INTRODUCTION TO ANATOLIA

Anatolia is the birthplace of many civilizations, thus Turkey with its cultural diversity, has an important place among the countries of rich cultures in the world.

The world’s oldest city was discovered in Anatolia at Çatal Höyük in 7500 BC. But before, men lived in the caves in the Paleolithic Age (600000-10000 BC) in Anatolia. “Karain Cave" from Antalya / Mediterranean region and “Yarımburgaz” near İstanbul are the most important Paleolithic places in Anatolia. . Karain is the largest cave in Turkey to have been inhabited.

Agriculture started in Neolithic Age (8000-5500 BC). Man started to cultivate plants and domesticate wild animals and left the rock and build home close to his fam. Therefore Neolithic period can be considered as the beginning of real civilization. “Çatalhöyük” is the most advanced Neolithic town and “Çayönü” is the oldest Neolithic village in Tukey.

In Chalcolithic Age ( 5500-3000 BC) man started to use copper in addition to stones and made strong weapons and ornaments from copper. And the trade is developed between the local or remote civilizations. Hacilar is the most advanced example of the Chalcolithic culture in Anatolia. Beycesultan, Canhasan, Mersin Yumuktepe, Elazig Tepecik, Malatya Degirmentepe, Norsuntepe, Istanbul Fikirtepe are some other important sites of this period in Turkey.

In the Bronze Age (3000-1200 BC) tools and weapons were made of bronze. Musical instruments were discovered in this age. Hattians were the first people in Anatolia to use a written language. Hattians who reached an advanced intellectual level, strongly influenced the Hittites. Written history starts in Anatolia with the introduction of the Assyrian language. Assyrian traders developed a sophisticated trading system in their time, they established commercial colonies in the Central Anatolia, they established markets called "karum". These 20 karums were ruled by one central market, Kanis, located in Kültepe. By 1800 BC, however, the coming of the HITTITES drove the Assyrians out of Anatolia.

The Hittites arrived in Anatolia from the north in 2000 BC. And they conquered the town Hattuşaş around 1800 BC.

 

Hattuşaş (also called as Boğazköy) had been the capital of Hittite Empire. The Hittite Empire achieved the zenith of its political power and cultural accomplishment in the fourteenth and thirteenth centuries B.C., By 1250, the empire started to fail. Invaders from the Greek isles and from Syria weakened the Hittites. Finally, around 330 BC, Alexander the Great took over Anatolia.

Hittites are one of the most significant peoples in Mesopotamian history, they were the first people to work iron. They spoke an Indo-European language. Agriculture played a very important role in the economy of the Hittite Empire. Trading with all the civilizations of the Mediterranean, the Hittites transmitted Mesopotamian thought, law, political structure, economic structure, and ideas around the Mediterranean, from Egypt to Greece.



The technology is developed in the Iron Age (1200-700 BC) in Anatolia. Iron replaced bronze as the basic material for implements and weapons.

When the Hittite Empire fell down , refugees or descendants of refugees from the Hittite homeland spread out to North Syria, South and South-Eastern Anatolia , Central Anatolia and formed small city-states. This nation was called as the Neo-Hittites by historians.

The Urartians established a state on the shores of Lake Van in 1000BC. They were the descendants of the Hurrians.The center of their state was at modern Van. Urartians were skilled in metal work, they were exporting to the Mediterranean basin very fine objects made of bronze. In 590 BC their kingdom was overthrown by the Medes.

The Phrygians were among those "Sea Peoples" who conquered the Hittite capital of Hattuşaş around 1200 BC and set up their own city there. They had been affected by Hellenistic and Hittite cultures soon after their arrival in Anatolia. Gordion which is located 95 kms to the east of Ankara was the capital of this kingdom.

