History of Turkey Timeline

In the 6th century, 400 years after the collapse of northern Xiongnu power in Inner Asia, leadership of the Turkic peoples was taken over by the Göktürks. The Hun hordes of Attila, who invaded Europe in the 5th century AD, may have been Turkic descendants of the Xiongnu.

Image source: Göktürks

Towards the end of the 6th century, the Göktürk Khanate was split in two: the Eastern Turkic Khaganate and the Western Turkic Khaganate.

Image source: Eastern Turkic Khaganate

The Seljuq/Seljuk empire was founded by Tughril Beg (1016–1063) in 1037, beginning the era when parts of what is now Turkey were conquered by the Seljuq dynasty.

Image source: Seljuk Empire

The Ottoman beylik's first capital was located in Bursa in 1326, marking the rise of the Ottoman state in northwestern Anatolia.

Image source: Bursa

Edirne, which was conquered in 1361, became the next capital city of the expanding Ottoman beylik as it pushed into both Europe and Anatolia.

Image source: Edirne

In 1453, the Ottomans nearly completed the conquest of the Byzantine Empire by capturing its capital, Constantinople, during the reign of Mehmed II. The fall marked the end of the Byzantine Empire.

Image source: Fall of Constantinople

The Empire of Trebizond was conquered eight years after the fall of Constantinople, when its eponymous capital surrendered to Ottoman forces after being besieged in 1461.

Image source: Empire of Trebizond

The last Byzantine rump state, the Principality of Theodoro, was conquered by the Ottomans in 1475, ending the final remnant of the Byzantine world.

Image source: Principality of Theodoro

In the Indian Ocean, the Ottoman navy frequently confronted Portuguese fleets to defend its traditional monopoly over maritime trade routes between East Asia and Western Europe; these routes faced new competition with the Portuguese discovery of the Cape of Good Hope in 1488.

Image source: Cape of Good Hope

The Ottoman Empire continued expanding into Eastern Anatolia, Central Europe, the Caucasus, North and East Africa, the Mediterranean islands, Greater Syria, Mesopotamia, and the Arabian peninsula in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. Its power and prestige peaked in the 16th and 17th centuries, particularly during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent.

Image source: Suleiman the Magnificent

The Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699 marked the beginning of Ottoman territorial retreat: Austria received all of Hungary and Transylvania except the Banat; Venice obtained most of Dalmatia along with the Morea; Poland recovered Podolia.

Image source: Treaty of Karlowitz

Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Ottoman Empire continued losing its territories, including Greece, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and the Balkans in the 1912–1913 Balkan Wars. Anatolia remained multi-ethnic until the early 20th century.

Image source: Balkan Wars

The Ottoman Empire entered World War I (1914–1918) on the side of the Central Powers and was ultimately defeated.

Image source: Ottoman Empire in World War I

On October 30, 1918, the Armistice of Mudros was signed, followed by the imposition of the Treaty of Sèvres on August 10, 1920, by the Allied Powers, which was never ratified.

Image source: Armistice of Mudros

The Turkish Provisional Government in Ankara declared itself the legitimate government of the country on 23 April 1920 and started to formalize the legal transition from the old Ottoman system into the new Republican political system.

Image source: Government of the Grand National Assembly

The handling of the Chanak Crisis (September–October 1922) between the United Kingdom and the Ankara Government caused the collapse of David Lloyd George's Ministry on 19 October 1922 and political autonomy of Canada from the UK.

Image source: Chanak Crisis

In 1921–1923, the Armenian, Greek, French, and British armies had been expelled. The military advance and diplomatic success of the Ankara Government resulted in the signing of the Armistice of Mudanya on 11 October 1922.

Image source: Armistice of Mudanya

On 1 November 1922, the Turkish Parliament in Ankara formally abolished the sultanate, thus ending 623 years of monarchical Ottoman rule.

Image source: Abolition of the Ottoman sultanate

The Treaty of Lausanne of 24 July 1923, which superseded the Treaty of Sèvres, led to the international recognition of the sovereignty of the new Turkish state as the successor state of the Ottoman Empire.

Image source: Treaty of Lausanne

On 4 October 1923, the Allied occupation of Turkey ended with the withdrawal of the last Allied troops from Istanbul.

Image source: Occupation of Istanbul

The Turkish Republic was officially proclaimed on 29 October 1923 in Ankara, the country's new capital.

Image source: Turkey

The abolition of the caliphate followed on 3 March 1924. In the same year, Turkey abolished sharia, and in 1925 a clothing reform for men (the Hat Law) was enacted.

Image source: Abolition of the Caliphate

Atatürk's reforms caused discontent in some Kurdish and Zaza tribes, leading to the Sheikh Said rebellion in 1925 and later the Dersim rebellion in 1937.

Image source: Sheikh Said rebellion

In 1926, Swiss civil law—and thus monogamy with the equality of men and women—was adopted, so polygamy was banned, though gender equality was only partially achieved in everyday life. In the same year, the Arabic calendar was replaced by the Gregorian calendar and the metric system was introduced.

Image source: Turkish civil code (1926)

Secularisation was proclaimed in 1928, further embedding the principle of secularism in the young republic. In 1927, co-education had been introduced, and Islamic sectarian lodges were banned in 1925, followed by Masonic lodges in 1935.

