Geography
plays a major role to tourists visiting Turkey. When planning your trip
keep in mind the political position of Turkey and the major mountainous
regions. Straddling the continents of Europe and Asia, Turkey's strategically
important location has given it major influence in the region and control
over the entrance to the Black Sea. Turkey forms a land bridge that connects
countries with Eastern Europe. Modern Turkey is confined to mountainous lands and the Sea of Marmara contains the largest cities of Turkey. It also contains the two points
that connect the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. The geographic challenge is to
expand the economic success of these large cities and expand it to the rest of
the region. Currently Turkish leaders are working to link the current government with its neighbors
besides a decade long war with the Kurdish people. The Kurds mostly reside in the
Taurus Mountains and Eastern Anatolian Plateau. Turkey is a crossroads between
the East in West trying to work to transport consumer goods, but it is
surrounded by many powerful and war torn countries looking to overtake the
countries success.
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| Map of Turkey and the surrounding countries |
The history of Turkey is a long and complicated
and full of wars. Some crucial dates to understand are in 1452 Sultan Mehmed II
captured Constantinople, ending the Byzantine Empire. Then, in the 15th and 16th
centuries Turkey expanded into Asia and Africa. The decline of the Ottoman
Empire began in 1683 with the Battle of Vienna, and continued till 1908 with
the Young Turk Revolution. From 1918 to 1922, the Turkish National
Movement of war and independence against foreign occupation and the Sultan
occurred. Modern Turkey was founded in the 1923 from the Anatolian remnants of
the defeated Ottoman Empire, by nationalist leader Kemal Ataturk, and soon
after became Secular. The country has long tried to make progress towards democracy, and
this was halted following the death of President Ataturk in 1938. Following his
death, the army saw itself as an extension of the constitution and ousted the
governments it believed challenged secular values. Turkey joined the UN in 1945
and in 1952 and became a part of NATO. But, the government quickly move
towards being based on theocracy. A major ambition has been joining the
European Union, it was launched in 2005 but has been very slow and still has
not come about. A very important part of Turkeys history is the minority ethnic group the Kurds, who make
up one fifth of the population. They have been engaged in war since 1984 when
the Kurdish PKK group launched their guerrilla campaign, claiming the
government is trying to destroy their identities. The current Republic of
Turkey is home to 74.5 million people and the major languages are Turkish (the
official language) and Kurdish, and the major religion is Islam. When traveling
to Turkey it is extremely important to consider the location of Turkey and the
long history of war. Not only is there an ongoing war with the Kurds, but in
2011 the Syrian war began and Turkey was drawn in. While in Turkey plan the
safest possible route and consult a guide to make safety the priority.
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The Ethnic groups of Turkey have long been
a source of division and war in the country |
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The minority group the Kurds who have been prosecuted
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Turkey is a member of NATO that hopes to become
a part of the European Union
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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was sworn in 2014
becoming Turkey's most powerful leader |
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