Ionians were greek refugees who escaped from the Dorian invasion of Greece around 1200 B.C. They settled in western anatolia. The favored position of being sided with the sea and asia minor helped them developing the trade and thus quickly growing in size. Ionia is considered to be birthplace of many arts and sciences. Because the civilized Ionia created the scientific thinking and observation. The first steps of democracy had been taken in Ionia. Ionian thinkers devoted themselves to the study of the universe and the discovery of the laws of nature. These first scientists examined the nature free from the effects of religious beliefs and superstition. Ionia is at the same time a meeting place of religions.




The Ionian cities comprised Priene, Miletus, Teos, Chios, Clazomenae, Myus, Samos, Phocaea, Lebedus, Ephesus, Colophon and Erythrae. Especially, the city of Miletos was not only a city of trade, but also an intellectual centre of Ionia and of the ancient world. The philosopher of nature, Thales, the historians Anaximander and Aneximenes, the geographer Hecataeus and Kadmos, all lived in Miletos at this time. These scientists created modern day mathematics, geometry, astronomy, philosophy and most of the other sciences.

The Temple of Artemis in the city of Ephesus is one of the most elegant example of the great Ionian architecture. The Ionian civilization was collapsed after Persians invaded whole Anatolia at 4. century B.C. and all the philosophers and artists migrated to Athens and Italy.

At the time of the Aegean immigration, about 1200 BC., many Anatolian cities were devastated. The Aegean immigration caused a Dark Age in Anatolia which lasted until 750 B. The eastern world fell into the dark ages and civilizations passed to the western world.


The Lydian Kingdom was founded in Western Anatolia, and existed for a century and a half, reached its zenith under the reign of Croesus, powerful King of Lydia. (569-546BC) Sardes was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Lydia. In 546, Croesus and and his empire were conquered by the Persians and Lydia was dominated by the Persians until Alexander the Great. Lydia's most significant contribution to human history was the coining of the first metal coin in the world. The first time in history coins were used in exchange for goods by the Lydians.

The Carians were famous mercenaries who lived in the southwest of Turkey. They had as their capital first Mylasa (Milas) and later, under King Mausolus (377-353 BC) Halikarnassos (modern Bodrum).

The Mausoleum of Mausolus at Halikarnassus which was planned by Mausolus himself but was actually built by his wife and successor, Artemisia is known today as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

ANOTOLIA UNTIL THE TURKS

Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia, came on the throne in October 336 BC., and at the age 20 and he conquered the Persian empire, subdued most of Anatolia’s kingdoms, like Sardis, Miletus and Halicarnassus and covered all the territories of the ancient world, as far as India. He died at Babylon in 323 BC.


Hellenistic age is the period between the death of Alexander the Great and the Roman conquest of Anatolia. Hellenistic civilization is the result of the mixture of Greek and Anatolian cultures. In this age, many independent states rised in Anatolia like Bithynia, Cappadocia, Pergamum and Pontus. These staTes were absorbed by the Roman Empire in the 1CBC.

A Roman administrative reorganization brought the Roman culture to Anatolia and the Kingdoms of Pergamum, Bithynia, Pontus and Cappadocia fell under Roman domiation. The architecture of Anatolia was greatly developed by the Romans. In this age Anatolia was covered with well architectured cities. Bridges, theaters, agoras, stadiums, gymnasiums, baths and fountains were built in all over the country.

St.Paul of Tarsus (c.1-67 AD), the leader of the early Christian movement, was born in Tarsus of Cilicia in Anatolia. And the Seven Churches of Revelation, the first Christian important churches, are all located in the western part of Anatolia; Ephesus (Efes), Smyrna (Izmir), Laodicea ad Lycum (Goncali), Sardis (Sart), Pergamum (Bergama), Philadelphia (Alasehir) and Thyatira (Akhisar).

