May 8, 2012
Updated on December 14, 2022
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption: Ankara has been the capital of Türkiye since 1923
Chronology of major events:
Ottoman Empire
1453 – Sultan Mehmed II captures Constantinople, ending the Byzantine Empire and uniting Asia Minor and the Balkans into the Ottoman Empire.
15th and 16th centuries – The Ottoman Empire expands into Asia and Africa.
1683 – The Ottoman Empire’s expansion into Europe is halted by the Battle of Vienna. A long decline begins.
19th century – Efforts to political and economic modernization of the empire were primarily founded.
1908 – A constitutional government is established by the Young Turk Revolution, but during World War I it transforms into a military dictatorship, and the Ottoman Empire fights in alliance with Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
1918-1922 – The defeat and dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire leads to the final victory of the Turkish national movement in its war of independence against foreign occupation and the rule of the Sultanate.
modern Türkiye
1923 – The Grand National Assembly declares Turkey a republic and Kemal Atatürk becomes president.
1928 – Turkey becomes secular: the clause retaining Islam as the state religion is removed from the constitution.
1938 – President Ataturk dies and is succeeded by Ismet Inonu.
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1950 – The opposition Democratic Party wins the first free election.
Military coup
1952 – Turkey abandons Atatürk’s policy of neutrality and joins NATO.
1960 – Military coup against the ruling Democratic Party.
1963 – Signed an association agreement with the European Economic Community (EEC) (currently the EU).
1974 – Turkish forces invade Northern Cyprus.
1980 – Political deadlock and civil war followed by a military coup. Invocation of martial law.
1983 – Turgut Özal’s Fatherland Party wins the general elections.
Kurdish War
1984 – The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) begins a separatist guerilla war in the southeast.
1987 – Turkey applies for full membership in the EEC.
1992 – 20,000 Turkish troops invade Kurdish camps in Iraq in an anti-PKK operation.
The rise of political Islam
1996 – The centre-right coalition collapses. Welfare Party leader Necmettin Erbakan leads the first pro-Islamic government since 1922.
1997 – After a military-led military operation, the coalition withdraws.
1998 – Welfare Party is banned.
1999 – PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan is arrested in Kenya.
June 2001 – The Constitutional Court bans the pro-Islamic opposition Virtue Party, finding it to be a centre of anti-secular activity.
January 2002 – Turkish men are no longer considered heads of families in legal terms. 66 years after women’s rights were enshrined in law, the move gives women full legal equality with men.
Islamist party wins
November 2002 – The Islamist-based Justice and Development Party (AK) wins an overwhelming victory in the election. The party is committed to upholding the secularist principles of the constitution.
March 2003 – Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leader of the Justice and Development Party, wins seats in parliament. Within days, Abdullah Gul resigns as prime minister and is replaced by Erdogan.
Congress has decided not to allow the deployment of U.S. troops ahead of the Iraq war, but to allow the U.S. to use Turkish airspace. Authorizes the deployment of Turkish troops to the Kurdish region of northern Iraq.
June-July 2003 – With an eye on future EU membership, parliament passes laws easing restrictions on freedom of speech, Kurdish language rights and reducing the military’s political role.
istanbul attack
November 2003 – Two car bombs explode near Istanbul’s main synagogue, killing 25 people and wounding more than 200. A few days later, two coordinated suicide bombings occur at the British Consulate and a British bank in the city, killing 28 people.
January 2005 – A new lira currency is introduced, removing the six zeros from the old lira, ending an era when banknotes were denominated in millions.
September 30, 2006 – Kurdish separatist group PKK declares a unilateral ceasefire of operations against the military.
December 2006 – The EU partially freezes Turkey’s accession negotiations due to Ankara’s failure to open its ports and airports to Cypriot traffic.
