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Historical Background of
Turkey
The history of the geographical area occupied
by the modern state of Turkey and the history of the peoples who occupy that
state are quite different. Linking the two is the history of the Ottoman Empire.
That empire was a vast, pan-Islamic state that expanded, beginning in the
fourteenth century, from a small Turkish emirate located within the boundaries
of the present-day Republic of Turkey to include holdings across North Africa,
southeastern Europe, and most of the Middle East.
Prehistory and Early History
of Turkey
The land mass covered by the Asian part of the
Republic of Turkey, east of the Sea of Marmara, is known as Anatolia. The region
was inhabited by an advanced Neolithic culture as early as the seventh
millennium B.C., and metal instruments were in use by 2500 B.C. Late in the
third millennium B.C., the warrior Hittites invaded Anatolia and established an
empire that made significant economic and administrative advancements. In about
1200 B.C., the Phrygians overthrew the Hittites in western Anatolia, where a
Phrygian kingdom then ruled until the seventh century B.C. That kingdom was
succeeded by a Lydian kingdom, which in turn was conquered by the Persians in
546 B.C. Meanwhile, beginning in about 1050 B.C. Ionian Greeks began founding
cities along the Aegean coast of Anatolia, and in the eighth century B.C.
peoples such as the Armenians and others moved into eastern Anatolia. In the
late fourth century B.C., Alexander the Great of Macedonia conquered all of
Anatolia. One of the city states that Alexander founded, Pergamum, became a
unique center of wealth and culture. In 133 B.C., Pergamum became the center of
a Roman province and remained a cultural center for several centuries. In 330
A.D., the Roman emperor Constantine established the capital of the
Greek-speaking half of his empire at Byzantium, on the Sea of Marmara. The city
was renamed Constantinople, and the eastern half of the Roman Empire became
known as the Byzantine Empire. With its center in Anatolia, the Byzantine Empire
remained a powerful entity until the eleventh century. The Patriarchiate of
Constantinople, established in the fourth century, represented the
Greek-speaking Roman Empire in the Christian church.
Turkish tribes began to migrate westward from
China and Central Asia in the seventh century A.D. In 1071 Seljuk Turkish forces
defeated a Byzantine army at Manzikert and then occupied all of Anatolia. In the
next few centuries, several Seljuk states were established. Gazi warriors,
tribal horsemen charged with defending the Seljuk frontier, pushed relentlessly
westward, and Seljuk governments eventually followed. In 1097 the Christian
world responded to this movement with the first in a series of religiously
inspired military crusades, which reclaimed part of Anatolia. However, in the
next two centuries what was left of the Byzantine Empire fragmented. In the
fourteenth century, a new power, the Osmanli Dynasty, came to dominate Anatolia.
The Ottoman Empire
(Ottomans-Osmanlilar)
Troops of the Osmanli Dynasty, which gave its
name to the Ottoman Empire, moved rapidly into southeastern Europe, defeating
Serbian forces at the battle of Kosovo in 1389. Although they were temporarily
halted when the Mongol forces of Timur occupied part of Anatolia in the early
fifteenth century, in 1453 Ottoman forces captured Constantinople, the last
outpost of the Byzantine Empire. The Ottomans renamed Constantinople Istanbul
and made it the capital of a new empire and the seat of Sunni Islam as well as
Greek Orthodoxy. Under Süleyman the Magnificent (ruled 1520–66), the empire
expanded across North Africa to Morocco, farther into southeastern Europe, and
across the Middle Eastern regions and Mesopotamia. However, after
Süleyman’s death the empire began showing signs of decay. The Ottoman navy lost
the key Battle of Lepanto to Spanish and Portuguese forces in 1571, and
succession struggles shook Istanbul.
Under the leadership of the Köprülü family, the
empire made its final push into Europe in the seventeenth century. The siege of
Vienna, which was lifted in 1683, marked the farthest extent of Ottoman
penetration into Europe. In the years that followed, a multinational European
force drove Ottoman troops southward and eastward, forcing the empire to cede
substantial territory in Europe in the Treaty of Karlowicz (1699). In the early
eighteenth century, Russian Tsar Peter I initiated a long-lasting goal of
Russian foreign policy, to gain access to warm-water ports at the expense of the
Ottoman Empire. During the next two centuries, Russia fought several wars to
diminish Ottoman power. In 1774 the Treaty of Kuchuk-Kaynarja gained Russian
ships access to Ottoman waterways. By the nineteenth century, the Ottoman Empire
had become known as "the sick man of Europe." The decay of its vast holdings and
the nationalist forces that were unleashed in the empire were central issues for
all European governments.
