# The Chronicle of Türkiye: From Neolithic Çatalhöyük and the Hittites through Byzantium and the Ottomans to Atatürk's republic. History of Türkiye: From Neolithic Çatalhöyük and the Hittites through Byzantium and the Ottomans to Atatürk's republic. 6 eras and 32 sourced events… Canonical: https://terralore.co/country/TUR/chronicle Updated: 2026-06-13 Founding: Proclamation of the Republic of Turkey — 29 October 1923. Modern Türkiye dates its political founding to 29 October 1923, when the Grand National Assembly in Ankara proclaimed the Republic of Turkey and elected Mustafa Kemal — later surnamed Atatürk, 'Father of the Turks' — as its first president. The republic rose on an Anatolian land of extraordinary depth: the Neolithic settlement of Çatalhöyük (occupied c. 7100–5700 BCE), the Hittite empire at Hattusa, and the city of Troy of Homer's Iliad. Greek and Roman Anatolia gave way to Byzantine Constantinople, the Christian imperial capital refounded by Constantine in 330 CE. After the Seljuk Turks broke Byzantine power at Manzikert in 1071, a frontier emirate founded around 1299 by Osman I grew into the Ottoman Empire, which took Constantinople in 1453 and endured until its collapse after the First World War. The land of modern Türkiye carries one of the world's deepest human pasts: the Neolithic town of Çatalhöyük, the Bronze Age Hittite empire centred on Hattusa, and the legendary city of Troy. Greek, Roman and then Byzantine Anatolia made Constantinople a Christian imperial capital for a thousand years, until the Seljuk victory at Manzikert (1071) opened the peninsula to Turkic settlement. From a frontier principality founded around 1299, the Ottoman dynasty rose to take Constantinople in 1453 and to rule a vast empire that peaked under Süleyman the Magnificent. The empire's long decline ended in the catastrophe of the First World War, the Armenian Genocide of 1915–16, and partition — out of which Mustafa Kemal Atatürk forged a national movement that won the War of Independence and proclaimed the Republic of Turkey on 29 October 1923. This file carries the chronicle's sourced event record — every event with its year, summary and source keys (resolved under References below). The full reading narrative lives on the canonical page. ## Ancient Anatolia: Çatalhöyük, the Hittites and Troy — c. 7100 BCE – c. 1180 BCE Anatolia holds some of humanity's earliest towns and one of the great Bronze Age empires, alongside the city immortalised by Homer. - c. 7100 BCE: **The Neolithic town of Çatalhöyük** — On the Konya plain, the streetless settlement of Çatalhöyük flourished for over a millennium (c. 7100–5700 BCE), one of the world's best-preserved Neolithic towns, with roof-access houses and elaborate wall art. [unesco-catalhoyuk, natgeo-catalhoyuk] - 17th century BCE: **Hattusa becomes the Hittite capital** — King Hattusilis I established Hattusa in north-central Anatolia as the capital of the Hittite kingdom, the seat of a Bronze Age empire that would rival Egypt. [whe-hittites, britannica-anatolia] - c. 1274 BCE: **Battle of Kadesh and the Hittite–Egyptian treaty** — The Hittites under Muwatalli II fought Ramesses II of Egypt at Kadesh; the conflict ended in one of history's earliest surviving peace treaties between the two empires. [whe-hittites, britannica-anatolia] - c. 13th century BCE: **Troy of the Iliad** — The fortified city at Hisarlık (Troy VI–VII) corresponds to the era of the Trojan War remembered in Homer's Iliad; the layered ruins were excavated from 1870 and inscribed by UNESCO in 1998. [unesco-troy, whe-troy] - c. 1180 BCE: **Bronze Age collapse** — Around 1200–1180 BCE the Hittite state and Hattusa were destroyed amid the wider collapse of eastern Mediterranean civilisations, ending Anatolia's first great imperial age. [whe-hittites, britannica-anatolia] Figures: - Suppiluliuma I (reigned c. 1344–1322 BCE) — Hittite great king (c. 1344–1322 BCE). Expanded the Hittite kingdom into a great power spanning much of Anatolia and the northern Levant, making it a rival of New Kingdom Egypt and Mitanni. ## Greek, Roman and Byzantine Anatolia — c. 1180 BCE – 1071 CE Greek colonists, then Roman and Byzantine emperors, made Anatolia a Hellenic and Christian heartland centred on Constantinople. - c. 547 BCE: **Fall of Lydia and Croesus** — The wealthy Lydian kingdom of western Anatolia, credited with pioneering coined money, fell to Cyrus the Great of Persia, bringing