The Byzantine Empire, one of the longest-lasting empires in world history, was the successor state to the Roman Empire . The Byzantine Empire flourished in the eastern Mediterranean area for more than 1,000 years until its fall in 1453. Byzantines used Greek as a principal language. The Byzantine period came to an end with the conquest of Istanbul in 1453 by the Ottoman Turks, who pronounced Constantinople (İstanbul) to be the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Many traces of the Byzantine Empire can be found in Anatolia. One of these is the Tekfur Palace in İstanbul which is representing today the Byzantine palace architecture.


House of Virgin Mary in Bülbüldağı near Izmir is also a very important site. It is believed that Virgin Mary (Meryem Ana) spent her last years in this place, many Christians visit this site every year.


The Hagia Sophis Basilica and the Koimesis Church in Nicea (Iznik), the Dark Church near Yalova and Sardes Basilica in the Aegean part of Turkey are other important architectural works of Byzantine Empire in Anatolia. Trabzon was an important Byzantine center in Anatolia. The Hagia Sophia of Trabzon is a very important structure of late Byzantine Period of the region. The structure was transformed into a mosque in the period of Ottoman Empire. However, the most important of all of the Byzantine remains of this region, is the magnificent Sumela Monastery.

 

Constantinople (today İstanbul), the capital of the Byzantine Empire , was the bridge between eastern and western cultures. There are many Byzantine monuments existing today in İstanbul. Among these remains of Byzantine Empire in İstanbul, the Chora Monastery contains the finest examples of Byzantine mosaics. The Basilica Cistern, a well-preserved underground reservoir which once served the city and the Hippodrome, the heart of the Byzantine Empire are the other important traces of Byzantines in İstanbul.

The Basilica of Hagia Sophia, today called the Ayasofya Museum, was built by Constantine the Great and reconstructed by Justinian in the 6th century. This architectural site in İstanbul is unquestionably one of the finest buildings of all time.

THE MONASTERIES OF TUR ABDIN:
Tur Abdin ("mountains of God's servants." ) is a mountainous region in south-east Turkey the height of which varies between 900 and 1400 meters. Tur Abdin became the center of Syrian Orthodox Church and remained so until the Twentieth Century.  The denotation "Tur Abdin" is used to refer to a great number of the monasteries built there and the monks who lived in them. In the Middle Ages, the number of monasteries in the region was calculated at being over 80.  The most important monasteries: Deyru'lumur Monastery (Mor Gabriel) , 18 km to the east of Midyat. Built in 397 AD by Mor Samuel from Savur and Mor Şemun from Kartmin. Mor Yakup Monastery (Nusaybin) , Located at Nusaybin District Center, the monastery was a Mecusi temple until the martyrdom of Mor Sabo and his 11 disciples. It was built in 328 AD after the death of Mor Yakup on the remains of the earlier temple. The perfection in stonework gives one the impression that a drip of water is dancing over these stones with faith and affection. The Tur Abdin preserves as well a language which is among the oldest spoken and used languages in the world: the Aramaic language, which is as Arabic and Hebraic, a Semitic language. Some scientist believes that Aramaic has influenced Arabic and Hebraic languages.

Sanliurfa has a history dating back 9000 years. According to the Koran, Urfa (Edessa) was the birthplace of Abraham, the genetic father of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. According to belief, King Nemrut of the region had the Prophet Abraham thrown into a big fire that was lighted here and water emerging from the fire saved the Prophet Abraham from burning. The water transformed into the lake of today and the pieces of wood in the fire transformed into fish in the lake. Around the lake in which hundreds of carp live, there are the Halil Rahman and Rizvaniye Mosques and various recreation facilities. The cave where the Prophet Abraham was born is located in the courtyard of the Mevlid Halil Mosque, to the east of Balikli Lake. The Pool of Abraham, full of carp regarded as sacred, is a refreshing place to visit. Ulu Cami, a mosque built under the Syrian influence, dates back to the 12th century. The Sanliurfa Museum houses finds from the rescue digs of the lower Euphrates dam project, which includes the huge Ataturk Dam about 40 miles north.