In 1832 the European powers forced the Ottoman
government to recognize Greek independence after a decade-long Greek guerrilla
war. However, Europe also recognized the need to avoid the complete destruction
of the empire. In the Crimean War of 1854–56, France and Britain sided with the
Ottoman Empire against Russia, which lost the war and ceded some of its power in
southeastern Europe. In 1878 the Treaty of Berlin established the independent
states of Bulgaria, Romania, and Serbia from former Ottoman territory. In the
same period, Britain took possession of Cyprus and Egypt, and France occupied
Algeria and Tunisia, further diminishing Ottoman holdings.
Internal conditions also deteriorated in the
nineteenth century. Under pressure from the West, between 1839 and 1876 the
Ottoman government undertook a series of reforms, collectively known as Tanzimat.
Dissatisfaction with reforms stimulated the Young Ottoman movement, which sought
Western-style reforms, including secular government and closer relations with
Europe. However, in the late 1870s Sultan Abdül Hamid II stifled the reform
movement and established a repressive regime. Meanwhile, the empire’s financial
and geopolitical positions worsened.
In the early 1900s, reformist groups remained
active under the repression of Abdül Hamid II. In 1907 the Committee of Union
and Progress, better known as the Young Turks, united under military officer
Mustafa Kemal, who later took the name Atatürk, "father of the Turks." Between
1909 and 1912, European powers took advantage of a weak Ottoman government to
occupy or liberate most of the empire’s remaining territory in southeastern
Europe. In 1912 the First Balkan War deprived the empire of territory in
Macedonia and Thrace. In 1913 these losses led to the overthrow of the
government by Enver Pasha, who headed a dictatorial regime of Young Turks during
the ensuing war period. The empire regained some European territory during the
Second Balkan War of 1913.
When World War I broke out in Europe in 1914,
Enver Pasha’s alliance with Germany caused Britain, France, and Russia to
declare war on the Ottoman Empire. In early 1915, collaboration of Armenians
(though Ottoman citizens) with Russians, French, and British, led mass deportation of the
Armenian population to other Ottoman territories.
Atatürk defeated a British amphibious landing at Gallipoli on the Dardanelles
later that year. However, in 1916 a successful British campaign cut through the
empire’s Arab territory, capturing Damascus in 1918. After the empire had
suffered numerous defeats, a provisional Ottoman government sued for peace with
the Allies.
The Republic of Turkey (Türkiye
Cumhuriyeti)
After World War I, the provisional government
retained control over very little of the former empire. Atatürk led strong
nationalist forces seeking to retain Anatolia. In 1921 the nationalists elected
Atatürk president of a new government, the Grand National Assembly. In 1922
Atatürk’s army repulsed an invading Greek force seeking to expand Greece’s
postwar allotment of Ottoman territory. The 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, negotiated
between the Atatürk government and the Allies, defined control of the Bosporus
and the territorial extent of the new Republic of Turkey.
Atatürk’s reform program, which became known as
Kemalism, aimed at establishing a secular, Europe-oriented state. European name
forms and dress styles were encouraged, and the Latin alphabet was adopted. All
links between Islam and the state were cut. In 1924 a new constitution
guaranteed basic civil rights and prescribed a parliamentary form of government
in which the Grand National Assembly would elect the president. Only one party,
Atatürk’s Republican People’s Party, existed, giving the president control of
all phases of government. In the 1920s and 1930s, Turkey’s foreign policy
cautiously sought relations with as many countries as possible. In 1936 Atatürk
was able to negotiate a resumption of Turkish control of the Dardanelles and the
Bosporus.
World War II found Turkey still in a weakened
state. Despite German pressure, the government of Atatürk’s successor, Ismet
Inönü, maintained neutrality throughout the conflict. In early 1945, Turkey
declared war on Germany to ensure it status as one of the charter members of the
United Nations. During the Cold War era that followed World War II, Turkey’s
foreign policy was pro-Western. The Truman Doctrine, which guaranteed the
security of postwar Turkey and Greece, resulted in large-scale U.S. military and
economic aid to Turkey. However, Turkey’s membership in the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO), which it joined in 1952, was complicated by disputes
with fellow member Greece over Cyprus and other regional issues. In the 1960s,
Turkey and Greece nearly went to war twice over their conflicting views on
Cyprus, and in 1974 armed conflict resulted in the partition of the island.
