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At the pinnacle of its power during the 16th and early 17th centuries, the Turkish Empire seemed invincible. It controlled huge swathes of Europe and Africa while its Asian reach encompassed northern Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, Oman and Yemen together with parts of Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.

Ottoman Empire
Under the respective rules of Sultan Selim and his successor Suleiman the Magnificent, the empire expanded over land and sea but in the centuries that followed, it suffered stagnation due to a series of ineffective rulers as well as European challenges to its military machine which had failed to keep up with technological advances.

By the end of the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire was in serious debt to European banks and was in its last throes following the Young Turk Revolution of 1908 caused by discontent in the army. The 1916 Arab Revolt was to drive a further nail in its coffin. Its defeat in World War I resulted in the Treaty of Sevres; a peace treaty signed in the famous Sevres porcelain factory that was instrumental in partitioning the Empire and creating new independent countries from its former territories.

The Turkish National Movement led by the military commander Mustafa Kemal Pasha waged a war of independence to annul the Treaty of Sevres and to oust the Allied Forces. Successful on both counts, the Treaty of Sevres was superseded by the Treaty of Lausanne whereby the Anatolian and East Thracian parts of the Ottoman Empire were returned to Turkey. As a result of the new treaty, the Republic of Turkey was officially recognized as the successor to the Ottoman Empire on October 29, 1923.

Mustafa Kemal
The Ottomans bequeathed an enduring legacy throughout the lands they occupied in terms of architecture, music, cuisine, science, technology and learning. But it was Mustafa Kemal ‘Ataturk’ who thrust Turkey kicking and screaming into the 20th century. Mustafa Kemal was born outside the city of Salonika to a Turkish family according to most reports, although, according to Time Magazine his father was Albanian and his mother Macedonian. His father, an officer in a militia, was called Ali Reza Effendi but the boy adopted the honorary surname Kemal given to him by his mathematics teacher, meaning “Perfection”. Following graduation from the War Academy in 1905, he played a role in the Young Turk Revolution that overthrew the last Ottoman Sultan.

As President of the new Republic of Turkey, Kemal analyzed the constitutions and institutions of thriving modern European states, which he selected and adapted according to Turkey’s needs. He began by designating Ankara as the country’s capital and rejecting totalitarian rule in favor of ‘direct government by the Assembly”.

Others of his reforms involved the separation of religion from government, taking education away from the religious madrassahs and introducing compulsory primary education for all children. In 1928, he tried to tackle the widespread problem of illiteracy by introducing a new and simple Turkish alphabet to replace Arabic script that was also taught to grown-ups in centers of learning and culture called People’s Houses.

Out of a desire to Europeanize his country, he banned the traditional fez in favor of Derby hats and prohibited the wearing of turbans and women’s veils. He also established Turkey’s first central bank, railway network and domestically-manufactured airplane the MMV-1. Although a military man, he based his foreign policy on the peaceful resolution of disputes and refrained from entering into military conflicts throughout his leadership.

It goes without saying that his reforms encountered opposition from those nostalgic for empire as well as conservatives but overall he was beloved by the people – and still is today. Every November 10 at 09.05 am, people pause for one minute to commemorate his death and any insult to his name is deemed illegal.

During World War II, Turkey remained neutral for the most part but it joined the Allies in 1945 to show good faith before joining the United Nations as a founder member. In 1947, its security was guaranteed by the United States in order to keep Soviet Union ambitions at bay. For the same reason, Turkey became a member of NATO in 1952 to help prevent the Soviets from setting-up military bases around the Mediterranean.

Turbulent decades
The 1960s, 70s and 80s were turbulent times for Turkey due to a number of military coups d'états as well as a Kurdish insurgency that robbed more than 40,000 of their lives. In 1974, Turkey capitalized on political divisions in Cyprus - which led to the overthrow of the President Archbishop Makarios by the Greek military - by invading the island and occupying 37 percent of its territory with the backing of the US and NATO. The United Nations objected to the subsequent establishment of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus that splits the island in two and which is officially recognized by no other nation.

