History of Turkey

This article is primarily about the history of the Republic of Turkey. For other periods in history, see the links to main articles about those subjects under the corresponding history.

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One of the new states from the Ottoman Empire was Republic of Turkey. This new state delivered the 'coup de grâce' to the Ottoman state, almost mercifully, in 1922, with the overthrow of Sultan Mehmet VI Vahdettin by the new Republican assembly of Turkey.

War of Independence

For more details on this topic, see Turkish War of Independence.

Short Summary: One of the new states was Republic of Turkey. Turkish nationalists established modern Turkey as an outcome of the Turkish War of Independence, mostly on what was to become Turkish soil, as of the Treaty of Lausanne. Turkish War of Independence defeated Greece in western Turkey (see Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922)), East Ermanian state on the west (2 November 1920 Gümrü Treaty).The Treaty of Lausanne, signed on July 24, 1923, and negotiated by Ismet Pasha (Inönü) on behalf of the Ankara government, established most of the modern boundaries of the country (except the province of Hatay which was given to Turkey by France in 1939).

Single Party Period

For more details on this topic, see Single-Party Period of Republic of Turkey.

Short Summary: The history of modern Turkey begins with the foundation of the republic on October 29, 1923 (the Republic was declared on January 20, 1921), with Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) as its first president. The government was formed from the Ankara-based revolutionary group, led by Atatürk. A new constitution was approved on April 20, 1924. For the next 10 years, there was a steady process of secular westernization, guided by Mustafa Kemal. Unification of education, and disband of religious titles, Latin alphabet replaces Arabic script, the dress law (the wearing of a fez, a traditional Muslim hat, is outlawed), law of family names, etc. The educational materials were developed using words from Central Asia (including countries north of Turkey) are imported and their use is encouraged, with spotty success. The use of Persian and Arabic words is discouraged. The passage to multi party period, was tried with Liberal Republican Party by Fethi Okyar. However, the liberal party was dissolved on November 17, 1930 and no further attempt for a multi-party democracy was made until 1945. Turkey was admitted to the League of Nations in July 1932. Atatürk's successor after his death on November 10, 1938 was Ismet Inönü. During World War II, Turkey signed a peace treaty with Germany and officially remained neutral until near the end of war. In 1945 Turkey joined the UN, and in February 1945 it declared war on Germany and Japan. This was largely symbolic. Turkey joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1952.

Multi-Party Period

For more details on this topic, see Multi-Party Period of Republic of Turkey.

Short Neutral Summary: The real multi-party period begins with the election of the Democratic Party. The Menderes government was very popular at first, relaxing the restrictions on Islam and presiding over a booming economy. In the later half of the decade, however, the economy began to fail and the government introduced censorship laws limiting dissent. The government became plagued by high inflation and a massive debt. On May 27,1960 General Cemal Gürsel led a military coup d'état removing President Celal Bayar and Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, the second of whom was executed. The system returned to civilian control in October of 1961. The political system that emerged in the wake of the 1960 coup was a fractured one, producing a series of unstable government coalitions in parliament alternating between the True Path Party of Suleyman Demirel on the right and the Republican People's Party of Ismet Inonu and Bulent Ecevit on the left. A new coup was staged in 1971 and 1970s was under Prime Minister Ecevit in coalition with the religious National Salvation Party, Turkey carried out an operation in Cyprus The fractured political scene and poor economy led to mounting violence between ultranationalists and communists in the streets of Turkey's cities. A paralyzed parliament and increasing death-toll prompted a coup in 1980. Within two years, the military had returned the government to civilian hands. Political system came one-party governance under Turgut Ozal's Motherland Party, which combined a globally-oriented economic program with conservative social values. Under Ozal, the economy boomed, converting towns like Gazi Antep from small provincial capitals into mid-sized economic boomtowns. with the turn of 90s, Political instability followed, the 1995 elections brought a short-lived coalition between Yilmaz's Motherland Party and The True Path Party, now with Tansu Ciller at the helm. In 1998, the military, citing his government's support for religious policies deemed dangerous to Turkey's secular nature, sent a memorandum to Erbakan government requesting that he resign, which he did. This was named postmodern coup. Shortly thereafter, the RP was banned and re-born under the name Virtue Party (FP). A new government was formed by ANAP and Ecevit's Democratic Left Party (DSP) supported from the outside by the center-left Republican People's Party (CHP), led by Deniz Baykal. The DSP won big in the 1999 elections. Second place went to the Nationalist Action Party (MHP). These two parties, alongside Yilmaz's ANAP formed a government. The government was somewhat effective, if not harmonious, bringing about much-needed economic reform, instituting human rights legislation, and bringing Turkey ever closer to the European Union. A series of economic shocks led to new elections in 2002, bringing into power the religiously conservative Justice and Development Party of former mayor of Istanbul, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

de:Geschichte der Türkei es:Historia de Turquía fr:Histoire de la Turquie nl:Geschiedenis van Turkije pt:História da Turquia sv:Turkiets historia