Since the founding of the republic in 1923 as the successor state to the Ottoman Empire, Turkey has been secular and Kemalist in orientation. The country's founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, initiated a modernization of Turkey through social and legal reforms modelled on various European nation states.
The current President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been at the helm of the country since 2003. Since around 2012, he has led the country in an increasingly authoritarian manner. Freedom of expression and freedom of the press in particular are considered to be severely restricted. The currency and debt crisis triggered by its economic policies as well as high inflation have continued since 2018, which makes Turkey quite attractive from a tourist perspective.
The culture of today's Turkey is a fusion of the ancient Turkish nomadic culture of Central Asia and Siberia, the Greco-Roman era, the culture in the Ottoman Empire with its Byzantine, Persian, Arabic, Caucasian, Armenian and Kurdish influences, as well as the strong European direction since the founding of the Republic Ataturk. The cultural centre of the country is the metropolis of Istanbul.
With the political changes, the content of Turkish literature also changed. Early representatives include Fakir Baykurt, Sabahattin Ali, Sait Faik Abasıyanık and Yaşar Kemal, who put ordinary people at the centre of their work. With the turn to describing living conditions, social and political criticism of the state is inevitable. The state reacts with censorship and political violence. Authors like Nâzım Hikmet, Yaşar Kemal and Aziz Nesin spend many years in Turkish prisons because of the persecution of their publications. Kemal therefore referred to the prison as a “school of Turkish literature”.
Turkish cuisine has also influenced Greek and the rest of the Balkan cuisine - including etymology. For example, tzaziki comes from the Turkish cacık, and Ćevapčići comes from kabapcik. Yogurt also comes from Turkish Yoğurt. Doner kebab is made from beef, veal or poultry. In Turkey, but also in other countries, the kebab is also served on a plate.
We were driving on the highway from Istanbul towards Ankara about 15 kilometres after passing Izmit, when we have seen the Sapanca Lake in all its beauty, shimmering blue, on the left.
A Journey to Turkey means a journey into the history, culture, trade and pleasure. You can remember about this admiring souvenirs worth bringing from Turkey by anyone who will go to this country.
Ongoing excavations at the Heraion-Teikhos ancient city in the western province of Tekirdağ have unearthed a temple at the city's acropolis. The temple, belonging to the ancient Thracian civilization, was thought to have disappeared in a fire that occurred in 2 BC.
The picture-perfect bay of Tekirdağ is framed by high mountains, which gave the city its name: Tekir Dağı, in ancient times the mountain Combos. The city was already mentioned by Herodotus.
The establishment of a new museum in an old warehouse with the permanent exhibition on the history of the resettlement of Turks and Greeks from 1922-24 prompted us to visit the city of Çatalca in Thrace, about 50 minutes by car from Istanbul on the European side.
At the foot of the new Galata Bridge, numerous fisherman stand in a line along the shore - sometimes with a small piece of iron wire instead of a fishing rod.
In the very north-east of Turkey is the province of Ardahan with the provincial capital of the same name, which lies on the border with Georgia, has always played a special role in the border traffic between Transcaucasia and Eastern Anatolia.
Founded in 756 BC, Trabzon is considered a very old city in the ancient high culture of Asia Minor, making Trabzon even older than Rome. As important as Trabzon was at the time, the city was insignificant many centuries later and played little significant role in history.
Trabzon, known in Greek as Trapezous, is located in the north-east of Turkey and is the easternmost Turkish port city on the Black Sea. Today, as the Greek name suggests, Trabzon was a middle economic center and a transshipment point for the export of hazelnuts, tea and tobacco, and a place steeped in history.
Worth mentioning and worth visiting is the area around the city port of Ereğli, west of Zonguldag, even there mainly is heavy industry with iron and steel factories which have settled there.
Trabzon (old name was Trapezunt) is a Turkish town at the south coast of Black Sea. In 2000 about 975.137 inhabitants were registered.
The Hagia Sophia Church of Trabzon belongs to the Group of Cloister Churches and had been built at the time of Manuel, one of the most important kings of the Trabzon Empire of Kommenos (from 1238 - 1263).
The clock tower, built in 1427, is at the west side of the church.
Amasra is one of the most beautiful towns along the Black Sea coast. Poised on a peninsula split by two inlets, the site was first settled in the 12th century B.C. and named after the Persian Princess Amastris.
Sinop is a young city with a very old heritage that is losing its charm day by day. It is a city surrounded by beautiful beaches that are located on a long promontory. A suburb of Istanbul, gets into our mind.
Samsun is the largest city of the Black Sea region of Turkey, it is a city with an industry and commerce centre at the same time it possesses a saddening story. For hundreds of years this city has gone throughso much damage that when it is seen today it’s site is very plain and functional.
If you pass along the Black Sea coast road near Bolu, you will reach Abant Lake, which is called Abant Gölü in Turkish after approx. 34 kilometres southwest of Bolu.
Giresun, located in north-eastern Turkey on the Black Sea, is the capital and, with almost 90,000 inhabitants, the largest city in the Turkish province of the same name.
The history of the first settlement of the city of Amasya can be traced back to the Hittite peoples because they founded the first settlements here in the Pontic Mountains.
Rize is a town in the north-east of Turkey on the Black Sea at the foot of the Kackar Mountains, the most eastern and highest part of the Pontian Mountains. The border with Georgia is just 100 kilometres from here.
The city of Bayburt in North-eastern Anatolia can look back to a long and extremely varied history. As one of the cities on the old trade route "Silk Road", Bayburt was a prominent hub in history and thus occupiers and conquerors abounded.