Turkey

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Turkey

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A country of southwest Asia and southeast Europe between the Mediterranean and the Black seas. The region was dominated by many ancient civilizations and peoples, among them the Hittites (1800 B.C.), the Greeks (8th century B.C.), and the Persians (6th century B.C.), and in A.D. 395 it became part of the Byzantine Empire. The area was conquered by the Ottoman Turks between the 13th and 15th centuries and remained the core of the Ottoman Empire for more than 600 years. Its modern history dates to the rise of the Young Turks (after 1908) and the collapse of the empire in 1918. Under the leadership of Kemal Atatürk, a republic was proclaimed in 1923. Ankara is the capital and Istanbul the largest city. Population: 71,200,000.

Country, western Asia and southeastern Europe. Area: 299,158 sq mi (774,815 sq km), nearly all of which lies in Asia. Population (2005 est.): 72,083,000. Capital: Ankara. Ethnic groups include the Turks and Kurds. Languages: Turkish (official), Kurdish, Arabic. Religion: Islam (mostly Sunni). Currency: Turkish lira. Turkey is a mountainous country with an extensive plateau covering central Anatolia. The highest peak is Mount Ararat (16,945 ft [5,165 m]). The Taurus Mountains lie in the south. Rivers include the Tigris, Euphrates, Kizil, and Menderes. Turkey is a major producer and exporter of chromite and also mines iron ore, coal, lignite, bauxite, and copper. It is the Middle East's leading steel producer. Chief agricultural products include wheat, barley, olives, and tobacco. Tourism also is important. Turkey is a republic with one legislative house; its chief of state is the president, and the head of government is the prime minister. Turkey's early history corresponds to that of Anatolia, the Byzantine Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. Byzantine rule emerged when Constantine the Great made Constantinople (modern Istanbul) his capital. The Ottoman Empire, begun in the 12th century, dominated for more than 600 years; it ended in 1918 after the Young Turk revolt (1908) precipitated its demise. Under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, a republic was proclaimed in 1923. Turkey remained neutral throughout most of World War II (1939 – 45), siding with the Allied powers in 1945. Since the war it has alternated between civil and military governments and has had several conflicts with Greece over Cyprus. The country has developed a strong, diversified economy, but it has also experienced periods of political and civic turmoil between Islamists and secularists and ongoing ethnic tension with Kurdish separatists.

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News of photography's invention reached Istanbul within months of its announcement in Paris in 1839, and soon afterwards photographers arrived from Europe to set up businesses there. In 1845, for example, the Italian Carlo Naya advertised his inexpensive photographic portraits in an Ottoman newspaper. The Crimean War brought Robert Fenton to the Ottoman Empire and focused increased attention on the work of James Robertson, chief engraver at the Ottoman Mint, who also opened a photographic studio in Pera in the mid-1850s.

The burgeoning tourist market was the primary driving force behind the numbers of photographers who established themselves in the major cities of the empire. (Photography reached rural areas much more slowly, and this account relates mostly to the urban scene.) Before the advent of roll-film cameras, most tourists documented their travels by purchasing the work of commercial photographers, either as single images or in albums. Guidebooks directed travellers to the best shops for different kinds of photograph, and by 1900 Istanbul commercial directories listed 65 photographers active in the city, mostly in Pera, the district where many European-owned businesses were located. While some of these operators were Europeans, others were local residents who had established successful studios, for example, Sébah & Jollier (or Joaillier) and Abdullah Frères, which catered for local inhabitants as well as tourists. Commercial images produced for the tourist market included views of important architectural monuments, both ancient and contemporary, street scenes, landscapes, and photographs of local residents, often categorized by occupation or ethnicity. This body of images, from Turkey and elsewhere, has been the subject of intense scrutiny in recent years by scholars interested in using the photographs to understand the complex political, economic, and cultural relationships between the European powers and other regions in this period.

Istanbul, as the imperial capital and a popular tourist destination, had a large population of resident and more transient Europeans, with a well-developed commercial network to serve their needs and to provide goods and services for the increasing number of Ottoman subjects who desired them. As a result, Istanbul residents had easy access to information about photography, to photographers, and to the technology itself. Ottomans quickly became conversant with the new medium, with training in photography provided at the Imperial School of Engineers, the military forerunner of the present-day Istanbul Technical University, and the Academy of Fine Arts. Amateur Ottoman photographers began taking their own pictures, and in so doing took control of the manner in which they were represented photographically.

Ottoman consumers of photographs were primarily interested in portraits of themselves and their families. Photographic portraiture of a kind very similar to what was being done by commercial studios in 19th-century London, Paris, or Boston found a ready market. Popular formats included the cartes de visite and cabinet portraits popular elsewhere, as well as larger ones; and pictures were often arranged in albums. The accessibility of studios and cheapness of portraits opened the medium to those who could not have afforded paintings. These new opportunities for self-presentation are particularly striking with regard to women's portraits. Before the advent of photography, representations of women were not common; however, in the last decades of the 19th century Ottoman women from various classes appeared in photographic and painted portraits, signalling significant changes in their social roles. Yet although 19th-century Ottoman portraits often look identical to portraits of the same period from Europe or North America, formal similarities tend to belie great differences in the social circumstances of subjects and the nature of relationships: wedding photographs, whose conventions of setting and posture closely resembled European ones, are a notable example.

