I.

Introduction

Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey (in Turkish, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti), south-eastern Europe and south-western Asia, bordered on the north-west by Bulgaria and Greece; on the north by the Black Sea; on the north-east by Georgia and Armenia; on the east by Iran; on the south by Iraq, Syria, and the Mediterranean Sea; and on the west by the Aegean Sea. The capital of Turkey is Ankara. The area of Turkey is 785,347 sq km (303,224 sq mi).

The modern Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk from a portion of the Ottoman Empire, following the empire’s collapse as a result of World War I. Turkey became a secular state in 1928, and a multi-party system was established in 1946. Apart from a brief period of government by a military junta in 1960 and 1961, Turkey remained under civilian rule until 1980, when, in a period of political instability, inflation, and acts of terrorism, the army again took control. Civilian rule was restored to Turkey at the end of 1983.

II.

Land and Resources

The main area of Turkey, known as Anatolia, is in Asia between the Mediterranean and Black seas. Turkish Thrace in Europe makes up about 3 per cent of the country’s area. Turkey has relatively rich agricultural resources and significant deposits of coal, lignite, iron ore, and chrome; some oil is found in the south-east. With several active seismic zones within its boundaries, Turkey is subject to frequent earthquakes.

A.

Physiographical Regions

Turkey can be divided into seven geographical regions: Thrace and the borderlands of the Sea of Marmara; the Aegean and Mediterranean region; the Black Sea region; western Anatolia; the central Anatolian Plateau; the eastern highlands; and south-eastern Anatolia.

Thrace and the borderlands of the Sea of Marmara contain a central plain of gently rolling hills. It is a fertile, well-watered area of which slightly more than one quarter is farmed. The eastern portion of this region rises as high as 2,543 m (8,343 ft) at the summit of Mount Ulu (Olympus). The coastlands of the Aegean and Mediterranean region are narrow and hilly, and only about one fifth of the land is arable. To the east, much of Turkey’s cotton crop is grown in the Çukurova, a plain connected with the interior through the Taurus Mountains by a pass known since antiquity as the Cilician Gates (Külek Boğazı).

The Anatolian coastlands of the Black Sea region rise directly from the water to the heights of the Kuzey Anadolu Dağları (Northern Anatolian Mountains). Slopes are steep, and only about 16 per cent of this area is farmed. Western Anatolia consists of irregular ranges and interior valleys separating the Aegean coast from the central Anatolian Plateau; farming here is restricted to less than one fifth of the total area. The central Anatolian Plateau, the largest geographical region in Turkey, is surrounded on all sides by mountains. The highest point is the summit of Mount Erciyes (3,916 m/12,848 ft). Twenty-eight per cent of the region is cultivated.

The eastern highlands region is the most mountainous and rugged portion of Turkey; Mount Ararat (Agri Mountain) (Ağrı Dağı), mentioned in the Bible as the place where Noah’s ark came to rest, is the highest peak at 5,165 m (16,946 ft). Less than 10 per cent of this area is cultivated. The eastern highlands are the source for both the Tigris (Dicle) and Euphrates (Firat) rivers. South-eastern Anatolia is a rolling plateau enclosed on the north, east, and west by mountains. With about 19 per cent of its area farmed, south-eastern Anatolia is part of the so-called Fertile Crescent and has been important since antiquity.

B.

Rivers and Lakes

Almost all the rivers of Turkey contain rapids and are thus unsuitable for navigation. A number of rivers do not flow during the dry summer. Some rivers are, however, important sources of hydroelectric power and water for irrigation. The Kızıl (more than 1,100 km/700 mi long), which empties into the Black Sea, is the longest river flowing entirely within national boundaries. The Büyük Menderes (Latin Maeander) drains western Anatolia into the Aegean Sea; its many loops and bends have given rise to the term “meander” in English. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow from eastern Turkey to empty ultimately into the Persian Gulf.

Lake Van is Turkey’s largest lake; its waters are saline, as are those of another large body of water, Lake Tuz. Freshwater lakes include Beyşehir, Eğridir, and Burdur—all in the south-west.

C.

Climate

The Mediterranean and Aegean shores of Turkey experience long, hot summers and mild, rainy winters. İstanbul has an average January temperature of 5° C (41° F) and an average July temperature of 23° C (73° F). Average annual precipitation totals 820 mm (32 in). Olives, citrus fruit, figs, grapes, cotton, and early spring vegetables are raised. Scattered forests alternate with low herbaceous growth.

The central Anatolian Plateau has a continental climate with hot summers and colder winters than those along the shore. Ankara has an average January temperature of 0° C (32° F) and an average July temperature of 23° C (73° F). Average annual precipitation totals 350 mm (14 in). Along the Mediterranean and Aegean coasts, nearly half the yearly precipitation, which is about 710 mm (28 in) at İzmir, falls in December and January. The plateau receives only about half as much precipitation, but it is more evenly distributed over the course of the year. The eastern highlands experience even longer and colder winters. South-eastern Anatolia records the hottest summer temperatures in Turkey (averaging more than 30° C/86° F in July and August); grain-farming is dominant, with grazing in its drier portions.

D.

Plants and Animals

Grasslands and grain fields are abundant on the plateau, with sparse forests restricted to higher slopes. Pastoralism and grazing prevail in the eastern highlands. Some sparse forests are found, and alpine vegetation is common at higher elevations. Humid deciduous forests as well as a thick brush cover are found along the Black Sea. Higher elevations have forests similar to those in the eastern highlands.

Only wild boar, which are seldom hunted or killed by Muslims (the great majority of the population), remain abundant in the forests. Wolf, fox, wildcat, hyena, jackal, deer, bear, marten, and mountain goat inhabit more remote areas. The camel, water buffalo, and Angora goat have been domesticated. In addition to numerous local species of birds, including the wild goose, partridge, and quail, migrations of birds of prey—lesser spotted eagles, buzzards, hawks, kestrels, and falcons—pass down the Bosporus. Trout are abundant in the mountain streams, and bonito, mackerel, and bluefish are plentiful in the Turkish Straits. Anchovies are caught in the Black Sea.

E.

Natural Resources

In addition to good supplies of coal and iron ore, Turkey has a number of small but important mineral deposits, such as chrome ore near Guleman and Fethiye, high-grade magnetite ore at Divriği, and lead and zinc in scattered areas. Boron, copper, and silver are also mined, and oil occurs in relatively small quantities in the south-east.

F.

Environmental Concerns

About 11 per cent (1995) of the land is forested, and agricultural land makes up about 38 per cent (1997) of the country. Turkey’s protected area network consists of 21 national parks and 36 national forests as well as numerous nature reserves, special protection areas, and other designated sites totalling about 1.4 per cent (1997) of the land. Protected areas are jeopardized, however, by poor legal protection. Recreation and game breeding and hunting areas are relatively extensive. The expansion and modernization of agriculture represents a major environmental threat in Turkey. Pesticides and fertilizers frequently pollute waterways, and natural areas—especially wetlands—are used for cultivation and grazing ground. Other problems include extensive coastal development, the hunting of threatened and endangered species, and pressure on protected sites from increased tourism.

Growth in Turkey's industrial sector has given rise to air pollution in a number of cities, and industrial effluents are adding to river contamination. Turkey has ratified international environmental agreements on air pollution, hazardous wastes, nuclear test ban, ozone layer, ship pollution, wetlands, and whaling. Two natural areas have been declared World Heritage Sites. Regionally, Turkey is active in the conservation of the Mediterranean and Black Sea through participation in the Mediterranean Action Plan. In addition, three specially protected areas have been recognized under the Barcelona Convention. Under the Council of Europe (CE) protocol, three sites in Turkey have been designated as biogenetic reserves, and one site has been awarded the distinguished European Diploma. The country has a transborder park, shared with Greece.

III.