SELJUK TURKS PERIOD (1071-1243 AD)

The Oguz Turks, under the leadership of Tugrul Bey and Cagri Bey established the Great Seljuk Empire in 1040 AD and the Turks started to settle in Anatolia during this period ; in the early 11th century.

The Malazgirt victory in 1071 against the Byzantines opened the doors for the Turks into Anatolia. Later Turks fully conquered the whole of Anatolia and established the Anatolian Seljuk State as part of the Great Seljuk Empire.

The trade was very important for the Selçuks. For the trader’s needs and their caravans they developed the caravansaries. The Sultanhan Caravansary, the largest of all Seljuk caravansaries in Anatolia, was built by Sultan Alaattin Keykubat I during this period, in 1229.

 

Seljuks built medresses (muslim theological schools) as well. The most frequently-encountered type of architectural decoration during the Anatolian Seljuk period was the tiles and ceramics.

Examples of the outstanding Seljuk architecture; mosques and theological seminaries are today mostly found in Konya which was once the capital city of the Seljuks.


When the Anatolian Seljuk State collapsed at the beginning of the 14C, the Era of Turkish States (1318- 1453) began. During this period, the Turkish laguage was developed rapidly and became the official language of the Principalities. Among these principalities, the Ottoman Principality restored the political unity in Anatolia.

OTTOMAN TURKS PERIOD (1299-1923)

The Ottoman Empire was founded as an autonomous state in the 14th century by Osman I in northwestern Anatolia. Orhan Gazi, sun and successor of Osman I , was the first ruler to use the title of sultan. When Fatih Sultan Mehmet conquered Constantinople (İstanbul) in 1453, the state became an empire and Constantinople became the capital of the whole Empire. During the reign of Fatih Sultan Mehmet, the Ottomans attained unity throughout Anatolia. But the Empire reached its ts zenith under Kanuni Sultan Süleyman in the 16th century and it covered the areas from the Persian Gulf in the east to Hungary in the northwest; and from Egypt in the south to the Caucasus in the north. The Ottoman Empire lasted until the end of World War I in 1918. After the defeat at World War I the Ottoman Empire collapsed and lost its non-Turkish areas. After the Turkish War of Independence (1918-1923), Republic of Turkey was founded on October 29, 1923.
Ottoman state organisation was based on a hierarchy. The Sultan (Padişah) was both the head of the State and head of the Muslim World. The Sultan had viziers and ministers from whom he took advices time to time. The Ottoman Empire was devided into provinces which were ruled by governor-generals.


Calligraphy was the most important Ottoman art. Embroidery, gravures, ceramics, miniatures were other branches of Ottoman arts. Today many of the greatest works can be seen at Topkapi Palace, Ibrahim Pasha Museum and the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts.

Bursa was the first capital of the Ottoman Empire. Because of its being the first Ottoman capital, Bursa is very rich in religious monuments, mosques, and tombs (turbes), baths. Edirne was the second capital of the Ottoman Empire. In 1453 Istanbul became the third and last capital of the Ottoman Empire. Today it is possible to see many examples of the Ottoman architecture in İstanbul.

Among these are the Süleymaniye Mosque, the Iskele Mosque, Şehzade Mosque, Hasaki and Çemberlitaş Turkish Baths built by Mimar Sinan, Mahmutpasa Mosque, the Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmet Camii), Fatih Mosque, Rumeli Fortess, the Tiled Pavilion and Topkapı Palace which was the political centre of the Ottoman Empire between the 15th and 19th centuries. Topkapı Palace was built by Fatih Sultan Mehmet after the conquest of İstanbul in 1453 and served as the official residence of the Ottoman Sultans for three centuries. The palace opened its gates as a National Museum in 1924 with order of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the first president of Turkish Republic.

