Prehistory and ancient history

Some henges at Göbekli Tepe were erected as far back as 9600 BC, predating those of Stonehenge by over seven millennia.^[63]

The Sphinx Gate of Hattusa, the capital of the Hittites

Lycian Way is a 760 kilometers (470 mi) long hiking path in Southwestern Turkey.^[64]

Present-day Turkey has been inhabited by modern humans since the late Paleolithic period and contains some of the world's oldest Neolithic sites.^[65]^[66] Göbekli Tepe is close to 12,000 years old.^[65] Parts of Anatolia include the Fertile Crescent, an origin of agriculture.^[67] Other important Anatolian Neolithic sites include Çatalhöyük and Alaca Höyük.^[68] Neolithic Anatolian farmers differed genetically from farmers in Iran and Jordan Valley. These early Anatolian farmers began to migrate into Europe around 9,000 years ago, eventually coming to dominate most of the continent.^[69]^[70]^[71]

Anatolia's historical records start with clay tablets from approximately around 2000 BC that were found in modern-day Kültepe.^[17] These tablets belonged to an Assyrian trade colony.^[17] The languages in Anatolia at that time included Hattian, Hurrian, Hittite, Luwian, and Palaic.^[72] Hattian was a language indigenous to Anatolia, with no known modern-day connections.^[73] Hurrian language was used in northern Syria.^[72] Hittite, Luwian, and Palaic languages were in the Anatolian sub-group of Indo-European languages,^[74] with Hittite being the "oldest attested Indo-European language".^[75] The origin of Indo-European languages is unknown.^[76] They may be native to Anatolia^[77] or non-native.^[78]

Hattian rulers were gradually replaced by Hittite rulers.^[17] The Hittite kingdom was a large kingdom in Central Anatolia, with its capital of Hattusa.^[17] It co-existed in Anatolia with Palaians and Luwians, approximately between 1700 and 1200 BC.^[17] As the Hittite kingdom was disintegrating, further waves of Indo-European peoples migrated from southeastern Europe, which was followed by warfare.^[79]

Troy's earliest layers go back to the Chalcolithic.^[68] It is not known if the Trojan war is based on historical events.^[80] Troy's Late Bronze Age layers matches most with Iliad's story.^[81]

Around 750 BC, Phrygia had been established, with its two centers in Gordium and modern-day Kayseri.^[82] Phrygians spoke an Indo-European language, but it was closer to Greek, rather than Anatolian languages.^[74] Phrygians shared Anatolia with Neo-Hittites and Urartu. Urartu's capital was around Lake Van.^[82] Urartu was often in conflict with Assyria,^[83] but fell with the attacks of Medes and Scythians in seventh century BC.^[82] When Cimmerians attacked, Phrygia fell around 650 BC.^[84] They were replaced by Carians, Lycians and Lydians.^[84] These three cultures "can be considered a reassertion of the ancient, indigenous culture of the Hattian cities of Anatolia".^[84]

Early classical antiquity

Before 1200 BC, there were four Greek-speaking settlements in Anatolia, including Miletus.^[86] Around 1000 BC, Greeks started migrating to the west coast of Anatolia. These eastern Greek settlements played a vital role in shaping the Archaic Greek civilization;^[82]^[87] important cities included Miletus, Ephesus, Halicarnassus, Smyrna (now İzmir) and Byzantium (now Istanbul), the latter founded by colonists from Megara in the seventh century BCE.^[88] These settlements were grouped as Aeolis, Ionia, and Doris, after the specific Greek groups that settled them.^[89] Further Greek colonization in Anatolia was led by Miletus and Megara in 750–480 BC.^[90] The Greek cities along the Aegean prospered with trade, and saw remarkable scientific and scholarly accomplishments.^[91] Thales and Anaximander from Miletus founded the Ionian School of philosophy, thereby laying the foundations of rationalism and Western philosophy.^[92]

Cyrus attacked eastern Anatolia in 547 BC, and Achaemenid Empire eventually expanded into western Anatolia.^[84] In the east, the Armenian province was part of the Achaemenid Empire.^[82] Following the Greco-Persian Wars, the Greek city-states of the Anatolian Aegean coast regained independence, but most of the interior stayed part of the Achaemenid Empire.^[84] In northwestern Turkey, Odrysian kingdom existed in 5th century BC.^[94] Two of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, and the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, were located in Anatolia.^[95]

