The Lonely Planet Guide to Turkey

Major Industries

Textiles, food processing, tourism, motor vehicles, mining, lumber, petroleum, construction

Trading Partners

Germany, USA, Italy, UK, France, Russia, Israel

Getting There and Away

There are plenty of ways to get into and out of Turkey by air, sea, rail and bus. There are international airports at İstanbul, Ankara, İzmir and some of the Mediterranean resorts. Turkish Airlines has direct flights from İstanbul to three dozen European cities and New York, as well as the Middle East, North Africa, Bangkok, Karachi, Singapore and Tokyo. Departure tax is about 12.00 but is normally included in the ticket price. By train, the daily Bosfor Ekspresi links Budapest, Bucharest, Belgrade and Sofia to İstanbul. Major European cities such as Frankfurt and Vienna are also well serviced by Turkish bus lines. The overnight Dostluk Ekspresi links İstanbul to Thessaloniki and is becoming a popular option with travellers.You can travel by train and bus to Syria and Iran, and by bus to Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Marmara Lines runs car ferries from Çeşme to Ancona and Brindisi from late March to late October. Private ferries run between Turkey's Aegean coast and the Greek islands.

Getting Around

Turkish Airlines links all major cities, including the busy İstanbul-Ankara corridor. Buses go everywhere in Turkey frequently, cheaply and usually comfortably. Trains have a hard time competing with long-distance buses for speed, but the sleeping-car trains linking İstanbul, İzmir and Ankara are good value. If you're driving around Turkey, you'll find mechanical services easy to find and relatively cheap but dealing with impatient drivers may be more of a problem.

Driving in cities should be avoided - traffic is terrible and parking difficult. Dolmuşes (shared taxis) are a good option for short trips. Car ferries can save you lots of driving - there's a useful hydrofoil from İstanbul to Yalova, for Bursa.

Pamukkale-Hierapolis

The tourist boom of the '80s and '90s had a detrimental effect on the site, as a line of hotels above the travertines drained away the waters, leaving the travertines dry, dull and dirtied. In a drastic attempt to preserve the site, all the hotels have been demolished and visitors can no longer bathe in the pools; however, the flow of water is still very slow, and it may be that the real culprits are the many swimming pools in the village below.

Long before Pamukkale was listed as a World Heritage site, the Romans recognised its appeal and built a large spa city, Hierapolis, to take advantage of the water's curative powers. These days, the extensive ruins of Hierapolis make Pamukkale well worth a visit, whether you paddle the ridges or not.

Safranbolu

During the 17th century, the main Ottoman trade route between Gerede and the Black Sea coast passed through Safranbolu, bringing commerce, prominence and money to the town. During the 18th and 19th centuries Safranbolu's wealthy inhabitants built mansions of sun-dried mud bricks, wood and stucco, while the larger population of prosperous artisans built less impressive but similarly sturdy homes. Safranbolu owes its fame to the large numbers of these dwellings that have survived.

The weather, too, can play a part in this unique experience: summer thunderstorms periodically close over the sunken valley like a heavy black lid, and you can watch the lightning-pierced darkness drawing on inch by inch until finally the light is gone and the rain bursts down onto the tiled roofs. Simply magic.

Troy

When amateur archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann started excavating Troy in 1871, the pants of classical studies boffins around the world became decidedly damp. Up to this time, the Iliad was assumed to be based on legend, but post-digs, Troy was revealed as the Homeric city of Ilium, site of an epic battle between the Achaeans (Greeks) and the Trojans in the 13th century BC. Excavations by Schliemann and others have revealed nine ancient cities, one on top of another, dating back to 3000 BC. Troy VI (1800-1275 BC) is the city of Priam and the one that engaged in the Trojan War.

For aficionados this is all amazing, but unless you have a keen appreciation of archaeology, you may find little of interest in Troy. Apart from a hokey replica of the Trojan horse, there's little to catch the amateur eye. That said, this is the site of one of the world's grandest tales, so soaking up the atmosphere should be just about enough.

Recently, Troy has become a popular destination for weekending school parties. Do yourself a favour and visit midweek.

