Turkey

The Republic of Turkey or Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye), is a bicontinental country that is located mainly in the Middle East (Southwest Asia) and partly in Southeast Europe; The Anatolian peninsula comprises most(97%) of its territory, and is situated between the Black Sea on the north and the Mediterranean Sea to south and west, with the Aegean Sea (and Marmara Sea) in between. A small portion of the country's territory (3%) is situated in southeastern Europe, west of the Bosphorus straits.

History timeline (post Republic)

Since 1923, ...

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• 1923 - 1938 After taking the presidency of the Republic of Turkey, Atatürk initiated a series of reforms and modernisation programme of the country's social and legal structures with the aim of westernising Turkey, these included: a secular government and education, exile of the Sultan, introduction of the Latin alphabet and Gregorian calendar, equal rights for women, abolition of the caliphate and Sharia Law, introduction of western attire and adoption of surnames among many others.
• November 10, 1938 The founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk dies. He is succeeded by Ismet Inönü, a former general who leads Turkey until the first democratic elections in 1950.
• July 7, 1939 Province of Hatay joins Turkey.
• 1939 - 1945 Turkey stays neutral for the most part of World War II, however at the end of WWII Turkey declares war against Germany.
• Between 25 June 1950 and 27 July 1953, Turkey was a part of the joint UN operation against North Korea during the Korean war.
• In 1950 Turkey became a strategic NATO country against Soviet influence.
• Since the 1950's, Turkey hosted the USAF at the Incirlik Air Base as a deterrent against the Soviet Union.
• September 6-September 7, 1955 The Istanbul Pogrom started the process of driving many Greeks and Christians from Turkey.
• April 27-28, 1961 Jupiter missile crisis: Turkey hosted American Jupiter missiles (nuclear) for an undisclosed period until the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the U.S. agreed to remove her nuclear missiles from Turkey in exchange for the Soviet Union removing her missiles from Cuba.
• On May 27, 1960, the 1960 Coup d'Etat (1. Darbe) took place due to the level of influence the Islamists had gained in the nation. This clashed with the "separation of religion and state/government" which was one of the results of the clash between Inonu's republican party and his opponents, president Celal Bayar and prime minister Adnan Menderes, both former republican party members. Prime minister Adnan Menderes was held responsible and was executed with two of his ministers.
• In October 1965, military rule dissolved back into civilian, the political system was reestablished, and a new constitution was drafted that reaffirmed the "separation of religion and state/government".
• On March 12, 1971, military officials intervened, instead of taking over the government, forced an advisory committee due to the increasing anarchical situation caused by the Right (fascist/capitalist) - Left (communist) clash and ineffective policies in maintaining order. Although the military were not in charge they had significant influence.
• In 1974, Turkey intervened Cyprus as a guarantor state in response to an Athens-backed coup of the island (see Cyprus dispute). Turkey maintains a garrison in the TRNC.http://europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/cyprus/#countryprofile
• On September 12, 1980, the 1980 Coup d'Etat (2. Darbe) took place, ending a long bloodshed of anarchical situation due to the Right (fascist/capitalist) - Left (communist) clash, and was welcomed by the general population, martial laws were almost immediately established and 25% of the military (about 475,000) were mobilised to settle the anarchical situation.
• On November 6, 1983, military rule dissolved and removed itself from the political scene after the reestablishment of a new 1982 Constitution.
• Between 1970 and 1983, there were many attacks by the Armenian organisation ASALA. Attacks started with assassinating Turkish diplomats and bombing consulates in the USA and Europe, airports in Paris and Ankara, the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, in an attempt to force the Turkish government to acknowledge the alleged Armenian genocide in 1915. The organization ceased to exist after the Turkish secret service captured ASALA leaders.
• Between 1984 and 1999, Turkey suffered from a number of attacks, primarily in the form of PKK bombings as well as several others. The capture of Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the organisation, stalled the PKK conflict, but it has since resumed.
• Since the ending of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Incirlik Air Base enforced the Northern no-fly zone of Iraq.
• Between 24 March and 10 June 1999, Turkey was a part of the joint NATO operation, 1999 Kosovo War, in the Balkans to end a civil war in the region that used to be Yugoslavia.
• Between June 2002 and February 2003, Turkey assumed command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.
• Since the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Turkey has been extremely concerned with the developments in Northern Iraq (Southern Kurdistan), as the United States allows Kurdish militias to control much of the region.
• On December 17, 2004, the European Union (EU) agrees to begin negotiations on the eventual accession of Turkey.
• On February 14, 2005, Turkey assumed command of the ISAF in Afghanistan for a second time.
• On October 3, 2005, the European Union (EU) started accession talks with Turkey. The talks did not start at the desired time due to arguments about Turkey's future membership.