January 2007 – Hrant Dink, a journalist and leader of the Armenian community, is assassinated. The murder sparks outrage in Türkiye and Armenia.
secularist protest
April 2007 – Tens of thousands of secularist supporters hold a rally in Ankara, aiming to pressure Prime Minister Erdogan, who is of Muslim background, not to run in the presidential election.
July 2007 – AK Party wins parliamentary elections. Abdullah Gul was elected president the following month.
October 2007 – Voters in a national referendum support a plan to have a future president chosen by the people rather than by parliament.
February 2008 – Thousands protest plans to allow women to attend university wearing Islamic headscarves.
October 2009 – The Turkish and Armenian governments agree to normalize relations during talks in Switzerland.
May 2010 – Relations with Israel come under severe strain after nine Turkish activists are killed in a raid by Israeli special forces on an aid convoy attempting to reach Gaza.
2011 – The Syrian civil war breaks out. Turkey is home to more than 3.6 million Syrian refugees, making it the world’s largest refugee-hosting country.
May-June 2013 – Massive anti-government protests spread across several cities over plans to develop one of Istanbul’s few green spaces, leading to a violent police response that leaves two protesters dead.
December 2013 – The government dismisses a number of police chiefs for arresting prominent pro-government figures on corruption charges. Observers see this as part of a power struggle with Fethullah Gulen, an influential US-based Muslim cleric and former AK Party ally.
August 2014 – Prime Minister Erdogan wins the first direct presidential election.
March 2015 – The “Sledgehammer” coup plot trial collapses after a court acquits 236 military officers suspected of involvement in a plot to remove former Prime Minister Erdoğan from power in 2003.
June 2015 – The pro-Kurdish, left-wing Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) wins elections to parliament, stripping the ruling AK Party of its majority and undermining President Erdogan’s plans for a referendum on executive power.
Image source: Getty Images
Image caption: A ceasefire between the government and Kurdish rebels has collapsed, sparking new fighting in the southeast.
November 2015 – The ruling AK Party regains a majority in parliament in snap elections, but falls short of the number of seats needed to hold a referendum that would strengthen President Erdogan’s powers.
Turkey shoots down a Russian military plane on a bombing mission to Syria. Russia, Turkey’s second-largest trading partner, imposes economic sanctions.
The European Union struck a deal with Turkey to limit migrant flows into Europe in exchange for concessions in its stalled 3 billion euro ($3.17 billion) EU accession talks.
February 2016 – A bomb attack on a military convoy in the capital, Ankara, kills at least 38 people. The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK), a hardline breakaway faction of the PKK, claims responsibility for the attack.
June 2016 – Gun and suicide bomb attacks at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport kill 42 people, including 13 foreigners. Turkish authorities believe the attack was carried out by Islamic State.
Attempted coup
July 2016 – Authorities detain thousands of soldiers and judges for their alleged involvement in an attempted coup that Erdogan says was instigated by his exiled rival, Fethullah Gulen.
The government also shut down dozens of media outlets, including 16 television stations, in an ongoing crackdown following the coup attempt.
August 2016 – Turkish forces and the Syrian National Army occupy areas in northern Syria.
January 2017 – An Uzbek gunman kills 39 people celebrating the New Year at Istanbul’s Reina nightclub. Islamic State claimed to be behind the attack.
April 2017 – President Erdoğan narrowly wins a referendum on expanding his powers. Opposition parties have launched an appeal against the results.
January 2018 – Turkish forces launch Operation Olive Branch in northwestern Syria, capturing large areas from Kurdish control, including the town of Afrin.
June 2019 – President Erdoğan suffers a setback when the opposition CHP wins by a wide margin in the local Istanbul mayoral election. When the CHP narrowly won in March, he advocated for a new poll.
October 2019 – The US withdraws its troops from northern Syria, prompting Turkey to attack US Kurdish allies in the region.
November 2022 – Bomb attack in Istanbul kills 6 people and injures 81 others. Turkey blamed Kurdish separatists and launched airstrikes on about 500 locations in Syria and Iraq.
