Turkey

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**Turkey**
Flag of Turkey
Capital	Ankara
Inhabitants	77.804.122
Language(s)	Turkish

Turkey is located in southeastern Europe and southwestern Asia (that portion of Turkey west of the Bosporus is geographically part of Europe), bordering the Black Sea, between Bulgaria and Georgia, and bordering the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, between Greece and Syria.

Present-day Turkey was created in 1923 from the Turkish remnants of the Ottoman Empire. Soon thereafter, the country instituted secular laws to replace traditional religious fiats. In 1945 Turkey joined the UN, and in 1952 it became a member of NATO.

The Aegean coast of Anatolia was an integral part of a Minoan-Mycenean civilization (ca. 2600-1200 B.C.) that drew its cultural impulses from Crete. During the Aegean region's so-called Dark Age (ca. 1050-800 B.C.), Ionian Greek refugees fled across the sea to Anatolia, then under Lydian rule, to escape the onslaught of the Dorians. Many more cities were founded along the Anatolian coast during the great period of Greek expansion after the eighth century B.C. One among them was Byzantium, a distant colony established on the Bosporus by the city-state of Megara. Despite endemic political unrest, the cities founded by the Ionians and subsequent Greek settlers prospered from commerce with Phrygia and Lydia, grew in size and number, and generated a renaissance that put Ionia in the cultural vanguard of the Hellenic world.

At first the Greeks welcomed the Persians, grateful to be freed from Lydian control. But when the Persians began to impose unpopular tyrants on the city-states, the Greeks rebelled and called on their kinsmen in Greece for aid. In 334 B.C., Alexander the Great crossed the Hellespont, defeated the Persians at the Granicus River (Biga Ηayi), and during four years of campaigning liberated the Ionian city-states, incorporating them into an empire that at his death in 323 B.C. stretched from the Nile to the Indus.

After Alexander died, control of Anatolia was contested by several of the Macedonian generals among whom his empire was divided. By 280 B.C. one of them, Seleucus Nicator, had made good his claim to an extensive kingdom that included southern and west ern Anatolia and Thrace as well as Syria, Mesopotamia, and, for a time, Persia. Under the Seleucid Dynasty, which survived until 64 B.C., colonists were brought from Greece, and the process of hellenization was extended among the non-Greek elites.

The Seleucids were plagued by rebellions, and their domains in Anatolia were steadily eaten away by secession and attacks by rival Hellenistic regimes. Pergamum became independent in 262 B.C., during the Attalid Dynasty, and won fame as the paragon of Hellenistic states. Noted for the cleanliness of its streets and the splendor of its art, Pergamum, in west-central Anatolia, derived its extraordinary wealth from trade in pitch, parchment, and perfume, while slave labor produced a food surplus on scien tifically managed state farms. It was also a center of learning that boasted a medical school and a library second in renown only to that of Alexandria. But Pergamum was both despised and envied by the other Greek states because of its alliance with Rome.

History

7500 BC: First Stone age settlements at Çatalhüyük
1900-1300 BC: Hittite Empire with Hattusas as capital, contemporary with ancient Egypt and Babylon
1250 BC: The Trojan war and the fall of Troy
1200-700 BC: Migration of Greeks to Aegean coastal regions. Establishment of the Phrygian, Ionian, Lycian, Lydian, Carian and Pamphylian Kingdoms. The East of Turkey is the home of the Urartians
700 BC: Homer is born in Izmir (Smyrna). Aegean Hellenism begins
546 BC: Cyrus the Great leads the Persians into Anatolia
334 BC: Alexander the Great drives out the Persians
130 BC: The Romans incorporate Anatolia as the province of Asia, controlled from Ephesus (Efes)
40 BC: Antioch sees the marriage of Antony and Cleopatra
47-57 AD: St. Paul spreads Christianity and a community at Antioch is established
313: Roman Empire adopts Christianity
330: Constantine lays out the boundaries of his new capital, Constantinople
527-65: Glory of Byzantium under Justinian
638-718: Muslim Arabs besiege Constantinople
1054: Greek and Roman Churches split over theology
1071-1243: Rise and rule of the Selcuk Turks in Anatolia, Konya is their capital
1096-1204: The Crusades, marking the beginning of the end for Byzantium, a fascinating period in Byzantine history
1288: Ottoman Empire appears in Bursa
1453: The fall of Constantinople - the birth of Istanbul
1520-66: Suleyman the Magnificent sits on the Ottoman throne controlling a huge and powerful empire
1682-1725: Peter the Great initiates Russo-Turkish rivalry
1854: Crimean war
1909: Abdul Hamid, the last of an unbroken line of Ottoman sultans is deposed
1914: Turkey allies with Germany in the first world war
1915: Gallipoli
1919: Ataturk leads resistance to the allied plan to carve up Turkey
1923: Foundation of the modern Republic of Turkey by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Many things happen all at once
1938: Ataturk dies in Istanbul's Dolmabahce palace
1939-45: Turkey manages to remain neutral during the second world war
1946: Charter membership of the UN
1952: Turkey joins NATO
1960: Military coup, successive governments ineffective
1964: Associate member status of EU
1974: Cyprus crisis
1980: Kanan Evren leads military coup. 3 years of military government
1983: Turgut Ozal elected prime Minister
1985-90: Full EU membership for Turkey impeded by Cypriot issue and questions over human rights record
1991-93: Suleyman Demirel elected Prime Minister, inflation at 70%
1993-96: Demirel President, Tansu Ciller Prime Minister, Turkey joins EU Customs Union
1997-98: 5 attempts at forming coalition governments, Islamic Welfare party disbanded, reforms as Virtue and is the largest single party in parliament. Military intervenes to revent Islamicists forming governments. 75th Anniversary of the Turkish Republic (and 15th of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus) celebrated.

