The
Seljuks
The
Republic of Turkey, founded in 1923, has its roots in two historical
sources deep in the depths of the past. One of these resources
inherited by modern Turkey is the successful and shining history
of the Turks over a time frame of more than 4,000 years. The other
is the fact that Turks have been settled in Anatolia since the
11th century.
The Huns
The first Turkish tribe that is mentioned in history is the Huns.
Clear records about the Huns made their appearance in the 8th
century B.C. Chinese sources refer to the Huns as Hiung-nu and
in time, some of the Huns migrated to the West.
The Gokturks
Founded in 552 AD by Bumin Khan, the Gokturks engaged in widespread
diplomatic activity. The famed Orhun epitaphs from this period
are made up of the tombstone inscriptions of Tonyukuk (d.720),
Kültigin (d.731) and Bilge Kagan (d.734)
The Uygurs
The rule of the Göktürks was brought to an end in the year 745 by the Uygurs, who were of the same ethnic stock as themselves. In this manner all the Turks who had converged under the banner of the Göktürks were dispersed to that of the Uygurs that the agricultural basin where they lived became known as Turkistan. In the year 1229, the Mongols put an end to Uygur sovereignty; the Uygurs however, became their cultural and political mentors.
The Turks and Islam
Contacts between the Turks and Moslems commenced at the beginning
of the 8th century and some of the Turks began to favour Islam.
However the pro-Arab policies of the Omayads (661-750 A.D) restricted
these relations somewhat. Later, many Moslem Turks took office
in the Abbside government and because of this, great interest
in the Islamic world spread among the Turks beyond the River Ceyhun.
Commercial caravans also played a major role in the spread of
Islam into the steppes of Central Asia. The Turks became fully
Moslem by the 10th century, and this resulted in the achievement
to political unity. Following these developments, the first Moslem
Turkish state was formed by the Karahans.
The Karahans
The Karahans ruled between 990-1212 in Turkistan and Maveraünnehir.
The reign of the Karahans is especially significant from the point
of view of Turkish culture and art history. It is during this
period that mosques, schools, bridges and caravansarays were constructed
in the cities. Buhara and Samarkand became centres of learning.
In the period, the Turkish language found the means to develop.
Among the most important works of the period is Kutadgu Bilik
(translated as "The Knowledge That Gives Happiness")
written by Yusuf Has Hacib, between the years 1069-1070.
The Ghaznavids
The Ghaznavi state was formed in the year 963 by the Turkish ruler
Sevuktekin and is one of the first Moslem Turkish states and worked
relentlessly for the expansion of Islam in India. The Ghaznavids
finally collapsed in 1186 and were assimilated by the Oguz.
The Turkish scholar Ebu Reyhan el-Beyruni makes this period an
important one within Islamic cultural history and wrote the famed
work by the poet Firdevsi, the Þehname, was also written
in this period (A.D. 1009)
The
Seljuks
The Oðuz, who destroyed the Ghaznavid state, succeeded in
bringing Anatolia, Iraq, the southern part of the Caucasus, Azerbaijan
and the north of Iran under Turkish rule. The Oðuz had first
formed the Göktürk Empire in the 6th century; after
the expansion of Islam among the Turks, but among the Turks the
Oguz came to be called the Turkmens.
Tuðrul Bey and Çaðrý (Çakýr)
Bey were the grandsons of Seljuks whose name the Seljuks Dynasty
adopted. In their time they, and the Oðuz, known as the Seljuks
in history, subdued Horasan, defeated the Ghaznavid ruler Mesud
in Dandanakan Battle and established the Great Seljuk empire in
1040.
In 1071, Alp Arslan (1063-1072) fought the battle of Malazgirt
and having defeated the Byzantine Emperor's forces in this battle
opened the doors of Anatolia to the Moslem Turk.
The year 1071 is considered to be the beginning of the Turks and
that of Islam Anatolia. It is following this date that the Turks
fully conquered the whole of Anatolia and established the Anatolian
Seljuk state there as a part of the great Seljuk Empire.
The first schooling institutions, the Moslem theological medreses,
were formed in Anatolia during the time of Kýlýç
Arslan (1153-1192), one in Konya and the other in Aksaray. Following
the establishment of these two medreses the medreses of Sýrcalý
in Konya (1242-1243), Karatay (1251), Ýnce Minareli (1251-1253),
Atabekkiye (after 1251-1268), Gökmedrese in Sivas (1271),
Buruciye (1271-1272), Çifte Minareli (1271), and the Cacoglu
in Kirsehir (1272) were established.
The Seljuks also attributed much importance to the medical sciences
and in almost all their cities medical institutions called Darush-Shifa,
Darul-Afiye and Darus-Sihna and hospitals were set up. The main
medical treatment centres are the Gevher Nesibe in Kayseri (1205),
the Izzettin I Keykavus in Sivas (1217), the Torumtay in Amasya
(1266), the Muinuddin Pervane in Tokat (1275) and the Pervaneoglu
Ali in Kastamonu (1272).
