Our Türkiye

The first settlements on the land where Türkiye lies were founded in the Palaeolithic by peoples such as the Aeolians, Dorians, Ionians, Thracians and Persians. With the rule of Alexander III came the Hellenistic period, followed by the Roman and Byzantine periods. When the Seljuks settled in Anatolia in the 11th century, the land began to become Turkish, and after the victory at the Battle of Manzikert (Malazgirt) in 1071, Byzantine dominance in Anatolia gave way to the Turks.

The Anatolian Seljuks, founded after the fall of the Great Seljuks, ruled the region until the Mongol invasion of 1243. After the invasion many small Turkish principalities (beyliks) arose in Anatolia. One of them, the Ottomans, became masters of Anatolia from the late 13th century. They went on to build a great empire with lands in Southeastern Europe, Western Asia and North Africa, becoming a major power in Eurasia and Africa. After the 17th century the Ottoman Empire entered a period of decline. The empire collapsed after its defeat in the First World War, and following the War of Independence against the occupying forces, the Republic of Türkiye was founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in 1923.