Well established by the turn of the century, photography continued to be important in 20th-century Turkey, gradually entering the curriculum at art schools, technical institutes, and universities throughout the country. Photojournalism came of age at mid-century with the founding of the first photo press agency, Basin-Foto, the appearance of the first newspaper with staff photographers, Yeni Istanbul, and the launch of Hayat (Life) magazine. The Association of Turkish Photojournalists was established in 1957. Well-known Turkish journalists include Cemal Işiksel, called the ‘Atatürk Photographer’ because of his extensive documentation of Atatürk's activities, Ara Güler, and Sami Güner. Photojournalism in Turkey has remained significant; Turkish newspaper readers were accustomed to seeing full-colour photographs in their papers a full decade before they began to be used sparingly in the North American press. Photography as an art form has been slower to gain widespread acceptance. However, there are numerous galleries in the larger cities which frequently exhibit the work of Turkish photographers, and photographers, among them Gültekin Çizgen and Mehmet Bayhan, have worked hard to encourage contemporary photography. Younger Turkish photographers, Cemil Ağacikoğlu, Coşkun Aral, Ahmet Öner Gezgin, and Tahir Ün, to name only a few, working in a range of styles and techniques, have achieved international reputations through their participation in the international art world and its publications.

Abdullah FreresStudents and teachers with skeletonsand a cadaver, Civil Medical School, Constantinople (Istanbul), c.1880-93.Albumen print

— Nancy Micklewright

Bibliography

• Çizgen, E., Photography in the Ottoman Empire 1839-1919 (1987).
• Beauge, G., et al., Images d'empire: aux origines de la photographie en Turquie/Türkiye'de fotoğrafin öncüleri (1993).
• Micklewright, N., ‘Personal, Public and Political (Re)Constructions: Photographs and Consumption’, in D. Quataert (ed.), Consumption Studies and the History of the Ottoman Empire, 1550-1922 (2000)

Before the Second World War, theatrical dance in Turkey was restricted to appearances by foreign dance companies. Following a visit by Ninette de Valois, a national ballet school was set up in Istanbul in 1948, with Joy Newton as director. In 1950 it was moved to the Ankara State Conservatory. In 1960 the company, today known as the Ankara State Ballet, staged its first professional performance; Robert Harrold's production of Manuel de Falla's El amor brujo featured an all Turkish cast. Lorna Mossford staged the first production of The Sleeping Beauty in Turkey in 1963. De Valois contributed several works to the repertoire in the 1960s, including Cesmebast (At the Fountain), which used a score by the Turkish composer Ferit Tuzun, and Sinfonietta, with music by Nevit Kodali. Richard Glasstone (director 1965-9) staged Sylvia and Prince of the Pagodas, as well as Hancerli Hanim (The Lady with the Dagger), which took as its theme a famous tale of love, jealousy, and murder in 17th-century Istanbul. In 1968 the company performed the first ballet by a native choreographer, Sait Sokmen. The ballet, called Cark (The Wheel), was an abstract work set to Ravel's String Quartet. It helped to pave the way for other Turkish choreographers. In 1970 a second company was founded, called the Istanbul State Ballet. Contemporary dance in Turkey is represented by Modern Dance Turkey, a company based in Ankara, founded in 1993.

Modern republic formed from the central regions of the Ottoman Empire.

The Republic of Turkey (Türkiye Cumhuriyeti) was established in 1923. Its government was an authoritarian, one-party state until 1946, when the first competitive elections were held. In subsequent decades there have been three military coups, and one instance of military pressure that forced a civilian government to resign.

According to the 2000 census, Turkey's population was 67,844,903, an increase of 18.34 percent over the population of 56,473,035 enumerated in October 1990. In 2000 the population distribution was 65 percent urban and 35 percent rural.

The total area of Turkey is 300,948 square miles (779,456 sq. km). The Asian portion of Turkey, Anatolia (historically Asia Minor), comprises 291,773 square miles (755,693 sq. km), or about 97 percent of the total; the section located on the European continent totals 9,175 square miles (23,763 sq. km). The European portion of Turkey is separated from the Asian by the Sea of Marmara, which in turn is connected to two larger bodies of water by two narrow straits. In the northeast, the Bosporus Strait connects the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea, while in the southwest, the Dardanelles Strait connects it to the Aegean Sea. Turkey borders the Aegean Sea and Greece on the west, Bulgaria on the northwest, the Black Sea on the north, Georgia on the northeast, Armenia on the east, Iran and Iraq on the southeast, and Syria and the Mediterranean Sea on the south.

The capital of Turkey, Ankara, is located in the central Anatolian plains; a small market town in 1923, Ankara today is home to more than 3.5 million people. The largest city, Istanbul, straddles the European and Asian sides of Turkey and has a population of 9.1 million. An important historical city, Istanbul (formerly Byzantium, then Constantinople) was first the capital of the Byzantine Empire and later the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Today, it is the cultural and business capital of Turkey. The third-largest city is İzmir (English, Smyrna), a major industrial center with a population of 2 million. Other major cities, each with populations over 1 million, include Adana, Bursa, and Konya.