Anatolia under Persian rule. [britannica-anatolia] - 11 May 330 CE: **Constantine refounds Constantinople** — Constantine the Great dedicated the rebuilt city of Byzantium as Constantinople, a new Christian capital on the Bosporus that would anchor the Roman and then Byzantine state for over a millennium. [britannica-constantine, britannica-byzantine] - 537 CE: **Justinian completes the Hagia Sophia** — Emperor Justinian I inaugurated the great domed church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, the masterpiece of Byzantine architecture and for centuries the largest cathedral in the world. [britannica-byzantine] - 26 August 1071: **Battle of Manzikert** — The Seljuk sultan Alp Arslan defeated and captured the Byzantine emperor Romanos IV at Manzikert, breaking Byzantine control of the interior and opening Anatolia to Turkish settlement. [britannica-manzikert, whe-osman] Figures: - Justinian I (c. 482–565) — Byzantine emperor (527–565). Reconquered parts of the western Mediterranean, codified Roman law in the Corpus Juris Civilis, and built the Hagia Sophia, the high point of early Byzantine power. ## The Rise of the Seljuks and Ottomans — 1071 – 1453 Turkic peoples settled Anatolia, and from a small frontier emirate the Ottoman dynasty rose to take Constantinople. - c. 1077: **Sultanate of Rûm at Konya** — Seljuk Turks established the Sultanate of Rûm in Anatolia, with Konya as its centre, fostering a rich Islamic culture associated with the mystic poet Rumi. [britannica-ottoman, whe-osman] - c. 1299: **Foundation of the Ottoman emirate** — Osman I, leader of a frontier emirate in north-western Anatolia, is traditionally regarded as founder of the Ottoman dynasty around 1299, giving his name to the empire. [whe-osman, britannica-ottoman] - 15 June 1389: **Battle of Kosovo** — Ottoman forces under Murad I defeated a Serbian-led coalition at Kosovo, cementing Ottoman dominance in the Balkans even as Murad died on the field. [britannica-ottoman] - 28 July 1402: **Battle of Ankara and the Interregnum** — Timur (Tamerlane) crushed and captured Sultan Bayezid I at Ankara, plunging the Ottoman state into a decade of civil war before it recovered. [britannica-ottoman] - 29 May 1453: **Fall of Constantinople** — After a 53-day siege, Sultan Mehmed II captured Constantinople, ending the Byzantine Empire; the city became the Ottoman capital and Hagia Sophia was converted to a mosque. [britannica-constantinople, britannica-ottoman] Figures: - Osman I (c. 1258 – c. 1326) — Founder of the Ottoman dynasty. Leader of a Turkish frontier emirate in north-western Anatolia whose expansion around 1299 marks the traditional founding of the Ottoman state that bears his name. - Mehmed II ('the Conqueror') (1432–1481) — Ottoman sultan (1444–46; 1451–81). Captured Constantinople in 1453 at the age of 21, ending the Byzantine Empire and transforming the Ottoman state into an empire straddling Europe and Asia. ## The Ottoman Empire: Height and Decline — 1453 – 1914 Under Süleyman the Magnificent the empire reached its zenith, before centuries of contraction earned it the name 'the sick man of Europe'. - 1520–1566: **Reign of Süleyman the Magnificent** — Süleyman I presided over the Ottoman Empire at its territorial and cultural height, from Hungary to the Arab lands, codifying law and patronising the architecture of Sinan. [met-suleyman, britannica-ottoman] - 1529: **First Siege of Vienna** — Ottoman armies under Süleyman besieged Vienna, marking the high-water mark of Ottoman expansion into central Europe before withdrawing. [britannica-ottoman, met-suleyman] - 1699: **Treaty of Karlowitz** — After the failed 1683 siege of Vienna, the Treaty of Karlowitz ceded Hungary and other lands to the Habsburgs, the first major Ottoman territorial retreat in Europe. [britannica-ottoman] - 1839–1876: **The Tanzimat reforms** — A wave of modernising reforms reorganised Ottoman law, taxation, education and the military in an effort to halt the empire's decline and integrate its diverse subjects. [britannica-ottoman] - 1908: **Young Turk Revolution** — The Young Turk movement forced Sultan Abdülhamid II to restore the constitution, ushering in a turbulent constitutional era dominated by the Committee of Union and Progress. [britannica-ottoman, britannica-ataturk] - 18 October 1912: **Treaty of Ouchy ends the Italo-Turkish War** — Ottoman Libya went to Italy; the treaty provided for the evacuation of the