Population

The territory of Turkey has been home to ethnically and culturally distinct groups from the ancient Hittites, Phrygians, and Assyrians to Greeks, Persians, Romans, and Arabs (see Asia Minor). The nomadic forebears of the modern Turks came out of Central Asia in the 11th century ad, conquered Arab and Byzantine empires, and set themselves up as rulers. Their arrival placed the distinctive stamp of Turkish language and culture on the population they found there, and it was the instrument by which Islam replaced Christianity in this territory. More than 10 per cent of the population in the late 1980s, however, belonged to various ethnic groups that continue to maintain their individual identity, particularly the Greeks, Kurds, Arabs, Armenians, and Jews.

A.

Population Characteristics

Turkey’s population is 76,805,524 (2009 estimate), giving a population density of 100 people per sq km (258 people per sq mi). Some 67 per cent of the people lived in urban areas in 2005, compared with 25 per cent in 1945. The highest population concentrations are in İstanbul and in the coastal regions.

B.

Principal Cities

The population of İstanbul is 11,174,257 (2007 estimate); of Ankara, the capital, 3,428,000 (2003 estimate). İzmir has 2,409,000 people (2000); Adana, 395,388 (2007 estimate); and Bursa, 459,877 (2007 estimate).

C.

Religion

Islam ceased to be the official state religion of Turkey in 1928, when the country became a secular state. Nevertheless, 99 per cent of the population is Muslim—primarily Sunni, although large numbers of Shiites are found in the south-east. Christians account for less than 0.1 per cent of the population. The Jewish community is estimated to number around 25,000.

D.

Language

The official language of Turkey is Turkish, an Altaic language spoken by the majority of the population as a first or second language. However, around 33 other languages are spoken in Turkey. In the European part of the country Balkan Gagauz Turkish is the most widely spoken language, followed by Bulgarian, which is spoken by Muslim Pomaks. Armenian, Balkan Romani (an Indo-Iranian language), Serbian, Domari (spoken by Roma [Gypsies] in Turkey), and Tosk Albanian are among some of the languages indigenous to European Turkey.

In the Asian part of Turkey, aside from Turkish the most widespread language is Kurmanji, an Indo-Iranian language also referred to as “North Kurdish”. South Azerbaijani, an Altaic language, is a mother tongue for some, as are North Mesopotamian Spoken Arabic, Kabardian, (a North Caucasian language), Kirmanjki (Indo-Iranian), and Georgian (South Caucasian), among others.

E.

Education

At the birth of the republic more than 90 per cent of the people were illiterate. Atatürk’s major reforms included a far-reaching educational programme, and the first constitution stated that “primary education is obligatory for all Turks and shall be gratuitous in government schools”. By 2007 88.7 per cent of the adult population could read and write. Primary education through the first five grades is compulsory. In 2006 some 7.95 million pupils attended primary schools, 3.5 million students attended general secondary schools, and 1.3 million students attended technical and vocational schools. In 2005, 4 per cent of gross national product (GNP) was allocated to education. Around 1.16 million students attended higher education institutions. Entrance to Turkey’s 70 or so universities is extremely competitive. Major institutions are the University of İstanbul (1453); Aegean University (1955), at İzmir; and the University of Ankara (1946) and Middle East Technical University (1956), at Ankara.

F.

Culture

A transition from Islamic artistic traditions under the Ottoman Empire (see Islamic Art and Architecture) to a more secular, Western orientation has gradually taken place in Turkey. Some Turkish painters strive to find their own art forms free from Western influence. Sculpture is less well developed, and public monuments are usually heroic representations of Atatürk and events from the war of independence. Folk music is a source of inspiration for longer symphonic works (see Islamic Music).

The earliest Turkish poetry survives in the epic poetry of the Kirghiz; their epic, the Manas, has been passed down by word of mouth through the ages. Early mystical poetry written by Yunus Emre and others in the 14th century gave way at court to learned poetry, called Divan poetry. More popular poetry was sung by minstrels, a tradition that continues to the present day. Many critics regard Kemal Tahir as the greatest modern Turkish novelist. Among authors translated into English is Yaşar Kemal, author of Memed, My Hawk (1955; translated 1961), a prizewinning novel of a modern Robin Hood, which won the author his international reputation; Anatolian Tales (1968); and Seagull (1981), a story that blends myth with realistic depiction of provincial life in modern Turkey. Another Turkish poet with an international reputation is Nazim Hikmet, a Marxist, who wrote his poems in forceful, colloquial Turkish, introducing free verse. Orhan Pamuk is Turkey’s most highly regarded current novelist; he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2006.

Turkey maintains state operas in İstanbul and Ankara, the Academy of Fine Arts in İstanbul, three music conservatories, a national folk dance troupe, and other cultural institutions. Christian churches converted to mosques, and mosques built by the famous Turkish architect Sinan, are in İstanbul, Edirne, Bursa, and other cities. The Sultan’s Palace (Topkapi Sarayi) is now a museum housing the imperial treasures and relics of the Prophet Muhammad. Ankara’s Museum of Anatolian Civilizations has outstanding Hittite, Phrygian, and other exhibits. Among the largest of Turkey’s many libraries are the National Library, in Ankara, and the Beyazit State Library, in İstanbul.

IV.

Economy

In 2004, according to World Bank estimates, Turkey’s GNP was US$269 billion, equivalent to US$8,030 per capita.

Turkey has become increasingly integrated into the West European economic scene. The economy has improved significantly since the 1994 crisis of triple-digit inflation, but the government has a difficult task in balancing the need for new austerity measures and tough structural reforms with increased demand for continued growth. Some industries are under pressure from EU competition, with the possibility that much-needed revenues will decline with the elimination of import tariffs and surcharges.

Prices rose by 150 per cent between 1994 and 1995, while average wage increases lagged 30 per cent behind. Farming still engages almost half the labour force, while unemployment in the cities stood at 12 per cent in 1995.

The annual gross domestic product (GDP) of Turkey in 2007 was US$656 billion. About 28.3 per cent of GDP was contributed by industry, 8.7 per cent by agriculture, and 63 per cent by government and private services in 2007.

A.

Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing

Since 1950 agricultural output in Turkey has increased through the use of more machinery and fertilizer and better plant varieties, but productivity remains comparatively low, as many farmers still use inefficient methods and most farms are extremely small. The diversity of climates in Turkey allows many speciality crops to be grown, such as tea.

In 2007, the annual production of Turkey’s principal crops included 17.7 million tonnes of wheat, 15 million tonnes of sugar beet, 7 million tonnes of barley, 30.2 million tonnes of cereals, 4.28 million tonnes of potatoes, 4 million tonnes of grapes, 24.5 million tonnes of vegetables and melons, and 3.88 million tonnes of corn. Other important crops include onions, aubergines, nuts, cabbage, rye, cotton, tobacco, tomatoes, apples, olives, and citrus fruit. Livestock on farms (2007) include some 25.4 million sheep, 10.9 million cattle, 6.50 million goats, 423,055 donkeys, 204,352 buffalo, 255,000 horses, 350 million poultry.

Although 13.1 per cent of Turkey’s area is classified as forested, the timber industry is relatively unimportant, with no more than one third of the forests having commercial value. In 2007 roundwood production was about 17.7 million cu m (624 million cu ft) and sawnwood production was about 6.60 million cu m (233 million cu ft).

Total fish catch in 2007 was 662,121 tonnes; most of the catch comes from the Mediterranean and Black seas. Anchovies generally account for more than half the catch. Mackerel, sardines, mullet, and carp are also caught.

B.

Mining

Turkey maintains an important place in world mineral production. The country’s principal mineral products include lignite, coal, crude oil, chromite, bauxite, iron ore, manganese, boron, antimony, lead, zinc, copper, and sulphur. In 2003 coal production was 48.2 million tonnes, and crude oil was 16.5 million barrels. A special mineral produced is meerschaum, which is used to make tobacco pipes.

C.

Manufacturing

Leading manufactured products in the early 1990s in Turkey included processed food, textiles, iron and steel, refined oil, chemicals, cement, vehicles, paper, and cigarettes. İstanbul, İzmir, and Bursa were important manufacturing centres.

