HISTORY OF TURKS AND TURKEY

The republic of Turkey,founded in 1923,has its roots in two historical sources deep in the depths of the past.One of these resources inherited by modern Turkey is successful and shining history of the Turks over a time frame of more than 4000 years.The other is the fact that Turks have been settled in Anatolia since the 11 th century.

THE HUNS

The first Turkish tribe that is mentioned in history is the Huns.Clear records about the Huns made their appearance in the 8 th century B.C. Chinese sources refer to the Huns as Hiung-nu and in time,some of the Huns migrated to the West

THE GOKTURKS

Founded in 552 AD by Bumin Khan,the Gokturks engaged in widespread diplomatic activityThe famed Orhun epitaphs from this period are made up of the tombstone inscriptions of Tonyukuk Kultigin and Bilge Kagan

THE UYGURS

The rule of Gokturks was brought to an end in the year 745 by the Uygurs,who were of the same ethnic stock as themselves.In ths manner all the Turks who had converged under the banner of the Gokturks were dispersed to that of the Uygurs that the agricultural basin where they lived became known as Turkistan.In the year 1229,the Mongols put an end to Uygur sovereignty;the Uygurs however,became their cultural and political mentors.

THE TURKS AND ISLAM

Contacts between the Turks and Moslems commenced at the beginning of the 8 th century and some Turks began to favour Islam.However the pro-Arab policies of the Omayads (661-750A.D)restricted somewhat.Later,many Moslem Turks took office in the Abbside governement and because of this great interest in the islamic world spread among the Turks beyond the river Ceyhun .Commercial caravans also played a major role in the spread of islam into the steppes of Central Asia.
The Turks became fully Moslem by the 10 th century,and this resulted in the achievement to political unity.Following these developments,the first Moslem Turkish state was formed by the Karahans.

THE KARAHANS

Karahans ruled between 990-1212 in Turkistan Maveraunnehir
The reign of Karahans is especially significant from the
point of view of Turkish culture & art and history.During this period that mosques,schools,bridges and caravansarays were constructed in the cities.Buhara and Samarkand became centres of learning.In this period the Turkish language found the means to develop.Among the most important works of the period is Kutadgu Bilik (The Knowledge That Gives Happines)written by Yusuf Has Hacib,between the years 1069-1070.

THE GHAZNAVIDS

The Ghaznavi state was formed in the year 963 by theTurkish ruler Sevuktekin and is one of the first Moslem Turkish States and worked relentlessly for the expansion of Islam in India.The Ghaznavids finallly collapsed in 1186 and were assimilated by the Oguz.

THE SELJUKS

The Oguz, who destroyed the Ghaznavid state ,succeeded in bringing Anatolia,Iraq,the southern part of the Caucasus, Azerbaijan and the north of Iran underTurkish rule.The Oguz had first formed the Gokturk Empire in the 6 th century after the expansion of islam among the Turks ,but among the Turks Oguz came to be called the Turkmens.

Tugrul Bey and Cakir Bey were the grandsons of Seljuks whose name the Seljuks Dynasty adopted. In their time they, and the Oguz,known as the Seljuks in history,subdued Horasan defeated the Ghaznavid ruler Mesud in Dandanakan Battle and established the Great Seljuk Empire in 1040.
In 1071,Alp Arslan (1063-1072)after the battle of Malazgirt and having defeated the Byzantine Emperor's forces in this battle opened the doors of Anatlia to the Moslem Turks.
The year 1071 is considered to be the beginning of theTurks and that of Islam in Anatolia.It's following this date that the Turks fully conquered the whole of Anatolia and established the Anatolian Seljuk State there as a part of the great seljuk empire.Konya became their capital town.

THE BEYLIKS

Political unity in Anatolia was disrupted from the time of the collapse of the Anatolian Seljuk State at the beginning of the 16 th century each of the regions in the country fell under the domination of Beyliks (principalities). Eventually ,The Otooman Principality which destroyed the other Principalities and restored political unity in Anatolia ,was established in Bursa,Bilecik and Eskisehir areas.During the 14 th  century,The Turkomans,who made up the western Turks,started to re-establish their previous political sovereignty in the islamic world.

THE OTTOMANS

The Ottoman Principality was founded by a Turkoman tribe living on the Turkish-Byzantine border at 1299.
The geographic location of the principality and weak state of the Byzantines  helped to make the Ottoman principality the strongest state within the islamic world by the 14 th century.

 When Fatih Sultan Mehmet II . conquested the Byzantine capital in 1453,the Ottoman State became the strongest of the time.The tolerant approach taken by Fatih Sultan Mehmet II. toward other religions and the adherents thereof became a tradition accepted by his successors.

Following the capture of Istanbul,the Orthodox Church was freed from bedience to the Catholic Church and granted its independence.
On the other hand, the technical superiority of the Ottoman army began to be evident during the reign of Selim I.The Ottomans has added,in addition to the major part of east Anatolia,the lands considered holy in the islamic world-Mecca and Medine and their territories.
The brightest period of the Ottoman State was during the reign of Sultan Suleyman (1520-1555 ) when the boundaries of the Empire spread from the outskirts of Vienna to the Persian Gulf and from the Crimea to an expanded north Africa as far as Ethiopia.
The Ottoman empire continued to acquire territory until the middle of the 17 th.century.In 1683,it suffered its first major defeat in the siege ofVienna.
As the losses of land and sought continued,the Ottoman Empire sought salvation in a series of reform movements and established education institutions taking after the western institutions which had shown great developments after the Renaissance.
The declaration of the ''Tanzimat '' Reform movement in 1839 is considered a major link in the chain of modernization events which had continued unabated since the beginning of the 17 th. century..
The Tanzimat Decree is considered to be a kind of constitution which gave Turkey the means to enter the road to contemporary civilization.The principles inherent in the Tanzimat Reform Decree thereby laid the basis for the constitutional regime of modern Turkey and the realization of secularism.
Despite many internal problems and disturbances duing the reign of Abdulaziz (1861-1876 ) the effects of westernization in society became even more evident,Nam?k Kemal,Ziya Pasha published the newspaper'Hurriyet'(freedom) in London in the year 1864.The literary themes of the newspaper later gave way to political issues.Although it is because of these trends that the first constitution was promulgated under the leadership of Mithat Pasha in 1876,Sultan Abdulhamit(1876-1909) used the Ottoman-Russian war (1877-78 ) as an excuse to dissolve parliament and effectively put an end to this constitutional period.The ottoman empire entered the first world war in 1914 on the side of Germany and Austria-Hungary.
The ottoman state emerged from the war defeated,together with its allies,and was compelled to sign the Mudrow
Armistice on octobre 30,1918.Among the terms of the armistice was a provision that the occupaying powers might occupy areas deemed to be of strategic importance.The powers started therefore to occupy Anatolia on novembre 1,1918,according o these terms.