Who is this guy Ataturk?

Turkey, the country, is older than history. Istanbul, the fourth largest city in the world, is situated at a very strategic location and over the millennium has had a fascinating and complicated history. The first human settlement here was in the Copper Age around 5500 BC. King Byzas founded Byzantion here in 667 BC. The city was besieged by Romans in 196 AD. It then served as the capital city of the Roman Empire [330-395 AD]. Then the centre of the Byzantine Empire [395-1204 and 1261-1453]. In 1453 the Ottoman Turks then took the city, known by then as Constantinople. The Ottoman Empire was at one time the most powerful in the world but started a slow decline in the late 16th century.

The Turks got involved late in WW I on the wrong side! They sided with Germany. The famous or infamous invasion of Gallipoli, masterminded by young Winston Churchill, was an Allied disaster. The Turkish defenders held the mainly Australian and New Zealand, with British and some Newfoundlanders to a deadly draw. They were forced to withdraw with terrible casualties.

As we all know the Allies 'won' the war and as a result the victors dismantled what was left of the Ottoman Empire. One of the Turkish Army leaders at that defeat was a man known as Mustafa Kemal. He eventually went by the name of Ataturk, and rose to power. In 1923 Ataturk made Turkey a Republic and basically brought Turkey out of it's dark past and made it the vibrant country it is today. Ataturk is highly revered in Turkey, and by many people in the world. He is literally the "George Washington" of Turkey. In spite of all that Ataturk did, the previous Sultans are still looked upon with great respect.

One of the miracles that he accomplished was to make Turkey a secular country. That of course means 'not of the church', in this case, Muslim. For example Iraq and Iran are non-secular, there is no separation of church and state. Turkey, because of it's location is a hot spot in the world. It's neighbours are Greece, Romania, Syria, Iraq and a couple of other small volatile countries.

Turkey is hoping to get into The European Union but there is some opposition because of it's large Muslim majority. It will be interesting to watch that situation.

That is today's lesson according to Dough

This morning's sail-in was a somewhat chilly event. We came into view of Istanbul around 9 AM with heavy overcast, light fog and a very cold wind blowing on the water.





As we sailed past all that is expected on the skyline of Istanbul, The Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, [really a complex of scores of buildings] and St. Sophia Church, any one of which are spectacular in their own right, it was bit too much to digest in one bite. Plus, a city of 15,000,000 people, with us only knowing one person there, Barbara...

E & O E [Errors and Omissions Excepted] Or is that expected?