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86-540: Western Iran consists of Armenian Highlands , northern Zagros and the rich agricultural area of the Khuzestan Plain in the south. It includes the provinces of Kordestan , Kermanshah , Ilam , Lorestan , and Hamadan . Some references also count West Azerbaijan Province and Khuzestan Province to this region. The major cities are Sanandaj , Kermanshah , Ilam , Khorramabad , Hamadan , sometimes Urmia and Ahvaz . Armenian Highlands During

172-464: A population exchange between Greece and Turkey . 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 . The fez was banned, full rights for women politically were established, and new alphabet for Turkish based upon

258-820: A pivotal role in Achaemenid history. In the earliest 5th century BC, some of the Ionian cities under Persian rule revolted, which culminated into the Ionian Revolt . This revolt, after being easily suppressed by the Persian authority, laid the direct uplead for the Greco-Persian Wars , which turned out to be one of the most crucial wars in European history. Achaemenid Persian rule in Anatolia ended with

344-616: A reassertion of the ancient, indigenous culture of the Hattian cities of Anatolia". The classical history of Anatolia can be roughly subdivided into the classical period and Hellenistic Anatolia , ending with the conquest of the region by the Roman empire in the second century BC. After the fall of the Hittites, the new states of Phrygia and Lydia stood strong on the western coast as Greek civilization began to flourish. They, and all

430-407: A series of military campaigns. However, in 681 the khanate was revived. The Göktürks eventually collapsed due to a series of dynastic conflicts, but the name "Turk" was later taken by many states and peoples. Turkic peoples and related groups migrated west from Turkestan and what is now Mongolia towards Eastern Europe , Iranian plateau and Anatolia and modern Turkey in many waves. The date of

516-695: A syncretic religion. The Göktürks were the first Turkic people to write Old Turkic in a runic script, the Orkhon script . The Khanate was also the first state known as "Turk". Towards the end of the century, the Göktürks Khanate was split in two; i.e., Eastern Turkic Khaganate and Western Turkic Khaganate . The Tang Empire conquered the Eastern Turkic Khaganate in 630 and the Western Turkic Khaganate in 657 in

602-703: Is also traditionally believed to be one of the possible locations of the Garden of Eden . The Armenian Plateau has been called the "epicenter of the Iron Age ", since it appears to be the location of the first appearance of Iron Age metallurgy in the late 2nd millennium BC . In the Early Iron Age , the Kingdom of Van controlled much of the region, until it was overthrown by the Medes and Orontid dynasty . In

688-859: Is called the Anti-Taurus . In the west, the Anti-Taurus departs to the north from the Central (Cilician) Taurus, and, passing right in the middle of the Armenian plateau, parallel to the Eastern (Armenian) Taurus , ends in the east at the Ararat peaks. To the west is the Anatolian plateau , which rises slowly from the lowland coast of the Aegean Sea and converges with the Armenian highlands to

774-522: Is dated c. 9000 BC, to the period of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic , and is defined as "the oldest known naturalistic life-sized sculpture of a human". Anatolia's historical records start with clay tablets from approximately around 2000 BC that were found in modern-day Kültepe . These tablets belonged to an Assyrian trade colony . The languages in Anatolia at that time included Hattian, Hurrian, Hittite , Luwian , and Palaic . Hattian

860-632: Is in present-day eastern Anatolia , and also includes northwestern Iran, all of Armenia, southern Georgia , and western Azerbaijan. Its northeastern parts are also known as Lesser Caucasus , which is a center of Armenian culture . Regardless of its topography, the Armenian highlands are primarily defined by the geographical dispersal of its native inhabitants, the Armenians. From 4000 to 1000 BC, tools and trinkets of copper, bronze and iron were commonly produced in this region and traded in neighboring lands where those metals were less abundant. It

