Turkey is a country of contrasts, which can be shown by its history, politics, and culture. It has been through many different changes throughout its history. It also has many contradicting political parties and is home to a very diverse culture.
Turkey as a country did not exist until the end of World War I. Prior to that, the land on which Turkey stands today was known as The Ottoman Empire. It was located between the two continents of Asia and Europe, and stretched as far as northern Africa. The Ottoman Empire reached its peak in the 16th century, and began to decline quickly after the death of Suleiman I. Many of the rulers who succeeded him were weak and could not uphold the empire. It soon suffered many defeats, and as World War I approached, the once great and powerful Ottoman Empire had deteriorated into almost nothing. What was left of the empire soon became what is now known as Turkey. Mustafa Kemal was the military leader whose victory established the Republic of Turkey. He was known as the “Father of Modern Day Turkey”, as he sought to create a “Westernized Turkey”. He began to change the Turks attire, by requiring men to wear suits to their jobs, and women to remove their headscarves. He also separated Islam from the government and emancipated women. Once again, Turkey contrasts with its formerly Islamic way of living and governing, and replaced it with “modern standards”.
These changes made in Turkey have resulted in several different political beliefs. After Mustafa Kemal’s death, Turkey suffered many economic and political issues. At the beginning of the 1990’s, political power came into the hands of a prime minister. Even then, Turkey could not remain stable as different political parties came into power. The AKP (Justice and Development Party) is a supporter of bringing Islamic ways of governing back, and encourages people to return to the Islamic ways of life. On the other hand, the CHP (Republican People’s Party) is a strong supporter of “Kemalism”, and wants to bring back the reforms made my Mustafa Kemal after World War I. There is also a sizable Kurdish minority that wants to form its own state, known as the PKK (Kurdistan Worker’s Party). They have been involved in bombings, riots, and are considered as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, the UN, and NATO.
With all the political differences in Turkey, its culture and people show a lot of diversity as well.
I will be discussing "A Letter on the Cruelty of the Turks". This letter was written in the year of 1438 in Constantinople. Bartholomew de Giano wrote this letter to to Friar Abbot of Sartiano. Bartholomew is letting Friar know the number of people the Turks have made turn away from Christ. He even lowers the number in hopes that he will believe him.
The Ottoman Empire was a large empire that lasted for several hundred years. They were primarily Sunni Muslims and they were led by the Sultan. Over time, they had a long decline, mostly because they hadn’t progressed with the times. France and Britain were getting very involved with their affairs in Egypt. By the late 1800’s most of the Ottoman Empire was gone. During World War One (WWI), in 1916, the Arabs helped Great Britain to defeat the Ottoman Empire. In 1918 the Ottomans surrendered and their empire was dissolved. When mandates were established it caused nationalist ro revolt. General Mustafa
The men at the forefront of the Young Turk’s rebellion were Mehmed Talaat, Ismail Enver and Ahmed Djemal. Eventually, they came to have more of a dictatorial sort of rule on their people, with their own visions of what they wanted for the Turkic people. They all wanted to unite their people and expand ...
The Ottoman Empire was one of the longest running empires in history, spanning 624 years. The women of the Ottoman empire were often limited to the household of their husband’s and held back by Ottoman lawmakers and authorities. The point of view of outsiders was varied, but there were both positive and negative views.
According to the Washington Post, the Kurds are a largely Sunni Muslim people who have their own language and culture. They inhabit large parts of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria and a small part of Armenia. The Kurdish lifestyle was nomadic, revolving aro...
While taking the class of Early Modern European History there was two states that really stuck out and peaked my interest the most. They were the Ottoman Empire and Early Modern Europe. If you compare and contrast both the Ottoman Empire and Early Modern Europe during the 16th Century through the 18th Century, you will see that there are a number of similarities as well as differences when you look at the expansion of the states. You will also see many of these contrasts as well when you look in terms of each states military and commerce. Although the Ottoman Empire existed before the 16th century and continued to exist past the 18th century and in great decline until the early 20th century, when looking at the state as a whole the time period of 1500’s through the 1700’s is a period of growth and strength. It is perhaps even known as a golden era for the state, when taking in to comparison the Early Modern Europeans where the same time period marks a change in how society thought and how people were treated.
