[ 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 .. ]
[ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 .. ]
Turkey At the crossroad of the civilization The Republic of Turkey celebrated its 80th anniversary in 2003. The country's history is marked by a remarkable success: the establishment of a stable and secular democracy upon the ruins of an empire. Turks from this Republic, who never forget where they came from and who, like many peoples of Europe, had struggled for greater democracy and rights, nowadays fully contribute to the construction of our modern world. This nation looks up to its future with confidence despite the political instability, which had frequently shaken the country in the past.
As NATO's south wing, Turkey plays an important role within the Western Alliance. A glance at a map is sufficient to understand why. In addition to the strategic significance of the country, Turkey lies at the crossroads of overlapping economic areas, some of which did not even exist until recently - namely, the Central Asian countries with which Turkey shares, not only geographical and economic similarities, but also cultural ones. Turkey is also a transit area for trade and industry between the countries around the Black Sea and the Near East. Moreover, the Customs Union with the European Union demonstrates Turkey's European aspirations and its economic force. Turkey is in a key position to play a constructive role in the reconstruction of the Balkans, the Caucasus and the Middle East.
Turkey has its importance as a role model of a secular democracy with a large Muslim population. Consequently, with its demographic aspect and enthusiasm, Turkey is still a very young nation. Its ability to integrate reforms and changes rapidly demonstrates the vitality of the population.History of the creation of a nation Like the Russian and Austro-Hungarian Empires, the Ottoman Empire did not survive the upheavals of World War I. At the end of the war, Istanbul was occupied and the Sultan was only a man of straw. The country was in ruins and the population worn out by the war and the occupation of Anatolia. Turkey prevented a partition of its territories thanks to the founder of the modern nation, Mustafa Kemal. He was a gifted young commander who showed his ability under enemy fire when defending Gallipoli in 1915. In 1919, he reached Anatolia to form the resistance and gained the population's support through several rallies held in different parts of the country.
Mustafa Kemal, known as Atatürk (Father of the Turks) aimed to steer Turkey toward the West. His efforts to lead Turkish society onto the democratic path of the twentieth century were as important as his victories on the battlefields. The real proof of the significance of Ataturk's reforms is not the continuous respect of his countrymen but rather in the system that he passed on to them after his death in 1938. Indeed, Turkey became a member of NATO in 1952 and signed an Association Agreement with the European Community in 1963, in which Article 28 effectively promised Turkey's eventual membership of the EU. A brief survey Turkey stretches 2,000 kilometres from the Balkans to the west,from the Caucasus to the east, from the Black Sea in the north to the Mediterranean Sea in the south. Turkey represents the second biggest European country, after Russia, at 780,000 square kilometres. Surrounded by four seas, the Aegean, Mediterranean, Marmara and Black Seas, it has a 8,000 kilometres coastline. However, more and more tourists around the world choose Turkey as their holiday destination also because of its historical, natural, cultural and human wealth. Who are the Turks? The history of the Turks is 4,000 years old. Its origins lie in the Turkish tribes from the immense steppes of Central Asia, who fled drought. Between 1766 BC and 990 AD, the Turks founded nine vast empires from Europe to Asia and North Africa. In 1000 AD, the large majority of Turks had converted to Islam. The Turkish language belongs to the Ural-Altaic branch, like Hungarian and Finnish. Nowadays, in Turkey alone, around 70 million people speak Turkish. In the republics of Central Asia and in Northern China approximately the same number of people speaks this language or one of its dialects.
The Seljuk Empire (990-1157) conquered Persia and the Abbasite capital, Baghdad, and vanquished the Byzantine armies in Malazgirt. The Byzantine Empire never fully overcame