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Dateline
ca. 10,000 B.C. Cave deposits in Antalya and surface discoveries around Ankara and Hatay regions suggest earliest cultures.
ca. 1940-1780 B.C. Assyrian merchants from Mesopotamia establish trading colonies in central and eastern Anatolia; Indo-European people arrive, assimilating with existing Assyrian colonies.
ca. 1750 B.C. Indo-Europeans conquer Hattusas, establishing the Old Hittite Kingdom.
ca. 1300 B.C. The battle of Kadesh between Muwattalis and Ramses II; both sides claim victory.
ca. 1284 B.C. Hattusilis III and Ramses II sign peace treaty.
ca. 1200 B.C. Invasion by the "Sea Peoples" destroys Hittite power in Anatolia; the Trojan War.
ca. 1200-700 B.C. Migration of Greeks to Aegean coastal regions; establishment of Phrygian, Ionian, Lycian, Lydian, Carian, and Urartu kingdoms.
ca. 546 B.C. Persian King Cyrus the Great conquers Croesus of Lydia.
ca. 499 B.C. Persians drive out the Greeks.
334 B.C. Alexander the Great drives Persians out of Anatolia.
323 B.C. Alexander dies; Generals Lysimachos and Seleucus divide the Anatolian Empire.
133 B.C. Attalus III dies, leaving Pergamum to Rome; Pergamum becomes the province of Asia with its capital at Ephesus.
40 B.C. Mark Antony and Cleopatra marry in Antioch.
A.D. 47-57 St. Paul establishes first Christian community in Antioch.
284 Diocletian reforms Roman administrative system.
313 Edict of Milan establishes official tolerance of Christianity.
330 Constantine establishes his capital at Byzantium, renaming it New Rome, then Constantinople.
476 Fall of the Roman Empire; Constantinople emerges as sole religious and cultural capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.
527 Justinian ascends the throne.
726 Leo III rejects the idea of icons.
1054 Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches split.
1071 Selçuks defeat Byzantine army at Malazgirt.
1204 Crusaders sack Constantinople.
1243 Mongol invasions destroy Selçuk power.
1261 Michael VIII Palaeologus reclaims Constantinople.
1326 Ottoman capital established at Bursa.
1453 Mehmet the Conqueror takes Constantinople.
1481 Reign of Bayezit II begins.
1492 Columbus discovers the New World.
1512 Reign of Selim I begins.
1517 Selim I captures Cairo and proclaims himself caliph.
1520 Reign of Süleyman begins.
1521 Süleyman captures Belgrade and takes Rhodes; releases surviving Knights of St. John.
1566 Reign of Selim II begins.
1570 Turks capture Cyprus.
1571 Turks defeated at battle of Lepanto.
1574 Reign of Murad III begins; Tunis is captured.
1622 Osman II assassinated by the Janissaries; Ahmed I restored to throne.
1687 Reign of Süleyman II begins.
1699 In the Treaty of Karlowitz, the Ottoman Empire relinquishes territory for the first time.
1711 Defeat of Peter the Great at Prut River.
1774 Reign of Abdülhamid I begins; Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca follows defeat by Catherine the Great.
1789 Reign of Selim II begins; education becomes obligatory.
1826 Janissary massacred and corps abolished; medical and military schools opened; and Tanzimat Reforms.
1839 Reign of Abdülmecid begins; establishes parliamentary system and laws.
1854 Britain and France support Ottomans against Russia in the Crimean War.
1856 Treaty of Paris; Ottoman Empire accepted as a European state.
1861 Reign of Abdülaziz begins.
1875-85 Loss of most European territories, Tunisia, Egypt, and East Rumalia.
1876 Reign of Abdülhamid II begins, establishes first constitution; then, frustrated with parliamentary gridlock, imposes an autocracy.
1878 The "Sick Man of Europe" progressively deteriorates; Britain occupies Cyprus.
1881 Mustafa Kemal born in Salonika.
1908 Coup d'état led by Young Turks; Abdülhamid is deposed.
ca. 1908-09 Mehmed V installed as lame duck sultan.
1914 Ottoman Empire enters World War I as ally of Germany.
1915 Under leadership of Mustafa Kemal, Turkish forces successfully repel Anzac forces at Battle of Gallipoli.
1918 Reign of Mehmed VI begins; Turks surrender; Allied forces enter Istanbul.
1919 Mustafa Kemal leads national resistance for sovereignty; occupational Greek army lands at Smyrna.
1920 Grand National Assembly created in Ankara with Mustafa Kemal as president.
1922 Greeks driven from Anatolia; sultanate abolished; Abdülmecid named as caliph only.
1923 Treaty of Lausanne, Mustafa Kemal establishes the modern Republic of Turkey; Kemal is elected president; Ankara replaces Istanbul as capital.
1924 Caliphate abolished.
1924-38 Mustafa Kemal Atatürk institutes programs of modernism, secularism, and reform.
1934 Voting rights established for women.
1938 Atatürk dies in Dolmabahçe Palace; Ismet Inönü becomes republic's second president.
1945 Turkey declares war on Germany.
1946 Turkey becomes charter member of United Nations.
1950 Inönü's Republican People's Party defeated in first free election. Adnan Menderes's Democratic Party takes over.
1952 Turkey joins NATO.
1960 Military coup overthrows Menderes, who is executed the following year.
1961 Army restores parliamentary government.
1964 Turkey granted associate member status in European Union.
1965 Demirel's Justice Party wins elections.
1971 Demirel resigns after army intervention.
1973 Republican People's Party wins elections; Bulent Ecevit becomes prime minister.
1974 Turkey sends troops to northern Cyprus.
1980 Military coup d'état; General Kenan Evren leads government.
1983 Turgut Özal elected prime minister.
1989 Özal elected president.
1991 Süleyman Demirel elected prime minister.
1993 Özal dies; Demirel becomes president; Tansu Çiller becomes Turkey's first female prime minister.
1996 Çiller steps down as prime minister.
1999 Bulent Ecevit elected prime minister again. Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan captured in Kenya, convicted of treason, and sentenced to death. Two major earthquakes rock northwestern Turkey in August and November, killing an estimated 18,000 people.
2000 Former prime minister Necmettin Erbakan sentenced to 1 year in prison for challenging Turkey's secular rule.
2002 Turkey lifts bans on education and broadcasting in Kurdish.
2002-3 and 2005 Turkish troops join Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.
2002-3 Justice and Development Party (AKP) wins landslide victory at the polls; prohibition against Recep Tayip Erdogan running for Parliament lifted; Abdullah Gül steps aside allowing Erdogan to assume post of prime minister.
2003 Terrorist bombing at Neve Shalom synagogue in Istanbul. Days later, the British Embassy and HSBC Bank are targeted. More than 250 are killed.
2004 Turkey abolishes death penalty.
2004 PKK announces end to ceasefire.
2005 E.U. accession talks officially launched but later put on hold because of Ankara's refusal to allow traffic from Cyprus into Turkish ports/airports.
2006 Ribbon cutting on new Baku Tblisi Ceyhan pipeline.
2007 Nomination (and subsequent election) of Abdullah Gül for president sparks outrage between secularists and Islamists and is met with official condemnation by the military.
2007 Tensions heat up on the border as Turkey threatens cross-border raids into northern Iraq in response to PKK attacks on Turkish military in the south of Turkey.
Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without
notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before
planning your trip.
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