How the Turks Saved Turkey

The Turks

• First known from Chinese accounts

• First known use of “Turk” in 6th century

• Arrived in Anatolia late 11th century

• Altaic language related to Mongolian– Not related to European languages– Not related to Arabic

• Agglutinative language: forms words by repeated addition of endings (compare English “friendliness”)

The Turkish Language

• Bulmak = find

• Bulunmak = to be found

• Bulunduk = having been found

• Bulundugunuz = your having been found

• Yer = place

• Bulundugunuz yer =The your-having-been-found place =

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Ottoman Empire 1400

Ottoman Empire 1460

Aya Sofia, Istanbul

Ottoman Empire 1520

Ottoman Empire 1566

Ottoman Empire 1683

Ottoman Empire 1690

An Ottoman Ottoman

Ottoman Empire 1700

Ottoman Empire 1750

Ottoman Empire 1830

Ottoman Empire 1880

Ottoman Empire 1913

The Young Turks

• Mehmed Talat Pasha – prime minister

• İsmail Enver Pasha – minister of war

• Ahmed Djemal Pasha – minister of navy

• Effectively ruled Empire during First World War

• Allied with Germany during World War I

• Fled Empire after the war

Ottoman Empire 1918

Turkish History in One Picture

Dardanelles at Canakkale

Gallipoli Peninsula

Carving Up Turkey

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk 1881-1938

Megali Idea

Post-Ottoman Changes• Sultan deposed 1922

• Caliphate and Sharia abolished 1924

• Language Reforms 1930’s– Adoption of modified Roman Alphabet– Purge of Arabic and Persian words

• Islam no longer official religion

• Women gain vote and right to hold office 1934

Pluses and Minuses

• Upside– Turkey deliberately aligns with the West– Long-overdue reforms enacted– Dramatic increase in literacy

• Downside– Language reforms made Ottoman literature

inaccessible– Distorted historical model sometimes used to

justify reforms

21st Century Europe