946-601: Is today Turkey until the Late Middle Ages , while the other remaining territory remained in Sassanid Persian hands. Between the 3rd and 7th century AD, the Byzantines and the neighboring Sassanids frequently clashed over possession of Anatolia, which significantly exhausted both empires, thus laying the way open for the eventual Muslim conquests from both empires' respective south. The borders of

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1032-581: The Epic of Gilgamesh , the land of Aratta is placed in a geographic space that could be describing the Armenian plateau. In Antiquity , the population living on the Highlands was ethnically diverse, but in the Achaemenid period (550–330 BC), Armenian-speakers came to prominence. Recent studies have shown that Armenians are indigenous to the Armenian highlands and form a distinct genetic isolate in

1118-912: The Armistice of Mudanya on 11 October 1922. The handling of the Chanak Crisis (September–October 1922) between the United Kingdom and the Ankara Government caused the collapse of David Lloyd George 's Ministry on 19 October 1922 and political autonomy of Canada from the UK. 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

1204-573: The Caucasus and Eastern Armenia at the expense of its suzerain, Qajar Iran , after four major wars spanning more than two centuries. The Highlands saw a massive demographic shift after the Armenian genocide and fall of the Ottoman Empire, with Western Armenia being relabeled "Eastern Anatolia". Since the Armenian genocide and partitioning of the Ottoman Empire after World War I ,

1290-580: The Committee of Union and Progress , the Ottoman state pursued policies of Turkification , including arbitrary violence against Greeks and Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. Faced with territorial losses on all sides the Ottoman Empire under the rule of the Three Pashas forged an alliance with Germany who supported it with troops and equipment. The Ottoman Empire entered World War I (1914–1918) on

1376-705: The Dacian kingdom of Burebista . A type of soldier of this period called the Peltast probably originated in Thrace. Before the expansion of the Kingdom of Macedon , Thrace was divided into three camps (East, Central, and West) after the withdrawal of the Persians following their eventual defeat in mainland Greece. Cersobleptes , a notable ruler of the East Thracians, attempted to expand his authority over many of

1462-871: The Eurasian range that stretches from the Pontic Mountains to the Malay Peninsula . Its total area is about 400,000 km . Historically, the Armenian highlands have been the scene of great volcanic activity. Geologically recent volcanism on the area has resulted in large volcanic formations and a series of massifs and tectonic movement has formed the three largest lakes in the Highlands: Lake Sevan , Lake Van , and Lake Urmia . The Armenian highlands are rich in water resources. The central, axial chain of Armenian highland ridges, running from west to east across Western Armenia ,

1548-601: The Gregorian calendar and the metric system was introduced. In 1927, co-education were introduced. The law on industrial incentives was passed (1927) and the first five-year plan for industry came into force (1934). Secularisation was proclaimed in 1928. An educational mobilisation was initiated to literate the rural population. With the Surname Law of 1934, the Turkish Parliament bestowed upon Kemal

1634-443: The Iron Age , the region was known by variations of the name Ararat ( Urartu , Uruatri , Urashtu ). Later, the Highlands were known as Armenia Major , a central region to the history of Armenians , and one of the four geopolitical regions associated with Armenians , the other three being Armenia Minor , Sophene , and Commagene . The highlands are primarily defined by the geographical dispersal of its native inhabitants,

1720-664: The Latin script was created. Among the other things, economic privileges for foreigners were abolished and their means of production and railways were nationalised. Foreign schools were placed under state control. The abolition of the caliphate followed on 3 March 1924. In the same year, Turkey abolished sharia and in 1925, a clothing reform for men (the Hat Law ) was enacted. In the following years, entire legal systems were adopted from European countries and adapted to Turkish conditions. In 1926, Swiss civil law—and thus monogamy with

1806-625: The Persian Gulf . From their homelands near the Aral Sea , the Seljuqs advanced first into Khorasan and then into mainland Persia before eventually conquering eastern Anatolia. The Seljuq/Seljuk empire was founded by Tughril Beg (1016–1063) in 1037. Tughril was raised by his grandfather, Seljuk-Beg Seljuk gave his name to both the Seljuk empire and the Seljuk dynasty. The Seljuqs united