D.

Energy

In 2006 Turkey produced about 167.9 billion kWh of electricity. About 26.08 per cent of the electricity was generated in hydroelectric facilities, including a large plant on the River Euphrates near Elâzığ. In April 1995 Azerbaijan and Turkey signed an important agreement increasing the Turkish stake to 6.75 per cent in a multi-billion dollar deal to develop Azerbaijan’s oilfields under the Caspian Sea, estimated to hold 3.8 billion barrels of crude oil, to be transported via a pipeline to a Turkish Mediterranean port. In 2002 an agreement was signed with neighbouring Greece to build a 285 km (177 mi) pipeline to supply Greece with gas. In July 2006 the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline, the second longest in the world stretching from the Caspian to the Mediterranean, was formally opened at a ceremony in Turkey.

E.

Currency and Banking

The monetary unit of Turkey is the New Turkish lira of 100 kuruş (1.58 lire equalled US$1; early 2009), which replaced the Turkish lira from January 2005. The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, founded in 1930, is the bank of issue. The country also has a number of state banks concerned with economic development, such as the Agriculture Bank of the Republic of Turkey, founded in 1863, as well as several commercial banks. Turkey’s principal stock exchange is in İstanbul.

F.

Commerce and Trade

The cost of Turkey’s yearly imports is usually much higher than earnings from exports; in 2007 imports totalled about US$168,527 million, and exports, US$106,851 million. The principal imports are oil, machinery, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, fertilizer, iron and steel, and transport equipment; the main exports are textiles, clothing, other manufactured goods, fruits and vegetables, cotton, chemicals, metals, tobacco, and wheat.

Considerable income is derived from expenditures of tourists in Turkey; in 2007 over 22.2 million foreigners spent US$3,260 million in the country. Turkey’s chief trade partners include Germany, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and the United States. In March 1995 the EU agreed to accept Turkey into a customs union.

G.

Labour

The domestic Turkish workforce included in 2007 about 24.2 million employed, with overall unemployment at 9.9 per cent. About 30 per cent were employed in agriculture, forestry, and fishing; about 46 per cent held jobs in service industries; and 25 per cent worked in industry. In addition, some 1.3 million Turkish citizens are employed abroad, especially in Germany and Saudi Arabia; annual remittances from emigrant workers exceeded US$2.6 million in 1994. The main labour organization was the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions, with more than 1.7 million members.

H.

Transport

Turkey has about 8,697 km (5,404 mi) of railway track, all operated by the Turkish Republic State Railways. The country is also served by some 426,906 km (265,267 mi) of roads. About 3 million passenger cars, 688,000 lorries, and 87,000 buses were in use in the early 1990s. In 2004 there was a ratio of 108 vehicles per 1,000 people. The leading ports of Turkey are İstanbul and İzmir; other important ports include Trabzon, Giresun, Samsun, and Zonguldak, on the Black Sea, and İskenderun and Mersin in the south. The national airline, Turkish Airlines, provides domestic and foreign service; major international airports serve İstanbul (Atatürk), Ankara (Esenboga), Adana, Antalya, and İzmir (Adnan Menderes).

I.

Communications

In 2004 Turkey had 588 daily newspapers, with a combined circulation of 7 million. Larger dailies include Cumhuriyet, Sabah, Hürriyet, Milliyet, and Türkiye—all published in İstanbul. The country is also served by many weekly and monthly publications. The government monopoly on broadcasting ended in 1993. There are four state-run national radio networks; there are also 84 privately- and state-owned television stations. Kurdish-language television programming commenced in 2004. About 37 million radios and 30 million televisions were in use in 2000. In 2005 there were about 263 telephones per 1,000 people in Turkey.

V.

Government

An attempt by the Allied powers and Greece to partition the country following World War I precipitated the Turkish War of Independence, led by Atatürk. The Turkish Republic was proclaimed on October 29, 1923. Modernization efforts followed, such as abolishing the religious courts in 1924. Women gained the right to vote in 1934.

The one-party system was ended in January 1946 when opposition leaders registered the Democratic Party; a number of other political parties were subsequently formed. In May 1950 Turkey held its first free, multi-party general election, which the Democratic Party won. Increasing inter-party tensions created a crisis in which a military junta seized power and governed from 1960 to 1961. A new constitution was adopted in 1961, and general elections followed. No clear majority emerged, however, and a series of coalition governments were formed by various parties. Following a period of economic uncertainty and political violence in the 1970s, a second junta in 1980 established martial law and dissolved all political parties. A new constitution was ratified by popular referendum in November 1982, and civilian government was restored at the end of 1983. A new constitution, complete with major reform measures intended to help ease Turkey’s passage into the EU, was approved in October 2001.

A.

Executive and Legislature

During 1980-1983, executive power was vested principally in the National Security Council, headed by General Kenan Evren. With the ratification of the 1982 constitution, Evren became President of the Republic; the National Security Council, consisting of senior military officers, then functioned as the Presidential Council until its dissolution in 1989.

Under the 1982 constitution legislative power rests in the Turkish Grand National Assembly, a unicameral body directly elected for terms of up to five years. The number of deputies was originally set at 400, but has been increased twice since under constitutional amendments, most recently in July 1995, when a legislature of 550 members was established. The head of government is the prime minister, who represents the majority party or coalition in parliament. The president, as chief of state, is chosen by parliament for a seven-year term. All citizens over the age of 18 years are entitled to vote.

B.

Political Parties

All political parties were dissolved after the 1980 coup, and leaders of the Republican People’s Party and the Justice Party were subsequently barred from taking part in national politics for at least ten years. Organizations formed to contest the 1983 elections included the Nationalist Democracy Party, the Populist Party, and the Motherland Party, which won parliamentary majorities in both 1983 and 1987. The True Path Party (DYP) won the largest number of seats in the 1991 election, forming a coalition with the Social Democratic People’s Party. In May 1999 a coalition government was formed that included the National Action Party, the Motherland Party, and the Democratic Left Party. After the 2002 and 2007 elections the most seats were held by the Justice and Development Party (AKP; Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi) and the Republican People’s Party (CHP; Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi).

C.

Judiciary

Prior to the foundation of the Turkish Republic, much of Turkish civil law was based on the Koran. The transition to a secular state resulted in elements from Swiss, German, and Italian legal codes being adopted and changed to accommodate Turkish customs and traditions. There is a unified legal system of civil and military courts, each with a Court of Appeal sitting in Ankara, and the Council of State is the highest administrative tribunal. Under the 1982 constitution, a constitutional court reviews the constitutionality of laws passed by parliament, and a court of cassation is the final court of appeal. There are many lesser civilian and military courts.

D.

Local Government

Turkey is divided into 76 provinces, which are administered by governors (vali) representing the central government. The provinces are subdivided into districts, which have little political significance, and communes, which may levy local taxes and exercise other local powers.

E.

Health and Welfare

Health care in Turkey is financed by the government for many of those who cannot afford to pay. Turkey has a ratio of 1 doctor to 641 people, and an infant mortality rate of 26 deaths per 1,000 live births. Life expectancy at birth in 2009 was 70.1 years for men and 73.9 years for women.

F.

Defence

In 2006 Turkey’s armed forces totalled about 514,850, including 402,000 in the army (mostly conscripts); 52,750 in the navy; and 60,100 in the air force. Some 25,000 to 30,000 troops were deployed in the Turkish-controlled section of Cyprus. An 18-month period of military service is required of all male citizens. In June 2002, Turkey took over command of the International Security and Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

G.

International Organizations

Turkey is a member of the United Nations (UN), NATO, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Council of Europe, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the Economic Cooperation Organization, the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), and is an associate member of the European Union.

VI.

History

The first major civilization in Anatolia was that of the Hittites, about 1900 to 1200 bc, which originated in the central plateau. It was destroyed by invaders known as the Sea Peoples, who swept over Asia Minor and Syria towards the end of the 12th century bc. The destruction of the western Anatolian city of Troy, an event celebrated in ancient Greek legends, probably occurred during these invasions.

