Turk refers to a people that originated in the harsh north Central Asian steppes and moved mainly to the south and west for various reasons over the centuries. Similar to other nomads, the Turks were living in various tribes with similar customs, traditions, and beliefs. They interacted with Mongols, other nomadic peoples,the Chinese and the Persian-speaking people of south Central Asia. As they moved further west into Caucasia, Anatolia, and the Black Sea region, and as the Ottoman Empire expanded into the Balkans, they interacted with the Russians, other Slavs, the Arabs, the Greeks, the Armenians, the Bulgarians, the Macedons, the Albanians, the Serbs, the Croatians, the Bosnians and the Hungarians.

Turkish was influenced by the languages of all the countries the Turks interacted with. Arabic had a significant influence, as the Turks borrowed many words since they were introduced to Islam. However, Persian had the heaviest influence on Turkish, because Central Asia was a dual-language realm.Later, in the eighteenth century, as the Ottomans tried to reform themselves to catch up with the European powers, they borrowed many scientific and related words from Western languages, especially from French.

Turkic is generally used to characterize the five Central Asian countries that were formed after the collapse of the Soviet Union. These are: Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Azerbaijan. However, it also refers to the language, culture, and traditions of all people of Turkish origin. The area that roughly covers these five countries has been historically called Western Turkistan whereas Xinjiang, a province of China with a predominant Uighur population, has been referred to as Eastern Turkistan. Tajikistan is sometimes also grouped together with these Turkic countries; however, Tajiks are descendants of the Persian-speaking peoples of Transoxiana and hence are ethnically and linguistically more Persian than Turkic.

These three languages belong to the Oghuz Turkic family.

Historians believe that the Xiongnu, identified by the Chinese in third century BCE, are the precursors of the Turks: “The Xiongnu (Hongnu in Old Chinese, Xwn in Soghdian, probably Old Turkic Qun), also known as the Asiatic Huns, were one of the nomadic peoples of Ancient Central Asia. They are thought to have descended from various Turkic peoples known as Xianyun, Xunyu and Hongyu, yet all the knowledge we have come from Chinese sources written centuries later”

The first notable leader of the Xiongnu was Touman (Teoman). He fought not only the Chinese to the south, but also the Yuezhi people to the west

The Great Wall was completed around 215 .

After Modun invaded China, the Chinese Emperor Kao-ti, founder of the Han Dynasty, wanted to negotiate peace with Modun. In 198 BCE, Modun signed a peace treaty with China and was recognized as having equal status with the Chinese emperor. China had to send royal princesses and gifts such as silk and other textiles over the years to preserve peace. By 176 BCE, Modun had decimated the Yuezhi and declared himself the leader of all nomads. The Great Wall served as the border between the Xiongnu Empire to the north and the Chinese Middle Kingdom to the south.

By 59 BCE, Xiongnu divided into two and the northern half started moving further north and west, away from China. The southern Xiongnu settled in northern China, in the south of the Great Wall and were the defenders of China from attacks of people to the North for centuries.

The northern Xiongnu tribes were called the Huns.

They headed west, crossed the Don River, defeated the Alans, Ostrogoths and Visigoths Following that, the Huns invaded Pannonia and conquered Gepidae

Around 425 CE, the Huns were ruled by three brothers: Ruas, Mundzuk, and Oktar. Mundzuk’s sons Bleda and Attila took over power around 434. By 441, Attila had gotten rid of his brother and he declared war on the Eastern Roman Empire, the Byzantines. He conquered major cities south of the Danube River and came all the way down to Arcadiopolis (Luleburgaz). The Byzantium Empire was forced to make peace with the Huns, who exacted heavy terms -- including the surrender of most lands conquered by Attila.

Attila decided not to sack Rome at the request of the Bishop of Rome, Saint Leo the Great. However, Rome had to pay a large tribute and Attila married a Roman princess, Honoria. When Attila died in 453 CE, the European Hun Empire extended from north of the Caspian Sea to the Adriatic Sea. 

The Avar Turks started the first Turkish Empire with the Turkish name in it: The Kok Turk (Göktürk) Empire.

The first mention of Turks in the Chinese sources is by Tujue in the sixth century CE. Tujue is the Chinese transcription for the Mongolian word Turkut, plural of Turk, which literally means strong. These Turks, under the leadership of Bumin Khagan (Kaan /Kagan) and his brother Istemi Khagan from the Ashina clan, founded the Kok Turk Empire in the middle of the sixth century. Kok (Gök) had two meanings: blue- sky and east, implying that this was the Empire of the Turks of the East.