Turkey also joined a number of other Western alliances and organizations in the
1950s and the 1960s.
In the liberalized postwar atmosphere, party
politics became a source of instability and democracy in Turkey. During the
1950s, tensions between the main parties increased as the Democrat Party
government of Prime Minister Adnan Menderes became more authoritarian, and the
economy suffered inflation and heavy debt. In 1960 Menderes responded to
protests by declaring martial law and suspending all political activity. The
army, which considered itself the guardian of Atatürk’s principles, then
replaced Menderes with an interim military government. In the four years
following the legislative elections of 1961, the government was an unstable
coalition. When the Justice Party, successor to the Democrat Party, gained a
majority of seats in the elections of 1965, Süleyman Demirel formed a one-party
government. In the late 1960s, the far-right Republican Peasants’ Nation Party
(later the Nationalist Action Party) began instigating political violence
stimulated by economic conditions and resentment of Turkey’s pro-Western foreign
policy. As the strongest parties continued to lack a parliamentary majority,
Turkey suffered a series of weak coalition governments throughout the 1970s, and
religious sectarianism gained political influence.
After political and sectarian violence shook
Turkey in 1978–79, the Turkish military took power in 1980 to prevent further
deterioration. Economic conditions improved significantly in the early 1980s.
Civil order was restored at the expense of measures that curtailed human rights.
In response to international pressure, a new constitution was ratified in 1982.
In the 1980s, the government of General Kenan Evren, leader of the 1980 coup,
provided stability as power continued to shift among political parties and
coalitions. Evren’s former minister of state, Turgut Özal, succeeded him in
1989. The pattern of coalition governments continued in the 1990s. When she
became Turkey’s first female prime minister in 1993, Tansu Çiller initiated an
ambitious privatization program that achieved mixed success. Meanwhile, in the
mid-1990s the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) escalated terrorist attacks aimed
at gaining Kurdish autonomy in southeastern Turkey, and the Çiller government
dropped plans to expand the cultural rights of Turkey’s Kurds.
In 1996 a premiership shared between Çiller and
Mesut Yılmaz of the conservative Motherland Party failed quickly. When the
Yılmaz government resigned, a new coalition government, including the Islamic
fundamentalist Welfare Party, took power under Necmettin Erbakan. Alarmed by the
increasing social and political power of Islamic institutions, the military
forced the resignation of the Erbakan government in 1997. Social tension rose as
new regulations secularized public dress and education, and several political
leaders were accused of corruption. In 1998 the Welfare Party was dissolved by
order of the Constitutional Court for undermining the secular government. The
capture of the leader of PKK, a terrorist organisation, in 1999 was a major event in Turkey’s
efforts to subdue Kurdish terrorist activities in southeastern Turkey. In the late 1990s,
relations with Greece began a long-term process of improvement. Tensions with
Greece had remained high throughout the 1980s and 1990s, stimulated by issues
such as oil drilling rights and air space in the Aegean Sea. In 1996 a dispute
over islets in the Aegean, the so-called Imia-Kardak crisis, nearly led to armed
conflict between Greece and Turkey.
Following the elections of 1999, Bülent Ecevit
formed a new coalition government, which by 2000 had restored some stability. In
1999 and 2000, a series of trials were brought against members of the Welfare
Party and other Islamic activists. The stability and economic reforms of 2000
ended with a severe economic crisis and a series of cabinet changes in 2001. In
2002 and 2004, parliament passed human rights laws aimed at promoting Turkey’s
membership in the European Union (EU). In the 2002 parliamentary elections, the
secular Islamist Justice and Development Party, indirect successor to the
Welfare Party, won a substantial majority of seats in a major shift of
parliamentary power. Party leader Tayyip Erdoğan,
who became prime minister in 2003, was able to bring his Islamic party into the
mainstream of political, economic, and social reform, thus quieting the bitter
disputes between advocates of Kemalist secular policy and advocates of an
Islamic state. Local elections in 2004 confirmed Erdoğan’s popularity. In June
2004, the PKK declared an end to its unilateral five-year cessation of terrorist
activity, and the People’s Defense Forces, the military arm of the PKK, launched
numerous attacks in Turkey during the following year. In October 2005, Turkey
and the EU began accession negotiations for Turkey’s eventual EU membership, a
goal supported by Greece. Talks were expected to last 10 years or more because
the EU required a wide variety of reforms in Turkey. |
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