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| 0813 Turkey map |
Posted on 23.09.2013, 05.05.2017
Located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, mostly on Anatolia (in Western Asia) and on East Thrace (in Southeastern Europe), and owning the single entrance in the Black Sea, Turkey had always and still has a significant geostrategic importance. The area has been inhabited since the Paleolithic, including various Ancient Anatolian civilizations (the Hittites, Lycians, Lydians etc.) and Thracian peoples (Odrysians).
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| 3036 Turkey flag |
Starting around 1200 BC, the coast of Anatolia was heavily settled by Aeolian and Ionian Greeks, who founded numerous important cities, such as Miletus, Ephesus, Smyrna (modern İzmir) and Byzantium (later Constantinople and Istanbul). Armenia included parts of eastern Turkey beginning in the 6th century BC. Anatolia was conquered by the Persian Achaemenid Empire during the 6th and 5th centuries BC, and in 334 BC fell to Alexander the Great, the area being Hellenized, and continuing with the Roman rule.
In 324 AD, Constantine the Great chose Byzantium as the new capital of the Roman Empire, the city becoming then the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which would rule most of the territory of Turkey until the Late Middle Ages. The Seljuk Turks began migrating into the area in the 11th century, starting the process of Turkification. The Sultanate of Rûm ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, upon which it disintegrated into several small Turkish beyliks. Starting from the late 13th century, the Ottoman beylik united Anatolia and created an empire encompassing much of Southeastern Europe, Western Asia and North Africa.
In 1453, the Ottomans conquered the capital of Byzantine Empire, renaming it Istanbul. The Ottoman Empire's power and prestige peaked in the 16th and 17th centuries, particularly during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. After it collapsed following its defeat in WWI, parts of it were occupied by the victorious Allies. The Turkish War of Independence, initiated by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his colleagues, resulted in the establishment of the modern Republic of Turkey in 1923, with Atatürk (Father of the Turks) as its first president.
Turkey is the world's 37th-largest country in terms of area, and is divided into 7 geographical regions (Bölge): Aegean Region, Black Sea Region, Central Anatolia Region, Eastern Anatolia Region, Marmara Region, Mediterranean Region, and Southeastern Anatolia Region. Its southern coastal area has a temperate Mediterranean climate, its coastal area bordering the Black Sea has a temperate Oceanic climate, and the central Anatolian plateau has a continental climate with sharply contrasting seasons.
The majority of the population (70-75%) are Turks, who speak a southern Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages. The largest minority groups are the Kurds (10-23%), an Indo-European ethnic group concentrated mainly in the southeastern provinces of the country, the Armenians, the Greeks and the Jews. Turkey is a secular state with no official state religion, but the dominant religion is Islam (99,8%), the most popular sect being the Hanafite school of Sunni Islam.
The flag is red, with a white crescent moon and a star in its centre. These two elements symbolize the Tengriist beliefs of the sky-worshiping ancient Turks. In their mythology four colours are associated with four cardinal directions: blue (gök) with east, white (ak) with west, red (al) with south, black (kara) with north. Thus, the red and white colours on the flag of Turkey symbolize the south-western branch of Turks called Oghuzes. The same symbols existed of the latest flag of the Ottoman Empire, adopted in 1844 with the Tanzimat reforms.
About the stamps
Unfortunately, the Turkish Post hasn't used stamps, but a postmark with the value of the fees.
References
Turkey - Wikipedia
Flag of Turkey - Wikipedia
Turkey - Flags of the World
Sender 0813, 3036: Dănuţ Ivănescu
Sent from Didim (Aegean Region / Turkey), on 09.09.2013
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