One group of the Sea Peoples, the Phrygians, established a kingdom that became the dominant Anatolian power in the 9th and 8th centuries bc. During this period the Greeks founded Miletus, Ephesus, and Priene and a number of other cities in Ionia, an area along the Aegean coast. About 700 bc the Phrygian kingdom was overrun and destroyed by the Cimmerians, a nomadic people who thereafter lived in western Asia Minor. In the 7th century bc the Lydians also appeared near the Aegean coast, where they founded a kingdom, the capital of which was Sardis. It was overthrown by the Persians under Cyrus the Great in 546 bc.

A.

The Persian and Byzantine Periods

From the mid-6th century to 333 bc most of Asia Minor, including Anatolia, belonged to the Persian Empire, although the Greek cities frequently enjoyed a considerable degree of autonomy. In the 4th century bc Persian power declined, and after 333 bc it was supplanted by the Macedonian Empire of Alexander the Great. In the 2nd and 1st centuries bc, Asia Minor was gradually conquered by the Romans.

After the division of the Roman Empire in the 4th century ad, Asia Minor became part of the Eastern Roman, or Byzantine Empire, the capital of which was Constantinople or Byzantium (now İstanbul), located on the European side of the Bosporus, just across from the west coast of Anatolia. During the 11th century Asia Minor was invaded by the Seljuk Turks. In 1071 they routed the Byzantine army at the Battle of Manzikert; during the 12th century they ravaged much of eastern and central Anatolia. Although at this time the primary objective of the Seljuks was not to attack the Byzantines but to eliminate the threat of heterodox Shiite Islam posed by the Fatimids of Egypt, some members of the Seljuk dynasty followed the nomads to take advantage of their success. They established the sultanate of Rum (with its capital at Konya), which ruled central Anatolia in the 12th and 13th centuries.

Most of the nomads who had made the initial Seljuk victories possible were soon pushed to the west of Anatolia, where frontier colonies were maintained against the last Byzantine defences. Although the sultanate of Rum imitated the Seljuk Empire of Baghdad, the presence within its boundaries of large numbers of Christians and its superimposition of Islam on top of a living Christian tradition produced a milieu considerably different to that of other Islamic states. It provided the basis for the unique Ottoman systems of government and society that began to emerge in the 14th century.

The Seljuks of Baghdad and Konya were soon overwhelmed by the invasion of the Mongols under Genghis Khan, culminating in the capture and sack of Baghdad in 1258. In Anatolia, the Turkoman nomads used the resulting anarchy to form a series of principalities, nominally under the suzerainty of Rum, which in turn was dominated by the Mongols. These principalities maintained themselves through their raids against one another and against the last Byzantine nobles, who held out in western Anatolia.

B.

Rise of the Ottomans

The Ottomans emerged in history as leaders of those Turkomans who fought the Byzantines in north-western Anatolia. The location enabled Osman, founder of the Ottoman dynasty, to take the fullest advantage of Byzantine weakness and secure booty by raids into Christian territory. This situation lured into his service thousands of Turkoman nomads and also many Arabs and Iranians fleeing from the Mongols. Osman’s conquests in Anatolia were crowned with the capture (1326) of the provincial capital Bursa by his son Orhan, which gave the Ottomans control over the Byzantine administrative, financial, and military systems in the area. Thus began the Ottoman tradition to expand by force only at the expense of the declining Christian states to the west, but not against the Turkoman principalities to the east. The peaceful acquisition of Turkoman lands by purchase, marriage, and the sowing of dissension within the ruling dynasties was, however, acceptable, and the Ottomans thus took over large territories in western Anatolia.

B.1.

European Raids

Ottoman expansion into Europe began late in Orhan’s reign. Ottoman soldiers were hired as mercenaries by leading Byzantines, including John VI Cantacuzene, who was thus able to secure himself the Byzantine throne (1347). In return, Ottoman soldiers were allowed to raid Byzantine territories in Thrace and Macedonia, and the emperor’s daughter was given to Orhan in marriage. The Ottoman raiders soon began to camp in the Gallipoli Peninsula and to mount continuous raids on the remaining Byzantine possessions in Europe.

The transformation of the Ottoman principality into a vast empire, covering south-eastern Europe, Anatolia, and the Arab world, was accomplished in three major campaigns between the 14th and 16th centuries. The early Ottoman Empire, stretching from the Danube to the Euphrates, was created by Murad I and Bayazid I. Murad concentrated mainly on Europe in a series of campaigns that extended as far as the Danube, culminating in the Battle of Kosovo (1389), in which an allied Serbian, Bosnian, and Bulgarian army was routed. Murad himself was killed, but his son Bayazid completed the victory. During the next decade Bayazid broke with tradition and conquered most of the Anatolian Turkoman principalities, thus bringing the early empire to its peak.

B.2.

Defeat and Restoration

This conquest, however, greatly weakened the basic supports of the Ottoman state. The Muslim elements and the Turkish notables, who had helped the Ottomans achieve their victories in Europe, opposed this subjugation of Turks and Muslims. They refused to participate in the campaign into Anatolia, which as a consequence was carried out largely by Christians in Bayazid’s service. At the same time, the emergence of the Ottomans as a major power in Anatolia threatened the rear flanks of Tamerlane, the Mongol conqueror who had recently taken over much of Iran and Central Asia. Tamerlane briefly invaded Anatolia in 1402, defeating and capturing Bayazid, who died a prisoner the following year.

Muhammad I, Bayazid’s youngest son, restored the Ottoman Empire by defeating and killing his brothers, one after another, and, from 1402 to 1413, by fighting off Christian and Turkoman vassals in Europe and Anatolia. His son, Murad II, reasserted Ottoman dominion in Europe as far as the Danube by defeating the various Christian princes of Serbia and Bulgaria and replacing them with direct Ottoman administration. This policy was continued during the reign of Muhammad II, who defeated the last remaining Christian princes south of the Danube.

His conquests culminated in the capture of Constantinople (1453) and the subjugation of Anatolia as far as the Euphrates. Bayazid II ended the policy of conquests in order to consolidate the lands that had been occupied during previous reigns. Unlike him, Selim I used the territorial and administrative base of power left to him to defeat and destroy the Mameluke Empire (1517) and to conquer Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and Arabia, which he achieved in a single campaign, thus incorporating into the Ottoman Empire the heartland of the old Islamic caliphates.

Suleiman I the Magnificent completed the Ottoman expansion by moving across the Danube to conquer Hungary and besiege Vienna (1529). In the east he conquered the remainder of Anatolia and the old Abbasid and Seljuk centre in Iraq.

C.

Ottoman State and Society

With the conquest of Suleiman I, the Magnificent, the Ottoman Empire reached its peak, and the social, administrative, and governmental institutions that had been evolving since the 14th century were formalized in a series of codes that remained the basis of Ottoman law until the end of the empire. As revealed in these codes, society was divided into a ruling class of Ottomans and a subject class of rayas, of the sultan’s “protected flock”.

The basic attribute of the ruler’s authority was the right to exploit the wealth of the empire. The sultan divided this wealth into administrative and financial units and assigned them to his agents, along with the authority to collect the accruing revenues. These agents were considered “slaves” of the sultan, but because slaves in Middle Eastern society acquired the social status of their master, they actually constituted the ruling class of Ottoman society. Their authority, however, was limited to functions involved with exploiting the empire’s wealth and with expanding and defending the state organized to accomplish this.

To carry out these functions, the ruling class organized itself into four basic “institutions”: the Imperial Institution, including the Inner, or Palace, Service, which cared for the sultans, and the Outer Service, which made sure that the system worked; the Military Institution, which kept order through various military corps, of which the most important were the Janissaries and the cavalry; the Scribal Institution, which supported the sultan and his ruling class by assessing and collecting taxes that exploited the wealth of the empire; and the Religious, or Cultural, Institution, which gave religious leadership to the sultan’s Muslim subjects and was in charge of education and justice. The ruling class was made up of two rival elements: Muslim Turkomans, Arabs, and Iranians, who together constituted the Turkish aristocracy that dominated the Ottoman system during the 14th and 15th centuries; and Christian prisoners and slaves, recruited, converted, and educated through the famous devshirme system. Beginning in the mid-16th century, the latter group took over and dominated the ruling class.