Geographically, Turkey consists of a ring of mountains that enclose a series of plateaus that lie between 2,625 and 6,560 feet (800 and 2,000 m) above sea level. The highest mountains are in the east, with Mount Ararat reaching 16,945 feet (5,165 m). In the west, the highest mountain, Mount Erciyas, reaches 12,800 feet (3,900 m). The coastal regions on the south, west, and north are extremely narrow. Most of the coastal regions receive adequate rainfall; as much as 100 inches (254 cm) falls annually on the eastern Black Sea coast, and almost as much on the Aegean coast. The central plateau, on the other hand, is sheltered by its ring of mountains and receives little rainfall, generally under 10 inches (250 mm) annually. There are extensive expanses of arid steppe and even desert. Turkey's two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, are both in the east. There are many lakes, both salt and freshwater; the largest is Lake Van, which covers 1,100 square miles (2,850 sq. km). Climate in the central plain ranges from severe winters with temperatures often dropping to minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 30 degrees Celsius) to hot and dry summers, with temperatures ranging from highs of 85 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit (30 to 43 degrees Celsius) in the southeast. In the western region, winters are relatively mild, hovering around freezing, and summers are hot. The Aegean coast is mild in winter and temperate in summer.

Turkey is divided into seventy-three provinces, each administered by a governor. According to the
1982 constitution, legislative power is vested in a unicameral Grand National Assembly composed of 400 deputies elected by universal adult suffrage and serving five-year terms. In 1987 the number of deputies was raised to 450. Executive power is vested in the office of the prime minister and in the office of the president, who is elected to a seven-year term by the assembly. Although the prime minister heads the government, the president has the power to appoint a prime minister, senior civil servants, and senior members of the judiciary; submit constitutional amendments for popular referenda; challenge the constitutionality of laws by submitting them to the constitutional court; call for new elections; declare martial law; and order the armed forces into action domestically or internationally. In addition, the National Security Council - composed of the president; prime minister; chief of staff; heads of the army, navy, air force, and police; and
ministers of interior, foreign affairs, and defense - has the power to present compulsory orders to the government in matters of national security.

There are no official census data on the ethnic, religious, and linguistic composition of the population of Turkey. The majority of Turks are native Turkish speakers. Ethnically, they trace their roots back to central Asia, although many Turks are Caucasians, particularly Circassians and Georgians. There is also a significant population of Kurds, a people of Indo-European descent who speak Kurdish, a language closely related to Persian. Kurds comprise an estimated 15 to 20 percent of Turkey's total population. Kurds are concentrated in the east and southeast and along the Syrian and Iraqi borders, but significant numbers have migrated to major cities in western Turkey. A large number of Arabs inhabit the region of Hatay, a small territory formerly part of Syria but ceded by the French to Turkey in 1939. The large populations of Greeks and Armenians in the nineteenth century were reduced by war and deportations during and after World War I to relatively small numbers living in Istanbul: roughly 6,000 Greeks and 60,000 Armenians. The vast majority of Turkish citizens are Muslim. Most Kurds and Turks are Sunni Muslims, but an estimated 20 to 30 percent of the population are Shiʿite Muslims, primarily of the Alevi sect. There are also small numbers of Jews (22,000), Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, and Assyrian Christians.

Agriculture and Industry

Turkey's major agricultural products are cereals, cotton, tobacco, grapes, figs, olives, hazelnuts, oil-seeds, and tea. Until 1980 agricultural products, particularly cotton, provided the bulk of exports. Despite continued government attention to raising agricultural output, growth has been slow, limited by the lack of irrigated land and the low rainfall on the central plateau. Only about one-third of all land is cultivated, mostly on family-size plots, with larger farms in the coastal regions. Agriculture provides about 20 percent of the gross national product.

The Turkish government initiated a strategy of state-led industrialization in the 1930s, when a series of public enterprises were established. After 1950 increasing support was given to the private sector, so that by 1970, private-sector industrial output and investment was almost equal to that of the public sector. In 1980 the government launched a program of liberalization, designed to diminish state economic intervention and increase the role of market forces. Since 1987 the government has been privatizing some state economic enterprises, though progress has been slow. The largest industry is textiles, providing about one-third of output and export earnings. Turkey's production and export of iron and steel have increased rapidly, as has production of cement and paper products. Motor vehicle production began in the 1950s but consists mostly of assembly industries; because production has been spread out over a large number of small plants, production costs are high and exports have been negligible. Turkey's petrochemical industry produces fertilizers and a range of industrial inputs.
Other manufacturing industries include tobacco, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, glassware, and engineering.

Turkey has a large mining industry, mostly in the public sector, employing over 200,000 workers. Important mineral resources include bauxite, borax, chromium, copper, iron ore, manganese, and sulfur. The center of coal mining is at Zonguldak, on the Black Sea coast. Oil was discovered in 1950 in the southeast, but production is limited, accounting for about 10 percent of domestic consumption; the remainder is imported. In 1990 petroleum products accounted for about 15 percent of all imports. Of Turkey's natural mineral resources, only borates and petroleum products are exported, in small quantities.