Archaeological Museum in Istanbul

Culture

Ottoman literature and court music were mostly religious, and both sound pompous and lugubrious to Western ears. Visual arts were curtailed by the Muslim dictum that forbids representation of any being 'with an immortal soul', so Islamic artists tended to the non-representative arts. Turkish museums are full of delicate coloured tiles, graceful glass vases, carved wooden mosque doors, glittering illuminated Korans, intricate jewellery and sumptuous costumes. Atatürk changed Turkey's cultural picture overnight, encouraging representative painting, sculpture, literature, western music (he loved opera), dance and drama. The introduction of a new Latin-based Turkish alphabet brought literacy within reach of many more citizens and Ottoman courtly prose gave way to use of the vernacular. Several Turkish writers, including Nazim Hikmet, Yashar Kemal and Orhan Pamuk have met with critical and popular acclaim in Turkey and further afield. Recently, Ottoman arts such as paper marbling and shadow-puppet plays have been enjoying a resurgence. Carpet-weaving is still a Turkish passion.

Music

Folk music was (and still is) sprightly. Türkü music, of which you'll hear lots on the radio, is traditional folk music with a modern urban slant. The 1000-year-old tradition of Turkish troubadours has been wiped out by TV and cassettes, but the songs of the great troubadours are still popular and often performed and recorded. The Turkish film industry began early, was fiesty through the 1920s, expanded rapidly after WWII and delved into social and political issues through the 1960s and 70s. Turkish cinema is characterised by honesty, naturalism and dry humour. Directors to look out for include the fiery Yilmaz Güney, Tunç, Basaran, Zülfü and Ömer Kavur.

Language

Although Turkish is an elegantly simple language, the rules of word order and verb formation are very different from Indo-European languages, making it somewhat difficult to learn. Verbs can be so complex that they constitute whole sentences in themselves - try this one on for size: Afyonkarahisarlilastiramadiklarimizdanmisiniz? ('Aren't you one of those people whom we tried - unsuccessfully - to make resemble the citizens of Afyonkarahisar?') It's a lot easier to ask where the toilets are!

Customs

Turkey is 99% Muslim, predominantly Sunni with some Shiites and Alevis in the east and southeast. Many Turkish customs and practices are derived from Islamic practices. Etiquette demands that you wear modest clothing and remove shoes when visiting mosques. In areas not frequented by tourists (or anywhere you feel that conservative Islamic vibe) women should have head, arms and shoulders covered, and wear modest dresses or skirts, preferably reaching to the knees. Avoid visiting mosques at prayer time or on Friday, the Muslim holy day. Other Turkish customs are generally to do with little politeness - even Turks complain how one can't even get out the door without 5 minutes of formulaic civilities - but attempts to join in with these vestiges of courtly customs will delight your Turkish hosts.

Many women complain about verbal and physical harassment in Turkey. Although it's not necessary to be paranoid and let stupid hassles ruin your trip, it's as well to take a few precautions. At the very least, keep your torso, legs and upper arms covered, especially as you travel farther east. You might also consider wearing a wedding ring. When walking, look purposeful, ignore catcalls and steer clear of lonely streets after dark. When eating out alone, ask for the aile salonu (family dining room). Going out drinking by yourself is basically stupid.

Food & Drinks

Bring your belly to Turkey - it will thank you. Shish kebab (skewer-grilled lamb) is a Turkish invention and you'll find kebapçis everywhere. Lamb and fish (which can be expensive) dishes are the restaurant staples. If you're scrimping, the best cheap and tasty meal is Turkish pizza. Eggplant is the number one vegetable: look out for imam bayildi ('the priest fainted'), a delicious stuffed eggplant dish. Desserts are sweet (often honey-soaked) and tend to incorporate fruit, nuts and pastry in tempting combinations. Vegetarians aren't much catered for, but you'll never starve - making an entire meal from magnificent meze (hors d'oeuvres) is easy. The national drink is çay (tea). Beer is served almost everywhere and Turkish wines are cheap and surprisingly good. Raki, an aniseed-flavoured grape brandy, is the knockout tipple of choice.

Events

coming soon...

National holidays

Jan 1: New Year
Apr 23: National Sovereignty, Children's Day
May 19: Ataturk Commemoration, Youth and Sports Day
Aug 30: Victory Day
Oct 29: Republic Day
Kurban Bayram (Eid Al Adha)
Start of Ramadan
Ramazan or Seker Bayram (Eid Al Fitr)

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Turkey

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