Mt Ararat

Permit and guide are mandatory and you'll need to apply at least 45 days in advance. Several guides and hotel staff in Doğbayazıt claim they can get the permit in a couple of days. Don't believe them. It's much safer to follow the official procedure, even if you have to endure the excruciatingly slow-turning wheels of bureaucracy.

Despite the difficulties and costs, climbing Ararat is a fantastic experience. You'll be rewarded with stupendous views and stunning landscapes. The best months for climbing are July, August and September.

You can also do daily treks around the mountain. Provided you stay lower than the village of Eliköyü (2500m/8200ft), you won't have to go through as much official hoohah, but you still need permission from the local jandarma (police) - it's best to go with a local agent.

Ephesus

Of Turkey's hundreds of ancient cities and classical ruins, Ephesus is the grandest and best preserved. Indeed, it's the spunkiest classical city on the Mediterranean and the ideal place to get a feel for what life was like in Roman times.

In 356 BC the Temple of Cybele/Artemis was destroyed in a fire set by Herostratus, who claimed to have done it to get his 15 minutes of fame, proving that modern society has no monopoly on a perverted sense of celebrity. The Ephesians planned a grand new temple which, when finished, was recognised as one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

To avoid the heat of the day, come early in the morning or in the late afternoon, when it's less crowded. If you can, avoid public holidays all together. Bring water with you as drinks at the site are expensive.

Pre 20th Century History

Turkey's first known human inhabitants appeared in the Mediterranean region as early as 7500 BC, and the cycles of empire building, flexing, flailing and crumbling didn't take long to kick in. The first great civilisation was that of the Hittites, who worshipped a sun goddess and a storm god. The Hittites dominated Anatolia from the Middle Bronze Age (1900-1600 BC), clashing with Egypt under the great Ramses II and capturing Syria, but by the time Achaean Greeks attacked Troy in 1250 BC, the Hittite machine was creaking. A massive invasion of 'sea peoples' from Greek islands put untenable pressure on the Hittites and a jumble of smaller kingdoms played at border bending until Cyrus, emperor of Persia (550-530 BC) swept into Anatolia from the east. The Persians were booted out by Alexander the Great, who conquered the entire Middle East from Greece to India around 330 BC. After Alexander's death his generals squabbled over the spoils and civil war was the norm until the Galatians (Celts) established a capital at Ankara in 279 BC, bedding down comfortably with the Seleucid, Pontic, Pergamum and Armenian kingdoms.

Roman rule brought relative peace and prosperity for almost three centuries, providing perfect conditions for the spread of Christianity. The Roman Empire weakened from around 250 AD until Constantine reunited it in 324. He oversaw the building of a new capital, the great city which came to be called Constantinople. Justinian (527-65) brought the eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire to its greatest strength, reconquering Italy, the Balkans, Anatolia and North Africa, but five years after his death, Muhammed was born in Mecca and the scene was set for one of history's most astounding tales. Sixty years after Mohammed heard the voice of God, and 50 years after his ignominious flight from Mecca, the armies of Islam were threatening the walls of Constantinople (669-78), having conquered everything and everybody from there to Mecca, plus Persia and Egypt. The Islamic dynasties which emerged after Mohammed challenged the power and status of Byzantium from this time, but the Great Seljuk Turkish Empire of the 11th century was the first to rule what is now Turkey, Iran and Iraq. The Seljuks were shaken by the Crusades and overrun by Mongol hordes, but they hung onto power until the vigorous, ambitious Ottomans came along.

The Ottoman Empire began as the banding together of late 13th century Turkish warriors fleeing the Mongols. By 1453 the Ottomans under Mehmet the Conqueror were strong enough to take Constantinople. Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent (1520-66) oversaw the apogee of the empire: beautifying Constantinople, rebuilding Jerusalem and expanding the Ottomap to the gates of Vienna. But few of the sultans succeeding Süleyman were capable of great rule and the Ottoman Empire's long, celebrated decline had begun by 1585. By the 19th century, decay and misrule made ethnic nationalism very appealing. The subject peoples of the Ottoman Empire revolted, often with the direct encouragement and assistance of European powers. After bitter fighting in 1832, the Kingdom of Greece was formed; the Serbs, Bulgarians, Rumanians, Albanians, Armenians, Romanians and Arabs would all seek independence soon after.