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1892-643: The Renaissance . The Empire of Trebizond was conquered eight years later when its eponymous capital surrendered to Ottoman forces after it was besieged in 1461 . The last Byzantine rump state , the Principality of Theodoro , was conquered by the Ottomans in 1475. ( Tokhara Yabghus , Turk Shahis ) Historians generally agree that the first Turkic people lived in a region extending from Central Asia to Siberia . Historically they were established after

1978-591: The Thracian language – a scarcely attested branch of the Indo-European language family . The study of Thracians and Thracian culture is known as Thracology . Starting around 1200 BC, the western coast of Anatolia was heavily settled by Aeolian and Ionian Greeks . Numerous important cities were founded by these colonists, such as Miletus , Ephesus , Smyrna and Byzantium , the latter founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 657 BC. All of Thrace, and

2064-531: The Trojan war is based on historical events. Troy's Late Bronze Age layers matches most with Iliad 's story. Around 750 BC, Phrygia had been established, with its two centers in Gordium and modern-day Kayseri . Phrygians spoke an Indo-European language, but it was closer to Greek , rather than Anatolian languages. Phrygians shared Anatolia with Neo-Hittites and Urartu . Luwian-speakers were probably

2150-661: The Truman Doctrine in 1947. The doctrine enunciated American intentions to guarantee the security of Turkey and Greece, and resulted in large-scale U.S. military and economic support . After participating with the United Nations forces in the Korean War , Turkey joined NATO in 1952, becoming a bulwark against Soviet expansion into the Mediterranean . Following a decade of intercommunal violence on

2236-686: The 5th century AD, may have been Turkic and descendants of the Xiongnu. Some scholars argue that the Huns were one of the earlier Turkic tribes, while others argue that they were of Mongolic origin. In the 6th century, 400 years after the collapse of northern Xiongnu power in Inner Asia , leadership of the Turkic peoples was taken over by the Göktürks. Formerly in the Xiongnu nomadic confederation,

2322-753: The 6th century BC. The earliest separate Turkic peoples appeared on the peripheries of the late Xiongnu confederation about 200 BC (contemporaneous with the Chinese Han Dynasty ). The first mention of Turks was in a Chinese text that mentioned trade of Turk tribes with the Sogdians along the Silk Road . It has often been suggested that the Xiongnu, mentioned in Han Dynasty records, were Proto-Turkic speakers. The Hun hordes of Attila , who invaded and conquered much of Europe in

2408-579: 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 . According to extrabiblical traditions , the Assumption of Mary took place in Ephesus, where Apostle John was also present. Irenaeus writes of "the church of Ephesus, founded by Paul, with John continuing with them until

2494-481: The Armenian people descend from the indigenous people of the Armenian highlands and form a distinct genetic isolate in the region. The region was also inhabited during Antiquity by minorities such as Assyrians , Georgians , Greeks , Jews , and Iranians . During the Middle Ages , Arabs and particularly Turkmens and Kurds settled in large numbers in the Armenian highlands. The Christian population of

2580-414: The Armenians. Prior to the appearance of nominally Armenian people in historical records, historians have hypothesized that the region must have been home to various ethnic groups who became homogenous when the Armenian language came to prominence. The population of the Armenian highlands seem to have had a high level of regional genetic continuity for over 6,000 years. Recent studies have shown that

2666-841: The Balkans and the southern part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . In addition, the Ottomans were often at war with Persia over territorial disputes, which allowed them to inherit the Timurid Renaissance . At sea, the empire contended with the Holy Leagues, composed of Habsburg Spain , the Republic of Venice and the Knights of St. John , for control of the Mediterranean . In the Indian Ocean ,

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2752-749: The Byzantine Empire from the original name, Byzantium . The Thracians ( Ancient Greek : Θρᾷκες , Latin : Thraci ) were a group of Indo-European tribes inhabiting a large area in Central and Southeastern Europe. They were bordered by the Scythians to the north, the Celts and the Illyrians to the west, the Ancient Greeks to the south and the Black Sea to the east. They spoke

