Prehistory and ancient history s at
Göbekli Tepe were erected as far back as
9600 BC, predating those of
Stonehenge by over seven millennia. Present-day Turkey has been inhabited by
modern humans since the
late Paleolithic period and contains some of the world's oldest
Neolithic sites.
Göbekli Tepe is close to 12,000 years old. Other important Anatolian Neolithic sites include
Çatalhöyük and
Alaca Höyük. Neolithic Anatolian farmers differed genetically from farmers in
Iran and
Jordan Valley. These early Anatolian farmers also
migrated into Europe, starting around 9,000 years ago.
Troy's earliest layers go back to around 4500 BC. These tablets belonged to an
Assyrian trade colony.
Hattian was a language indigenous to Anatolia, with no known modern-day connections.
Hurrian language was used in northern
Syria. forming the
Anatolian sub-group.
Hattian rulers were gradually replaced by
Hittite rulers. The
Thracians were also present in modern-day
Turkish Thrace. It is not known if the
Trojan War is based on historical events.
Troy's Late Bronze Age layers matches most with
Iliads story.
Early classical antiquity is a long hiking path in Southwestern Turkey. Around 750 BC,
Phrygia had been established, with its two centers in
Gordium and modern-day
Kayseri.
Phrygians spoke an Indo-European language, which was closer to
Greek than Anatolian languages. Urartians spoke a non-Indo-European language and their capital was around
Lake Van. They were replaced by
Carians,
Lycians and
Lydians. or four Greek-speaking settlements in Anatolia, including
Miletus. important
cities included
Miletus,
Ephesus,
Halicarnassus,
Smyrna (now
İzmir) and
Byzantium (now
Istanbul). These settlements were grouped as
Aeolis,
Ionia, and
Doris, after the specific Greek groups that settled them. Further Greek colonization in Anatolia was led by Miletus and
Megara in 750–480 BC. in
Ephesus was built by the
Romans in 114–117.
Cyrus attacked eastern Anatolia in 547 BC, and
Achaemenid Empire eventually
expanded into western Anatolia. Following the victories of Alexander in
334 BC and
333 BC, the Achaemenid Empire collapsed. which met resistance in some places. Following Alexander's death, the
Seleucids ruled large parts of Anatolia, while native Anatolian states emerged in the Marmara and Black Sea areas. In eastern Anatolia,
the kingdom of Armenia appeared. In third century BC,
Celts invaded central Anatolia and continued as a major ethnic group in the area for around 200 years. They were known as the
Galatians.
Rome and Byzantine Empire in 555 under
Justinian the Great, at its greatest extent When
Pergamon requested assistance in its conflict with the Seleucids,
Rome intervened in Anatolia in the second century BC. Without an heir, Pergamum's king left the kingdom to Rome, which was annexed as
province of Asia. Roman influence grew in Anatolia afterwards. Following
Asiatic Vespers massacre, and
Mithridatic Wars with
Pontus, Rome emerged victorious. Around the 1st century BC,
Rome expanded into parts of Pontus and Bithynia, while turning rest of Anatolian states into Roman satellites. Several
conflicts with Parthians ensued, with peace and wars alternating. According to
Acts of the Apostles, early Christian Church had significant growth in Anatolia because of
St Paul's efforts. Letters from St. Paul in Anatolia comprise the
oldest Christian literature. Under Roman authority,
ecumenical councils such as
Council of Nicaea (Iznik) in 325 served as a guide for developing "orthodox expressions of basic Christian teachings". The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the
Roman Empire centered in
Constantinople during
Late Antiquity and the
Middle Ages. The eastern half of the Empire survived the conditions that caused the
fall of the West in the 5th century AD, and continued to exist until the
fall of Constantinople to the
Ottoman Empire in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire remained the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in the
Mediterranean world. The term
Byzantine Empire was only coined following the empire's demise; its citizens referred to the polity as the "Roman Empire" and to themselves as
Romans. Due to the imperial seat's move from Rome to
Byzantium, the
adoption of Christianity as the state religion, and the predominance of
Greek instead of
Latin, modern historians continue to make a distinction between the earlier
Roman Empire and the later
Byzantine Empire. In the early Byzantine Empire period, the Anatolian coastal areas were Greek speaking. In addition to natives, interior Anatolia had diverse groups such as
Goths,
Celts,
Persians and
Jews. Interior Anatolia had been "heavily Hellenized".