 

Dolmabahçe Palace which is located on the European shores of Bosphorus, served as the administrative center of the Ottoman Empire from 1856 to 1923. The palace was built by Sultan Abdülmecit who reigned during the first World War.
Beylerbeyi Palace was built between 1861 – 1865 by Sultan Abdulaziz. And Yıldız Palace built by Selim III at the end of the 18th century, is one of the last palaces built by the Otoman sultans.
Nilüfer Hatun Soup Kitchen in İznik, Green Mosque in Bursa, Üç Şerefli Mosque in Edirne, İshak Paşa Palace in Doğubeyazıt are among beautiful examples of the Ottoman Architecture in Turkey.

MUSTAFA KEMAL ATATÜRK and REPUBLIC OF TURKEY

After the Ottoman Empire had been defeated at World War I, it collapsed and the invaders occupied Anatolia. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk led the War of Independence from 1920 till 1922, totally liberating Anatolia from the invaders and on 29 October 1923 established the Republic of Turkey. Atatürk was elected as the first President of the Turkish Republic and the modern state of Turkey was therefore born.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk who was born in 1881 in Salonika, founded the modern Turkish Republic. He created a brand new nation, a new country and a secular state with his modern and enlightened way of thinking and his view of life.

Turkish Republic was founded on six basic principles: republicanism, nationalism, populism, secularism, statism and revolutionism. These fundamental principles of Atatürk guides the Turkish Republic and they are written in the constitution. Republicanism emphasizes that the sovereignty is vested not in a single ruler but in the nation.

In fact Atatürk established a new government truly representative of the nation’s will and said: "Sovereignty unconditionally belongs to the people”. As for the principle of Nationalism, it symbolizes the independence of the Republic of Turkey. This nationalism is not racist, on the contrary it is a nationalism which respects the independence right of all other nations.

 

 

The Populism emphasizes the neccesity of the equal rights of each Turkish citizen regardless of sex, race, religion. The Grand National Assembly should represent all economic and social rights of all the Turkish citizens. And the state should be governed by persons elected by the public itself. Secularism means the separation of religion from the State; primarily from educational and legal affairs. Statism means the state’s intervention and control in the main sectors of economy, the aim of which was the assurance of rapid economic development. Revolutionism is considered to be Atatürk’s one of the most important principles. The modern concepts had to be adopted as rapidly as possible.

 

Atatürk introduced many reforms in the political, social, legal, economic, and cultural fields. Infact, Atatürk, the comprehensive reformer, considered these reforms and education of vital importance for the salvation and survival of his nation. Sultunate, Caliphate, Sheriat (Islamic Law) were abolished and instead Republic was founded, Constitution and the new Civil Code were adopted. Religious laws were abolished, and a secular system of jurisprudence was introduced. Western clothing for man and woman was adopted; women stopped wearing the veil and men started to wear hats rather than the fez. The right to vote and to be elected within the Parliament was given to women, thus Turkish women granted the same rights as men did, polygamy was abolished and civil marriage was introduced. The equal rights of women in divorce, custody, and inheritance were recognized by the new Civil Code. Back then, Turkey had the world's first woman supreme court justice.


Besides, Western calender, International numeric system and the Metric system were introduced. The Roman alphabet was accepted and Turkish Language Institution and Turkish History Institution were founded. Old taxation laws were abolished and the farmers were encouraged, model farms, industrial Corporations were established. Infact Atatürk underlined the importance of the farmers, saying: “The true owner and master of Turkey is the peasant who is the real producer."


In accordance with the new surname law, in 1934 when everyone had to take a surname, the Turkish Grand National Assembly gave him the surname Atatürk, which means “father of the Turks”.

On November 10, 1938, following an illness of a few months, the Father of modern Turkey died. But his legacy to the Turkish youth and to the world endures. Today his mausoleum “Anıtkabir” located on a hill overlooking Ankara, is visited by all visiting foreign dignitaries and all Turkish citizens wishing to pay their respects to their founding father and national liberator.

Atatürk left the legacy of enlightenment and humanism to the Turkish youth. His words “Peace at Home, Peace in the World” has been proven to be the best policy for every Nation and society.