9781422284452

T URKEY 14

Turkey, with a population that is almost wholly Muslim, is part of the Middle Eastern world. However, it has had close links to Europe, both in war and peace. It was a German ally during World War I, when its northwestern coast was the scene of some of the war’s bloodiest fighting. Later, Turkish troops joined Americans in fighting the Korean War. Today, despite changes and stresses in regional diplomatic relations, Turkey continues to be a member of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and a U.S. ally. A NCIENT E MPIRES , M ODERN I NTRIGUES The Anatolian Peninsula has been a land of empires from the time of the ancient Hittites to the early 20th century. As in other regions of the world, these empires rose, declined, and eventually collapsed, usually because of the combined pressures of weakened leadership and foreign invasions. Yet, two of them—the empires of the Byzantines and Ottomans—lasted many centuries. With the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1918, Turkey’s age of empires came to an end. Sadly, the Ottoman system of government left the peninsula in a backward state compared with Western nations. The people of Turkey were ill prepared for the modern era. During the early to mid-20th century, Turks were encouraged to modernize by their country’s founding president, Kemal Atatürk. They opened themselves to Western ideas and eagerly adopted Western customs. Meanwhile, although they generally clung to their Islamic heritage, Atatürk insisted on freedom of faith and on a sec- ular government, one in which religion would not have a controlling

Words to Understand in This Chapter

genocide— the systematic destruction of a racial or ethnic group. sultan— a ruler of the Ottoman Empire.