HISTORY

Because of its geographical location the mainland of Anatolia has always found favour throughout history, and is the birthplace of many great civilizations. It has also been prominent as a centre of commerce because of its land connections to three continents and the sea surrounding it on three sides.

Turkish history is fascinating, convoluted and bloody. Suffice it to say that the first inhabitants came in 7,500 B.C., became the great Hittite civilisation and since then Turkey has been a seething mass of invasion, uprisings and wars up until the early 20th century. Greeks, Romans Mongols have all had their hand in the building and demolishing of the Turkish Empires. After the Crusades the Ottoman Empire came to the fore, famously taking Constantinople in 1453. The Empire gradually declined from 1595 and after a disastrous WW1 the country was ripe for their national hero to come to the fore.

Mustafa Kemal began to organise resistance, for the Turkish people. The War of Independence lasted 1920-22, ending in a bitterly won Turkish victory and the abolition of the sultanate. Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk or Father Turk) completely revised Turkish society. By the time he died in 1938, a constitution had been adopted, polygamy abolished and the fez, mark of Ottoman backwardness, was prohibited. Islam was removed as the state religion, Constantinople became Istanbul and women obtained the right to vote. Atatürk remains a true hero in Turkey. He made it relevant to the modern world.