The Turks got to know Islam around the eighth century and became Muslims at an increasing rate by the eleventh century.

The Eastern Kok Turk Empire fell in 630. At the same time, the Western Kok Turk Empire continued its expansion south, all the way to southern Afghanistan. However, internal fighting escalated, and the Western Kok Turk Empire also fell to the Chinese in 659.

It took the Turks five decades of struggle to revive the Eastern Kok Turk Empire under Ilterish Kutlugh Khagan with his chief advisor Tonyukuk in 682.

The second Eastern Kok Turk Empire lasted until 744 when it collapsed due to infighting and by the emergence of another Turkic Empire, the Uighurs.

The Uighur Empire lasted almost a century and ended after long wars with the Tibetans and the Kyrgyz.

Another Turkic Empire was Khazar Khanate, which ruled North Caucasia, the Ukraine, and southern Russia in the Volga region around the Caspian Sea. It arose from the last Western Kok Turk Empire around the
640s. the Khazars defeated the Bulgarians in the Ukraine steppes and pushed them into the Balkans around 680.

The first Turkic leader who converted to Islam was Saltuq Bughra Khan and a majority of the population in his realm followed his decision. This led to the first Muslim Turkic empire.

In the Battle of Manzikert (Malazgirt) in 1071, Alp Arslan defeated the Byzantines and took Emperor Romanus Diogenes as prisoner. Alp Arslan later released the emperor, but the Byzantine Empire had lost control of most of Anatolia and the Turks could settle in Anatolia.

The Turkic peoples, especially the Oghuz tribes, moved westward. Many of them settled in Khorasan, Northwestern Iran, Mesopotamia, Transcaucasia, and Anatolia. This laid the foundations for the presentday Azeris of Azerbaijan and Iran, Turks of Turkey and Turkmens all over the Middle East, including Syria, Iran, and Iraq

Tamerlane, from the tribe Barlas, defeated and took the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I prisoner at the Battle of Ankara in 1402. Bayezid I died in captivity. This caused a real setback for the Ottomans

After the fall of the Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate , various Turk statelets were formed across Anatolia. One of these statelets was headed by Osman Beg at the northwest side of Anatolia bordering the remaining Byzantine lands surrounding its capital Constantinople. Osman Beg, and later his son Orhan Beg, took advantage of the weak position of the Byzantine state and enlarged their statelet by conquering almost all Byzantine land other than Constantinople (Istanbul) itself. Now a sizable state with a significant population and a loyal army getting ever stronger, the Ottomans were ready to expand both in Asia and Europe. One by one all the statelets in Anatolia fell to the Ottomans or pledged loyalty. The Ottoman Empire extended its territory and could not be stopped by the European countries.

It was the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by Mehmet II, the Conquerer.

The Ottoman navy under the command of Hayreddin Barbarossa was an important factor. One of its greates victories was the defeat of a large European fleet under the command of Andrea Doria in 1538.

Ottomans and Safavids fought intermittently for 150 years until the Peace Treaty of Qasr-i Shirin, which gave Yerevan to Iran in exchange for all present-day Iraq going to the Ottomans. Thus, the current borders of Turkey and Iraq with Iran were drawn in this treaty of 1639

The Ottoman territory included most of Southeast Europe; parts of Central Europe and Eastern Europe including the Caucasus; Western Asia including most of the Middle East; North Africa other than Morocco, and the Horn of Africa.

Losses outside Vienna (1683) and another loss at Zenta (1695) culminated in the Treaty of Karlowitz (1699), which was a major blow to the Ottoman Empire.

The Austrians invaded Serbia and forced the Ottomans to sign the Passarowitz Treaty in 1718, which confirmed and worsened the terms of the Karlowitz Treaty: Banat, Serbia and Little Wallachia were ceded to Austria.

The Ottomans , fighting against the Austrians and the Russians at the same time, signed peace treaties at Nis and Belgrade (1739) thanks to some military successes against the Austrians, strong alliances with Poland and Sweden, and an outbreak of plague devastating the Russian troops. This made it possible for them to reverse some of the losses of Passarowitz. Austria and Russia left the Ottomans alone for a while, since they had to deal with a new rising power: Prussia.

The moves of the European powers and the nationalistic aspirations of the peoples under Ottoman rule made the Empire gradually lose almost all the lands it held in Europe and Africa. They were either invaded, or they gained independence after first being recognized as sovereign states during the early nineteeth and twentieth century.

