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Modern Turkey was founded in 1923 from the Anatolian remnants of the defeated Ottoman Empire by national hero Mustafa KEMAL, who was later honored with the title Ataturk, or "Father of the Turks." Under his authoritarian leadership, the country adopted wide-ranging social, legal, and political reforms. After a period of one-party rule, an experiment with multi-party politics led to the 1950 election victory of the opposition Democratic Party and the peaceful transfer of power. Since then, Turkish political parties have multiplied, but democracy has been fractured by periods of instability and intermittent military coups (1960, 1971, 1980), which in each case eventually resulted in a return of political power to civilians. In 1997, the military again helped engineer the ouster - popularly dubbed a "post-modern coup" - of the then Islamic-oriented government. Turkey intervened militarily on Cyprus in 1974 to prevent a Greek takeover of the island and has since acted as patron state to the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus," which only Turkey recognizes. A separatist insurgency begun in 1984 by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) - now known as the People's Congress of Kurdistan or Kongra-Gel (KGK) - has dominated the Turkish military's attention and claimed more than 30,000 lives, but after the capture of the group's leader in 1999, the insurgents largely withdrew from Turkey, mainly to northern Iraq. In 2004, KGK announced an end to its ceasefire and attacks attributed to the KGK increased. Turkey joined the UN in 1945 and in 1952 it became a member of NATO. In 1964, Turkey became an associate member of the European Community; over the past decade, it has undertaken many reforms to strengthen its democracy and economy, enabling it to begin accession membership talks with the European Union. To be updated

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By Bernii
July 5th 2006

I Love This Town

Middle East » Turkey » Aegean » Ayvalik

Now, I know that I only updated my blog a couple of days ago and not that all that much has happened but what the heck. OK, from having having a gale force head wind I rounded the corner at Edmerit and had a gale force tail wind. Normally I would consider this a boon and, ofcourse I much prefer a tail wind to a head wind any ol' day, but it still makes cycling on a dual carriageway kind of tough. Especially with the truck traffic that goes past and being caught up in their wind tunnels... But, I almost [View Full Entry]

By Kaanosaurus
July 5th 2006

Traveling with an Infant

Middle East » Turkey » Aegean » Pamukkale

At the Munich Airport
At this point (before the trip), plane travel is still fun

Kaan is one well-traveled 7-month-old. He has traveled by plane, train, tram, car, bus, ferry, metro, pram, and bicycle. A lot of people stop traveling once they have children... or they find a babysitter. We take Kaan with us. It's not always easy, we admit, but we live in a foreign country and at the very least must visit our parents. Now, of course we realize every baby is different, but here are our experiences with Kaan. Some of them might be universal... Forget about schedules Once a baby is a few months old, it may actually have some sort of [View Full Entry]

By tumbleweed
July 5th 2006

Ayvalik

Middle East » Turkey » Marmara

Our Room
Amazing, wot?

After days of travelling around cities, both Hannah and I decided that we needed to get to the coast. We'd neglected the Black Sea Coast, so we picked a place recommended by the Rough Guide : Ayvalik: which was supposed to have preserved its original charm as a fishing village. We got the overnight bus from Otogar (45lira), and thanks to the wonders of modern medicine ( ie Dramamine) I slept the whole way! Don't think Hannah found it as easy tho. We got in around 10 am ( We'd been told the journey would take 8 hours..yeah right!) And trudged [View Full Entry]

By Bernii
July 3rd 2006

3 in 4 Days

Middle East » Turkey

What does this mean? This means that I have managed to have not 1, not 2 but 3 flat tyres in the space of 4 days! I've already written about the one in Eceabat so won't bore you with the details yet again but was a bit naughty and didn't fix the spare that I had when I should have. Now there's a lesson to be learned. Anyways, the following morning, after noticing my back tyre had a bulge that I could not only see but feel when I rode I thought I should heed this as a warning to do [View Full Entry]

By JLane
July 2nd 2006

My life...My town

Middle East » Turkey

Hello from Anatolia. Gumushane that is. I am well. Very well. I have lived here in this mountain town for a month now. This is a town about the size of Durango. But it has the feel of one the size of Telluride. Situated in a deep mountain valley, Gumushane is guarded by the three mountains that loom over it. The days are mostly sunny with the high temps in the 70s and 40s at night. Sometimes, afternoon storms rise and give moisture, cooling off the hill sides. Turkish life here is at its most purest and safest. The Muslim peoples [View Full Entry]

By tumbleweed
July 2nd 2006

Istanbul : Topkapi Palace

Middle East » Turkey » Marmara » Istanbul

Entrance to Topkapi

This was day 2. We decided to head early in the morning to the Topkapi Palace to try and beat the crowds. This was the Ottoman administrative centre until the building of the Dolmabahce Palace. It was a complex of 4 courtyards. When we got there at around 9 am, there was a HUGE group of people with rather dreadful orange tops....they were a Malaysian bank group! Got a little Malaysian chat on the way, before getting into the Palace The security was really tight. Bags were X-rayed, and then we were in. We rushed to the Harem, and bought tickets [View Full Entry]

By Cubpants
July 1st 2006

Kalkan, Turkey

Middle East » Turkey » Mediterranean » Antalya

Kalkan Harbour

Dad and Cheryl had arrived a few weeks earlier and after spending they're first week looking around London, they did a 14 day European Highlights tour which although was very busy they thoroughly enjoyed. After having a few days rest in London they were off again to Istanbul for a few days while Liani and I headed off to the small fishing village of Kalkan where the four of us were going to spend a week tanning in the sun and swimming in the beautiful mediterranian sea. We were recommended Kalkan as a less touristy option in Turkey and we weren't [View Full Entry]

View from resturant over main street in Kalkan

By tumbleweed
July 1st 2006

Istanbul

Middle East » Turkey » Marmara » Istanbul

Aya Sofya
St Sophia

We were finally in Istanbul! After a crazy bus journey, we managed to master the transport system and found our way to the Antique Hostel. Directly next to the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofya. Pretty good location! We arrived a little too early for the hostel tho, and had a bit of a wait before we could get a shower and check in. The first stop was Aya Sofya. We met Jeremy and John, ( their 3 star hotel was plush...lucky bastards!) The Church of St Sophia was built in 537AD ( a long long time ago), and for a period [View Full Entry]

By Meg and Ry and Heather
June 29th 2006

a long read

Middle East » Turkey » Mediterranean » Antalya

We thought we better add an entry as we have receıved a few worrıed emaıls. To all, we are just fıne but have been caught up ın travellıng and not wanted to spend much tıme ın ınternet cafe. Here ıt goes . . . Went to Santorını, Greece and had a great tıme. The road our hostel was on was always busy wıth World Cup actıon aka drınk specıals. Ryan and Meg rented a quad and saw the entıre ısland (mostly because of gettıng lost). We made ıt up to the top of the ısland and watched an amaz [View Full Entry]

By Bernii
June 28th 2006

The Kindness of Strangers

Middle East » Turkey

Wow, what a country! If the rest of my trip is like that experienced so far in Turkey my family can rest assured that I will be safe. I can only say good things about Turkey and her people and I hope it remains just so. Well, I feel like Bulgaria and the Balkans was another holiday ago. So different have I found Turkey. I feel only now that the holiday starting. Yay! Finally! The night bus from Burgas to Istanbul went without event. The distance between the two is not great but the bulk of the time was taken up [View Full Entry]

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Travel Blog » Middle East » Turkey