Modern History

The European powers hovered vulture-like over the disintegrating empire, while within Turkey various disastrous attempts to revivify the country were undone by the unfortunate decision to side with Germany in WWI. In 1918, the victorious Allies set to carving up Turkey.

At this point Ottoman general Mustafa Kemal began to organise resistance, sure that a new government must seize the fate of Turkey for the Turkish people. When Greece invaded Smyrna and began pushing east, the Turks were shocked into action. The War of Independence lasted 1920-22, ending in a bitterly won Turkish victory and the abolition of the sultanate. Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk or Father Turk) undertook the job of completely remaking Turkish society. By the time he died in 1938, a constitution had been adopted, polygamy abolished and the fez, mark of Ottoman backwardness, prohibited. Islam ceased to be the official state religion, Constantinople became Istanbul and women obtained the right to vote. Atatürk remains a true hero in Turkey: his statue is everywhere and there are laws against defaming or insulting him.

Atatürk's successor, İsmet İnönü, managed a precarious neutrality in WWII, then oversaw Turkey through the transition to a true democracy. The opposition Democratic Party won the election in 1950. In 1960, and again in 1970, an overreaching Democratic Party was brought back into line by watchful army officers, who deemed the government's autocratic ways a violation of the constitution. In 1980 political infighting and civil unrest brought the country to a halt. Fringe groups caused havoc, supported on the one hand by the Soviet bloc and on the other by fanatical Muslim groups. In the centre, the two major political parties were deadlocked so badly that for months they couldn't elect a parliamentary president. The military stepped in again, to general relief, but at the price of strict control and some human rights abuses.

The head of the military government, General Kenan Evren, resigned his military commission and became Turkey's new president. Free elections in 1983 saw Turgut Özal's centre-right party take power and oversee a business boom which lasted through the 80s. Özal's untimely death in 1993 removed a powerful force from Turkish politics and set the scene for uncertainty: the rest of the decade saw unstable coalitions formed between unlikely bedfellows and resurgent support for the religious right. In early 1998, Turkey's Constitutional Court banned the Islamic-oriented Welfare Party, and along with it, previous PM Necmettin Erbakan. The Welfare Party was found to be working to undermine Turkey's secular democratic basis, but, ironically, the ban opened up the question of just how democratic Turkey really was.

In the 1990s Turkey suffered from an unhappy human rights record, a shaky economy and a destructive struggle with the Kurds. Turkey's sparsely populated eastern and southeastern regions are home to 6 million Kurds; 4 million Kurds live elsewhere throughout the country, more or less integrated into Turkish society.

Kurdish separatism is still one of Turkey's hottest issues. Ankara pursued a policy of assimilation following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire: officially there were no 'Kurds', only 'mountain Turks' and the Kurdish language and other overt signs of Kurdish life were outlawed. Marxist Kurdish guerrillas based in Syria, Iraq and Iran made hundreds of raids during the 1980s into southeastern Turkey, killing thousands of civilians. The Turkish crackdown and the incursion of thousands of fleeing Iraqi Kurds after the Gulf War in 1991 put the Kurdish question on the national (and international) agenda.

Recent History

In November 2001, the fledgling Islamic Justice and Development Party (AKP) won a landslide victory. Since then, under the popular prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey has been moving forward at great speed, concentrating on stabilising the economy and strengthening the country's bid to join the EU.

Accession talks began in October 2005 and are expected to continue for at least ten years. Progress was made when turkey agreed to recognise Cyprus as an EU member, but other political obstacles remain. Author Orhan Pamuk's trial for 'insulting Turkishness', has put the spotlight on the government's declared commitment to freedom of expression. Kurdish separatists are also causing problems as they launch cross-border raids from strongholds in northern Iraq.

A highly readable account of recent Turkish history.

An up-to-the-minute account of contemporary Turkish society and culture.

A witty inquiry into resurgent Islam and what it means to be a 'modern' Turk.

The most readable of the legion histories of the empire; Lord Kinross' Atatürk, the Rebirth of a Nation is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the formation of the republic.

If you want to know your old rocks inside-out, pick up a copy of this history.