2838-455: The Eastern Anatolia, Central Europe, the Caucasus, North and East Africa, the islands in the Mediterranean, Greater Syria, Mesopotamia, and the Arabian peninsula in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. The Ottoman Empire's power and prestige peaked in the 16th and 17th centuries, particularly during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent . The empire was often at odds with the Holy Roman Empire in its steady advance towards Central Europe through

2924-572: The Göktürks inherited their traditions and administrative experience. From 552 to 745, Göktürk leadership united the nomadic Turkic tribes into the Göktürk Empire . The name derives from gok , "blue" or "celestial". Unlike its Xiongnu predecessor, the Göktürk Khanate had its temporary khans from the Ashina clan that were subordinate to a sovereign authority controlled by a council of tribal chiefs. The Khanate retained elements of its original shamanistic religion, Tengriism , although it received missionaries of Buddhist monks and practiced

3010-422: The Highlands have been the boundary region of Turkey, Iran and the Soviet Union and, since the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union , Armenia , and parts of Georgia and Azerbaijan . The apricot , known by the Romans as the prunus armenicus (the Armenian plum), was brought to Europe from the Armenian plateau. History of Turkey#Republic of Turkey The history of Turkey , understood as

3096-411: The Highlands saw the migrations of the Karluk and Kharizmian peoples. The Mongols, who did not distinguish between Christianity and Islam , reached the Highlands in 1235. With their arrival, Armenia became part of "the East" in its entirety for the first time since the territory was partitioned during the Byzantine–Sasanian wars . Considered the successors of the Abbasids , Sassanids and Seljuks,

3182-446: The Mongols eventually converted to Islam and established their dynasty in modern day Azerbaijan . In 1410 the area was ruled by the Kara Koyunlu , who ruled until 1468. The pastoral culture of the Kara Koyunlu Turks undermined agricultural practices in Armenia. In 1468, the Ak Koyunlu Turks assumed power; their reign lasted until 1502 when the Safavids brought Armenia under Iranian rule. The Ottoman Turks did not take control of

3268-475: The Ottoman navy frequently confronted Portuguese fleets in order to defend its traditional monopoly over the maritime trade routes between East Asia and Western Europe ; these routes faced new competition with the Portuguese discovery of the Cape of Good Hope in 1488. The Ottomans even had influence in Southeast Asia as the Ottomans sent soldiers to their most distant vassal, the Sultanate of Aceh at Sumatra in Indonesia. Their forces in Aceh were opposed by

3354-406: The Ottoman period, a distinction should also be made between the history of the Turkic peoples , and the history of the territories now forming the Republic of Turkey From the time when parts of what is now Turkey were conquered by the Seljuq dynasty , the history of Turkey spans the medieval history of the Seljuk Empire , the medieval to modern history of the Ottoman Empire , and the history of

3440-434: The Portuguese that had crossed the Atlantic and Indian Oceans invaded the Sultanate of Malacca and the Spaniards who had crossed from Latin America and invaded formerly Muslim Manila in the Philippines , as these Iberian powers waged a world war against the Ottoman Caliphate known as the Ottoman–Habsburg wars . The Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699 marked the beginning of Ottoman territorial retreat; some territories were lost by

3526-672: The Republic of Turkey since the 1920s. 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. Parts of Anatolia include the Fertile Crescent , an origin of agriculture . 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. The Urfa Man statue

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3612-488: The Russian forces had the upper hand from the beginning, especially after the Battle of Sarikamish . In the wake of this defeat, which War Minister Enver Pasha blamed on Armenians siding with Russia, and with Ottoman military units already carrying out massacres against Armenian villages, the CUP adopted a policy of eliminating Armenians in what is now broadly recognized by scholars as the Armenian genocide . Russian forces advanced into northeastern Anatolia and controlled