Aegean islands Italy had occupied (including Rhodes), but its vagueness, the Balkan Wars and the First World War let Italy stay. Turkey renounced the islands to Italy at Lausanne (Article 15). [aeg-ouchy-1912, aeg-lausanne-1923] Figures: - Süleyman I ('the Magnificent') (1494–1566) — Ottoman sultan (1520–1566). Ruled the Ottoman Empire at its zenith, expanding into Hungary and the Arab world, reforming its laws as 'the Lawgiver', and presiding over a golden age of Ottoman art. - Mimar Sinan (c. 1490–1588) — Chief Ottoman architect. The greatest Ottoman architect, who designed hundreds of buildings including the Süleymaniye and Selimiye mosques, defining the classical Ottoman skyline. ## World War I, the Armenian Genocide and the War of Independence — 1914 – 1923 The empire's entry into the First World War brought the Armenian Genocide, defeat and partition — and then a national resistance that forged the republic. - 1915–1916: **The Armenian Genocide** — From 24 April 1915 the Ottoman government deported and massacred its Armenian population in death marches and killings across Anatolia and into the Syrian desert; most historians recognise these events as genocide, with deaths estimated from roughly 600,000 to 1.5 million. [ushmm-armenian, britannica-armenian] - 1915–1916: **Gallipoli campaign** — Ottoman forces repelled an Allied attempt to seize the Dardanelles; the defence brought the officer Mustafa Kemal to national prominence. [britannica-ataturk] - 10 August 1920: **Treaty of Sèvres** — The Allied treaty with the defeated Ottoman government proposed partitioning Anatolia among Greece, Armenia, Italy, France and others; rejected by the nationalists, it triggered the War of Independence. [britannica-ataturk, britannica-ottoman] - 1919–1922: **Turkish War of Independence** — Mustafa Kemal led a national resistance and a new Grand National Assembly in Ankara, defeating Greek, Armenian and French forces and ending the Allied occupation of Anatolia. [britannica-ataturk] - 24 July 1923: **Treaty of Lausanne** — Replacing the Treaty of Sèvres, the Lausanne treaty secured international recognition of Turkey's sovereignty and borders, the legal foundation of the modern state. [britannica-ataturk, britannica-ottoman] - 24 July 1923: **Lausanne draws the Aegean: Articles 12 to 16** — The treaty confirmed Greek sovereignty over Lemnos, Samothrace, Mytilene, Chios, Samos and Nikaria (with restrictions on fortification), kept Imbros and Tenedos Turkish, renounced the Dodecanese and Castellorizzo to Italy, and placed islands within three miles of the Anatolian coast under Turkish sovereignty. [aeg-lausanne-1923, aeg-mfa-tr] Figures: - Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938) — Leader of the national movement; first president of Turkey. Rose to fame at Gallipoli, then led the War of Independence and the Grand National Assembly, founding the Republic of Turkey in 1923 and serving as its first president and chief reformer. ## The Republic and Modern Türkiye — 1923 – present Atatürk's secular republic modernised radically, moved to multiparty democracy, joined NATO, and became a pivotal regional power. - 3 March 1924: **Abolition of the caliphate** — The Grand National Assembly abolished the Ottoman caliphate and separated religion from the state, a cornerstone of Atatürk's secular reforms; a new constitution followed in April 1924. [britannica-ataturk] - 1928: **The alphabet and language reforms** — Turkey replaced the Arabic script with a new Latin-based Turkish alphabet in 1928, part of reforms that sharply raised literacy and reoriented the nation toward Europe. [britannica-ataturk] - 1950: **First multiparty election** — The Democrat Party won a landslide in the 1950 election, ending nearly three decades of one-party rule and marking Turkey's first peaceful transfer of power. [britannica-democrat-party] - 1952: **Turkey joins NATO** — Turkey became a member of NATO in 1952, cementing its strategic alignment with the West throughout the Cold War. [britannica-ataturk] - June 2022: **Registered at the UN as 'Türkiye'** — At the government's request, the United Nations registered the country's official name as 'Türkiye' in June 2022, replacing 'Turkey' in international usage. [un-turkiye, britannica-turkey] - 25 December 1995-31 January 1996: **The Kardak/Imia crisis** — A Turkish cargo ship ran aground on two rocks between Kalymnos and the Bodrum peninsula; Turkey and Greece