Cast your mind back to your history lessons at school and try
to remember those tales of ancient conquerors, fabled cities,
plundered lands, heroes, heroines and the birth of the civilised
world. Ever wondered where those events happened and who those
people were?
Well here in Turkey you can find a lot of the answers.
Turkey has a vast history spanning back some 10,000 years from
the earliest settlements in 7,500 BC around the Mediterranean,
where fine wall paintings and pottery were developed, to a present
day modern republic emerging as a commercial and strategic power.
In this land Kings Midas and
Croesus ruled when the world's
first coinage was introduced. Alexander the Great conquered,
The legend of the beautiful Helen of Troy emerged along with
Homer's account of the Trojan battles and the slaying of Achilles
by his nemesis Paris, The Romans invaded, built great imperial
cities like Ephesus and created their imperial capital in Constantinople.
Here in Turkey the Byzantine period reached its glorious zenith
during which the then greatest church in the world, St. Sophia,
was constructed. The Whirling Dervishes
were founded in Konya by the philosopher and poet, Rumi, The
Crusader conquests swept across the area. The mighty Ottoman
Empire that not only encompassed modern day Turkey but most
of Eastern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East rose to
power. As legend has it, The
Virgin Mary spent her last years
near the Mediterranean coast, the benevolent St.
Nicholas, later know as Santa
Claus lived here and St. Paul
preached on his journeys from Tarsus the venue for Mark
Anthony and Cleopatra's
clandestine liaisons. All the reminders are here in this enduring
country, from the ancient ruins that are scattered all over
the country, in the Museums, the cuisine, the diverse art and
crafts and most of all, the culture of the people.
During the Old Stone Age period
the Mediterranean was inhabited as early as 7500 BC. These ancient
civilisations developed fine wall paintings and pottery. By
2000 BC cities of substantial size were being built by the Hatti
peoples who were followed poetically by the Hittites
who swept in and over ran the locals to establish a magnificent
capital near
present day Ankara. They went on to capture Syria from the Egyptians
in 1380 BC and even clashed with the great Rameses the Second
himself. Worshipping the gods of the Sun and Storm, the Hittites
were eventually engulfed by Greek Islanders fleeing the invading
Dorians. When the Hittite power declined, smaller states filled
the gap. In about 1200 BC, The Phrgians, King
Midas, he of the golden touch, being their most famous
son and Mysians invaded from Thrace
As the centuries passed the area became populated with a mixed
bag of invaders and great kingdoms rose and declined. Lydia
in 680 BC, an ancient city near present day Izmir where coinage
was invented, developed and its King
Croesus became the worlds first great coin collector.
Just as things were becoming settled in 547 BC the Persians
decided to invade from the East and swept across the land conquering
everything and everybody as far as Athens and a new era began.
Not to be out done the independent minded inhabitants of the
Aegean coast gave the emperors grief for over two centuries
until the Persians had their
day when a new boy, Alexander the Great rode in from the west
in 334 BC and went on to storm across to India. Here for the
first time Alexander attempted
to combine the cultures of East and West that had a profound
influence. After his death in 323 BC the empire was divided
by squabbling Generals until the onslaught of yet another invader,
the Celts who controlled the peoples of the Aegean and established
their kingdom of Galatia.
One of the greatest kingdoms of this time was Pergamum
which gained power about 250 BC, siding with the Romans made
them a force to be reckoned with and a large kingdom evolved
stretching across the southern shores from the Dardenelles
to northern Syria. Architecture and art flourished during this
period even the establishing of a medical centre in he city.
The last ruler of Pergamum died without an heir and so in 133
BC generously bequeathed the kingdom to the Romans who were
already settled in the modern day European region. The Romans
brought three centuries of relative peace adding the province
of Asia to their portfolio, which paved the way for a brand
new religion, Christianity.
St. Paul the foremost proponent
came from Tarsus in southern Turkey and took advantage of the
efficient Roman road system to spread the teachings of Jesus.
Other saints also
played a role in the history of Roman Asia It is said that St.
John, accompanied by The
Virgin Mary, spent his retirement at Ephesus
and wrote the fourth gospel. The new religion tentatively evolved
within the empire and by 250 AD was strong enough to worry the
Romans who then felt it necessary to decree a general persecution.
At this time the empire was disintegrating and the old nemesis
from East and West started to encroach. However Constantine
saved the day by uniting the Empire and declaring all religions
equal. Meanwhile in 330 AD a great city was being constructed
in old Hellenic Byzantium; Constantinople.