All other social functions were left to the subject class to carry out as they wished, primarily through religiously oriented communities called millets, and through economic and social guilds. The Jewish, Greek Orthodox, Armenian Gregorian, and Muslim millets, later joined by Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Bulgarian Orthodox millets, were allowed religious and cultural autonomy.

D.

Decline and Traditional Reform

The decline of the Ottoman Empire began late in the reign of Suleiman I and continued until the end of World War I. Official reaction to this decline came in phases—that of Traditional Reform (1566-1807), when efforts were made to restore the old institutions, and that of Modern Reform (1807-1918), when the old ways were abandoned and new ones, imported from the West, were adopted.

D.1.

Nature of the Decline

Until the mid-16th century the sultans had controlled and used both the old Turkish aristocracy and the devshirme Christian converts and their descendants by carefully balancing and playing them off against each other. During Suleiman’s reign, however, the devshirme achieved control, drove the Turkish aristocracy out of the ruling class, and then began to exploit the state for their own advantage. At the same time, the empire began to suffer from overpopulation, resulting from the peace and security that had been established. A high birth rate eventually resulted in both urban and rural unemployment, owing to the limited availability of land and to highly restrictive economic policies enforced by the urban guilds. Without jobs, the oppressed masses formed robber bands that infested town and country alike.

With incompetent, dishonest, and inefficient government by the ruling class, lands fell out of cultivation, the empire suffered from endemic famine and disease, and entire districts—sometimes entire provinces—fell under the control of provincial notables. The subject class suffered a good deal but was protected from the worst effects of the anarchy by the millets and guilds, which formed a substratum of society, taking over the functions of government when needed. At the same time, Europe was developing nation-states that were far more powerful than those that had faced the Ottoman Empire in earlier centuries.

Ottoman reaction to the decline was tempered for several reasons. First, Europe was so involved in its own affairs that for at least a century it was unaware of the Ottoman situation and made no effort to take advantage of it. Second, most members of the ruling class benefited from the chaos, for it enabled them to retain huge profits for themselves. Finally, the Ottomans in their isolation were unaware of the changes that had made Europe far more powerful than before. They assumed that the Islamic world was still more advanced than Christian Europe. Under these conditions, the ruling class saw no need for change or reform.

After a time, however, Europe began to realize the extent of internal Ottoman decay and to take advantage of it. In 1571 the Holy League fleet, led by John of Austria, moved into the eastern Mediterranean and destroyed the Ottoman fleet in the Battle of Lepanto. The victory was counteracted by the building of an entirely new fleet, and the Ottomans resumed their naval control in the Mediterranean for another half-century. Nonetheless, the impression began to spread in Europe that the Ottomans were not invincible. War with Austria followed (1593-1606), leading the sultan to recognize the Holy Roman Emperor as an equal and to give up his insistence on annual Austrian payments of tribute—a fact that further opened Europe’s eyes to Ottoman decline.

D.2.

Reforms and Losses

Only when powerful foreign attacks threatened the empire, on which its privileges and wealth depended, did the ruling class accept some sort of reform. In 1623, Shah Abbas I of Iran conquered Baghdad and eastern Iraq and stirred up a series of Turkoman revolts in eastern Anatolia. In response, Sultan Murad IV restored conservatism and efficiency to the ruling class and the army. By ruthlessly executing thousands found guilty of violating Islamic law and tradition, he began the so-called Traditional Reforms. The reforms were successful enough for the Ottoman army to drive the Iranians out of Iraq and to conquer the Caucasus (1638). Murad’s successor, however, allowed the previous decay to resume.

A war with Venice, which culminated in a Venetian naval attack on the Dardanelles, then led to the rise of the Köprülü dynasty of grand viziers, which once again restored the old institutions with the same methods used by Murad VI. Eradication of the decay and restoration of Ottoman power stimulated the last Köprülü grand vizier, Kara Mustafa Pasha, to make a new attempt to conquer Vienna in 1683. After a short siege, however, the Ottoman army completely fell apart, making it possible for a new European Holy League to conquer integral parts of the empire. The losses of Hungary and Transylvania to Austria; Dalmatia, the Peloponnese, and important Aegean islands to Venice; Podolya and the southern Ukraine to Poland; and Azov and the lands north of the Black Sea to Russia were confirmed in the Treaty of Karlowitz (1699).

D.3.

Some Gains and More Losses

Even at this time, however, the Ottoman Empire had enough internal strength to pull itself together, correct the worse abuses, and, by adopting modern European weapons and tactics, even regain some of its losses. In 1711 the Ottomans defeated a campaign mounted by Tsar Peter the Great, forcing him to return the territories lost at Karlowitz, but a war with Venice and Austria (1714-1717) led to the loss of Belgrade and northern Serbia.

This stimulated a new reform era called the Tulip Period (1715-1730), in which the Ottoman army was reorganized and modernized in order to spare the empire further losses. This effort was continued during the reign (1730-1754) of Mahmud I, when the French artillery officer Claude de Bonneval, called Humbaracı Ahmed Pasha, created a new European-style artillery corps. As a result, in the war that broke out with Russia and Austria (1736-1739), the Ottomans were able to regain most of their previous losses in northern Serbia and the northern shores of the Black Sea.

A period of peace with Europe followed, largely because of European involvement in other wars; this lull, however, once again convinced the ruling class that the danger was past, and the old abuses and decay soon returned. Consequently, in two disastrous wars between 1768 and 1792 (see Russo-Turkish Wars), the Ottoman army crumbled, major new territorial losses were suffered, and the empire itself seemed near total collapse.

E.

Modern Reform

During the 19th century, the continuous danger of foreign conquest was aggravated by the rise of nationalism. One after another, the non-Turkish peoples of the empire sought and obtained independence. Greece was the first country to do so, in 1829. This was followed by revolts of the Serbs, Bulgars, and Albanians, as well as of the Armenians of eastern Anatolia. Ottoman survival was due less to the empire’s own strength than to European disagreement over how to divide the spoils—a part of history often referred to as the Eastern Question.

E.1.

Tanzimat

The Ottoman ruling class responded to these crises with a concentrated effort at reform; it replaced the old ways with new ones imported from the West in a reform movement (1839-1876) known as the Tanzimat (Turkish, “reorganization”). Planned and begun under Mahmud II, and culminating in the highly autocratic reign (1876-1909) of Abdulhamid II, the Tanzimat modernized the Ottoman Empire by extending the scope of government into all aspects of life, overshadowing the autonomous millets and guilds that previously had monopolized most governmental functions.

A modern administration and army were created along Western lines, with highly centralized bureaucracies. Secular systems of education and justice were created to provide personnel for the new administration. Large-scale programmes of public works modernized the physical structure of the empire, with new cities, roads, railways, and telegraph lines. New agricultural methods also contributed to Ottoman revitalization. Another reaction was to suppress minorities. This policy resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Armenians between 1894 and 1923. (The Turkish government disputes that the Ottoman policy towards the Armenians was genocidal, arguing that most of the Armenian deaths resulted from armed conflict, disease, and famine during the chaos of World War I.)

E.2.

European Interests

Severe economic, financial, political, and diplomatic problems emerged, however, to undermine the Tanzimat reforms. The newly industrialized European states preferred to keep the Ottoman Empire as a source of cheap raw materials and a market for their manufactured goods. Using the Capitulations—treaties by which, since the 16th century, the sultans had allowed Europeans to live and work in the empire according to their own laws and under their own consuls—the Europeans were able to prevent the Ottomans from restricting foreign imports and thus kept them from protecting their own nascent industries. Because the Ottomans depended largely on foreign industrialists for capital and know-how, the Europeans could also undermine and destroy what industrial efforts were made. The empire borrowed so heavily from European banks that by the last years of the Tanzimat, more than half of its total revenues were consumed by interest charges. Moreover, the new and modern bureaucracy soon began to use its authority to misrule the subjects.