Anatolian languages eventually became extinct after
Hellenization of Anatolia.
Seljuks and Anatolian beyliks According to historians and linguists, the
Proto-Turkic language originated in Central-East Asia. Initially, Proto-
Turkic speakers were potentially both hunter-gatherers and farmers; they later became
nomadic pastoralists. In 1040, the Seljuks defeated the
Ghaznavids at the
Battle of Dandanaqan and established the
Seljuk Empire in
Greater Khorasan.
Baghdad, the
Abbasid Caliphate's capital and center of
the Islamic world, was taken by Seljuks in 1055. In the latter half of the 11th century, the Seljuk Turks began penetrating into
medieval Armenia and Anatolia. During this period, there were also
Turkish principalities such as
Danishmendids. Seljuk arrival started the
Turkification process in Anatolia; The shift took several centuries and happened gradually. Members of
Islamic mysticism orders, such as
Mevlevi Order, played a role in the
Islamization of the diverse people of Anatolia. Seljuk expansion was one of the reasons for the
Crusades. In 13th century, there was a second significant wave of Turkic migration, as people fled
Mongol expansion. Seljuk sultanate was defeated by the Mongols at the
Battle of Köse Dağ in 1243 and disappeared by the beginning of the 14th century. It was replaced by various Turkish principalities.
Ottoman Empire at its greatest European extent, in 1683, during the
Battle of Vienna Based around
Söğüt,
Ottoman Beylik was founded by
Osman I in the early 14th century. According to Ottoman chroniclers, Osman descended from the
Kayı tribe of the
Oghuz Turks. Ottomans started annexing the nearby Turkish beyliks (principalities) in Anatolia and expanded into the
Balkans.
Mehmed II completed Ottoman conquest of the Byzantine Empire by
capturing its capital, Constantinople, on 29 May 1453.
Selim I united Anatolia under Ottoman rule. In the 16th and 17th centuries,
Sephardic Jews moved into Ottoman Empire following their
expulsion from Spain. From the second half of the 18th century onwards, the
Ottoman Empire began to decline. The
Tanzimat reforms, initiated by
Mahmud II in 1839, aimed to modernize the Ottoman state in line with the progress that had been made in Western Europe. The
Ottoman constitution of 1876 was the first among Muslim states, but was
short-lived. {{Multiple image As the empire gradually shrank in size, military power and wealth; especially after the
Ottoman economic crisis and default in 1875 which led to uprisings in the Balkan provinces that culminated in the
Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878). The decline of the Ottoman Empire led to a
rise in nationalist sentiment among its various subject peoples, leading to increased ethnic tensions which occasionally burst into violence, such as the
Hamidian massacres of
Armenians, which claimed up to 300,000 lives. Ottoman territories in Europe (
Rumelia) were lost in the
First Balkan War (1912–1913). Ottomans managed to recover some territory in Europe, such as
Edirne, in the
Second Balkan War (1913). In the 19th and early 20th centuries,
persecution of Muslims during the Ottoman contraction and
in the Russian Empire resulted in estimated 5 million deaths, with the casualties including Turks. During the war, the empire's Armenian subjects were
deported to Syria as part of the
Armenian genocide. As a result, an estimated 600,000 to more than 1 million,
Armenians were killed. The Turkish government has
refused to acknowledge the events as genocide and states that Armenians were only
"relocated" from the eastern war zone.