Imperial History

Urban culture in Asia Minor dates to the second millennium B.C.E. In 330 C.E., the Roman emperor Constantine founded the city of Constantinople (now Istanbul), which became the capital of the Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire. In the eleventh century, Ghuzz Turks who had established the Seljuk empire in the area that is today Iran and Iraq began to migrate into Anatolia, conquering territory from the Byzantine Empire. By the thirteenth century, independent princedoms were established in Anatolia, including the principality of the House of Osman, or Othman, in the northwest. Over the next several centuries, the Ottoman (from Othman) Empire conquered all of the Byzantine Empire, capturing Constantinople in 1453, as well as much of eastern Europe and the Middle East.

By the year 1800, however, several European states as well as the Russian Empire had become stronger than the Ottoman Empire. Throughout the nineteenth century, the government undertook various reform efforts to strengthen the Ottoman military, administration, political organization, and economy in order to meet the competition presented by rivals.

In the course of the nineteenth century, a middle class emerged in the Ottoman Empire. Educated in the new schools of the empire, members of the middle class had a vision of a liberal society ruled by a constitutional government and formed movements to achieve their goal, such as the Young Ottomans and later the Young Turks. These groups alternately were supported by reformist governments or suppressed by autocratic governments. In 1908, the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) overthrew Abdülhamit II and restored the constitution. The CUP government initially enjoyed widespread popular support. But subsequent opposition to its modernizing reforms, combined with foreign wars, led the CUP to establish its own dictatorship. In 1914 the CUP formed an alliance with the Central Powers and entered World War I. After four years of fighting a bitter defensive war against the Allies on many fronts, the empire was defeated; Allied armies captured the Middle Eastern territories of Palestine, Syria, and Iraq; and Allied forces occupied Istanbul. On 30 October 1918 the Turks signed an armistice at Mudros.

Birth of the Modern Republic

On 15 May 1919, Greek forces invaded western Turkey, triggering the formation of a new Turkish army that would defeat the Greeks and then establish the modern Turkish republic. The leader of the Turkish war of liberation was Mustafa Kemal, later given the name Atatürk (Turkish: "father of the Turks"). On 23 July 1919 Kemal convened a nationalist congress in Erzurum, delegates to which later issued the National Pact (Mithaq al-Watani), a declaration calling for the dissolution of the empire and control over non-Turkish provinces, the end of foreign occupation, and the independence of all areas inhabited by Turks. Pulling together an army, the independence movement succeeded in defeating the Greek army and negotiating a withdrawal of Allied forces. The Treaty of Mudanya recognizing Turkish sovereignty was signed on 24 July 1923. On 29 October 1923 Turkey was declared a republic with Kemal as its first president and Ankara as its capital.

Modernization

The next two decades were years of reform, as Kemal and his associates attempted to complete the now 100-year-old project of modernizing Turkey. The 1924 constitution created an elected parliament as the sole repository of sovereignty and a presidency exercising executive power. In practice, however, Kemal's government was a dictatorship. A single party, the Republican People's Party (RPP), was formed as the agent of central government rule and control. In 1924 the caliphate, the highest religious office, was abolished, and in 1928 Turkey was declared a secular state. The old legal codes were annulled and replaced with civil and criminal codes adopted from Europe. The fez, the trademark Ottoman headgear adopted in the nineteenth century, was considered a symbol of the old order and was declared illegal, while the Arabic alphabet was replaced with a Roman one.

In 1929, with the onset of the Great Depression and the lapsing of the Treaty of Lausanne, which had imposed a laissez-faire trade policy on Turkey, Kemal launched a program of state-led economic development. Influenced by the Soviet experiment with its five-year development plans, in 1934 the government formulated its own five-year plan for industrial investment. Completed in 1939, the plan introduced heavy industry into Turkey while allowing the country to weather the depression with a trade surplus.

During the 1930s Kemal transformed the RPP on the model of European fascist parties. The distinction between party members and government officials was blurred, as all public officials were expected to work to implement the new ideology of the party. This ideology, officially adopted in 1931 and known as Kemalism, emphasized six themes: republicanism, nationalism, populism, statism, secularism, and devrimçilik, which was interpreted by moderates as reformism and by radicals as revolutionism. In 1938 Kemal Atatürk died and was replaced as president by his lieutenant, Ismet Inönü. Although Inönü kept Turkey neutral during World War II, a number of government policies on resource mobilization created widespread economic austerity, alienating large sectors of the population including those businessmen who opposed the policy of state-led economic development.

Political Reforms and Military Coups

The post - World War II period was a new era for the Turkish republic. Responding to the dissatisfaction of wartime economic policies and feeling the need to win American support against Soviet encroachments, Inönü announced the resumption of multiparty politics and competitive elections. There had been two experiments with a second party in the 1920s, but in both cases the opposition party was closed down after a short life. This time, the commitment to political pluralism was greater, and in the general elections of May 1950, the chief opposition, the Democrat Party (DP), won an overwhelming victory. The DP had campaigned on a platform of economic and cultural liberalism and increased political freedoms. Its new economic policies, based on import-substituting industrialization and the encouragement of agriculture, increased the standard of living of wide sectors of the population, particularly peasants. The DP permitted more freedom of religion than the Kemalists, who were militantly hostile to religion. But the DP increased the role of the state in the economy instead of reducing it; as the 1950s passed, the party showed signs of becoming dictatorial. A combination of incipient economic crisis and antidemocratic measures prompted a military coup on 27 May 1960.