The First World War ()1914-1918) caused the Ottoman empire to lose control over the Middle East. The invasion of Anatolia and the occupation of Istanbul by the allied powers (United Kingdom, France, Italy) and later Greece, followed.

The Turks united under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) and won the War of Independence (1919-1922), The Republic of Turkey on October 29, 1923 was founded and Ataturk was elected as the first president.

Atatürk abolished the office of sultan in 1922 ,the caliphate, the post of Sheikh-ul-Islam and Islamic religious courts in 1924. That same year, the Unification of Education Law passed, and the Turkish Constitution was ratified, and two years later, in 1926, more civil and commercial changes were made in accord with popular Western ideals. To that end, the Swiss civil code and the Italian penal code were adopted. This included giving men and women equal rights in all circumstances apart from voting.

The women were given the right to vote in 1930.

It was founded in 1932.

There were six guiding principles: statism, republicanism, nationalism, populism, secularism, and reformism.

They were finalized when the Hatay region joined Turkey in 1939.

The multiparty system was introduced in 1946.

The first main parties were the Republican People’s Party, founded by Ataturk and led by Ismet Inonu, and the Democratic Party with Celal Bayar in charge of the opposition party.

Turkish democracy experienced military coups in 1960, 1971, and 1980. The Turkish Army took control of state affairs when there was a perceived threat on republican principles and /or peace and stability.

In 1974 a coup took place on the island of Cyprus that was backed by the Greeks. To provide security to the Cypriot Turks, the Turkish army landed the northern part of the island. A decade later, tensions increased between the Turks and Greeks. As a result, Cypriot Turks under the leadership of Rauf Denktash established the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus on November 15, 1983.

Turkey is attempting to join the European Union. It is a charter member of the United Nations and an early member of North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. It is also a founding member of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Group of 20 (G20).

Turkic languages are divided into three main groups: Turkish, Turkmen, and Azeri in the southwest; Tatar, Kazakh, Kirghiz, Karakalpak in the northwest; and Uighur and Uzbek in the east.

The language used in government offices and courts was Persian, so a non-Persian speaking Turk had to hire someone fluent in Persian for government business or representation in courts. Because of this, Mehmed Bey of Karaman declared Turkish as the official language in Konya and forbade other languages in 1277.

Ottomans had a rich literary tradition called the Divan style. Prominent examples were Leyla and Majnun of Fuzuli, and Husn-u Ask of Sheyh Galib.

Turkish Republican era poets include Ziya Osman Saba, Orhan Veli Kanik, Melih Cevdet Anday, Oktay Rifat Horozcu, Edip Cansever, Cemal Sureya, and Ece Ayhan.

They have been found near the Orkhon River in presentday Mongolia. These Orkhon inscriptions were carved on stone pillars and written in honor of two Kok Turk princes Kul Tegin and Bilge Khagan. They describe the origins of Turks, the great days of the Kok Turk Empire, the suffering after defeat by the Chinese and the struggle for independence under the two brothers.

These themes were: 

• The author should write to educate the people and affect social change. 
• Turkish needs to be cleansed of foreign words, especially those borrowed from Arabic and Persian

Ottoman architecture was based on Seljuk architecture, but it was also influenced by Persian, Byzantine, and Islamic architecture.

Topkapi Palace was built during Mehmet II’s reign, right after the conquest of Istanbul. The Ottoman Sultans lived there for four centuries until Abdulmecit I moved to Dolmabahce Palace in 1856.

Mimar Sinan was the chief architect during the reign of Suleiman I and Selim II and Ottoman architecture reached a peak with his work. Suleimaniye in Istanbul and Selimiye in Edirne are two great mosques built by Mimar Sinan. Another great example of his work is the Mehmet Pasha Sokolovic Bridge in present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Ottoman art included miniatures, illumination, calligraphy, bookbinding, and paper marbling. Beautiful miniatures were also painted on tiles.

Turks in ancient days used to watch horse races and games that involved shooting arrows at targets while riding horses. Over the centuries, guresh (upright wrestling) has been a popular sport and it is now the national sport in Turkey and Uzbekistan.

There were two types of education: Madrasas for Muslim boys according to Islamic tradition and the devshirme process for foreign boys in the Enderun school to serve the Sultan in the administration of the state.

