The first civilisation in Turkey dates from as early as 7500 B.C.; remains of the earliest metropolitan civilisation known to man have been found in the area of Catalhüyük.  The population already used altars and frescoes in practising their religion. 

The remains of Assyrian trading posts have been found in Capadoccia, and an extensive bronze-age culture appears to have been active in central Anatolia around 2000 B.C.. 

The first large civilization to dominate Asia Minor was the Hittite Empire.  The Hittites ruled what is now Turkey from Hatusas, discovered by French archaeologist Charles Texier in 1834, close to Bogaskale in 1834. 
The Hittites ruled from around 1750 B.C. to 1250 B.C..  An important archaeological find refers to the signing of a treaty in Kadesh, between Hattusilis and the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II, the earliest known treaty between two states in history. 
There is also the tale of a failed treaty between the wife of the deceased Tutankhamen and the Hittite King Shubbililiuma.  She wished to marry one of his sons as her husband had died.  On arriving in Egypt, the son was assassinated, probably on the order of the Royal advisor who later married the Pharaoh’s widow. 
The description by Homer of the invasion of the city of Troy, excavated in the northwest of Turkey, coincides with the collapse of the Hittite empire and the appearance of the Greeks. 

The years between 1200 B.C. and 334 B.C. saw widespread unrest in the region.  The coast saw the erection of a number of Greek cities and kingdoms, divided into Ionia, Lydia, Caria, Phrygia, and Pamphylia.  Urla was founded under the name Klazomenai, one of the twelve Ionian cities, and was known for her olive oil and as one of the first places to produce coins.  Excavations have revealed very advanced oil presses, which can be visited in a specially created museum. 
Other Ionian cities that are certainly worth visiting are Priene, Milete (Miletus), Didyma and Efes (Ephesus), which, amongst other things, housed the temple of Artemis, one of the seven ancient wonders of the world.  Ízmir was founded as Smyrna and in 700 B.C. Homer, the writer of the Iliad and the Odyssey, was born there. 

The inland areas of Asia Minor were dominated by the Urartian civilization until 546 B.C., followed by the Persian Satraps until Cyrus the Great of Persia invaded central Asia Minor and the Persian Empire started becoming a threat to the Greeks. 

In 334 B.C., Alexander the Great invaded from Macedonia and ousted the Persians from Asia Minor.  This marked the beginning of the Hellenic period.  Pergamon, close to the modern city of Bergama, became one of the two cultural centres of the ancient world together with Alexandria and became famous for the Celsus Library.   As the influence of Athens declined, it became the capital of the Greek Empire. 
The Empire became the most important centre of classical science and philosophy, partly because of its location between East and West.  A painful detail for the Greeks is that a large part of their ancient history was played out in what is now Turkey. 

In 130 B.C. the eccentric Emperor Attalus III left the entire Empire to the Romans.  Ephesus became the capital of the Roman province of Asia.  The Greek civilization had an enormous influence on the Romans and the new rulers had great reverence for the Greek arts, which they largely copied. 
In 40 B.C. Mark Anthony and Cleopatra were married in Antioch (Antakya) and Cleopatra visited Mark Anthony in Ephesus. 
Between 47 and 57 A.D. St. Paul visited Asia Minor and slowly Christianity began to emerge in the region.  The new religion was violently subjugated by the Roman rulers until Constantine the Great converted in 313 and named Christianity the state religion.   In 330 he changed the name of the city of Byzantium (modern Istanbul) into Constantinople and it became the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.   The Western Empire and its capital Rome, fell to a series of assaults and the Byzantine Empire gained increasing influence. 
The Byzantine Era reached its peak under Justinian the Great between 527 and 565, who extended the empire to reach from Spain and Italy to North Africa.  After his death, the Empire was however invaded by the Goths and the Longobards in the north and the Persians and Arabs to the south and east.  The Arabs had been inspired by the teachings of Mohammed, Islam.  

Between 636 and 718 there were several sieges on Constantinople by Arab armies.  In 1054 division in the Christian Church turned Constantinople into the capital and centre of the Greek Church. 

During the 11^th century the Seljuk had begun to settle in Asia Minor and the Middle East.  They were the descendants of the Tu-Kin, a nomadic Mongolian tribe.  The word Tu-Kin is the root of the name Turk.  In 1071 the Seljuk entered Turkey from the southwest and founded their Capital, Konya, in the 1097.  Not only did the Seljuk bring new arts, such as tiling and carpet weaving, they were also Muslims.  The Seljuk were avid traders and architects, many influences, such as the tent-shaped roof and the pointed arch, are still in use today. 

In 1204 Constantinople was ravaged during the fourth crusade.  The fighters, having been allowed into the city to protect it against the Muslims, turned on the population and plundered the city.  This brought the end of the Byzantine Era. 

In 1288 the Seljuk Osmanli tribe, led by Osman Gazi, began to extend the Ottoman Empire and by 1400 it covered large areas of the Balkan and Anatolia.  In 1453, led by Mehmet II the Ottomans conquered Constantinople in just one week and named it Istanbul.  Between 1520 and 1566 the Ottoman Empire invaded Belgrade, Buda and Rhodos under Süleyman the Magnificent.  They also plundered the Spanish, Italian and French coasts and defeated their combined fleets.  In 1682 disputes began with Russia, especially in the Crimean.  This led to the Crimean war in 1854, where the Ottomans were supported by the French and English.  In 1909 the Ottoman era came to an end with the deposing of Sultan Abdül Hamid by the Young-Turks. 

In 1914 Turkey was drawn into the First World War as an ally of Germany.  This led to the planned disassembly of the Ottoman Empire after the war. 
1919 brought the start of the Turkish war of independence, led by Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk), against Greece and Britain.   Turkey won her independence at the battle of Sarakaya and this led to the signing of the treaty of Lausanne in 1923, creating the modern state of Turkey. 

Atatürk (father of the Turks) set a program of reforms into action to turn Turkey into a secular state.  He abolished the use of the Arabic alphabet and had a new alphabet made.  He also implemented a new justice system that was not based on the Koran.  He believed in women’s rights and in 1934 women became allowed to vote.  Atatürk died in 1938. 

Turkey was neutral during the Second World War and became one of the founders of the United Nations in 1946.  Turkey became a member of NATO in 1952 and in 1964 they joined the EEC.  The crisis in Cyprus began in 1974, when the Turkish army came into action to protect the Turkish population of the island.   The border in Cyprus is still under UN guard. 

Turkey has an outstandingly rich history and modern Turks are proud of their heritage.  Problems in the democratic system and with the Kurdish independence fighters in the east still remain unresolved; however, Turkey is still highly influenced by the reforms implemented by Atatürk, which will probably lead to Turkey’s membership of the EU.