The new military rulers formed a thirty-seven-member National Unity Committee (NUC) and convened a constitutional convention, dominated by supporters of the RPP. A new constitution was promulgated in 1961, and it included several liberal provisions. The NUC also allowed political parties to resume their activities. The two principal parties, the RPP - still led by Inönü - and the Justice Party (JP), the successor to the DP, formed a series of short-lived coalition governments, first together, and later between the RPP and several smaller parties, and then the JP with smaller parties. In October 1965 the JP, led by Süleyman Demirel, won a majority. The Turkish economy, now supervised by the State Planning Organization, which issued five-year development plans, grew at a rapid rate during the 1960s. But political instability came from two sources: numerous defections of members from existing parties and the proliferation of smaller parties; and the eruption of street violence as radical students and organizations on the left clashed with extremist students and organizations on the right.

On 12 March 1971 the military leadership accused the government of allowing the country to slip
into anarchy and called for the creation of a stable government. The Demirel government resigned, and subsequently martial law was declared. After martial law was finally lifted in September 1973, Turkey was ruled by a series of weak coalition governments as economic conditions deteriorated. By the end of the decade, the economy was in critical condition; beginning in 1978, political violence once again erupted in the streets. On 12 September 1980 the military intervened for the third time in two decades. All existing political parties were banned, and their members prohibited from engaging in politics. A new constitution, promulgated in 1982, reversed some of the liberal measures of the 1961 constitution by enhancing the authority of the president and the cabinet vis-a-vis parliament and placing restrictions on political activity.

Party Politics

In 1983 elections were held among three new parties. The winning party was the Motherland Party (Anavatan Partisi; ANAP), led by Turgut Özal, a technocrat who had designed the January 1980 measures. Özal formed a new government and accelerated the strategy of economic liberalization and encouraging exports. Despite some success at economic liberalization, persistent government deficits resulted in high inflation and eroded popular support for the government. New parties emerged to rival ANAP: the True Path Party (TPP; Doğru Yol Partisi), a continuation of the Justice Party, led by Süleyman Demirel after 1987; the Social Democratic Populist Party (Sosyal Demokrat Halkci Parti; SHP), a continuation of the RPP under the leadership of Erdal Inönü, the son of Ismet Inönü; and the Refah Party, the continuation of the National Salvation Party. In 1989 Özal was elected president. In the 1991 elections ANAP, now led by Mesut Yilmaz, came in third, and the top two parties, the TPP and the SHP, formed a coalition government. On 17 April 1993 Özal died, and Demirel replaced him as president. On 13 June 1993 Tansu Çiller, an American-trained economist and former professor at Bosporus University, became the new head of the TPP and prime minister. Çiller was the first woman to serve as prime minister of Turkey.

In the 1995 parliamentary elections, the Refah Party obtained the largest number, but not a majority, of parliamentary seats, the first time an avowedly religious party had done so well since the establishment of the republic more than seventy years earlier. In 1996 Necmeddin Erbakan formed a coalition government, but the military effectively forced him to resign one year later. During the next five years, a series of coalition governments that purposefully excluded Refah and its successor failed to implement programs to deal with the country's economic problems. In the fall 2002 elections, the Justice Party and the Development Party, one of the successor parties to Refah, won an overwhelming majority of parliamentary seats in an election that saw the virtual elimination of ANAP and TTP from politics.

Bibliography

Ahmad, Feroz. The Making of Modern Turkey. New York: Routledge, 1993.

Bianchi, Robert. Interest Groups and Political Development inTurkey. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984.

Findley, Carter V. Bureaucratic Reform in the Ottoman Empire:The Sublime Porte, 1789 - 1922. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1980.

Fisher, W. B. The Middle East: A Physical, Social, and RegionalGeography, 7th edition. London: Methuen, 1978.

Tapper, Richard, ed. Islam in Modern Turkey: Religion, Politics, and Literature in a Secular State. London: I. B. Tauris, 1991.

Waldner, David. State Building and Late Development. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1999.

— DAVID WALDNER
UPDATED BY ERIC HOOGLUND

Republic straddling southeastern Europe and the Middle East, bordered by the Black Sea to the north, Georgia and Armenia to the northeast, Iran to the east, Iraq and Syria to the southeast, the Mediterranean Sea and the Aegean Sea to the southwest, and Greece and Bulgaria to the northwest. Ninety-seven percent of the country is in Asia. Ankara is its capital, but Istanbul is its largest city and former imperial capital.

• The Ottoman Empire emerged in Anatolia (the western portion of Asian Turkey) during the thirteenth century and survived until 1918. At its height, during the sixteenth century, the empire stretched from the Persian Gulf to western Algeria and included all of southeastern Europe.
• The declining Ottoman Empire allied with Germany, Austria, and Bulgaria in World War I and suffered disintegration and Greek occupation at the end of the war.
• After the rise of a nationalist movement led by Kemal Ataturk, the Republic of Turkey was established in 1923.
• In 1871, the archaeologist and scholar Heinrich Schliemann discovered the site of ancient Troy on the west coast of Asian Turkey.
• The country's relations with Greece have been characterized by tension and conflict for centuries.
• Turkey has been a member of NATO since 1952.
• Parts of the country were devastated by an earthquake in 2000.
• Turkey has long resisted separatist demands from militant Kurds in the eastern part of the country.