Genocidal campaigns were also committed against the empire's other minority groups such as the
Assyrians and
Greeks. Following the
Armistice of Mudros in 1918, the victorious
Allied Powers sought the
partition of the Ottoman Empire through the 1920
Treaty of Sèvres.
Republic of Türkiye , the founder and the
first President of the Turkish Republic|upright The
occupation of Istanbul (1918) and
İzmir (1919) by the
Allies in the aftermath of World War I initiated the
Turkish National Movement. Under the leadership of
Mustafa Kemal Pasha, a military commander who had distinguished himself during the
Battle of Gallipoli, the
Turkish War of Independence (1919–1923) was waged with the aim of revoking the terms of the
Treaty of Sèvres (1920). The
Turkish Provisional Government in
Ankara, which had declared itself the legitimate government of the country on
23 April 1920, started to formalize the legal transition from the old Ottoman into the new Republican political system. The Ankara Government engaged in armed and diplomatic struggle. In 1921–1923, the Armenian, Greek, French, and British armies had been expelled. The military advance and diplomatic success of the Ankara Government resulted in the signing of the
Armistice of Mudanya on 11 October 1922. On 1 November 1922, the Turkish Parliament in Ankara formally abolished the Sultanate, thus ending 623 years of
monarchical Ottoman rule. The
Treaty of Lausanne of 24 July 1923, which superseded the Treaty of Sèvres, The
Lausanne Convention stipulated a
population exchange between Greece and Turkey. in
Ankara was completed in 1953 to become the mausoleum of
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Mustafa Kemal became the republic's first
president and introduced
many reforms. The reforms aimed to transform the old
religion-based and multi-communal Ottoman monarchy into a Turkish
nation state that would be governed as a
parliamentary republic under a
secular constitution. Women gained the right to vote nationally in 1934. With the
Surname Law, the
Turkish Parliament bestowed upon Kemal the honorific surname "Atatürk" (
Father Turk). and the
Dersim rebellion in 1937.
İsmet İnönü became the country's second president following Atatürk's death in 1938. In 1939, the
Republic of Hatay voted in favor of joining Turkey with a referendum. Turkey
remained neutral during almost all of
World War II, but entered the war on the side of the
Allies on
23 February 1945. Later that year, Turkey became a
charter member of the United Nations. In 1950 Turkey became a member of the
Council of Europe. After fighting as part of the
UN forces in the
Korean War, Turkey joined
NATO in 1952, becoming a bulwark against Soviet expansion into the
Mediterranean. , Turkey's first female prime minister, attends a
European Commission meeting in January 1994.Military coups or memorandums, which happened in
1960,
1971,
1980, and
1997, complicated Turkey's transition to a democratic
multiparty system. Between 1960 and the end of the 20th century, the prominent leaders in Turkish politics who achieved multiple election victories were
Süleyman Demirel,
Bülent Ecevit and
Turgut Özal. PKK started a "campaign of terrorist attacks on civilian and military targets" in the 1980s. It is designated as a
terrorist organization by Turkey, and the European Union.
Tansu Çiller became the first female prime minister of Turkey in 1993. Turkey applied for full membership of the
EEC in 1987, joined the
European Union Customs Union in 1995 and started
accession negotiations with the
European Union in 2005. Customs Union had an important impact on the Turkish manufacturing sector. In 2014, prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan won Turkey's first direct
presidential election. On 15 July 2016, an
unsuccessful coup attempt tried to oust the government. According to the Turkish government, there are 13,251 arrested or convicted people in jail as of 2024, related to the 2016 coup attempt. With a
referendum in 2017, the parliamentary republic was replaced by an
executive presidential system. The office of the prime minister was abolished, and its powers and duties were transferred to the president. On the referendum day, while the voting was still underway, the
Supreme Electoral Council lifted a rule that required each ballot to have an official stamp. In 2025 the PKK declared a ceasefire. == Geography ==