3698-405: The Safavids from the 16th century, became part of the Russian Empire in 1828 and was later incorporated into the Soviet Union , while much of Western Armenia was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and later incorporated into modern Turkey . Today, the region is divided between Armenia , Azerbaijan , Iran , and Turkey. The Armenian highlands is part of the Alpide belt , forming part of

3784-424: The Thracian tribes but was eventually defeated by the Macedonians . The Thracians were typically not city-builders. The largest Thracian cities were in fact large villages and the only polis was Seuthopolis . The Persian Achaemenid Empire fell to Alexander the Great in 334 BC, which led to increasing cultural homogeneity and Hellenization in the area. Following Alexander's death in 323 BC, Anatolia

3870-412: The Treaty of Sèvres, led to the international recognition of the sovereignty of the new Turkish state as the successor state of the Ottoman Empire. On 4 October 1923, the Allied occupation of Turkey ended with the withdrawal of the last Allied troops from Istanbul . The Turkish Republic was officially proclaimed on 29 October 1923 in Ankara, the country's new capital. The Lausanne Convention stipulated

3956-418: The USSR. Germany had been its largest trading partner before the war, and Turkey continued to do business with both sides. It purchased arms from both sides. The Allies tried to stop German purchases of chrome (used in making better steel). Starting in 1942 the Allies provided military aid. The Turkish leaders conferred with Roosevelt and Churchill at the Cairo Conference in November, 1943, and promised to enter

4042-410: The conquests of Alexander the Great , defeating Darius III between 334 and 330 BC. Alexander wrested control of the whole region from Persia in successive battles. After Alexander's death, his conquests were split amongst several of his trusted generals, but were under constant threat of invasion from both the Gauls and other powerful rulers in Pergamon , Pontus , and Egypt . The Seleucid Empire ,

4128-411: The early 20th century. Its inhabitants were of varied ethnicities, including Turks , Armenians , Assyrians , Kurds , Greeks , French , and Italians (particularly from Genoa and Venice ). Following the loss of its outer territories and the expulsion of Muslims from former Ottoman Europe, Ottomanist pluralist ideas fell out of favor, replaced by anti-Christian sentiment. Following a coup led by

4214-414: The early modern era and on, the region came directly under Safavid Iranian rule. Heavily contested for centuries between the Iranian Safavids and its archrival the Ottoman Empire , with numerous wars raging over the region, large parts of the Highlands comprising Western Armenia were finally conquered by the Ottomans in the first half of the 17th century following the Ottoman–Safavid War (1623–39) and

4300-420: The early seventh-century C.E. document called the Ašxarhac‘oyc‘ ("Geography"). The earlier Arab geographers know Armenia (Arminīya) under this definition, but the Muslim geographers of the late Middle Ages know Armenia as a much more restricted area, effectively the regions of Lake Van, Erzurum , and the upper Aras in Azerbaijan ( Adhharbāyjān ). According to Britannica Online , most of the Armenian highlands

4386-431: The east of Cappadocia . The Caucasus extends to the northeast of the Armenian highlands, with the Kura river forming its eastern boundary in the Kura-Aras lowlands . To its southeast is the Iranian plateau , where the elevation drops rapidly by about 600 metres (2,000 ft) to 1,500 metres (5,000 ft) above sea level. To the southwest is Mesopotamia (or Fertile Crescent ). According to Thomas A. Sinclair in

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4472-399: The empire fluctuated through several cycles of decline and recovery. During the reign of Justinian I ( r.  527–565 ), the empire reached its greatest extent after the fall of the west, re-conquering much of the historically Roman western Mediterranean coast , including Africa , Italy and Rome , which it held for two more centuries. The Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 exhausted

4558-477: The empire's resources, and during the early Muslim conquests of the 7th century, it lost its richest provinces, Egypt and Syria , to the Rashidun Caliphate . It then lost Africa to the Umayyads in 698, before the empire was rescued by the Isaurian dynasty. The fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 marked the end of the Byzantine Empire. Refugees fleeing the city after its capture would settle in Italy and other parts of Europe, helping to ignite

