ProTurkish, INC.

A Look at Turkey

• Population: About 65,000,000
• Land mass: 300,946 square miles (bigger than Texas + South Carolina put together). 3% is in Europe (Thrace) and the rest in Asia (called Anatolia or Asia Minor).
• Highest point: Mount Ararat, where Noah’s ark is believed to rest, is 17,011 ft.
• Capital: Ankara
• Largest city: Istanbul (Constantinople before 1453)
• Predominant religion: Islam
• Member: United Nations, NATO, and associate member of the European Union

Important Dates in Turkish History

• 11th Century: Turkic tribes from Central Asia migrate to Anatolia
• 1453: Conquest of Byzantine Constantinople by Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, the Conqueror. Constantinople becomes Istanbul. Topkapi Palace and the University of Istanbul built.
• 1492: Mass exodus of Jews and Moors expelled from Spain and welcomed into Turkey.
• 1520-1566: Reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. Conquest of Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, the cities of Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli and the islands of Rhodes and Corfu.
• 1529: Siege of Vienna by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and the Ottoman armies. The croissant (crescent) invented by Viennese bakers to celebrate the end of the siege.
• 1554: Turkish tulips gracing palace gardens introduced to western Europe when sent as gifts.
• 1566: Death of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.
• 1918: The breakup of the Ottoman Empire after World War I. Allies divide and occupy the country.
• 1923: The founding of the Turkish Republic by Mustafa Kemal “Atatürk” (Father of the Turks) (pictured).
• 1923-1938: Atatürk’s reforms modernize Turkey: adoption of the Latin alphabet, separation of the church and state, abolition of the Islamic caliphate, adoption of western dress and headwear, ban on polygamy, the emancipation of women (voting and inheritance rights etc.), adoption of the western calendar and western judicial system.
• 1993: Turkey elects its first female Prime Minister.
• 2005: First female president of the Constitutional Court, Tülay Tuğcu, elected July 25, 2005.