A group of intellectuals and liberals known as the Young Ottomans for a Constitution then began to demand a limit to the power of the ruling class and the bureaucracy and a parliament to enforce the rights of the people. Severely suppressed by the Tanzimat leaders, the Young Ottomans fled abroad, publishing their demands in books and pamphlets that were sent into the empire through the foreign post offices, which, protected by the Capitulations, were free of Ottoman government control. At the same time, the newly independent Balkan states began large-scale agitation to gain control of Macedonia, where the population was almost evenly divided between Muslims and Christians. In Greece, Serbia, and Bulgaria, societies were organized that sought to enforce their claims by terrorist campaigns, severely straining the ability of the Ottoman state to keep order. Finally, the deaths of the principal Tanzimat leaders about 1870 left the autocratic structure of government they had created in the hands of dishonest politicians, who resumed the corruption and misrule that had prompted the Tanzimat in the first place.

E.3.

Coup and Constitution

At this point a new international crisis, threats of a war with Russia and Austria, and the constitutionalist aspirations of a group of reformers led to the overthrow of Sultan Abd al-Aziz. After a very short reign, Murad V was succeeded by Sultan Abdulhamid II. He promulgated a constitution and accepted a representative parliament, which convened in 1877, but was soon suspended because of war with Russia. In cooperation with Britain, Abdulhamid managed to solve the international crisis at the Congress of Berlin (1878). He then moved to restore the Tanzimat reforms, which by the end of the century had created a relatively modern and prosperous state. In the face of continued European dangers, however, Abdulhamid suspended the parliament and installed a highly autocratic government (1878). Governmental power was taken from the bureaucracy and centred in the palace, and all opposition was suppressed.

Abdulhamid restored financial stability and advanced the economy, but the political repression ultimately led to the rise of a new liberal opposition movement, the Young Turks, who forced him to restore the constitution and parliament in what is known as the Young Turk Revolution (1908). The success of the new constitutional regime was immediately undermined, however, by a series of disasters: Austria annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria annexed East Rumelia, and terrorism in Macedonia and eastern Anatolia resumed with renewed fury.

Abdulhamid and those around him in the palace blamed these disasters on the new constitutional regime and attempted a counter-revolution in April 1909. Parliament was dissolved and many members arrested, but the army in Macedonia, dominated by Young Turks, marched back to İstanbul, defeated the counter-revolution, and dethroned the sultan. Subsequent Ottoman sultans reigned but did not rule.

E.4.

The Young Turk Years

The early years of the Young Turk era (1908-1918) were the most democratic period of Ottoman history. The constitution and parliament were restored, and parties were formed to contest for leadership. The strongest among them was the Union and Progress Party, founded and supported by the Young Turks, but many others also flourished.

The Young Turk reforms, which reached all areas of life, culminated in the secularization of the Muslim schools and courts and the introduction of women’s rights during World War I. The modern state apparatus of the Tanzimat was democratized, industry and agriculture were developed, and modern budgetary techniques were introduced. The First Balkan War, however, led to a revolt within the Committee of Union and Progress and an attempt to take over the government by a triumvirate led by Enver Pasha. The triumvirate’s domination was assured when it took advantage of dissension among the victorious Balkan states to regain Edirne (Adrianople) in the Second Balkan War.

E.5.

World War I

At first, the triumvirate tried to avoid involvement in World War I, but German offers to help regain lost provinces, British confiscation of Turkish warships being constructed in England, and manipulation by Enver Pasha led to an alliance with the Central Powers and Turkish entry into the war in 1914. The Turkish armed forces performed well during the Gallipoli campaign and drove back and captured an entire British expeditionary force at Kut-al-Imara in Iraq.

A campaign across the Sinai Peninsula with the aim of capturing the Suez Canal and Egypt was unsuccessful, however, and led to the British organization of an Arab revolt in the Arabian Peninsula. With Arab help, a British force from Egypt then invaded Syria and had reached southern Anatolia by the time the war ended.

A campaign led by Enver Pasha into the Caucasus at the start of the war was defeated less by the Russians than by poor organization and revolts in the eastern provinces. Thereafter the Russians invaded eastern and central Anatolia at will (1915-1916), until their campaign was brought to an end in 1917 by the Russian Revolution. The destructive effects of these foreign invasions were compounded by internal revolts, famine, starvation, and disease. Some 6 million people of all religions—one quarter of the entire population—died or were killed, and the economy was devastated.

E.6.

Occupation and War of Independence

In the wake of surrender, the Turkish government was placed under the authority of the Allied occupation powers led by the British. The Paris Peace Conference prepared to impose a settlement by which not only the Balkan and Arab provinces would be ceded, but areas occupied by predominantly Turkish populations in eastern and southern Anatolia would be placed under foreign or minority control. A large Greek army captured İzmir (1922) and invaded south-western Anatolia, but massacres of the Turkish population led the Allies to withdraw their support from the Greeks. In reaction to the proposed peace settlement and to the Greek invasion, the Turkish nationalist movement rose in Anatolia under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

During the Turkish War of Independence (1918-1923) Atatürk successfully resisted the Allied terms; drove out the Greeks and the British, French, and Italian occupation forces; and imposed a settlement, embodied in the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), by which the Turkish areas of eastern Thrace and Anatolia were left to form their own state. Following this victory, a Turkish republic was proclaimed, with its capital in Ankara, and the İstanbul government of the sultan simply ceased to exist (1923).

F.

Turkish Republic

Led by Atatürk during its first 15 years, the Turkish republic was founded on six basic principles incorporated into the constitution: republicanism (based on the premise that sovereignty belongs to the people); Turkish nationalism (emphasizing the glories of the Turkish past and the need for the Turks to build their own state according to modern principles and without foreign intervention); populism (the idea that the people ruled through the Turkish Grand National Assembly, with all economic and social interests represented); secularism (dictating complete separation between the Muslim religious establishment and the state); statism (meaning state intervention in major sectors of the economy and its control of the rest, so as to assure rapid economic development); and revolutionism (dictating that all these changes be instituted at once and in full so that Turkish society could develop as rapidly as possible).

The Atatürk years were ones of great progress, both economic and social. Turkey avoided tendencies towards revenge, joining in close diplomatic relations with its former Balkan territories and at the same time emphasizing its secularist policy by avoiding alliances with its Muslim neighbours to the east.

F.1.

From Neutrality to Western Alliance

Atatürk was succeeded as president by his close associate İsmet İnönü, who continued his internal policies. Remembering the terrible experience of World War I, İnönü kept Turkey neutral during almost all of World War II; not until February 1945 did Turkey declare war on Germany and Japan. Following the war, the Soviet Union attempted to include Turkey within its sphere of influence, demanding control of Turkey’s eastern provinces and the straits. In response, Turkey accepted large-scale aid offered by President Truman and entered a close military and economic alliance with the United States; in 1952 it became a full member of the NATO.

At the same time, İnönü democratized the regime and allowed the introduction of opposition parties. This led to the triumph in 1950 of the Democratic Party, advocating more private and individual enterprise than had been permitted by the statist policies of Atatürk’s Republican People’s Party, which now went into opposition.

Led by President Celâl Bayar, together with Prime Minister Adnan Menderes and Foreign Minister Fuat Köprülü, the Democratic Party controlled the Turkish government for a decade (1950-1960). The Turkish economy expanded rapidly during this time as a result of the new economic liberalism and the large-scale foreign assistance, principally from the United States, that followed Turkey’s entry into the Western alliance. Ultimately, however, too rapid economic growth and poor management led to severe economic and social strains and increasing political discontent voiced by the Republican People’s Party, which the Democrats began to repress.

In 1960 an army coup finally overthrew the government, hanged Menderes and a few associates on charges of corruption in 1961, and installed a new constitution based on modern economic and social principles, with provisions to prevent the kind of repression the Democrats had inflicted.