While back in Rome things looked shaky, Byzantine, under the
rule of Justinian in 527 AD, grew stronger, conquering great
swathes of North Africa and the Balkans, constructing great
new buildings in the capital and reaching a zenith with the
building of St. Sophia which
remained the most splendid church in Christendom for over 1000
years. Justinian's successors couldn't contain the success of
their predecessor while in Arabia something momentous was about
to happen. Five years after the death of Justanian,
Mohammed was born in Mecca in
about 612 AD and it was to him that God communicated the Koran.
At first persecuted in his homeland, he moved to Medina where
within 10 years built up a religious commonwealth that began
the conquest of not only Arab tribes but also Mecca itself.
Within 50 years Islamic armies were threatening the gates of
Constantinople. There followed
the Arab Muslim empires which contributed to some of the world's
greatest political. Cultural and social achievements for centuries
they challenged the power and status of Byzantium.
Mohammed was succeeded by Deputies
or Caliphs who formed an army of fierce Turkish fighting men
that became the empire's strength. However, they were too strong,
turning the tables and rising to power to form the first great
Turkish state, the Seljuk Empire
in 1037 AD, whose dominions encompassed modern day Turkey, Iran
and Iraq. Beautiful architecture developed and the empire also
produced Omar Khayyam. Although
remnants of the empire lasted in central Turkey where Celaleddin
Rumi founded the of the order of the whirling Dervishes,
the state was not to last. Mongol hordes overran in 1243 AD
and then it was the turn of the Crusaders, a mixed bunch of
minor nobles from Europe. These 'Holy Wars' were created to
provide rewarding work for this unruly, unhelpful bunch who
during the fourth Crusade in 1202 AD, defeated and plundered
Constantinople even though they
were on the same side. This was the city's first defeat and
found itself weakened for the next onslaught; The
Ottomans.
The Turks fleeing the Mongols swept west and settled in modern
day Bursa. Here Osman founded a principality that was to become
the Ottoman Empire in 1288 AD.
The Empire was ambitious and vigorous and developed westward
towards the Balkans. By 1453, under Mehmet the Conqueror, the
walls of Constaninople fell and the Ottomans were in.
A hundred years later the Empire reached its pinnacle. Sultan
Suleyman the Magnificent beautified the city and expanded
his dominions to the gates of Vienna. However by 1666 Europeans
relaxed and no longer feared invasion from the ' Terrible Turk'
and the empire started to fall behind in terms of social, political
and scientific progress. One by one the subject peoples revolted
and the empire disintegrated. As the break-up continued during
the 19th century European nations gathered in the wings to take
a slice of the cake. Russia pressurised the Ottomans
to give them power over the Ottoman Orthodox subjects, this
pressure led to the Crimean War
in 1853 -56. A Young Turk movement pressed for western style
reforms and took power in 1908. A worsening situation was compounded
when the nation sided with Germany and the central powers during
WW1 and, in defeat, the Ottoman
Empire collapsed.
In moved the allies to carve up the spoils. So many promises
had been made to various factions and peoples in return for
support of the war effort that the Turks were about to be wiped
off the map. The armies were disbanded and the country taken
under control.
Added to this the Greeks decided on an idea to restore their
ancient empire and take parts of Turkey. With the help of the
allies they took Smyrna in 1919.
The time was right for the a resistance movement An Ottoman
General named Mustafa Kemal took
the reins and lead the way to the war of Independence in 1920
and by 1922 the Greeks had been driven back. The treaty of WW1,
which had left the Turks with hardly, and country was re negotiated,
the Sultanate abolished and the new Republic was born.
Kemal undertook radical reforms. New western style law codes
were introduced, the Fez, a symbol of the old Empire, was abolished,
Islam was removed as the state
religion and a Latin one replaced the Arabic alphabet.
In the early years, Kemal or Ataturk, father of the Turks, as
he became known, headed the only political party. However by
1950 true democracy was instigated.
By 1960 the Democratic Party gained so much power that the democratic
system was threatened and the army stepped in.
A new era of stability began until 1980 when civil unrest, political
in- fighting, inflation at 130 % and lawlessness was epidemic.
Again the military restored law and fiscal order.
Since then the nation has continued on the course set down by
Ataturk in a drive to a more
western economy. There have been many setbacks. As recent as
2001 the economy crashed and the country struggled to survive
in the world's market place. But after a long and varied history,
Turkey's resilience is still
intact and is forging ahead to a brighter and more prosperous
future.