4644-400: The equality of men and women—was adopted first (gender equality was only partially achieved in everyday life, however), so polygamy was banned. This was followed by German commercial law and Italian criminal law. The Islamic sectarian lodges in 1925 and the Masonic lodges in 1935 were banned. The high taxes imposed on farmers were reduced. In 1926, the Arabic calendar was replaced by

4730-486: The fractured political scene of the eastern Islamic world and played a key role in the first and second crusades. Highly Persianized in culture and language, the Seljuqs also played an important role in the development of the Turko-Persian tradition , even exporting Persian culture to Anatolia. A dynasty from Seljuks, the Seljuks of Rum, became the ruling power in Anatolia. After Mongol invasion of Anatolia, Seljuks of Rum collapsed. The Ottoman beylik's first capital

4816-413: The highland region until 1514, several decades after Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were given millet status. The Highlands came under Ottoman control following the defeat of the Safavids at the Battle of Chalderon ; they appointed Kurdish tribesman to rule over the highlands' local administrative affairs. By 1516, the Ottoman Empire had invaded all of the Armenian lands, including Cilicia. From

4902-401: The history of the area now forming the territory of the Republic of Turkey , includes the history of both Anatolia (the Asian part of Turkey) and Eastern Thrace (the European part of Turkey). These two previously politically distinct regions came under control of the Roman Empire in the second century BC, eventually becoming the core of the Roman Byzantine Empire . For times predating

4988-506: The honorific surname "Atatürk" ( Father Turk ). Atatürk's reforms caused discontent in some Kurdish and Zaza tribes leading to the Sheikh Said rebellion in 1925 and the Dersim rebellion in 1937. Turkey was neutral in World War II (1939–45) but signed a treaty with Britain in October 1939 that said Britain would defend Turkey if Germany attacked it. An invasion was threatened in 1941 but did not happen and Ankara refused German requests to allow troops to cross its borders into Syria or

5074-456: The initial expansion remains unknown. After many battles, they established their own state and later created the Ottoman Empire . The main migration occurred in medieval times, when they spread across most of Asia and into Europe and the Middle East. They also participated in the Crusades . The Seljuq Turkmens created a medieval empire that controlled a vast area stretching from the Hindu Kush to eastern Anatolia and from Central Asia to

5160-430: The island of Cyprus and the Greek military coup of July 1974 , overthrowing President Makarios and installing Nikos Sampson as a dictator, Turkey invaded the Republic of Cyprus in 1974. Nine years later the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) was established. Turkey is the only country that recognises the TRNC The one-party period was followed by multi-party democracy after 1945. The Turkish democracy

5246-425: The largest of Alexander's territories, and which included Anatolia, became involved in a disastrous war with Rome culminating in the battles of Thermopylae and Magnesia . The resulting Treaty of Apamea in (188 BC) saw the Seleucids retreat from Anatolia. The Kingdom of Pergamum and the Republic of Rhodes , Rome's allies in the war, were granted the former Seleucid lands in Anatolia. Roman control of Anatolia

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5332-410: 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

5418-440: The major cities there until retreating from World War I with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk following the Russian Revolution . Following World War I, the huge conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empire was divided into several new states . On October 30, 1918, the Armistice of Mudros was signed, followed by the imposition of Treaty of Sèvres on August 10, 1920, by Allied Powers , which

5504-421: The majority in various Anatolian Neo-Hittite states. Urartians spoke a non-Indo-European language and their capital was around Lake Van . Urartu was often in conflict with Assyria , but fell with the attacks of Medes and Scythians in seventh century BC. When Cimmerians attacked, Phrygia fell around 650 BC. They were replaced by Carians , Lycians and Lydians . These three cultures "can be considered

