History of Anatolia
Hatti civilization
In the course of history, Anatolia has given rise to many civilizations. This may not be as advanced as that of Egypt or Mesopotamia. The Hatti civilization, one of the firsts, was one of the more advanced societies of their age (3000-2000 BC). They communicated through a language characterized by prefixes. The Anatolian Civilizations museum in Ankara constitutes many objects, one of the finest Bronze Age Collection in the world. They dated at 2000-1900B.C. recovered from tumuli at Alacahoyuk, Horoztepe and Mahmatlar, map Turkey.
Troy was an important setellments in the northwestern corner of Anatolia. Troy I (3000-2500) and Troy II (2500-2200) symbolized the Bronze Age in northwestern Anatolia. Particularly Troy II had a brilliant age. The tresure findings unearthed by Heinrich Schliemann, and kept in the Berlin Völkerkunde Museum, unfortunately vanished during World War II. Now they are located in the Hermitiage Museum in Russia. Some findings of Troy are now on display in the Istanbul museum of Archaelogy. Troy III-V (2200-1800B.C.) is a continuation of Troy II.
The Indo-European migrations settled in Anatolia and the neighboring land masses extending from Western Europe to India. This migration wave brought some peoples over the Caucasus into Anatolia. The Nesi people settled in Central Anatolia, the Pala in Paphlygonia, and the Luwians in Southern Anatolia. The result of these migrations was that the new arrivals gradually captured the Hatti land to form first the Old Hittite Kingdom (1660-1460 B.C.), and then the Great Hittite Kingdom (1460-1190 BC).
The Hittite Empire was a federative feudal state. They reached an ultimate stage to have one of the two superpowers of the age, the other being Egypt. Hittites, Indo-European in origin, recognized equality between men and women, and indeed their law incorporated rights even for slaves. No other legal system in the world at that time was so advanced. The monarchy was passed from father to son. The power was shared with the senate, which was made up of aristocrat elite known as the "Pankus" class.
At a time in the Near East when the flaying and impaling of enemies was the rule, when heads and hands would be lopped off and pyramids made of them, the Hittites were astonishingly humane, almost like civilized of nations today.
The Hittites adopted the religion of Hattis, as well as their mythology, language, customs, the names for places, mountains, rivers and persons. The Mesopotamians called Anatolia "the Land of the Hatti", so the newcomers were mistakenly given the name "Hittites".
Hittite architecture was highly original, and included the strongest city walls of the Near East in the second millennium B.C. They also built the most magnificent temples, and developed a figurative art that was to be widespread in Anatolia.
The Ilium of Homer's Iliad Troy VI (1800-1275 B.C.)
As the Hittites were settling in Central Anatolia, another Indo-European people were flourishing in the northwestern corner at Troy VI, which today is one of Turkey's finest ruins, with a city wall preserved to a height of four meters, and a number of well preserved megaron type houses.
Troy VIh(1325-1275 B.C.) corresponds to the Ilium of King Priam, in Homer's epic. This was destroyed most probably in an earthquake. The city captured by the Achaeans was most likely to be half a century late, Troy VIIe (1275-1240/1200 B.C.). When Troy VIh was devastated in an earthquake in 1275 B.C., the pillaging of Troy VIIa in 1240/1200 at the hands of The Achaeans began. Troy was an impregnable Anatolia outpost against incursions from the nortwest. The hand-made pottery findings uncovered in Troy VIIb2 / 1240-1190 B.C.) proved to be of Balkan Origin. The destruction of Troy in 1200 opened the way to the occupation of Anatolia. Invaders from Balkans proceeded to occupy Anatolia in waves. This wave of merciless destruction was completed with the loss of Hittite capital Hattusas around 1190. This devastation penetrated as far south as the Assyrian border.
The Urartu Kingdom(860-580 B.C.)
Hittite Princedoms(1200-700 B.C.) and the Urartu Kingdom (860-580 B.C.) were fortunate not to come in the way of moving peoples of Balkan. They survived to produce a high level of culture and development in southeastern and eastern Anatolia.
In the 8th century B.C. the Hellenes came in contact with the heritage of Mesopotamian civilization through the intermediary of the Late Hittite Princedoms living in southeastern Anatolia. The Hellenes acquired the Phoenician alphabet from Al Mina, and the mythology and figurative art which we see in Homer and Hesiod, from such Late Hittite cities as Kargamish and Malatya. The helmet of a Hellene in the 8th century, along with his shield, various belts and different hair styles, were just like Those of the Hittites. Hellenic figurative and decorative art in the 8th and 7th centuries followed Hittites styles and iconography.
Although the Urartus were strongly influenced in their art by Assyrian and Late Hittites example, they produced fine artifacts which they were able to export to Hellas and Etruscan cities.
The Phrygians were among the Balkan peoples who came into Anatolia around the year 1200 B.C. But they first appear on the scene as a political entitiy after the year 750 B.C. The Hellenic world knew of the Phrygian King Midas as a legendary figure with long ears who turned to gold everything that he touched.
Although the powerful kingdom which Midas founded was swept away by the Cimmerians in the first quarter of the 7th century, scattered groupings of the Phrygians continued to evolve their civilization in Central Anatolia through the 6th century B.C. The Phrygian rock temples and treasures in the vicinity of Eskisehir and Afyon are quite well preserved, and among the finest works produced by their age.