F.2.

Slide Towards Chaos

After the second constitution was adopted in 1961, Turkey was governed by a series of ever weaker governments. The rapid economic development of the 1950s, combined with liberal legislation freeing workers and others to unite, engendered a series of organizations that assumed power and authority formerly held by the government, the legislature, and the political parties. At the same time, an increasingly active leftist movement spawned violent extremist groups, which engaged in terrorist acts to achieve their ends. These in turn led to the formation of right-wing terrorist bands, leaving the country polarized and both sides fomenting violence.

The labour organizations that sprang up after 1950 coalesced into two major labour confederations, Turkish Labour (Turk IŠ), representing the rightist and more moderate groups, and the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions, incorporating the Communist and other leftist groups. By the mid-1960s the influence of these organizations spread to all areas of Turkish life.

Political affairs also were polarized in two major parties, the Republican People’s Party, which under the leadership of Bülent Ecevit tended to incorporate social-democratic ideas, and the Justice Party, led by Süleyman Demirel, which more or less represented the old Atatürk traditions. Several minor Communist and Socialist parties represented the various extremes of the left, whereas the National Action Party spoke for Turkish nationalists and the National Salvation Party advocated a return to an Islam-oriented state. Both of these parties favoured active social and economic programmes, making it difficult to classify them as right wing in the ordinary sense of the term. The proportional representation provisions of the 1961 constitution made it difficult for any party to gain the majority needed to enact effective legislation. Action, therefore, was taken to the streets.

F.3.

Occupation of Cyprus

Throughout the governmental chaos of this era, Turkey remained faithful to its alliance with the West, providing military bases for NATO and US forces facing the USSR. This alliance was subjected to considerable strain in 1974, when Turkey occupied the northern third of Cyprus in response to a Greek-engineered coup on the island, declaring it an independent republic. The United States subsequently suspended military and economic aid, and Turkey responded by temporarily closing all US bases in the country. Turkish troops remained in northern Cyprus, and Turkey continued to support a separate Turkish Cypriot government, defying the United States and the UN.

European governments in the 1990s began negotiations with both Greece and Turkey to admit a divided Cyprus to full membership of the EU. The Congress of the United States ultimately resumed its assistance, leading the Turks to reopen the bases, but the incident left them suspicious of the US presence, a situation encouraged and amplified by the vocal leftist groups and abetted by Communist propaganda. Islamic groups also began to oppose the US presence, preferring that Turkey abandon its secularist traditions in foreign affairs and draw closer to the Muslim Arab countries that were benefiting from their new-found oil wealth and the resulting political power.

F.4.

Army Coup of 1980

The government (1979-1980) of Süleyman Demirel chose to retain Turkey’s close alliance with the West in the hope of developing the private sector of the economy with foreign assistance. The Republican People’s Party reacted by advocating socialist control of the basic means of production and the establishment of new alliances with the Developing World and the Communist bloc. Extremists on both the left and the right turned to political assassinations and other forms of violent acts. On September 12, 1980, the army took over the government and suspended the constitution. The new rulers imposed martial law, banned political activity, restricted the press, and jailed thousands of suspected terrorists.

The army governed through the National Security Council; the council’s head, General Kenan Evren, was Chief of State, and Admiral Bülent Ulusu became prime minister.

F.5.

Civilian Rule

A major step towards civilian rule was taken in 1982, when a new constitution was enacted, under which Evren became president of the republic. Parliamentary elections in November 1983 resulted in an upset victory for the conservative Motherland Party (the army had favoured a more right-wing group), and party leader Turgut Özal became prime minister. In 1989 Özal was chosen as Turkey’s first civilian head of state since 1960, and Yildirim Akbulut replaced him as prime minister.

Akbulut was replaced by Mesut Yilmaz in 1991, and was himself replaced by Tansu Çiller, an economist, in 1993, who headed the True Path Party (DYP). Turkey supported the international effort to oust Iraq from Kuwait during 1990 and 1991, although no Turkish troops fought in the Persian Gulf War. After the war, in the wake of an unsuccessful uprising by Iraqi Kurds, hundreds of thousands of Kurdish refugees crossed the border into Turkey. Many were kept near the border under the temporary watch of allied troops.

F.6.

Kurdish Resistance

Since 1984 an unofficial war has raged between successive Turkish governments and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Marxist terrorist group trying to win autonomy for the country’s 15 million Kurds. The conflict is mostly confined to the south-east of the country, where the highest concentration of Kurds lives. In March 1995 the government of Çiller, announcing its intention to wipe out the PKK separatist movement, mounted one of the biggest ever attacks against the rebels, penetrating 40 km (25 mi) into what was the UN protection zone for Kurdish areas of north-eastern Iraq.

Turkey has been criticized by Western governments and international human rights organizations for apparent abuses against the Kurdish community. Çiller’s government attempted to pass more liberal laws bringing Kurdish nationalists back into the body politic and allowing Kurdish schools to re-open.

F.7.

Growth of Fundamentalism

The pro-Islamic Welfare Party made gains in the general election in December, prompting left- and right-wing secular parties to forge an anti-Islamic alliance. In April 1996 Çiller’s True Path Party and the Motherland Party formed a power-sharing coalition government. Corruption charges against Çiller, however, threatened the survival of the coalition. In July 1996 Necmettin Erbakan, of the Welfare Party, became the new prime minister of Turkey, following a coalition agreement with the True Path Party. Many people feared a move in the country towards Islamic fundamentalism following many decades of secular progress and pro-Western policies. Turkey showed support for the Bosnian Muslims in the war in the former Yugoslavia.

Erbakan resigned in June 1997 under pressure from the armed forces. Tansu Çiller, who had a power-sharing arrangement with Erbakan, made a bid to lead a caretaker government. President Demirel however, invited Mesut Yilmaz to form a government, which Tansu Çiller refused to join, citing Demirel’s invitation as undemocratic. The continued defection of deputies from the True Path Party was seen by many observers as having negative implications for Çiller’s political future.

In August the Grand National Assembly passed a controversial education bill that extended the length of compulsory elementary education from five to eight years, thus effectively raising the minimum age of enrolment at Islamic schools to 14. It was thought that the bill would substantially reduce the number of enrolments at Islamic schools and ensure that those who did enrol did so at a less impressionable age. The constitutional court began hearing a suit that aimed to dissolve the former ruling Welfare Party that had been led by Erbakan. The chief public prosecutor had filed the suit on grounds of protecting the secular Turkish Republic from being undermined by Islamic fundamentalism.

A new offensive against the Kurds took place in September, when bases in northern Iraq were attacked. In October Turkey was found to have breached its commitment under the European Convention on Human Rights by detaining six former deputies of the pro-Kurdish Democracy Party, and was ordered to pay them compensation. A decision by Cyprus to hold extensive war games and invite participation by Greece, increased tension between Greece and Turkey.

The charge against the Welfare Party was upheld by the constitutional court in January 1998, when it outlawed the party and banned its leader, Necmettin Erbakan, and six party officials from holding political office for five years.

F.8.

The Ecevit Government

Some 100 members of the outlawed Welfare Party regrouped in February 1998 to form the Virtue Party. It became the largest opposition group in the legislature. The government of Mesut Yilmaz collapsed in November following corruption allegations and defeat in a vote of confidence. President Demirel asked the deputy prime minister Bülent Ecevit to form a caretaker government prior to elections in April 1999; but after three weeks of negotiation Ecevit was unable to form a coalition. Yalim Erez was asked to form a government by President Demirel in late December, in a move that ended a long-standing convention that the leader of the largest party in the legislature was appointed prime minister. Erez failed in his attempt to form a government, however, and in January Bülent Ecevit was sworn in as prime minister. After the April 18 elections a coalition government was formed by Ecevit—it included the Democratic Left Party, the far right National Action Party, and the centre-right Motherland Party. The National Assembly approved the Ecevit government by a vote of 354 to 182 on June 9.

