Turkey:     Maps, History, Geography, Government, Culture, Facts, Guide & Travel/Holidays/Cities
Turkey Initially Resists the Fight Against ISIS but Changes Course
Geography
Turkey is at the northeast end of the Mediterranean Sea in southeast     Europe and southwest Asia. To the north is the Black Sea and to the west     is the Aegean Sea. Its neighbors are Greece and Bulgaria to the west,     Russia, Ukraine, and Romania to the north and northwest (through the Black     Sea), Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran to the east, and Syria and     Iraq to the south. The Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, and the Bosporus     divide the country. Turkey in Europe comprises an area about equal to the     state of Massachusetts. Turkey in Asia is about the size of Texas. Its     center is a treeless plateau rimmed by mountains.
Government
Republican parliamentary democracy.
History
Anatolia (Turkey in Asia) was occupied in about 1900 B.C. by the Indo-European Hittites and, after the     Hittite empire's collapse in 1200 B.C. , by     Phrygians and Lydians. The Persian Empire occupied the area in the 6th     century B.C. , giving way to the Roman Empire,     then later the Byzantine Empire. The Ottoman Turks first appeared in the     early 13th century, subjugating Turkish and Mongol bands pressing against     the eastern borders of Byzantium and making the Christian Balkan states     their vassals. They gradually spread through the Near East and Balkans,     capturing Constantinople in 1453 and storming the gates of Vienna two     centuries later. At its height, the Ottoman Empire stretched from the     Persian Gulf to western Algeria. Lasting for 600 years, the Ottoman Empire     was not only one of the most powerful empires in the history of the     Mediterranean region, but it generated a great cultural outpouring of     Islamic art, architecture, and literature.
After the reign of Sultan Süleyman I the Magnificent     (1494–1566), the Ottoman Empire began to decline politically,     administratively, and economically. By the 18th century, Russia was     seeking to establish itself as the protector of Christians in Turkey's     Balkan territories. Russian ambitions were checked by Britain and France     in the Crimean War (1854–1856), but the Russo-Turkish War     (1877–1878) gave Bulgaria virtual independence and Romania and     Serbia liberation from their nominal allegiance to the sultan. Turkish     weakness stimulated a revolt of young liberals known as the Young Turks in     1909. They forced Sultan Abdul Hamid to grant a constitution and install a     liberal government. However, reforms were no barrier to further defeats in     a war with Italy (1911–1912) and the Balkan Wars (1912–1913).     Turkey sided with Germany in World War I, and, as a result, lost territory     at the conclusion of the war.