The international dialing code for Turkey is:   90

Recipes

Geographic and Environmental Setting

The Republic of Turkey consists of Asia Minor, the small area of eastern Turkey in Europe, and a few offshore islands in the Aegean Sea. It has a total area of 780,580 square kilometers (301,384 square miles), which is slightly larger than the state of Texas.

Turkey's landscape is made up of low, rolling hills, the fertile river valleys that open to the Aegean Sea, the warm plains along the Mediterranean Sea, the narrow coastal region along the Black Sea, and the rugged mountain ranges that surround and intersect the high, desert-like Anatolian plateau.

Most of Turkey lies within an earthquake zone, and recurrent tremors are recorded.

History and Food

Turkish cuisine is often regarded as one of the greatest in the world. Its culinary traditions have successfully survived over 1,300 years for several reasons, including its favorable location and Mediterranean climate. The country's position between the Far East and the Mediterranean Sea helped the Turks gain complete control of major trade routes, and an ideal environment allowed plants and animals to flourish. Such advantages helped to develop and sustain a lasting and influential cuisine.

The Turkish people are descendents of nomadic tribes from Mongolia and western Asia who moved westward and became herdsmen around A.D. 600. Early influence from the Chinese and Persians included noodles and manti, cheese- or meat-stuffed dumplings (similar to the Italian ravioli), often covered in a yogurt sauce. Manti has often been credited with first introducing dolma (stuffed foods) into the Turkish cuisine. The milk and various dairy products that became staple foods for the herdsmen were nearly unused by the Chinese. This difference helped the Turks to establish their own unique diet.

By A.D. 1000, the Turks were moving westward towards richer soil where they grew crops such as wheat and barley. Thin sheets of dough called yufka along with crushed grains were used to create sweet pastries. The Persians introduced rice, various nuts, and meat and fruit stews. In return, the Turks taught them how to cook bulgur wheat. As the Turks moved further westward into Anatolia (present-day Turkey) by 1200, they encountered chickpeas and figs, as well as Greek olive oil and an abundance of seafood.

A heavily influential Turkish cuisine was well established by the mid-1400s, the beginning of the (Turkish) Ottoman Empire's six hundred-year reign. Yogurt salads, fish in olive oil, and stuffed and wrapped vegetables became Turkish staples. The empire, eventually spanning from Austria to northern Africa, used its land and water routes to import exotic ingredients from all over the world. By the end of the 1500s, the Ottoman court housed over 1,400 live-in cooks and passed laws regulating the freshness of food. Since the fall of the empire in World War I (1914–1918) and the establishment of the Turkish Republic, foreign dishes such as French hollandaise sauce and Western fast food chains have made their way into the modern Turkish diet.

See Kaymakli Kuru Kayisi (Cream-Stuffed Apricots) recipe.

See Pasta with Yogurt-Mint Sauce recipe.

See Muhallabi (Rice Pudding with Cinnamon) recipe.

Foods of the Turks

Turkey is one of only seven countries in the world that can produce enough food to feed its people. This advantage gives the Turks access to fresh, locally grown ingredients that help to create some of the freshest dishes available. Contrary to common belief, Turkish cuisine is generally not spicy (though this varies throughout the seven regions). Seasonings and sauces, although frequently used, are simple and light and do not overpower the food's natural taste. The most popular seasonings include dill, mint, parsley, cinnamon, garlic, cumin, and sumac (lemon-flavored red berries of the sumac tree). Yogurt is often used to complement both meat and vegetables dishes.

Rice, wheat, and vegetables are the foundation for Turkish cuisine. Dolma, rice- and meat-stuffed vegetables, is frequently prepared throughout the country, most often with peppers, grape leaves, or tomatoes. The eggplant is the country's most beloved vegetable, with zucchini a popular second and then beans, artichokes, cabbage, particularly when prepared in olive oil. Pilav (pilaf), Turkish rice, is a common filling for dolma, as well as a common side dish. Various grains are used to make pide (flat bread), simit (sesame rings), and börek, a flaky, layered pastry filled with meat or cheese that is often eaten for breakfast.

Turkish meat usually means lamb, the main ingredient to the country's most popular national dish, kebap (skewered grilled meat). The kebap resembles the familiar shish-kebab (onions, tomatoes, and peppers threaded on a skewer between pieces of meat and grilled) commonly eaten in the United States. Patties of seasoned minced meat called köfte are also popular. Most cattle are raised for their milk rather than for beef, and pork is prohibited in the Islamic religion (which nearly all Turks practice). Poultry and seafood, however, are second in popularity for meat-based meals.

See Naneli Limonata (Lemonade with Mint) recipe.

See Halva recipe.

See Köfte (Turkish Meatballs) recipe.

See Simit (Sesame Rings) recipe.