Following the victories of Alexander in 334 BC and 333 BC, the Achaemenid Empire collapsed and Anatolia became part of the Macedonian Empire.^[84] This led to increasing cultural homogeneity and Hellenization of the Anatolian interior,^[15] which met resistance in some places.^[18] Following Alexander's death, the Seleucids ruled large parts of Anatolia, while native Anatolian states emerged in the Marmara and Black Sea areas. In eastern Anatolia, the kingdom of Armenia appeared. In third century BC, Celts invaded central Anatolia and continued as a major ethnic group in the area for around 200 years. They were known as the Galatians.^[96]

Rome and Byzantine Empire

Top image: The Roman Empire at the time of Constantine the Great's death in 337. Bottom image: The Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire in 555 under Justinian the Great, at its greatest extent

When Pergamon requested assistance in its conflict with the Seleucids, Rome intervened in Anatolia in the second century BC. Without an heir, Pergamum's king left the kingdom to Rome, which was annexed as province of Asia. Roman influence grew in Anatolia afterwards.^[97] Following Asiatic Vespers massacre, and Mithridatic Wars with Pontus, Rome emerged victorious. Around the 1st century BC, Rome expanded into parts of Pontus and Bithynia, while turning rest of Anatolian states into Roman satellites.^[98] Several conflicts with Parthians ensued, with peace and wars alternating.^[99]

According to Acts of the Apostles, early Christian Church had significant growth in Anatolia because of St Paul's efforts. Letters from St. Paul in Anatolia comprise the oldest Christian literature.^[100] According to extrabiblical traditions, the Assumption of Mary took place in Ephesus, where Apostle John was also present. Irenaeus writes of "the church of Ephesus, founded by Paul, with John continuing with them until the times of Trajan."^[101]

The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centered in Constantinople during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The eastern half of the Empire survived the conditions that caused the fall of the West in the 5th century AD, and continued to exist until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire remained the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in the Mediterranean world. The term Byzantine Empire was only coined following the empire's demise; its citizens referred to the polity as the "Roman Empire" and to themselves as Romans. Due to the imperial seat's move from Rome to Byzantium, the adoption of Christianity as the state religion, and the predominance of Greek instead of Latin, modern historians continue to make a distinction between the earlier Roman Empire and the later Byzantine Empire.^{[citation needed]}

In the early Byzantine Empire period, the Anatolian coastal areas were Greek speaking. In addition to natives, interior Anatolia had diverse groups such as Goths, Celts, Persians and Jews. Interior Anatolia had been "heavily Hellenized".^[103] Anatolian languages eventually became extinct after Hellenization of Anatolia.^[104]

Several ecumenical councils of the early Church were held in cities located in present-day Turkey, including the First Council of Nicaea (Iznik) in 325 (which resulted in the first uniform Christian doctrine, called the Nicene Creed), the First Council of Constantinople in 381, the Council of Ephesus in 431, and the Council of Chalcedon in 451.^[105]

Seljuks and Anatolian beyliks

İnce Minareli Medrese in Konya (left), Çifte Minareli Medrese in Erzurum (center) and Divriği Great Mosque and Hospital (right) are among the finest examples of Seljuk architecture.

According to historians and linguists, the Proto-Turkic language originated in Central-East Asia.^[106] Initially, Proto-Turkic speakers were potentially both hunter-gatherers and farmers; they later became nomadic pastoralists.^[107] Early and medieval Turkic groups exhibited a wide range of both East Asian and West-Eurasian physical appearances and genetic origins, in part through long-term contact with neighboring peoples such as Iranic, Mongolic, Tocharian, Uralic, and Yeniseian peoples.^[108] During the 9th and 10th centuries CE, the Oghuz were a Turkic group that lived in the Caspian and Aral steppes.^[109] Partly due to pressure from the Kipchaks, the Oghuz migrated into Iran and Transoxiana.^[109] They mixed with Iranic-speaking groups in the area and converted to Islam.^[109] Oghuz Turks were also known as Turkoman.^[109]

The Seljuks originated from the Kınık branch of the Oghuz Turks who resided in the Yabgu Khaganate.^[110] In 1040, the Seljuks defeated the Ghaznavids at the Battle of Dandanaqan and established the Seljuk Empire in Greater Khorasan.^[111] Baghdad, the Abbasid Caliphate's capital and center of the Islamic world, was taken by Seljuks in 1055.^[112] Given the role Khurasani traditions played in art, culture, and political traditions in the empire, the Seljuk period is described as a mixture of "Turkish, Persian and Islamic influences".^[113] In the latter half of the 11th century, the Seljuk Turks began penetrating into medieval Armenia and Anatolia.^[112] At the time, Anatolia was a diverse and largely Greek-speaking region after previously being Hellenized.^[19]^[21]^[103]

