History of Turks and 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 ?ehname, was also written in this period (A.D. 1009)
The
Seljuks
The Oguz, 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 Oguz had first formed
the Göktürk 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.
Tugrul Bey and Çagry (Çakyr) Bey were the
grandsons of Seljuks whose name the Seljuks Dynasty adopted. In their time
they, and the Oguz, 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 Kiliç 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), Ince 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
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.![](../images/mehmet2.jpg)
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. Namik Kemal, Ziya Pasha,
Mustafa Fazil 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.
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