Islam has been a dominant force throughout Turkish history. During the Ottoman Empire, Islam ruled every part of the theocratic state, but after the demise of the empire, Turkey's rulers led the country away from political Islam. The modern Turkish state has a strictly secular government, and Islam has been relegated to the personal sphere. Although Turkey has experienced a rise in fundamentalism in the past twenty years, the separation of church and state has remained relatively intact. Even with this increase of fundamentalist Islam, the wide majority of Muslims in Turkey are moderate and tolerant. They have adapted to modern life and value Islam for its moral and spiritual messages. Islam is a guide for right living and ethical conduct rather than a political system. Turkey constantly struggles to balance Islamic life with a secular government. Although the government wants to maintain a strict separation between religion and politics, it cannot ignore the power and influence that Islam has in the lives of the Turkish people.
The emergence of the Young Turk movement, the decline of the Ottoman Empire, and its defeat in World War I, saw many changes in Asia Minor. The internal conflict with the Armenians during the war, and the flight of hundreds of thousands of Greeks, led to a dramatic change in the population of the emerging Republic of Turkey. The moving of the Turkish capital to Ankara in 1923 led to a shift from the previous capital, Constantinople.
The Ottoman Empire were Muslims and included Hungary, Syria, Egypt, Bulgaria, and Albania, and they marched on land. The Ottoman Empire is said to have first appeared somewhere around the 1300’s, and can be related to the decline of the Byzantine Empire. They began conquering Christian lands and by the late 1600’s all Christians were afraid of the “terrible Turk”. It is no wonder that many other people were afraid of the Ottoman Empire since they seem to be really rather powerful and they conquered a lot of land. It was in the 1330’s when the Morroccan Abu Abdallah Ibn Battuta passed through Constantinople and became impressed with the Ottomans who seemed to be gaining power rather quickly, he noticed that they had close to 100 forts and
I hope to experience the unique culture of Grand Turk. While the island is a British territory, the inhabitants still embrace their Indian heritage. I will learn much from the music, people, and art of Grand Turk.
1 million and 5 hundred-thousand people were killed because of the Turkish government. Many of them were raped, enslaved and murdered. For instance, they drowned people in rivers, burned them alive, executed, etc. They also kidnapped children and sent them to Turkish families. In many places, Turkish people rapped and used Armenian women as slaves.
The Ottoman Empire reached the peak of its power in the 1500s. While other empires were experiencing their downfalls, the Ottoman Empire’s power seemed to be increasing. In fact, this empire can be ranked as the strongest power due to its tactical internal organization of power, minorities, and religion, due to its physical expansion which provided more resources, more advancements, and more people to support the empire, and due to its large military strength that provided security, reduced rebellion, and challenged the other powers.
...y kept they language and culture, which is Turkish. The Turks did not rule the Middle East forever, as I stated before, they lost control of them and after the World War I the Turks only kept Asia Minor and Istanbul. Iran’s people are Islamic but they are not Arabs. They kept their Persian background, and they have a Persian culture because 3,000 years ago Persians arrived in the area of Iran and Persia was part of Iran for 600 years. Cyprus is an island in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. This place was first discovered by Greeks in 1,200 BC. Today about four fifths speak Greek and are Greek Orthodox Christians and the one fifth left are Turkish and follow Islam. After gaining their independence in 1960, the island was split in two by civil war. One side wanted to unite with Greece and the other side refused to join Greece.
"Mirroring Istanbul." Global Perspectives on Orhan Pamuk. Ed. Mehnaz M. Afridi and David M. Buyze. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Print.
Istanbul is both an ancient and modern city that is full of culture dating back to the beginning of time. It’s a city that is unique, in that, it connects both Europe and Asia. Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey and the most crowded one too. There are approximately more than fourteen million people living in Istanbul alone. That is more than its capital city of Ankara. Istanbul is not just a metropolitan, or one of the most crowded cities, and it’s also an ancient and historical city.