TURKEY Crossroads of Civilisations
TURKEY
Crossroads of Civilisations
You can be forgiven for thinking Anatolia is the centre of the world, for it has been on several occasions. This rectangle of land is the birhplace of many developments in civilisation and the cradle of many religions and cultures.
As
early as 6500BC, stone age farmers were settled in west central Anatolia,
three thousand years or so before the first settlement at Troy. Around
1900BC, the Hittites of central Anatolia built a powerful and sophisticated
culture on the wealth from their discovery of iron working, the earliest
known iron-age culture. At the height of Hittite power, Troy was rivalling
the Greeks in the Aegean with the score finally being settled about 1250BC
with the mythologised Trojan War, which took place about the time the Hittite
empire collapsed.
A Dark Age engulfed Anatolia. Invasions of rival groups came from all sides, especially Greeks and Assyrians. From about 1000BC the Greeks started settlements on the Aegean coast and Phrygians from Thrace occupied west central Anatolia, making their capital Gordium. Their most famous ruler was Midas, who legend says turned to gold whatever he touched.
Around
the time of Homer's birth (near present-day Izmir), the Cimmerians were
busy plundering the Phrygians and Greek coastal settlements, leaving a
void filled about one hundred years later by the Lydians, the inventor
of coins. Greek philosophy and science began to blossom, originating in
the Anatolian coastal settlements which were by then major trading centres.
The Persians swept in from the east, capturing the Lydian capital, Sardis, in 546BC, and the Greek cities in Anatolia. Persian domination was finally ended for good when Alexander the Great burst across Anatolia in 334BC.
Warring
followed Alexander's death, with Anatolia divided between his generals.
In western Anatolia, Pergamum emerged as the regional power centre until
the death of Attalus III who bequeathed all to Rome. Heirs to Greek culture,
the Romans rebuilt and altered the Greek. Anatolian cities (many of the
ruins seen today are Roman, not Greek). Roman rule spanned the time of
Christ, St. Paul's missionary journey's, St. John the Evangelist and Christ's
mother Mary's move to Ephesus, and heralded the creation of the Christian
Byzantine Empire.
For over 1100 years from AD330 Istanbul was the Byzantine's capital of Constantinople. The Byzantine Empire waxed and waned but Anatolia was its heartland and within its boundaries the fundamental doctrines of Christianity were framed, ultimately leading to the seperation of the Catholic and Orthodox churches in 1054.
Slavs, Persians, Arabs and Crusaders assailed the Empire's capital and Anatolian stronghold. But the seeds of the Empire's collapse were sown in Mongolia in the seventh or eighth century when a nomadic group of Turks began a westward move, converting to Islam on the way. One branch of this Turkic group, the Seljuks, started raiding Byzantine territory, eventually taking large tracts of Anatolia until themselves failing to attacks from east, being defeated by the Mongols in 1243.
It took about 150 years for the emergence of a unitary power in Anatolia, the Ottomans. Capturing the Byzantine centres of Bursa and Iznik in the 1330's, the Ottomans set their sights on Constantinople, finally capturing it in 1453. Renamed Istanbul, the city was to remain the capitals of its second empire for 470 years.
The Ottomans expanded out of Anatolia, around the Black Sea, through the Middle East and North Africa and up, through the Balkans as far as Vienna. But the failure of the second siege of Vienna, in 1863, was the beginning of a slow decline culminating in humiliation as the Sick Man of Europe.
Encroachments on Ottoman territory and Western interference in the internal affairs of the weakened state was dramatically reversed in the early twentieth century. Mustafa Kemal, a bright army officer, first defeated the Allie's First World War landing on Gallipoli and then directed the Turkish nationalist struggle for survival following the Armistice. Under Mustafa Kemal's leadership, the nationalists won the control of Anatolia and, in 1923, international recognition for the Republic of Turkey. Mustafa Kemal, who became president and received the name ATATURK, began a series of reforms that have made Turkey into a modern, democratic, secular country.
A paradise on Earth
Turkey is a country of varied climates, a profusion of natural wonders, numerous ancient cities, world-class holiday locations and, not least great hospitality.
Turkey is unique. Within this vast land, which is roughly the size of Britain and France together, lies a treasure trove of natural and historical beauties with world-class holiday facilities.
Turkey is bounded on three sides by seas. To the south there is the Mediterranean, whose coast blends blue sea and green pine forests giving it its name, the Turquoise Coast. Numerous islets and the rocky coves interspersed with gorgeous sandy beaches make this coast ideal for sailing. The beautifully situated city of Antalya lies at the centre of the Turquoise Coast, with spectacular coastal mountains to the west and an enchanting old quarter perched on a cliff top overlooking a pleasant harbour.
The Aegean Sea forms the western boundary of Turkey. This rugged coastline has many peaceful bays and modern holiday resorts, such as Kusadasi and Bodrum. The ruins of Troy and the ancient Greek cities of Aeolia and Ionia dot the north and central areas of the Aegean region : dramatic Pergamom balanced on its high mount, Ephesus with its library and enormous open-air theatre and the secretive Priene on its mountain side perch.
To the north is the Black Sea with its temperate climate and verdant shores. This is a land of hazelnut bushes and tea groves, of the legends of fierce Amazon women and Jason and the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece. The relatively quiet charms of the Black Sea coast create a paradise for visitors who wish to breakaway from the more developed regions.
Among the inland wonders Turkey offers are the travertines of Pamukkale and the expansive ancient city of Aphrodisias with its delicately carved statues, acknowledged as among the best of the ancient world. The unique volcanic landscape of Cappadocia with its houses and early churches carved out of the rock has captivated and astounded many.
Tourism has been at the forefront of Turkey's recent and very rapid economic and social changes. The number of tourists visiting Turkey has grown from just over one million in 1974, Airtour's firstyear of operation, to an annual figure of around six million. Tourism revenues have seen an even more dramatic growth, from $42 million in 1974 to around $5,500 million a year now Turkey's tourism facilities have matched this boom, offering a wide variety of hotels and resorts in every category. Airtour has over twenty years of experience in hosting international travellers in Turkey.