F.9.

Abdullah Ocalan and the PKK

Relations with Italy were strained by the Italian decision to refuse the extradition of the Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, who had applied for asylum in Italy. Ocalan was released in December 1998, after Germany had withdrawn the international warrant for his arrest, and he left Italy for an unknown destination in January. The following month Ocalan was captured by Turkish special forces in Nairobi, Kenya, where he had been given shelter in the Greek embassy. His arrest was followed by the occupation by Kurdish sympathizers of Greek and Kenyan embassies in many European cities, and in Australia and Canada. The occupation of the Greek Embassy in London, which lasted for three days, was brought to a peaceful conclusion, but three Kurds were killed during an attempt to occupy the Israeli consulate in Berlin. Ocalan was flown to Turkey and later formally charged with treason.

May saw increased PKK violence within Turkey despite calls for peace from the now-incarcerated Ocalan. On June 29 Ocalan was sentenced to death for treason. Reaction within Turkey and abroad was relatively subdued. Three days later Ocalan called for a truce in the war between the Kurds and Turkey and for the PKK to withdraw from Turkey as of September 1. The truce was supported by the PKK’s rival, the People’s Liberation Army of Kurdistan (ARGK). After Ocalan’s death sentence was upheld in November, a final appeal was rejected by the Turkish courts on December 20, 1999, although no date was set for the sentence to be carried out. In February 2000 the PKK announced an end to its 15-year-old armed struggle (which is said to have claimed the lives of 30,000 people), and declared that it would reconstitute itself as a political party.

F.10.

Earthquakes in Izmit, Gölcük, and Düzce

On August 17, 1999, an earthquake measuring 7.4 on the open-ended Richter scale hit the cities of Izmit and Gölcük in the north-west of the country. It killed 17,118, injured 27,000, made 200,000 homeless, and damaged 72,000 buildings. It was Turkey’s worst earthquake since 1939. Turkish officials estimated the earthquake caused between US$5 billion and US$7 billion worth of damage, but many observers said the cost of the earthquake could reach US$25 billion. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank offered Turkey more than US$500 million in emergency funds. Much assistance also came from Greece. Relations with Greece improved, and later in the month senior Turkish and Greek diplomats began a series of meetings in Ankara aimed at easing decades of tension in their relations.

On November 12, 1999, a second earthquake hit north-western Turkey. It measured 7.2 on the open-ended Richter scale and killed more than 700 people and injured at least 5,100 others. The earthquake’s epicentre was near the town of Düzce. Turkish officials estimated the earthquake would cost the Turkish economy as much as US$10 billion.

F.11.

Candidacy for the EU

On the final day of the European Union (EU) summit in Helsinki, Finland, in December, Turkey was among seven countries invited to become a candidate for membership. Greece welcomed Turkey’s invitation. However, EU leaders insisted that Turkey must improve its record on human rights and refer its territorial disputes with Greece to the United Nations International Court of Justice before its long-held wish to join the EU would be considered. However, Prime Minister Ecevit announced that Turkey had no intention of changing its position on such issues in response to EU pressure, but a programme of sweeping economic and political reforms was formally presented by the foreign minister in March 2001 and cautiously welcomed by the EU.

In January 2000, Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou signed a series of agreements with his Turkish counterpart, Ismail Cem, covering tourism, environmental protection, investment, and the fight against crime and terrorism. In March Turkey confirmed its plans to build its first nuclear power plant at Akkuyu Bay on the Mediterranean coast. The announcement came despite opposition from Turkey’s neighbours and local residents, who claimed that the plant would be dangerous because the area is prone to earthquakes.

F.12.

President Sezer Elected

In May 2000 the Turkish parliament elected a leading judge, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, as president to replace Suleyman Demirel. Sezer became the first Turkish president not to be an active politician or a senior military officer.

A political crisis caused by a public row between Sezer and Ecevit in February 2001 triggered the flotation of the lira, in an attempt to avoid losing billions of dollars of scheduled loans from the IMF. After two days of talks with the IMF in March, newly appointed economy minister Kemal Dervis announced that a programme had been agreed upon for reviving foreign investors’ confidence.

In June Turkey’s constitutional court banned the Pro-Islamic Virtue Party upholding the claim that it had been involved in anti-secular activities. The following month former party members formed the Saadet “happiness” Party (SP), under the former prime minister Necmettin Erbakan.

A package of reforms was introduced in October to ease Turkey’s admittance into the EU. They included the banning of the death sentence for certain crimes, allowing Kurdish broadcasts, and reducing the influence of the military in the National Security Council. In changes to the civil code women were given equal status to men in certain areas of life, including employment.

F.12.a.

Justice and Development Party Comes to Power

Eight ministers stood down from the government in July 2002 after failing to remove Ecevit from office. Among them was foreign minister Ismail Cem, who formed a new party (the New Turkey Party) in time for the upcoming elections. The elections were held in early November 2002 and saw the 550 seats divided between the Justice and Development Party (363), the Republican People’s Party (178), and a number of independent politicians. Prime Minister Ecevit's Democratic Left Party (DSP) won just over 1 per cent of the vote, which hastened his departure from the post. On November 16, President Sezer asked Abdullah Gül of the Justice and Development Party to form the new government. It pledged to introduce a further series of reforms to enable Turkey’s quest for EU membership to continue. However, the country received a setback in December 2002 when it was not listed as one of the new invitees to join the EU in the next wave of expansion in 2004, but was encouraged to continue the ongoing reforms.

In domestic politics, constitutional changes were made to allow the head of the Justice and Development Party, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to run for parliament and thereby take over as prime minister from Gül, Erdogan had been barred from public office because of a previous criminal conviction. In March 2003 Erdogan won the seat and almost immediately took over as prime minister. Gül became deputy prime minister and foreign minister. Straightaway, he was embroiled in the debate discussing proposed US troop deployments from Turkey into neighbouring Iraq in the US war on the country to topple Saddam Hussein. Ultimately, permission was not given though the US forces were permitted to use Turkish air space in their prosecution of the war.

There was an earthquake centred on the Bingöl region of the country that led to more than 150 deaths in May 2003. In November İstanbul became the focus of a concerted terrorist campaign: 25 people were killed and hundreds injured when car bombs went off near the city's synagogues; days later the target of the bombers were British interests—a British bank and the consulate. In this second atrocity 28 people were killed.

Turkey continued to seek talks over its membership of the European Union, and continued its progress by recognizing Cyprus’s admission to the organization. At home, the government approved more reforms, including those concerning women’s rights and Kurdish culture and language. EU talks commenced in late 2005 after Turkey recognized Cyprus as an EU member.

After more than two decades of fighting the PKK, the Kurdish separatist group, once again put forward plans for a ceasefire in September 2006 at the urging of the jailed rebel leader Abullah Ocalan. However, the truce offer was rebutted by the Turkish military. The summer of 2006 had seen repeated bomb attacks on resorts in Turkey, responsibility for which was claimed by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, a supposed radical offshoot of the PKK.

Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was shot in January 2007. The death of Dink, a vocal critic of the mass killings of Armenians in 1915 and a supporter of Armenian rights in Turkey, was widely condemned, both in Armenia and by the government in Turkey. Street protests were held by protestors angered by the killing. A trial commenced in July, in which a number of Turkish nationalists were indicted. The presidential election, due to be held in April 2007, was declared void by the constitutional court after a single round of voting by MPS after opposition parties refused to participate. The AKP (Justice and Development) candidate Abdullah Gül was the only nomination. In order to offset the impasse parliamentary elections were brought forward to July. The AKP won more than 340 seats despite fears that the party was intent upon an Islamist agenda. Significantly the poll also saw the election of 20 Kurdish members to parliament. Following the election Gül once more stated his intent to stand as president and was eventually elected at the end of August, pledging to uphold the secular state. Despite a presidential veto of the plans by his predecessor, parliament is keen to move forward with proposals for the president to be directly elected in future elections and for the term of office to be cut from seven years to five.