5590-411: The native Thracian peoples were conquered by Darius the Great in the late 6th century BC, and were re-subjugated into the empire in 492 BC following Mardonius ' campaign during the First Persian invasion of Greece . The territory of Thrace later became unified by the Odrysian kingdom , founded by Teres I , probably after the Persian defeat in Greece . By the 5th century BC, the Thracian presence

5676-407: The new capital of the Roman Empire , renaming it New Rome . Following the death of Theodosius I in 395 and the permanent division of the Roman Empire between his two sons, the city, which would popularly come to be known as Constantinople became the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire . This, which would later be branded by historians as the Byzantine Empire , ruled most of the territory of what

5762-417: The peninsula until finally the Ottoman Empire was declared in 1299. The Seljuks' victory at the Battle of Manzikert made them dominant in the region. Ruben I, Prince of Armenia , led some Armenians out of the Highlands and escaped into the mountains of Cilicia , where they founded the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia . In the early 13th century, as various peoples fled from the advancing Mongol onslaught,

5848-418: The region. There are signs of considerable genetic admixture in Armenians between 3000 BC and 2000 BC , these mixture dates also coincide with the legendary establishment of Armenia in 2492 BCE, but they subside to insignificant levels since 1200 BC, remaining stable until today. Seljuk Turks first arrived in the Armenian highlands in the 1040s and expanded westward, conquering territories and populating

5934-421: The rest of Anatolia were relatively soon after incorporated into the Achaemenid Persian Empire . As Persia grew in strength, their system of local government in Anatolia allowed many port cities to grow and to become wealthy. All of Anatolia got divided into various satrapies , ruled by satraps (governors) appointed by the central Persian rulers. The first state that was called Armenia by neighbouring peoples

6020-436: The resulting Treaty of Zuhab . Eastern Armenia , the other major part of the Highlands, stayed in Iranian hands up to the 1828 Treaty of Turkmenchay , when it was ceded to Imperial Russia . During the first half of the 19th century, the Ottoman-held parts of the Armenian highlands comprising Western Armenia formed the boundary of the Ottoman and Russian spheres of influence, after the latter had completed its conquest of

6106-407: The side of the Central Powers and was ultimately defeated. The Ottomans successfully defended the Dardanelles strait during the Gallipoli campaign and achieved initial victories against British forces in the first two years of the Mesopotamian campaign , such as the Siege of Kut ; but the Arab Revolt turned the tide against the Ottomans in the Middle East. In the Caucasus campaign , however,

6192-604: The third edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam : It occupied a large part of present-day Turkey, the whole of the territory of the present Republic of Armenia, further districts, now in the Republic of Azerbaijan , immediately adjacent to the east, and the northwest corner of modern Iran . The preceding is the definition of Armenia assumed in texts of the Classical and Late Classical periods and laid out explicitly in

6278-614: The times of Trajan ." Several ecumenical councils of the early Church were held in cities located in present-day Turkey, including the First Council of Nicaea ( Iznik ) in 325 (which resulted in the first uniform Christian doctrine , called the Nicene Creed ), the First Council of Constantinople in 381, the Council of Ephesus in 431, and the Council of Chalcedon in 451. In 324, Constantine I chose Byzantium to be

6364-663: The treaty: Austria received all of Hungary and Transylvania except the Banat; Venice obtained most of Dalmatia along with the Morea (the Peloponnesus peninsula in southern Greece); Poland recovered Podolia. Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Ottoman Empire continued losing its territories, including Greece , Algeria , Tunisia , Libya and the Balkans in the 1912–1913 Balkan Wars . Anatolia remained multi-ethnic until

6450-660: The war. By August 1944, with Germany nearing defeat, Turkey broke off relations. In February 1945, it declared war on Germany and Japan, a symbolic move that allowed Turkey to join the nascent United Nations. Meanwhile, relations with Moscow worsened, setting stage for the start of the Cold War. The demands by the Soviet Union for military bases in the Turkish Straits , prompted the United States to declare