The Seljuk Turks defeated the Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, and later established the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum.^[114] During this period, there were also Turkish principalities such as Danishmendids.^[115] Seljuk arrival started the Turkification process in Anatolia;^[21]^[116] there were Turkic/Turkish migrations, intermarriages, and conversions into Islam.^[117]^[118] The shift took several centuries and happened gradually.^[119]^[120] Members of Islamic mysticism orders, such as Mevlevi Order, played a role in the Islamization of the diverse people of Anatolia.^[121]^[122] In 13th century, there was a second significant wave of Turkic migration, as people fled Mongol expansion.^[123]^[124] Seljuk sultanate was defeated by the Mongols at the Battle of Köse Dağ in 1243 and disappeared by the beginning of the 14th century. It was replaced by various Turkish principalities.^[23]^[125]

Ottoman Empire

Thumb — The Ottoman Empire at its greatest European extent, in 1683, during the Battle of Vienna

Based around Söğüt, Ottoman Beylik was founded by Osman I in the early 14th century.^[126] According to Ottoman chroniclers, Osman descended from the Kayı tribe of the Oghuz Turks.^[127] Ottomans started annexing the nearby Turkish beyliks (principalities) in Anatolia and expanded into the Balkans.^[128] Mehmed II completed Ottoman conquest of the Byzantine Empire by capturing its capital, Constantinople, on 29 May 1453.^[129] Selim I united Anatolia under Ottoman rule.^[24] Turkification continued as Ottomans mixed with various indigenous people in Anatolia and the Balkans.^[127]

The Ottoman Empire was a global power during the reigns of Selim I and Suleiman the Magnificent.^[24]^[25] In the 16th and 17th centuries, Sephardic Jews moved into Ottoman Empire following their expulsion from Spain.^[130] From the second half of the 18th century onwards, the Ottoman Empire began to decline. The Tanzimat reforms, initiated by Mahmud II in 1839, aimed to modernize the Ottoman state in line with the progress that had been made in Western Europe. The Ottoman constitution of 1876 was the first among Muslim states, but was short-lived.^[131]

As the empire gradually shrank in size, military power and wealth; especially after the Ottoman economic crisis and default in 1875^[132] which led to uprisings in the Balkan provinces that culminated in the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878); many Balkan Muslims migrated to the empire's heartland in Anatolia,^[133]^[134] along with the Circassians fleeing the Russian conquest of the Caucasus. According to some estimates, 800,000 Muslim Circassians died during the Circassian genocide in the territory of present-day Russia, the survivors of which sought refuge in the Ottoman Empire, mostly settling in the provinces of present-day Turkey. The decline of the Ottoman Empire led to a rise in nationalist sentiment among its various subject peoples, leading to increased ethnic tensions which occasionally burst into violence, such as the Hamidian massacres of Armenians, which claimed up to 300,000 lives.^[135]

Topkapı Palace and Dolmabahçe Palace were the primary residences of the Ottoman sultans in Istanbul between 1465 and 1856^[136] and 1856 to 1922,^[137] respectively.

Ottoman territories in Europe (Rumelia) were lost in the First Balkan War (1912–1913).^[138] Ottomans managed to recover some territory in Europe, such as Edirne, in the Second Balkan War (1913). In the 19th and early 20th centuries, persecution of Muslims during the Ottoman contraction and in the Russian Empire resulted in estimated 5 million deaths,^[139]^[140] with more than 3 million in Balkans;^[141] the casualties included Turks.^[140] Five to seven or seven to nine million refugees migrated into modern-day Turkey from the Balkans, Caucasus, Crimea, and Mediterranean islands,^[142] shifting the center of the Ottoman Empire to Anatolia.^[143] In addition to a small number of Jews, the refugees were overwhelmingly Muslim; they were both Turkish and non-Turkish people, such as Circassians and Crimean Tatars.^[144]^[145] Paul Mojzes has called the Balkan Wars an "unrecognized genocide", where multiple sides were both victims and perpetrators.^[146]

