development Party of former mayor of Istanbul, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In december 2004, Turkey became an official candidate nation f the EU and talk on EU entry are due to begin in october 2005.