Food for Religious and Holiday Celebrations

Turkey celebrates three kinds of celebrations: national religious holidays, national secular (nonreligious) holidays, and local events and festivals. National Islamic holidays are important to the Turks since 99 percent are of the Islamic faith. To celebrate religious events, special dishes for family and friends are frequently prepared.

The first significant holiday of the Muslim year, Muharrem, takes place on the tenth day of the first lunar month. On this day in history, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed was martyred and Noah and his family were able to leave the Ark after the floodwaters receded. A thick, sweet pudding called aure (also called Noah's pudding) is traditionally prepared. Its ingredients (fruits, nuts, and grains) are supposedly the same ones that remained on the Ark after it was able to land.

The ninth month marks Ramazan (also known as Ramadan in Arabic countries), a month-long period of fasting in which Muslims refrain from food and drink during daylight hours. Iftar is the meal eaten at the end of each day that breaks the daily fasting period.

Seker Bayrami, or translated as Candy Festival or Festival of Sugar, is a three-day national festival marking the end of Ramazan (also known as Eid al-Fitr in Arabic countries). On this day, elaborate desserts are prepared throughout the country and children visit door to door, asking for sweets. On this special day, lokma (deep-fried batter in syrup) and locum (a popular Turkish candy, also known as Turkish Delight), are commonly distributed to neighborhood children in small tins.

See Locum (Turkish Candy) recipe.

See Bulgur Pilavi (Cracked Wheat Pilaf) recipe.

See Lokma (Golden Fritters) recipe.

Mealtime Customs

Turks enjoy three meals a day. Kahvalti (kah-vall-tuh), or breakfast, is generally a light meal consisting of fresh tomatoes, beyaz (salty cheese), black olives, bread with jam and honey, and an occasional soft-boiled egg. Freshly baked bread and tea are almost always present. Sucuk (a spicy sausage) and pastirma (seasoned beef) are frequently prepared in the wintertime. Those in a hurry often stop at a street cart or büfe (food stand) to grab a quick börek, a flaky, mince- or cheese-filled pastry or simit, a bread ring topped with sesame seeds. Muslims almost never consume pork products, making bacon absent from most menus.

Öyle yemek (oy-leh yem-eck), or lunch, is traditionally a heartier (and warmer) meal than breakfast. Çorbalar, or soups, are served in a variety of ways, most commonly including lentils and various vegetables and meats. Larger lunch items include baked lamb or chicken served with peppers and eggplant, and fresh grilled fish with a side of lemon. Rice and bulgar pilaf dishes are also popular. Lahmacun (lah-mah-jun), Turkish pizza, is popular among children. It consists of a thin crust and a layer of spicy ground lamb and tomato sauce. Tost, a grilled cheese sandwich, will please even the pickiest eater.

Akam yemek (ak-sham yem-eck), or dinner, is the largest meal of the day. Mezeler (or mezze, singular), are "appetizers" served before the main meal. Ironically, most mezeler dishes are large enough to comprise an entire meal by themselves. Salads, soups, pilaf-stuffed fish, and köfte (fried minced meatballs) can leave diners quite full. A meat dish accompanied by starchy vegetables (such as potatoes) typically follows. Seasonal fresh fruits or milky puddings are most often enjoyed for dessert.

Turks, who are extremely hospitable and enjoy company, will welcome even unexpected guests with Turkish coffee. Meals are traditionally served on a large tray, placed on a low table or on the floor. The family and guests sit on cushions on the floor around the prepared foods. To avoid accidentally insulting the host, it is best to not refuse second or third helpings. It is also customary to remove one's shoes at the door and offer a small gift to the host for their generosity.

Restaurants, open markets, and büfe (food stands) offer a wide variety of on-thego snacks, including simit, köfte, seeds and nuts, and seasonal fruit and fruit juice. Patates Firin (baked potato carts) can be found for kumpir (potatoes) topped with lentils, butter, cheese, pickles, and mayonnaise.

See Lahmacun (Turkish Pizza) recipe.

Politics, Economics, and Nutrition

About 2 percent of the population of Turkey are classified as undernourished by the World Bank. This means they do not receive adequate nutrition in their diet. Of children under the age of five, about 10 percent are underweight, and over one-fifth are stunted (short for their age).

Crops such as wheat, barley, sugar beets, grapes, maize (corn), sunflower seeds, hazelnuts, and oranges are grown on 90% of Turkey's arable land. Crops are sensitive, however, to variations in rainfall and output is often unpredictable. Some years enough is produced for export, while at other times limited rainfall may only produce enough grain to feed the Turkish population. Despite such uncertainty, Turkey is one of the few countries in the world that produces enough food to feed its people. In addition, the adoption of modern machinery has allowed more land to be used for cultivation, helping to increase food production.

Further Study

Books

Ayliffe, Rosie, Marc Dubin, and John Gawthrop. Turkey: The Rough Guide, 3rd edition. London: Rough Guides Ltd., 1997.

Facaros, Dana and Michael Pauls. CadoganGuides: Turkey. Guilford, CT: The Globe Pequot Press, 2000.

Let's Go Publications. Let's Go Turkey. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2001.

Peck, Adam and Manja Sachet. Turkey Guide. Cold Spring Harbor, NY: Open Road Publishing, 1999.