each claimed sovereignty, ships and special forces were deployed, and three Greek officers died in a helicopter crash on 31 January before US mediation restored the earlier situation. [aeg-mfa-gr, aeg-mfa-tr] Figures: - İsmet İnönü (1884–1973) — Second president of Turkey (1938–1950). Atatürk's chief lieutenant and successor, who led Turkey through the Second World War as a neutral and oversaw its transition to multiparty democracy in 1950. Machine-readable claims — every event above as an addressable claim ID (TL:TUR:event::) with its sources and a ready citation string: https://terralore.co/country/TUR/chronicle.claims.json ## References - [unesco-catalhoyuk] Neolithic Site of Çatalhöyük — UNESCO World Heritage Centre · https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1405/ - [unesco-troy] Archaeological Site of Troy — UNESCO World Heritage Centre · https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/849/ - [natgeo-catalhoyuk] Çatalhöyük, Turkey's Stone Age settlement — National Geographic · https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/history-magazine/article/early-agricultural-settlement-catalhoyuk-turkey - [whe-hittites] The Hittites — World History Encyclopedia · https://www.worldhistory.org/hittite/ - [whe-troy] Troy — World History Encyclopedia · https://www.worldhistory.org/troy/ - [whe-osman] Osman I — World History Encyclopedia · https://www.worldhistory.org/Osman_I/ - [britannica-anatolia] Anatolia — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/place/Anatolia - [britannica-constantine] Constantine I, Roman emperor — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/biography/Constantine-I-Roman-emperor - [britannica-byzantine] Byzantine Empire — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/place/Byzantine-Empire - [britannica-manzikert] Battle of Manzikert — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Manzikert - [britannica-ottoman] Ottoman Empire — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/place/Ottoman-Empire - [britannica-constantinople] Fall of Constantinople, 1453 — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/event/Fall-of-Constantinople-1453 - [met-suleyman] The Age of Süleyman 'the Magnificent' (r. 1520–1566) — The Metropolitan Museum of Art · https://www.metmuseum.org/essays/the-age-of-suleyman-the-magnificent-r-1520-1566 - [ushmm-armenian] The Armenian Genocide (1915–16): In Depth — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum · https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-armenian-genocide-1915-16-in-depth - [britannica-armenian] Armenian Genocide — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/event/Armenian-Genocide - [britannica-ataturk] Kemal Atatürk — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kemal-Ataturk - [britannica-democrat-party] Democrat Party (Turkey) — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/topic/Democrat-Party-political-party-Turkey - [britannica-turkey] Turkey — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/place/Turkey - [un-turkiye] Türkiye — Member States — United Nations · https://www.un.org/en/about-us/member-states/turkiye - [whe-ottoman-empire] Ottoman Empire — World History Encyclopedia · https://www.worldhistory.org/Ottoman_Empire/ - [nwe-osman-i] Osman I — New World Encyclopedia · https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Osman_I - [aeg-ouchy-1912] Treaty of Ouchy (Lausanne), 18 October 1912 — Wikipedia (pointer; replace with treaty text) · https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Lausanne_(1912) - [aeg-lausanne-1923] Treaty of Lausanne, Part I Political Clauses (Arts. 6, 12-16) — BYU WWI Document Archive · https://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Treaty_of_Lausanne - [aeg-mfa-gr] Issues of Greek-Turkish relations (Greek position) — Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs · https://www.mfa.gr/en/foreign-policy/foreign-policy-issues/issues-of-greek-turkish-relations/ - [aeg-mfa-tr] The Outstanding Aegean Issues; Background Note on Aegean Dispute (Turkish position) — Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Foreign Affairs · https://mfa.gov.tr/maritime-issues---aegean-sea---the-outstanding-aegean-issues.en.mfa Citation template: Terralore, "The Chronicle of Türkiye: From Neolithic Çatalhöyük and the Hittites through Byzantium and the Ottomans to Atatürk's republic.", terralore.co/country/TUR/chronicle, retrieved .