Following the 1913 coup d'état, the Three Pashas took control of the Ottoman government. The Ottoman Empire entered World War I on the side of the Central Powers and was ultimately defeated.^[147] During the war, the empire's Armenian subjects were deported to Syria as part of the Armenian genocide. As a result, an estimated 600,000^[148] to more than 1 million,^[148] or up to 1.5 million^[149]^[150]^[151] Armenians were killed. The Turkish government has refused to acknowledge^[29]^[152] the events as genocide and states that Armenians were only "relocated" from the eastern war zone.^[153] Genocidal campaigns were also committed against the empire's other minority groups such as the Assyrians and Greeks.^[154]^[155]^[156] Following the Armistice of Mudros in 1918, the victorious Allied Powers sought the partition of the Ottoman Empire through the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres.^[157]

Republic of Türkiye

The occupation of Istanbul (1918) and İzmir (1919) by the Allies in the aftermath of World War I initiated the Turkish National Movement. Under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Pasha, a military commander who had distinguished himself during the Battle of Gallipoli, the Turkish War of Independence (1919–1923) was waged with the aim of revoking the terms of the Treaty of Sèvres (1920).^[158]

The Turkish Provisional Government in Ankara, which had declared itself the legitimate government of the country on 23 April 1920, started to formalize the legal transition from the old Ottoman into the new Republican political system. The Ankara Government engaged in armed and diplomatic struggle. In 1921–1923, the Armenian, Greek, French, and British armies had been expelled.^[159]^[160]^[161]^[162] The military advance and diplomatic success of the Ankara Government resulted in the signing of the Armistice of Mudanya on 11 October 1922. On 1 November 1922, the Turkish Parliament in Ankara formally abolished the Sultanate, thus ending 623 years of monarchical Ottoman rule.

The Treaty of Lausanne of 24 July 1923, which superseded the Treaty of Sèvres,^[157]^[158] led to the international recognition of the sovereignty of the new Turkish state as the successor state of the Ottoman Empire. On 4 October 1923, the Allied occupation of Turkey ended with the withdrawal of the last Allied troops from Istanbul. The Turkish Republic was officially proclaimed on 29 October 1923 in Ankara, the country's new capital.^[163] The Lausanne Convention stipulated a population exchange between Greece and Turkey.^[164]

Mustafa Kemal became the republic's first president and introduced many reforms. The reforms aimed to transform the old religion-based and multi-communal Ottoman monarchy into a Turkish nation state that would be governed as a parliamentary republic under a secular constitution.^[165] With the Surname Law of 1934, the Turkish Parliament bestowed upon Kemal the honorific surname "Atatürk" (Father Turk).^[158] Atatürk's reforms caused discontent in some Kurdish and Zaza tribes leading to the Sheikh Said rebellion in 1925^[166] and the Dersim rebellion in 1937.^[167]

İsmet İnönü became the country's second president following Atatürk's death in 1938. In 1939, the Republic of Hatay voted in favor of joining Turkey with a referendum. Turkey remained neutral during most of World War II but entered the war on the side of the Allies on 23 February 1945. Later that year, Turkey became a charter member of the United Nations.^[168] In 1950 Turkey became a member of the Council of Europe. After fighting as part of the UN forces in the Korean War, Turkey joined NATO in 1952, becoming a bulwark against Soviet expansion into the Mediterranean.

The country's transition to multi-party democracy was interrupted by military coups in 1960 and 1980, as well as by military memorandums in 1971 and 1997.^[169]^[170] Between 1960 and the end of the 20th century, the prominent leaders in Turkish politics who achieved multiple election victories were Süleyman Demirel, Bülent Ecevit and Turgut Özal.^{[citation needed]} PKK started a "campaign of terrorist attacks on civilian and military targets" in the 1980s.^[171] It is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey,^[172] the United States,^[173] and the European Union.^[174] Tansu Çiller became the first female prime minister of Turkey in 1993. Turkey applied for full membership of the EEC in 1987, joined the European Union Customs Union in 1995 and started accession negotiations with the European Union in 2005.^[175]^[176] Customs Union had an important impact on the Turkish manufacturing sector.^[177]^[178]

In 2014, prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan won Turkey's first direct presidential election.^[179] On 15 July 2016, an unsuccessful coup attempt tried to oust the government.^[180] With a referendum in 2017, the parliamentary republic was replaced by an executive presidential system. The office of the prime minister was abolished, and its powers and duties were transferred to the president. On the referendum day, while the voting was still underway, the Supreme Electoral Council lifted a rule that required each ballot to have an official stamp.^[181] The opposition parties claimed that as many as 2.5 million ballots without a stamp were accepted as valid.^[181]