Merhaba! Turkey (Turkiye in Turkish) is a country located at a point where the 3 continents of the old world (Asia, Africa and Europe) are closest to each other and where Asia and Europe meet. Istanbul is the only city in the world build in two continents. Because of its geographical location, Anatolia has always been important throughout history and is the birthplace of many great civilizations. 97% of Turkey is located in Asia, but it is accepted more as a European country.
The Hittites and the Assyrian traders during the Bronze age
civilizations; the Phrygians and the Ionians of the Iron age; the Lydians; Alexander the
Great, King of Macedonia; the Roman conquest of Anatolia of what is called the Hellenistic
age; the spreading of Christianity throughout the Greco-Roman world with Paul, the
apostle, spending 2-3 years in Ephesus and Constantine the Great being the first Roman
emperor to adopt Christianity; the Byzantine Empire, one of the
longest-lasting empires in world history; and finally the Turks that began the Ottoman
Empire which brought Islam to Anatolia; were the various civilizations and events that
established and preceded what is now the Turkish Republic.
Turks, or Turkic people, are the principal descendants of large bands of nomads who roamed in the Altai Mountains (and thus are also called the Altaic peoples) in northern Mongolia and on the steppes of Central Asia during the early centuries of the Christian era. Physically, most of the Turkic people resemble the Mongols.
The original Central Asian Turkic nomads established their first great empire in the 6AD, a nomadic confederation called Gokturk meaning "Sky Turk". Shamanistic in religion and tribal in organization, Gokturks broke up in the 7C. The Eastern part of the confederation became assimilated with the Chinese civilization and gave rise to the Mongols. The Western part contracted and was ultimately influenced by the Islamic civilization of the Middle East.
The Uighur remained in northern Mongolia and the Kirgiz wandered in the steppes to the north. The Oguz Turks, called the Turkmen (Turkoman) in Europe, dominated the area between Mongolia and Transoxiania, where contacts with Moslem missionaries, merchants and warriors led to further assimilation. The Oguz Turks, under the leadership of Tugrul Bey and Cagri Bey, established the Great Seljuk Empire in 1040 AD. In 1071 Alparslan defeated the Byzantine emperor in the Battle of Manzikert which marked the beginning of the period of Turks and that of Islam in Anatolia.
The Turks were the first people who invaded Anatolia completely. The previous invading peoples captured only parts of Anatolia. Although Persians and Romans invaded completely, they kept it under their political control rather than settling. Turks came to Anatolia in migrations. Before coming they were Moslems and mixed with those of the local people who accepted being Moslem.