Because of the Persian influence coming from Iran among the intellectuals,
the administrators, the men of arts and the traders, the Anatolian
Seljuk state became increasingly affected by Iranian culture and
language.
The Beyliks
The Period Principalities
Political unity in Anatolia was disrupted from the time of the
collapse of the Anatolia Seljuk State at the beginning of the
14th century (1308), when until the beginning of the 16th century
each of the regions in the country fell under the domination of
Beyliks (Principalities). Eventually, the Ottoman Principality
which destroyed all the other Principalities and restored political
unity in Anatolia, was established in the Eskiþehir, Bilecik
and Bursa areas.
On the other hand, the area in central Anatolia east of the Ankara-Aksaray
line as far as the area of Erzurum remained under the administration
of the Ilhani General Governor until 1336. The infighting in Ilhan
gave the principalities in Anatolia their complete independence.
In addition to this, new Turkish principalities were formed in
the localities previously under Ilhan occupation.
During the 14th century, the Turkomans, who made up the western
Turks, started to re-establish their previous political sovereignty
in the Islamic world.
Rapid developments in the Turkish language and culture took place
during the time of the Anatolia Principalities. In this period,
the Turkish language began to be used in the sciences and in literature,
and became the official language of the Principalities. New medreses
were established and progress was made in the medical sciences
during this period.
Gülþehri, Nesimi (d.1404) and ahmedi (1325-1412) are
the prominent Turkish language poets of the 15th century.
The Ottomans
The Ottoman Principality was founded by a Turkoman tribe living
on the Turkish-Byzantine border. The geographic location of the
principality and the weak state of the Byzantines combined to
make the Ottoman principality the strongest state within the Islamic
world by the 14th century.
When Fatih Sultah Mehmet II. conguered the Byzantine capital in
1453, the Ottoman state became the strongest of the time. The
tolerant approach taken by Fatih Sultan Mehmet II toward other
religions and to the adherents thereof became a tradition accepted
by his successors. Following the capture of Istanbul, the Orthodox
Church was freed from obedience to the Catholic Church and granted
its independence.
On the other hand, the technical superiority of the Ottoman army
began to be evident during the reign of Selim I. The Ottomans
has added, in addition to the major part of east Anatolia, the
lands considered holy in the Islamic world-Mecca and Medine and
their territories.
The brightest period of the Ottoman State was during the reign
of Sultan Suleyman (1520-1555) when the boundaries of the Empire
spread from the outskirts of Vienna to the Persian Gulf and from
the Crimea to an expanded north Africa as far as Ethiopia.
The Ottoman empire continued to acquire territory until the middle
of the 17th century. In 1683, it suffered its first major defeat
in the siege of Vienna.
As the losses of land and sought continued, the Ottoman Empire
sought salvation in a series of reform movements and established
education institutions taking after the western institutions which
had shown great developments after the Renaissance.
The declaration of the "Tanzimat" Reform movement in
1839 is considered a major link in the chain of modernization
events which had continued unabated since the beginning of the
17th century.
The Tanzimat Decree is considered to be a kind of constitution
which gave Turkey the means to enter road to contemporary civilization.
The principles inherent in the Tanzimat Reform Decree thereby
laid the basis for the constitutional regime of modern Turkey
and the realization of secularism.
Despite many internal problems and disturbances during the reign
of Abdülaziz (1861-1876) the effects of westernization in
society became even more evident. Namýk Kemal, Ziya Pasha,
Mustafa Fazýl Pasha and his friends published the newspaper
"Hürriyet" (Freedom) in London in the year 1864.
The literary themes of the newspaper later gave way to political
issues. Although it is because of these trends that the first
constitution was promulgated under the leadership of Mithat Pasha
in 1876, Sultan Abdülhamid II (1876-1909) used the Ottoman-Russian
war (1877-78) as an excuse to dissolve Parliament and effectively
put an end to this constitutional period. The Ottoman empire entered
the First World War in 1914 on the side of the allied powers.
The Ottoman State emerged defeated from the war, together with
its allies, and was compelled to sign the Mudrow Armistice on
October 30, 1918. Also among the terms of the armistice was a
provision that the cocupying powers might occupy areas deemed
to be of strategic importance; the powers started therefore to
occupy Anatolia on November 1, 1918 according to these terms.
On May 15, 1919, the Greeks occupied Ýzmir. A national
resistance movement commenced. In many areas of the country the
Society For Defence of Rights (Müdafaa-i Hukuk) started to
spring up, and the military arm of the society, called the Kuvayi
Milliye. Started to take action.
The resistance movement was, until Mustafa Kemal landed at Samsun, sporadic and disorganized; under his leadership the resistance became cohesive, its forces progressively turned into an organized army and the movement became a full scale war of independence.