The Lydians and Lycians spoke languages that were fundamentally Indo-European, but both languages had acquired non-Indo-European elements prior to the Hittite and Hellenic periods. Both alphabets closely resembled that of the Hellenes. During the reign of Creosus, fabled for his wealth (575-545 B.C.) the Lydian capital of Sardes was one of the most brilliant cities of the ancient world.
Although the Carian alphabet resembles the Lycian, the Carian language has not been deciphered to date. Herodotus says that according to a cretan legend the Carians were called Leleges and lived on the islands during the time of the Minoan Kingdom, that is, in the mid-2nd millenium B.C. The Carians themselves, however, claimed to be native Anatolians, related to the Lydians and Mysians.
The archaelogical finds pertaining to all three cultures show strong Hellenic influence. Of the three, the Lycians best kept their own character. Their monuments hollowed out of the rock are among the most interesting works of art in ancient Anatolia.
Following the destruction of Troy, the Hellenes established cities all along the Western Anatolian shore. In the 9th century B.C. they produced the first masterpiece of Western Civilization, the Iliad of Homer.
During the era of the natural philosophers, i.e. 600-545 B.C., Anatolia culture was of a brilliance unmatched in the world of its time, superceding Egypt and Mesopotamia. Rejecting the idea of djinns, fairies and mythological causes, the natural philosophers investigated natural phenomena in a free spirit.
Thales, son of the Carian Hexamyes, using the same methods we would today, predicted an eclipse of the sun for May 28, 585 B.C. This was the first prediction of a natural event in history.
During the occupation of the Persians (545-333 B.C.), Anatolia relinguished its leadership, but regained it in the Hellenistic Age (333-30 B.C.). Throughout these centuries, Milletus, Priene, Ephesus and Teos were among the finest cities in the world, and the Anatolia architecture of this era greatly influenced Rome.
The Roman Age (30 B.C. - 595 A.D.)
The Romans developed the technique of mortaring bricks together, thereby producing arches, vaults and domes of large volume. These were the first major feats of enineering in history, and although the very first were at Rome, it soon became the turn of Anatolia.
Fine cities sprang up not only in the south and west of the peninsula, but also in its heartland. In all of these cities there were such monumental works as an agora, gymnasium, stadium, theater, baths and foundations, and many of them were of marble. The roads, too, were paved with marble and lined with colonnades, thus protecting the citizens from sun and dust in the summer, and from cold and mud in the winter. Water channeled into the cities via aquedects sprang from the fountains, and a fine, well maintained network of roads and stone bridges connected the cities on the peninsula. Dozens of ancient cities in Western and Southern Anatolia, portions of them almost as they were in Roman times, fill visitors with awe.
Byzantine art was the first Christian state in the world. A new form of art was born in Anatolia at the end of the Roman era. As the Roman art of sculpture and architectural decoration entered a period of decline toward the end of the 3rd century, new life was breathed into them by early Christian practitioners of both arts. One might say that early Christian and Byzantine art were an expressionistics rendering of Roman themes; where architectural space was concerned, they represented a whole new approach.
For two and a half centuries, from 300 to 565 A.D., Constantinople (Istanbull) was the leading city of the world in art and culture. The most brilliant time for the early Christian era was the reign of Justinian (527-565). Hagia Sophia, a centrally domed basilica, was built perior to this (532-539), and is the masterpiece of Byzantine art, one of the most famous works in the entire world.
The best preserved Byzantine religious buildings are Hagia Irini Church (6th and 8th centuries), the Basilica of St. John (Justinian's reign) and the Church of Mary (4th and 6th centuries), both in Ephesus, and the Alahan Church (5th and 6th centuries) in Southeastern Anatolia. From the Late Byzantine era the best preserved and finest works are St. Mary Pammakaristos (1310) next to Fethiye Mosque, and Kariye Mosque, that is to say the Chora Church, both in Istanbul. In the latter two buildings, the multidomed ceiling harmonizes beautifully with the walls and their three-staged arches.
Turks were the first people to dwell in all of Anatolia. The Hittites, Phrygians and Greeks lived in only part of the peninsula.
The Turks arrived in Anatolia from Central Asia by way of continual migrations and incursions, and through their policy of tolerance in government earned the love of the Indo-European peoples living on the peninsula. It was the Turks who adopted Islam, and on this basis mingled with the local peoples starting in 1071. The passage of nine centuries has resulted in present-day Turkey. Until recently it was thought that contemporary Western civilization was based on the Greeks, but archaelogy and history now show that it goes back rather to beginnings in western and south-western Anatolia.
History of Turkish Nation and Turkey
The Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923. But the history of Turks comes from the depths of history as deep as 4,000 years. However in Anatolia, Turkish presence is seen only since 11th century.
The Huns
The first Turkish tribe cited in history is the Huns. Huns made their first appearance in the 8th century BC. Chinese sources refer to the Huns as Hiung-nu.
The Gokturks
They established in history in 552 AD by Bumin Khan, the Gokturks engaged in widespread diplomatic activity. The famed Orhun epitaphs from this period and related to 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 ?ehname, was also written in this period (A.D. 1009)
The Seljuks
The O?uz, 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 O?uz 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.
Tu?rul Bey and Ça?ry (Çakyr) Bey were the grandsons of Seljuks whose name the Seljuks Dynasty adopted. In their time they, and the O?uz, 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 Anatolia 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 Kylyç 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), Ynce 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 Eski?ehir, 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.
Gülsehri, Nesimi (d.1404) and ahmedi (1325-1412) are the prominent Turkish language poets of the 15th century.
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. Namyk Kemal, Ziya Pasha, Mustafa Fazyl 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 Izmir. 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.