Robertson, Carol and David. Turkish Cooking: ACulinary Journey through Turkey. Berkeley, CA: Frog, Ltd., 1996.

Salaman, R. The Cooking of Greece and Turkey. Cambridge, England: Martin Books, 1991.

Web Sites

Beltur. [Online] Available http://www.beltur.com.tr/ing/yemek.htm (accessed March 8, 2001).

Cankan Real Estate Agency. [Online] Available http://www.cankan.com/izmir/200tcuisine.htm/ (accessed March 8, 2001).

Cypriot-Turkish Cuisine. [Online] Available http://www.cypnet.com/.ncyprus/cypcuisine/ (accessed March 26, 2001).

GlobalGourmet.com. [Online] Available http://www.globalgourmet.com/destinations/turkey/ (accessed March 21, 2001).

Istanbul Homepages. [Online] Available http://www.guideistanbul.net/ (accessed March 8, 2001).

Mersina. [Online] Available http://www.mersina.com/food_and_drink/turkish_delights/turkish.htm (accessed March 8, 2001).

Ministry of Tourism, Republic of Turkey. [Online] Available http://www.turizm.gov.ru/cu2.html (accessed March 22, 2001).

Sallysplace.com. [Online] Available http://www.sallys-place.com/ (accessed March 2, 2001).

Story of Turkish Food. [Online] Available http://www.public.asu.edu/~okenes/tr_ye_01.htm (accessed March 2, 2001).

Toto Hostel and Guest House. [Online] Available http://www.totohostel.com/foods-entertainment.htm/ (accessed March 8, 2001).

Turkish Cuisine. [Online] Available http://www.fspronet.com/sheilah/turkish.html (accessed March 21, 2001).

Turkish Cultural Foundation. [Online] Available http://www.turkishculture.org/culinary_arts/food.html (accessed March 21, 2001).

It's conjectured that Turkey's winemaking history may go back as far as 6,000 years. The modern wine industry was reborn in the 1920s after being essentially shut down by Islamic traditionalists. Today the main growing areas are central and eastern Anatolia, Trakya, and the area around Izmir on the Aegean coast. Many of the vines are native, and a number of European varieties are grown in Trakya. Native red varieties include Adakarasi, Karasakiz, and Papazkarasi; native white grapes include Apincak (or Yapincak), Beylerce, Emir, and Narince. Imported vines include cabernet sauvignon carignan chardonnay cinsaut, clairette, gamay merlot muscat pinot noir riesling sémillon and sylvaner. Tekal, the state-run monopoly, dominates wine production and has over twenty wine-producing facilities scattered throughout the country. Turkey also has over 100 private wineries.

Korkma, sönmez bu safaklarda yüzen al sancak;
Sönmeden yurdumun üstünde tüten en son ocak.
O benim milletimin yildizidir, parlayacak;
O benimdir, o benim milletimindir ancak.

Catma, kurban olayim, çehreni ey nazli hilal!
Kahraman irkima bir gül! Ne bu siddet, bu celal?
Sana olmaz dökülen kanlarimiz sonra helal...
Hakkidir, hakk'a tapan, milletimin istiklal!

Ben ezelden beridir hür yasadim, hür yasarim.
Hangi çilgin bana zincir vuracakmis? Sasarim!
Kükremis sel gibiyim, bendimi çigner, asarim.
Yirtarim daglari, enginlere sigmam, tasarim.
Garbin afakini sarmissa çelik zirhli duvar,
Benim iman dolu gögsüm gibi serhaddim var.
Ulusun, korkma! Nasil böyle bir imani bogar,
Medeniyet!' dedigin tek disi kalmis canavar?

Arkadas! Yurduma alçaklari ugratma, sakin.
Siper et gövdeni, dursun bu hayasizca akin.
Dogacaktir sana va'dettigi günler hakk'in...
Kim bilir, belki yarin, belki yarindan da yakin.

Bastigin yerleri 'toprak!' diyerekg geçme,tani:
Düsün altinda binlerce kefensiz yatani.
Sen sehit oglusun, incitme, yaziktir, atani:
Verme, dünyalari alsan da, bu cennet vatani.

Kim bu cennet vatanin ugruna olmaz ki feda?
Suheda fiskiracak topragi siksan, suheda!
Cani, canani, bütün varimi alsin da hüda,
Etmesin tek vatanimdan beni dünyada cüda.

Ruhumun senden, ilahi, sudur ancak emeli:
Degmesin mabedimin gögsüne namahrem eli.
Bu ezanlar-ki sahadetleri dinin temeli,
Ebedi yurdumun üstünde benim inlemeli.

O zaman vecd ile bin secde eder -varsa-tasim
, Her cerihamdan, ilahi, bosanip kanli yasim,
Fiskirir ruh-i mücerred gibi yerden na'sim;
O zaman yükselerek arsa deger belki basim.

Dalgalan sen de safaklar gibi ey sanli hilal!
Olsun artik dökülen kanlarimin hepsi helal.
Ebediyen sana yok, irkima yok izmihal:
Hakkidir, hür yasamis, bayragimin hürriyet;
Hakkidir, hakk'a tapan, milletimin istiklal!