West Turkey history

Located at a very strategic point where the three  continents of the old world (Asia, Africa, and Europe) are closest to each  other and where Asia and Europe meet,Turkey has always been important throughout history and is the birth  place of many great civilizations and cultures.

The country’s  historical and archaeological wealth seems  to captivate the visitor since Turkey ‘s  intriguing cultural background   gives the country its strong character. For centuries,Turkey has been a crossroads of religions, not only of Islam and Christianity as well as the crossroad of civilisation   that each one of them  left their own distinct marks on Turkey.The Hittits, Hellens, Romans, Byzantines, Seljuks and the Ottomans as well as a great number of other civilisations left a multitude of historical and archaeological sites as a heritage to the modern Turkey.

In 1534 the Empire is at the maximum of its power, from that moment on it gradually loses territories. Sultan 'Abdül Hamid II grants the empire a constitution, but absolute monarchy is restored in 1878. In 1908 sultan 'Abdül Hamid II is forced to reinstate the constitution, this brings the reformist Young Turks of the İttihad ve Terakki  to power and introduces constitutional rule. The Ottoman Empire becomes a multi party state,  in 1913 parties are abolished. From that time the IT rules as a virtual military dictatorship. The empire enters World War I as an ally of Germany and Austria. After the defeat at World War I the Ottoman Empire collapses and it loses its non-Turkish areas.

Defeated and occupied by forces of the victorious European states, the Ottoman structure is repudiated by Turkish nationalists who rally under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal. Kemal becomes known as Kemal Atatürk in 1935 and the party is renamed Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi  the same year.

Mustafa Kemal, who was  a soldier by occupation but in character, a great visionary, took the defeat  of World War I and turned it into a shining victory by liberating Turkey from  all foreign invaders. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk founded the Republic of Turkey  on October 29, 1923. In 1950 Turkey becomes a multi-party parliamentary democracy He led his country into peace and stability, with tremendous economic growth and complete, modernization. Through decades of change and growth, Turkey still boasts this success.