|
History of Turks &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 the
successful and shining history of the Turks over a time
frame of more than 4,000 years. The other is the fact that
Turks have been settled in Anatolia since the 11th 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 8th 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 activity. The famed Orhun epitaphs
from this period are made up of the tombstone inscriptions
of Tonyukuk (d.720), Kültigin (d.731) and Bilge Kagan
(d.734)
The Uygurs
The rule of the Göktürks was brought to an end
in the year 745 by the Uygurs, who were of the same ethnic
stock as themselves. In this manner all the Turks who had
converged under the banner of the Göktürks 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 8th century and some of the Turks began
to favour Islam. However the pro-Arab policies of the Omayads
(661-750 A.D) restricted these relations somewhat. Later,
many Moslem Turks took office in the Abbside government
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 10th 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
The Karahans ruled between 990-1212 in Turkistan and Maveraünnehir.
The reign of the Karahans is especially significant from
the point of view of Turkish culture and art history. It
is during this period that mosques, schools, bridges and
caravansarays were constructed in the cities. Buhara and
Samarkand became centres of learning. In the period, the
Turkish language found the means to develop. Among the most
important works of the period is Kutadgu Bilik (translated
as "The Knowledge That Gives Happiness") written
by Yusuf Has Hacib, between the years 1069-1070.
 |
The Ghaznavids
The Ghaznavi state was formed in the year 963 by the Turkish
ruler Sevuktekin and is one of the first Moslem Turkish
states and worked relentlessly for the expansion of Islam
in India. The Ghaznavids finally collapsed in 1186 and were
assimilated by the Oguz.
The Turkish scholar Ebu Reyhan el-Beyruni makes this period
an important one within Islamic cultural history and wrote
the famed work by the poet Firdevsi, the Þehname, was also
written in this period (A.D. 1009)
The Seljuks
The Oðuz, who destroyed the Ghaznavid state, succeeded in
bringing Anatolia, Iraq, the southern part of the Caucasus,
Azerbaijan and the north of Iran under Turkish rule. The
Oðuz had first formed the Gökütrk Empire in the 6th century;
after the expansion of Islam among the Turks, but among
the Turks the Oguz came to be called the Turkmens.
Tuðrul Bey and Çaðrý (Çakýr) Bey were the grandsons of
Seljuks whose name the Seljuks Dynasty adopted. In their
time they, and the Oðuz, 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) fought the battle of Malazgirt
and having defeated the Byzantine Emperor's forces in this
battle opened the doors of Anatolia to the Moslem Turk.
The year 1071 is considered to be the beginning of the
Turks and that of Islam Anatolia. It is 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.
The first schooling institutions, the Moslem theological
medreses, were formed in Anatolia during the time of Kýlýç
Arslan (1153-1192), one in Konya and the other in Aksaray.
Following the establishment of these two medreses the medreses
of Syrcaly in Konya (1242-1243), Karatay (1251), Ýnce Minareli
(1251-1253), Atabekkiye (after 1251-1268), Gökmedrese
in Sivas (1271), Buruciye (1271-1272), Çifte Minareli (1271),
and the Cacoglu in Kirsehir (1272) were established.
The Seljuks also attributed much importance to the medical
sciences and in almost all their cities medical institutions
called Darush-Shifa, Darul-Afiye and Darus-Sihna and hospitals
were set up. The main medical treatment centres are the
Gevher Nesibe in Kayseri (1205), the Izzettin I Keykavus
in Sivas (1217), the Torumtay in Amasya (1266), the Muinuddin
Pervane in Tokat (1275) and the Pervaneoglu Ali in Kastamonu
(1272).
Because of the Persian influence coming from Iran among
the intellectuals, the administrators, the men of arts and
the traders, the Anatolian Seljuk state became increasingly
affected by Iranian culture and language.
The Beyliks - The Period Principalities
Political unity in Anatolia was disrupted from the time
of the collapse of the Anatolia Seljuk State at the beginning
of the 14th century (1308), when until the beginning of
the 16th century each of the regions in the country fell
under the domination of Beyliks (Principalities). Eventually,
the Ottoman Principality which destroyed all the other Principalities
and restored political unity in Anatolia, was established
in the Eskiþehir, Bilecik and Bursa areas.
On the other hand, the area in central Anatolia east of
the Ankara-Aksaray line as far as the area of Erzurum remained
under the administration of the Ilhani General Governor
until 1336. The infighting in Ilhan gave the principalities
in Anatolia their complete independence. In addition to
this, new Turkish principalities were formed in the localities
previously under Ilhan occupation.
During the 14th century, the Turkomans, who made up the
western Turks, started to re-establish their previous political
sovereignty in the Islamic world.
Rapid developments in the Turkish language and culture
toot place during the time of the Anatolia Principalities.
In this period, the Turkish language began to be used in
the sciences and in literature, and became the official
language of the Principalities. New medreses were established
and progress was made in the medical sciences during this
period.
Gülþehri, Nesimi (d.1404) and ahmedi (1325-1412) are the
prominent Turkish language poets of the 15th century.
The Ottomans
The Ottoman Principality was founded by a Turkoman tribe living
on the Turkish-Byzantine border. The geographic location of
the principality and the weak state of the Byzantines combined
to make the Ottoman principality the strongest state within
the Islamic world by the 14th century.
When Fatih Sultah Mehmet II. conguered 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 to the adherents thereof became a tradition
accepted by his successors. Following the capture of Istanbul,
the Orthodox Church was freed from obedience 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 17th century. In 1683, it suffered its
first major defeat in the siege of Vienna.
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 17th century.
The Tanzimat Decree is considered to be a kind of constitution
which gave Turkey the means to enter 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 during
the reign of Abdülaziz (1861-1876) the effects of westernization
in society became even more evident. Namýk Kemal, Ziya Pasha,
Mustafa Fazýl Pasha and his friends published the newspaper
"Hürriyet" (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 Abdülhamid II (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 the allied powers.
The Ottoman State emerged defeated from the war, together
with its allies, and was compelled to sign the Mudrow Armistice
on October 30, 1918. Also among the terms of the armistice
was a provision that the cocupying powers might occupy areas
deemed to be of strategic importance; the powers started
therefore to occupy Anatolia on November 1, 1918 according
to these terms.
On May 15, 1919, the Greeks occupied Yzmir. A national
resistance movement commenced. In many areas of the country
the Society For Defence of Rights (Müdafaa-i Hukuk) started
to spring up, and the military arm of the society, called
the Kuvayi Milliye. Started to take action.
The resistance movement was, until Mustafa Kemal landed
at Samsun, sporadic and disorganized; under his leadership
the resistance became cohesive, its forces progressively
turned into an organized army and the movement became a
full scale war of independence.
Turkey Profile
| 
