HISTORY of TURKEY

7500 BC First Stone age settlements at Catalhuyuk
 
1900-1300 BC Hittite Empire with Hattusas as capital, contemporary with ancient Egypt and Babylon
 
1250 BC The Trojan war and the fall of Troy
 
1200-700 BC Migration of Greeks to Aegean coastal regions. Establishment of the Phrygian, Ionian, Lycian, Lydian, Carian and Pamphylian Kingdoms. The East of Turkey is the home of the Urartians
 
700 BC Homer is born in Izmir (Smyrna). Aegean Hellenism begins
 
546 BC Cyrus the Great leads the Persians into Anatolia
 
334 BC Alexander the Great drives out the Persians
 
130 BC The Romans incorporate Anatolia as the province of Asia, controlled from Ephesus (Efes)
 
40 BC Antioch sees the marriage of Antony and Cleopatra
 
47-57 AD St. Paul spreads Christianity and a community at Antioch is established
 
313 Roman Empire adopts Christianity
 
330 Constantine lays out the boundaries of his new capital, Constantinople
 
527-65 Glory of Byzantium under Justinian
 
638-718 Muslim Arabs besiege Constantinople
 
1054 Greek and Roman Churches split over theology
 
1071-1243 Rise and rule of the Selcuk Turks in Anatolia, Konya is their capital
 
1096-1204 The Crusades, marking the beginning of the end for Byzantium, a fascinating period in Byzantine history
 
1288 Ottoman Empire appears in Bursa
 
1453 The fall of Constantinople - the birth of Istanbul
 
1520-66 Suleyman the Magnificent sits on the Ottoman throne controlling a huge and powerful empire
 
1682-1725 Peter the Great initiates Russo-Turkish rivalry
 
1854 Crimean war
 
1909 Abdul Hamid, the last of an unbroken line of Ottoman sultans is deposed
 
1914 Turkey allies with Germany in the first world war
 
1915 Gallipoli
 
1919 Ataturk leads resistance to the allied plan to carve up Turkey
 
1923 Foundation of the modern Republic of Turkey by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Many things happen all at once
 
1938 Ataturk dies in Istanbul's Dolmabahce palace
 
1939-45 Turkey manages to remain neutral during the second world war
 
1946 Charter membership of the UN
 
1952 Turkey joins NATO
 
1960 Military coup, successive governments ineffective
 
1964 Associate member status of EU
 
1974 Cyprus crisis
 
1980 Kanan Evren leads military coup. 3 years of military government
 
1983 Turgut Ozal elected prime Minister
 
1985-90 Full EU membership for Turkey impeded by Cypriot issue and questions over human rights record
 
1991-93 Suleyman Demirel elected Prime Minister, inflation at 70%
 
1993-96 Demirel President, Tansu Ciller Prime Minister, Turkey joins EU Customs Union
 
1997-98 5 attempts at forming coalition governments, Islamic Welfare party disbanded, reforms as Virtue and is the largest single party in parliament. Military intervenes to prevent Islamicists forming governments. 75th Anniversary of the Turkish Republic (and 15th of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus) celebrated.








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