6536-484: The western half of the region was exterminated during the Armenian genocide (1915–1917), organized and perpetrated by the Committee of Union and Progress as part of their Turkification policies. Today, the eastern half is mainly inhabited by Armenians , Azerbaijanis , and Georgians , while the western half is mainly inhabited by Armenians (included crypto-Armenians and Hemshins ), Kurds (including Yazidis and Zazas ), Turks, and Azerbaijanis . The region

6622-483: Was a language indigenous to Anatolia, with no known modern-day connections. Hurrian language was used in northern Syria . Hittite, Luwian, and Palaic languages were in the Anatolian sub-group of Indo-European languages , with Hittite being the "oldest attested Indo-European language". The origin of Indo-European languages is unknown. They may be native to Anatolia or non-native. Hattian rulers were gradually replaced by Hittite rulers. The Hittite kingdom

6708-527: Was a large kingdom in Central Anatolia, with its capital of Hattusa . It co-existed in Anatolia with Palaians and Luwians , approximately between 1700 and 1200 BC. As the Hittite kingdom was disintegrating, further waves of Indo-European peoples migrated from southeastern Europe, which was followed by warfare. The Thracians were also present in modern-day Turkish Thrace . It is not known if

6794-468: Was administered for most of its known history by Armenian nobility and states , whether it was as part of a fully independent Armenian state, as vassals, or as part of a foreign state. Since the 1040s, the highlands have been under the rule of various Turkic peoples and the Safavid dynasty , with pockets of Armenian autonomy in places such as Artsakh . Much of Eastern Armenia , which had been ruled by

6880-543: Was interrupted by military coups d'état in 1960 , 1971 and 1980 . In 1984, the PKK began an insurgency against the Turkish government; the conflict, which has claimed over 40,000 lives, continues today. Since the liberalization of the Turkish economy during the 1980s, the country has enjoyed stronger economic growth and greater political stability. In March 1995, twenty-three people were killed and hundreds were injured in

6966-517: Was located in Bursa in 1326. Edirne which was conquered in 1361 was the next capital city. After largely expanding to Europe and Anatolia in 1453, the Ottomans nearly completed the conquest of the Byzantine Empire by capturing its capital, Constantinople during the reign of Mehmed II . Constantinople was made the capital city of the Empire following Edirne. The Ottoman Empire would continue to expand into

7052-602: Was never ratified. The Treaty of Sèvres would break up the Ottoman Empire and force large concessions on territories of the Empire in favour of Greece , Italy , Britain and France. The occupation of some parts of the country by the Allies in the aftermath of World War I prompted the establishment of the Turkish National Movement . The Turkish Provisional Government in Ankara , which had declared itself

7138-520: Was pervasive enough to have made Herodotus call them the second-most numerous people in the part of the world known by him (after the Indians ), and potentially the most powerful, if not for their lack of unity. The Thracians in classical times were broken up into a large number of groups and tribes, though a number of powerful Thracian states were organized, such as the Odrysian kingdom of Thrace and

7224-511: Was strengthened by a 'hands off' approach by Rome, allowing local control to govern effectively and providing military protection. In the early 4th century, Constantine the Great established a new administrative centre at Constantinople , and by the end of the 4th century the Roman empire split into two parts, the Eastern part (Romania) with Constantinople as its capital, referred to by historians as

7310-494: Was subsequently divided into a number of small Hellenistic kingdoms , all of which became part of the Roman Republic by the mid-1st century BC. The process of Hellenization that began with Alexander's conquest accelerated under Roman rule, and by the early centuries AD the local Anatolian languages and cultures had become extinct, being largely replaced by ancient Greek language and culture. According to Acts of

7396-600: Was the state of the Armenian Orontid dynasty , which included parts of eastern Turkey beginning in the 6th century BC, which became the Satrapy of Armenia under Achaemenid rule. Some of the satraps revolted periodically but did not pose a serious threat. In the 5th century BC, Darius I built the Royal Road , which linked the principal city of Susa with the west Anatolian city of Sardis . Anatolia played

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