Turks used to practice shamanism in Inner Asia with cultic elements which emphasized Tengri (God), Umay (Fertility Goddess), Yer (Earth), and Su (Water). They believed in heaven and hell. During the first millennium CE, some small groups of Turks converted to Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, or Zoroastrianism. Some Uighurs also converted to Manichaeism. However, as their westward movement accelerated in the tenth century CE, Turks became Muslims in large numbers and today Islam is the predominant religion in the Turkic world.

The Ottoman sultans were the Caliphs of the Islamic World, but they delegated religious decisions and regulations to the Office of the Sheik-ul-Islam

A common battle strategy was to pretend to lose and withdraw from the middle in an organized manner while surrounding the unaware enemy from all sides and destroying it. This has been called the “crescent tactic.”

They organized their armies in decimal units of 10, 100, and 1000. Each of these units was commanded by officers titled, respectively, “onbasi”, “yuzbasi”, and “binbasi”. A unit of 10,000 was called “tumen”. Chinese sources also mention that the Uighur Empire’s army had women warriors on horseback who were very skillful at archery. The Ottoman army corps included the Janissaries, the Cavalry, the Mehteran and the Akinci. Possessing one of the most powerful armies of its time, the Ottomans were ahead of most other countries in utilizing muskets and cannons while in military campaigns.

The Turkish military is still powerful. It is the tenth strongest in the world, with a significant budget and many active frontline personnel (around half a million). All male citizens of Turkey must serve in the army. Since 1945, the Turkish Army has taken part in several military campaigns and peace missions including the Korean War and the wars in Afghanistan, Bosnia, the Horn of Africa, Iraq, Somalia, and Syria.

Ali Kuscu was a mathematician, physicist and astronomer who came to Istanbul in 1470 from the Timurid Empire. He served Mehmed II and affected the transformation of the Ottoman scientific community despite an untimely death. Other important scientists were Ibrahim Efendi (astronomy), Hezarfen Ahmet Celebi (aviation), Piri Reis (geography) etc.

One the reasons was the printing press which came to the Ottoman Empire almost 250 years after its invention by Gutenberg in 1492. Ibrahim Muteferrika was the first one to publish a book in the Ottoman Empire in 1729 .

These were the capital cities Bursa, Edirne, and Istanbul and they were inhabited by many merchants and artisans.

After the 1980 coup Turgut Ozal instituted many reforms to open the economy. Letting the exchange rates float, encouraging exports and privatizing state-owned enterprises have resulted in an emerging economy with free markets.

The Turks invented not only yoğurt but also ayran. When the Tang Dynasty took over in China in the seventh century CE, ayran replaced tea as the official drink in northern Chinese courts. Yogurt is now consumed all over the world.

Some tribes, who are mainly Turkmen, never fully settled down. For example, the Yoruks in the Taurus Mountains of Turkey still live a semi-nomadic life.

They have many dishes in common: stuffed vine leaves, cabbage rolls, kazan kebab, laghman soup, manti, chorek, qutab on saj, shashlik (shish kebab), lavash and dimlama are some popular examples. Pairing fruits with meat is very common in Central Asia and it was well represented in the Ottoman palace cuisine, but unfortunately it is rarely seen in a regular Turkish kitchen.

One of Turkey’s main exports is hazelnut, and Turkey produces around 70 percent of the world’s supply.

They were called Tajik.

Touman (Teoman)

Touman's son Modun signed the Peace treaty with China. With the peace treaty Modun was recognized as having equal status with the Chinese emperor.

With the presence of the Great Wall, China wanted to keep the recent territory recently conquered and to advance further north and west. The great Wall also served as the border between the Xiongnu Empire to the north and the Chinese Middle Kingdom to the south

Turks were introduced to Islam around the eighth century.

Bumin Khagan

Severe snowstorms and frosts which resulted in famine along with the disputes in the Ashina clan conspired by the Tang Dynasty in China

Internal fighting caused the fall of both.

Ilterish Khagan was the founder of the second Eastern Kok Turk Empire and it lasted 62 years (682-744).

Unlike the Kok Turks, Uighurs built cities.

The Kyrgyz

The Khazar Khanate ruled North, the Ukraine, and the southern Russia in the Volga region around the Caspian Sea.

Saltuq Bughra Khan of Qarakhanids

Seljuks and Ghaznavid Empire

In addition to losing the Crimean Tatar Khanate, the Ottomans ahd to give Russians the authority to interfere in their internal affairs with the Christian Orthodox subjects of the empire.

on October 29, 1923

in 1922

in 1928

In 1939 with Hatay region joining Turkey

In the Enderun school the purpose was to educate foreign boys (devshirme) to serve the Sultan in the administration of the state.

in 1729