In 1980, the government was toppled by a military coup that extended Martial Law to 20 of Turkey’s 67 provinces. Within two years, the army handed over power to a civilian government led by Turgut Ozal which set about re-energizing the flagging economy. Subsequent to a long period of political instability and economic woes following Ozal’s departure, in 1997, the Turkish military forced the then Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan to resign. His government was superseded by a coalition formed between the Virtue Party and the Democratic Left Party, which worked to bring Turkey into the European Economic Union (EU). 

EU bid
Turkey’s application to join the EU was made on April 14, 1987 but Ankara had to wait until December 1999 before it was officially accepted. Negotiations began in 2005 but the earliest date for membership is 2013 provided it is found to be compliant with all 35 chapters of the body of EU law.

Those championing Turkey’s accession highlight Turkey’s strategic location, its flourishing economy and its military force. Others, such as Austria and France are hold-outs. France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy has said Turkey has no place in Europe while Austria wants to keep Europe ‘a Christian club’. Although Turkey has endeavored to comply with the EU’s entry conditions and is economically viable, its chances are dim. The result is Turks are now divided on whether to pursue membership while, according to a 2009 poll, 32 percent of Turkey’ citizens hold negative views of the EU.

It is likely that ‘Old Europe’s’ seeming reluctance to open the EU’s doors to Turkey has persuaded it to seek new powerful friends. This dramatic change of course began on March 14, 2003 when Recep Tayyip Erdogan Chairman of the Justice and Development Party was sworn-in as Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Erdogan
The son of an observant Muslim coast guard, Erdogan once sold lemonade and sesame buns on the streets of a rough area of Istanbul to make ends meet. He later graduated in business administration and became a semi-professional football player before being elected Mayor of Istanbul. During his premiership, he has walked a tightrope between his pro-Islamic sentiments and the military that has sworn to maintain Turkey’s secular nature.

Foreign policy  
On the foreign policy front he has cemented ties with the US while voicing strong objections to the invasion of Iraq when Washington was barred from using Turkish airspace to attack that country. The US strongly supports Turkey’s EU bid and lobbies European countries on Ankara’s behalf.

The Armenian issue – which the White House refers to as ‘genocide’ - remains a point of contention between the two countries while within the US there are influential voices criticizing Erdogan for reorienting Turkey’s foreign policy on an Islamic axis.

Turkey’s growing relationship with Iran is a cause for concern in Washington too. Last year, witnessed several high profile exchanges between Iran and Turkey when opportunities to increase cooperation were discussed. Turkey’s recent role in cementing a uranium-swap agreement between Iran and Brazil, designed to thwart a new round of US-led UNSC sanctions will be seen as a slap in Uncle Sam’s face.

Erdogan has been successful in normalizing ties with Turkey’s traditional foe Greece and has reconciled his country’s relations with Armenia. In 2004, he hosted the Syrian President Bashar Al Assad representing the first official visit to Turkey by a Syrian leader in 57 years, while in March last year, he became the first Turkish head-of-state to visit Iraq in 33 years.

Turkey’s once fragile relationship with Russia is also on an unprecedented high. May 2010 saw a mutual lifting of visa requirements and the signing of a multi-billion dollar nuclear power plant deal.

Waning relations with Israel
However, Turkish-Israel relations have suffered a turn for the worse. Turkey was the first predominantly Muslim state to recognize the Jewish state and both countries enjoyed cordial relations until comparatively recently when Israel attacked a Turkish aid ship on the high seas killing eight Turkish peace activists and one American of Turkish origin. They were particularly strained by Israel’s Operation Cast Lead in Gaza which Erdogan called “a crime against humanity” while at the 2009 Davos Forum, Erdogan publicly clashed and wagged his finger at the Israeli President Shimon Peres for defending Israel’s crimes.

The diplomatic atmosphere was subsequently worsened by a series on Turkish state television depicting Israelis mistreating Palestinians and a 2010 Turkish soap opera on the kidnapping of Turkish babies by the Mossad that triggered the Turkish Ambassador to Israel being humiliated by Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister while television cameras were rolling.

Flourishing economy
If Europe doesn’t act swiftly to bring Turkey into the EU fold, the day may come when Ankara says ‘no thanks’ and means it. While European economies have been contracting, Turkey’s has expanded by reaching out to new markets. With an economy enjoying a 5.1 percent annual growth - according to a report by Price Waterhouse - Turkey is set to triple its national income by 2050 when its economy will match Italy’s and its GDP will exceed Germany’s.