Image source: Secularism in Turkey

With the Surname Law of 1934, the Turkish Parliament bestowed upon Kemal the honorific surname 'Atatürk' (Father Turk). The same year, the first five-year plan for industry came into force, following the law on industrial incentives passed in 1927.

Image source: Surname Law (Turkey)

Discontent with Atatürk's reforms among some Kurdish and Zaza tribes led to the Dersim rebellion in 1937, following the earlier Sheikh Said rebellion of 1925.

Image source: Dersim massacre

Turkey was neutral in World War II (1939–45) but signed a treaty with Britain in October 1939. An invasion was threatened in 1941 but did not happen, and Ankara refused German requests to allow troops to cross its borders into Syria or the USSR. Starting in 1942 the Allies provided military aid.

Image source: World War II by country

The Turkish leaders conferred with Roosevelt and Churchill at the Cairo Conference in November 1943 and promised to enter the war. By August 1944, with Germany nearing defeat, Turkey broke off relations, and in February 1945 it declared war on Germany and Japan, allowing Turkey to join the nascent United Nations.

Image source: Second Cairo Conference

The one-party period was followed by multi-party democracy after 1945, opening a new chapter in Turkish political life.

Image source: Multi-party period of the Republic of Turkey

Demands by the Soviet Union for military bases in the Turkish Straits prompted the United States to declare the Truman Doctrine in 1947, marking a turning point in Cold War alignments.

Image source: Truman Doctrine

After participating with the United Nations forces in the Korean War, Turkey joined NATO in 1952, becoming a bulwark against Soviet expansion into the Mediterranean.

Image source: Turkey in NATO

Turkish democracy was interrupted by military coups d'état in 1960, 1971 and 1980, each reshaping the country's political landscape.

Following a decade of intercommunal violence on Cyprus and the Greek military coup of July 1974, which overthrew President Makarios and installed Nikos Sampson as dictator, Turkey invaded the Republic of Cyprus in 1974.

Image source: Turkish invasion of Cyprus

In 1984, the PKK began an insurgency against the Turkish government; the conflict, which has claimed over 40,000 lives, continues today.

Image source: Timeline of the Kurdistan Workers' Party insurgency (1978–2015)

In March 1995, twenty-three people were killed and hundreds were injured in the incidents called the Gazi Massacre in Istanbul.

The year 2002 marked a turning point, with the Justice and Development Party winning the 2002 Turkish general election and ushering in a new political era.

Image source: 2002 Turkish general election

Accession negotiations between the EU and Turkey began in October 2005, opening formal talks on Turkey's potential membership in the European Union.

Image source: Accession of Turkey to the European Union

In 2013, countrywide Gezi Park protests took place, sparked by opposition to a development project in Istanbul's Gezi Park and growing into broad anti-government demonstrations.

Image source: Gezi Park protests

In August 2014, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan won Turkey's first direct presidential election, transitioning from head of government to head of state.

Image source: 2014 Turkish presidential election

In July 2016, the Turkish attempted coup took place, with factions within the military attempting to overthrow the government before being suppressed.

Image source: 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt

In December 2016, an off-duty policeman Mevlut Altintas shot dead the Russian Ambassador inside an Art Gallery in Ankara.

Image source: Assassination of Andrei Karlov

In April 2017, constitutional amendments significantly increasing the powers of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan were narrowly accepted in the constitutional referendum.

Image source: 2017 Turkish constitutional referendum

In June 2018, President Erdoğan was re-elected for a new five-year term in the first round of the presidential election under the new executive system.

Image source: 2018 Turkish presidential election

In October 2018, Prince MBS of Saudi Arabia sent a group of government agents to murder prominent critic Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul.

Image source: Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi

In 2022, nearly 100,000 Russian citizens migrated to Turkey, becoming first in the list of foreigners who moved to Turkey—an increase of more than 218% from 2021. As of May 2023, approximately 96,000 Ukrainian refugees of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine had also sought refuge in Turkey.

Image source: Immigration to Turkey

In May 2022, Turkey blocked the start of NATO accession negotiations for Finland and Sweden, but in June 2022 it decided to support the accession negotiations of the two countries.

Image source: Finland–NATO relations

In July 2022, the Turkish government asked the international community to recognise Turkey by its Turkish name Türkiye, in part because of the homonym 'turkey' (bird) for the name of the country in English.

On 6 February 2023, the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes took place, resulting in massive casualties across southeastern Turkey and northern Syria.

Image source: 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes

In May 2023, President Erdoğan won a new re-election and his AK Party with its allies held parliamentary majority in the general election. As of August 2023, the number of Syrian civil war refugees in Turkey was estimated at 3,307,882 people.

Image source: 2023 Turkish presidential election

In March 2024, the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) gained a significant victory in local elections, including mayoral victories in Turkey's five largest cities: Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Bursa, and Antalya.

Image source: 2024 Turkish local elections

2025 Turkish protests began throughout Turkey on 19 March 2025 following the detention and arrest of Istanbul mayor and the opposition's presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu and more than 100 other opposition members and protesters.

Image source: 2025–2026 Turkish protests