Home
Tour One Info
Tour Two Info
Tour Three Info
Photo Album
Our Travelers
About Us
Turkey History
   -Did You Know
Contact Us

Turkey History

Turkey's first known human inhabitants appeared in the Mediterranean region as early as 7500 BC, and the cycles of empire building, flexing, flailing and crumbling started immediately. The first great civilization was that of the Hittites, who worshipped a sun goddess and a storm god. The Hittites dominated Anatolia from the Middle Bronze Age (1900-1600 BC), clashing with Egypt under the great Ramses II and capturing Syria. By the time Aegean Greeks attacked Troy in 1250 BC, the Hittite empire was failing. A massive invasion of 'sea peoples' from Greek islands put pressure on the Hittites and simultaneously, many smaller kingdoms in the area were attempting to increase their borders. Cyrus, the emperor of Persia (550-530 BC) attacked and conquered Anatolia from the east. The Persians were in turn conquered by Alexander the Great, who conquered the entire Middle East from Greece to India around 330 BC. After Alexander's death his generals fought over the spoils and civil war erupted. This situation lasted until the Galatians (Celts) established a capital at Ankara in 279 BC, and peace prevailed with the Seleucid, Pontic, Pergamum and Armenian kingdoms.

Roman rule brought relative peace and prosperity for almost three centuries, providing perfect conditions for the spread of Christianity. The Roman Empire weakened from around 250 AD until Constantine reunited it in 324. He oversaw the building of a new capital, the great city which came to be called Constantinople. Justinian (527-65) brought the eastern Roman, or Byzantine Empire to its greatest strength, reconquering Italy, the Balkans, Anatolia and North Africa. Five years after the death of Justinian, Mohammed was born in Mecca and the scene was set for one of history's most astounding tales. Sixty years after Mohammed heard the voice of God and 50 years after his ignominious flight from Mecca, the armies of Islam were threatening the walls of Constantinople (669-78), having conquered everything and everybody from there to Mecca, plus Persia and Egypt.

The Islamic dynasties, which emerged after Mohammed and challenged the power and status of Byzantium, survived until the arrival of the Selcuks. The great Selcuk Turkish Empire of the 11th century was the first to rule what is now Turkey, Iran and Iraq. The Selcuks were weakened by the Crusades and by invasion by Mongol hordes. They maintained power until the appearance of the ambitious Ottomans. The Ottoman Empire began as the banding together of late 13th century Turkish warriors fleeing the Mongols. By 1453 the Ottomans under Mehmet the Conqueror were strong enough to take Constantinople. Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent (1520-66) oversaw the apogee of the empire: beautifying Constantinople, rebuilding Jerusalem and expanding the Ottomap to the gates of Vienna. Few of the sultans succeeding Süleyman were capable of great rule and the Ottoman Empire's long, celebrated decline had begun by 1585. By the 19th century, decline and misrule made ethnic nationalism very appealing. The subject peoples of the Ottoman Empire revolted, often with the direct encouragement and assistance of European powers. After bitter fighting in 1832, the Kingdom of Greece was formed; the Serbs, Bulgarians, Romanians, Albanians, Armenians and Arabs would all seek independence soon after.

The European powers hovered vulture-like over the disintegrating empire, while within Turkey various disastrous attempts to revive the country were undone by the unfortunate decision to side with Germany in WWI. In 1918, the victorious Allies divided up Turkey. At this point Ottoman General Mustafa Kemal began to organize resistance, determined that a new government must seize the fate of Turkey for the Turkish people. When Greece invaded Smyrna (now Izmir) and began pushing east, the Turks mobilized. The War of Independence lasted from 1920 until 1922, ending in a bitterly won Turkish victory and the abolition of the sultanate. Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk or Father Turk) undertook the job of completely remaking Turkish society. By the time he died in 1938, a constitution had been adopted, polygamy abolished and the fez, considered a mark of Ottoman backwardness, was prohibited. Islam was removed as the state religion, Constantinople became Istanbul and women obtained the right to vote. Atatürk remains today a true hero for the Turkish people.

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 divide Turkey

1923
Foundation of the modern Republic of Turkey by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk - A time of great change

1938
Ataturk dies in Istanbul's Dolmabahce palace

1939-45
Turkey manages to remain neutral during the second world war

1946
Charter membership in 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, first female Prime Minister; Turkey joins the EU Customs Union

1997-98
5 attempts at forming coalition governments; Islamic Welfare party disbanded; Virtue reform party is the largest single party in parliament. Military intervenes to prevent Islamic radicals from forming the government. 75th Anniversary of the Turkish Republic (and 15th of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus) celebrated.

1999
PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan captured in Kenya and receives death sentence, later commuted to life imprisonment.

2000-01
EU asks Turkey to limit military's role in politics.

2002-03
Islamist-based Justice and Development Party (AK) wins landslide election victory. Party promises to stick to secular principles of constitution. After constitutional changes allow AK leader Recap Tayyip Erdogan to run for parliament, he wins a seat in parliament and takes over as Prime Minister.
Parliament decides not to allow deployment of US forces ahead of war in Iraq but allows US use of Turkish air space. It authorizes dispatch of Turkish forces into Kurdish areas of northern Iraq.

2004
Eyeing future EU membership, parliament passes further laws easing restrictions on freedom of speech, Kurdish language rights, and on reducing political role of military. Turkey also signs a protocol banning death penalty in all circumstances, a move welcomed in EU circles.

2005
EU membership negotiations officially launched after intense bargaining.