By Meine Tuerkei 
It would certainly not be an exaggeration to say that Anatolia is the same as Turkey. Although the economically important areas are located on the European continent, including the western part of Istanbul, they only make up 3 percent of the total area. Anatolia, on the other hand, has so much to offer both culturally and scenically: different coastal areas, impressive mountain landscapes, extensive plateaus crossed by rivers and cultural legacies that date back to 10,000 BC.
The endless expanses with river valleys and rugged mountains
Anatolia is large: from the western to the eastern end it is about 1600 km, from the Black Sea in the north to the Mediterranean in the south it is about 800 km. In terms of total area, Anatolia covers an area the size of Germany and France combined. However, the areas are generally sparsely populated or sometimes even deserted.
The landscape is characterized by predominantly unspoiled plateaus and rugged mountain ranges, through which fertile river valleys meander. While in the north the Pontic Alps, at more than 3,000 meters above sea level, cut off central Anatolia from the northern coast, in the south the Taurus Mountains, with equally high peaks, form a natural border.
In Eastern Anatolia in particular, numerous extinct volcanoes shape the landscape. The most famous of these is Ararat on the Iranian border, which at 5,137 meters is the highest mountain in Turkey. According to the holy books of the three Semitic religions, the prophet Noah is said to have been stranded on the mountain with his ark.
Human civilization began in Anatolia
Early in human history, approximately 10,000 years ago, people realized that the fertile fields of Anatolia were ideal for farming. It is therefore no coincidence that Stone Age people settled in the areas around the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. These alluvial plains are ideal for farming and livestock rearing.
It is thanks to this fact that Anatolia today resembles an open-air museum like no other region. The first Stone Age civilization known to man was founded as early as the 10th millennium BC. We are talking about the oldest cultural site in the world, called Göbekli Tepe, which was brought to light by a team of German archaeologists after years of excavation work.
In the so-called Çatalhöyük settlement, on a plateau on the very edge of Central Anatolia, thousands of people lived in the 7th millennium BC. Although there are similar settlements in Mesopotamia from the Neolithic period, which are even 1,000 years older, they are overshadowed by Çatalhöyük in terms of population and total area.
It was not until the 2nd millennium that the Hittite people laid claim to the Anatolian territories and rose to become a major power in the period that followed. Even the Egyptian Empire under the mighty Pharaoh Ramses II avoided confrontation with the Hittites and was forced to sign the oldest surviving peace treaty with them from 1274 BC. However, for reasons that are still unknown, the Hittite Empire collapsed and a kind of power vacuum subsequently developed in the entire region.
Cultures alternate
Around the 10th century BC, more and more Greek tribes settled in Anatolia, leading to the founding of several cities. As a result, a cultural heyday of unprecedented proportions occurred, which is reflected today in the numerous buildings from this period on display. The most famous of these include the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus and the Colossus of Rhodes, all of which are recognized as ancient wonders of the world.
After the reign of Alexander the Great, the Romans took power in the 2nd century and continued to carry on the ancient legacy. At the end of the ancient period, the only remaining empire was the Eastern Roman Empire of Byzantium with its capital Constantinople, which had to cope with major territorial losses in the east in the 7th century in the face of the then powerful Arabs, but successfully defended itself against invaders in the west. From the 11th century onwards, it was the nomads of Turkish origin who pushed inexorably from the east towards Anatolia. The Ottomans soon emerged from numerous Turkish tribes, who initially united all the others under themselves and finally stood at the gates of Constantinople in the 15th century, dealing the Byzantine Empire a fatal blow and realising the long-cherished dream of conquering such an important city.
The rule of the Ottomans
The Ottomans, once consisting of small tribes, developed into a Turkish-influenced empire, which, under the leadership of Sultan Mehmed the Second, conquered Constantinople in 1453.
By the end of the 17th century, the borders of the Ottoman Empire had exploded and extended far beyond what is now Turkey. The entire Balkans, Libya, Egypt, Algeria and the entire Middle East, including the Arabian Peninsula, were now part of the empire. However, the urge to conquer did not seem to have been satisfied and the Turks were standing at the gates of Vienna, ready to finally advance into Central Europe.
After the second attempt to conquer Vienna failed, the Ottomans were forced to accept more and more territorial losses. The tables had now turned, the empire was increasingly losing influence and was henceforth referred to as the sick man.
During the First World War, the Ottoman Empire allied itself with the Germans, which ultimately turned out to be a fatal mistake and ended with the unconditional surrender in 1918. The great powers England, France, Italy, including Greece, divided up most of the country among themselves and left the Turks only the Black Sea coast and parts of Anatolia.
The Resurrection of the Turks from Their Ashes
This time, however, fate was kind to the Turks and gave them an extraordinary commander and statesman, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. This military genius first united the scattered troops and then called upon the entire country to resist with its limited resources. In fact, he ultimately succeeded in rallying the Turkish people, young and old, around him and driving the occupiers out of the country in a previously unforeseen struggle for freedom.
After liberating the Turkish territories from enemies, he proclaimed the Turkish Republic in 1923, thus putting an end to the Ottoman Empire. Now the decadent and religiously oriented administrative system had to be adapted to the needs of the new century, following the modern Western model. Until his death in 1938, he banned religion from all areas of public life through numerous reforms, modernized the entire legal system, such as criminal law, following the European model, introduced Latin letters and modern units of measurement, and granted women the right to vote and to stand for election.
In addition, the closure of the madrasas, the strictly religious school system based only on Islamic teachings, and the language reform, which replaced words of Arabic origin with new, mostly Turkish ones, set the decline of Arab influence in Anatolia in motion. The Turkish Republic will soon celebrate its 100th anniversary and the modernization process is not yet complete, which is clearly evident in cities such as Konya, which are very Arab-Islamic. However, the vast majority of Turks will undoubtedly follow Atatürk’s ideas for all eternity.
