LOCATION & GEOGRAFPICAL REGIONS
 It takes place between Asia and Europe, at a very strategic location. Turkey has 7 different geographical regions; Marmara Region makes    the biggest contribution to the national production whereas Eastern Anatolian Region makes the least contribution to the national GDP.
REGION NAME                                                                       LOCATION                                           MAJOR CITIES & POPULATIONS
MARMARA  REGION                                                          NORTHVEST TURKEY                          ISTANBUL            BURS
BLACK SEA  REGION                                                        NORTHERN TURKEY                           TRABZON            SAMSUN
EASTERN ANATOLIA REGION                                            EASTERN TURKEY                              MALATYA              ERZURUM
AGEAN  REGION                                                               WESTERN TURKEY                             IZMIR                   DENIZLI
CENTAR ANATOLIA REGION                                              CENTRAL TURKEY                              KAYSERI               ESKISEHIR
MEDITERRANEAN REGION                                                SOUTHERN TURKEY                           ANTALYA              ADANA
SOUTHEASTERN  REGION                                                 SOUTHEESTERN TURKEY                   GAZIANTEP           DIYARBAKIR

GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
Turkey is a parliamentary regime with its president, prime minister and 550 MPs(Members of Parliament).The general elections are carried out every 5 years to elect the government and for the past 10 years, Turkey is governed by coalition governments. There are MPs and ministers who are charged with different tasks; like minister of health or minister of education etc... All of them are responsible to the PM(Prime Minister). The Prime Minister of Turkey as of March,'03 is Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Justice and Prosperity Party(AK PARTİ). The current  government is led by this party and CHP(Republican People's Party) holds the opposition. The President of Republic of Turkey is Mr. Ahmet Necdet Sezer as of 2000. The forthcoming war causes many political and economic problems in Turkey. The rightist conservative and religious party, Fazilet Party (wisdom) was banned in June for being a threat against the democracy and secularism. It did not take a long time for the same politicians to form another party with a different name (Saadet Party)(happiness) in July. The fraction out of this group, so called "new formation" was renamed as "Ak Party(Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi)" which means "justice and prosperity party". The head of this party is the former mayor of Istanbul, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan.As Turkish Nationals, we condemn the bloddy terrorist attack towards USA and share the sorrows of the Americans. Turkey suffered from terrorism over 25 years and over 30,000 innocent people died for a non-sense conflict. Regardless of the goal of these attacks, taking the life of innocents could not be associated with any religion or any idealism. We condemn terror and God saves us all from terror!We are against the death of innocent people in any war just for the sake of "national interest". Any terrorist attack on our land or anywhere in the world will not deter us!!! Turkey hosted many different cultures over the centuries and will continue to host anyone from any part of the world...If you are afraid of visiting Turkey BECAUSE OF THE TERRORIST ATTACKS, YOU MAKE THEM HAPPY BECAUSE THIS IS WHAT THEY WANT!!! Here is as peaceful as it used to be and the sun rises as beautiful as ever...

Istanbul has a population of 9,690,000  with its autonomously governed 28 municipalities.These municipalities have the initiative to take some decisions but the final decisions are made by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipal Government. The city lies upon two different continents: Europe and Asia. The continents are connected to each other with two bridges.The strait lying between the two continents is called "The Bosphorus" meaning "The Strait of the Cow" in Ancient Greek. According to the myth, God of the Gods Zeus was married to Goddess Hera. However Zeus was not satisfied with only one woman, by using his attraction and skills, he was having affairs with different women. Io was one of them. Once jealous Hera realized the affair between Io and Zeus, she turned Io into a cow. She ordered a bee to chase Io. Io was in pain ,she started to run like crazy and the way she ran along became today's Bosphorus

It takes its name from the sultan called "Mehmed (the Conquerer)" who conquered Istanbul (Constantinople) in 1453 from the Byzantine Empire... This bridge was constructed in 1988.Istanbul is a city of mosques and universities. There are over 8.000 small and big mosques which were constructed over the centuries and still being constructed... It's a city of universities and the first university was founded in the 15th century with the order of Sultan Mehmed "the Conquerer":The University of Istanbul. In today, there are about 16 private and public universities in the city ,namely:

Koc University , Sabanci University , Bilgi University , Kultur University , Kadir Has University , ,Yeditepe(Seven Hills)University , Dogus University , UniversityofBeykent, IsikUniversity,Fatih(conquerer)University, Istanbul University of Commerce, Okan University. The city is called as "City of Seven Hills" because of its hills. These hills are depicted on the carpet designs and miniatures. Because of being that hilly, the construction of a subway system brings a heavy burden on the municipal government's shoulders. There's a subway line between 4Levent-Taksim  and several lines are also being projected.

  Byzantium quickly became a centre for trade and commerce, acquiring wealth from its fisheries and the customs fee. It was dominated by other city states, including the Persians and in 441-440 BC it joined the Samos and other Greek cities in Asia Minor in a revolt against Athenian Domination but they could not succeed...In 441, during the Peleponesian War, Byzantium revolted once again against Athens with Sparta after three years later, They were defeated in a naval war in Hellespont (strait Dardanelles).In 403, the Athenians were defeated and the famous Peleponesian Wars ended. After alliances and fights between the Athenians and Byzantiums, Macedonians, under the leadership of Alexander the Great in 334, won the war of Granicus and gained the control of the Byzantium.After the death of Alexander the Great, Byzantium was captured by combined forces of Bithynia(today's Izmit town), Pergamum and Rhodes. Then in 133, the last ruler gave his kingdom to Rome and Byzantium became a part of the Province of Asia more than 250 years...                       In the 2C AD, Byzantium was swept up once again by civil war between the Emperor Septimus Severus and his rival Percennus Niger.After he defeated Niger, he took over and had the city walls constucted. The walls begin at Golden Horn lying to Galata Bridge and end at the lighthouse standing on the coastal road to the airport today. He enlarged the city twice as it was  At the beginning of the 4C AD, Byzantium played extremely important roles in the events taking place in roman Empire. The struggle ended with the victory of Constantine, the emperor of the West. The Byzantium opened its gated to Constantine, the sole ruler of the Roman Empire.From then on, he moved the capital and put his name as "Constantinople". In 325, the First Ecumenical(world-wide) Council of the Christian Church was held in Nicaea. (today's Iznik town, famous for its blue tiles in Blue Mosque). He favoured to accept the Orthodox religious doctrine and toleration for the Christians. Finally in 451 AD, at the Council of Chalcedon (today's Kadikoy), the Byzantium Emperor became the head of the church and the State and gained enormous power. The religion of the Byzantium was Christianity(Orthodox doctrine) from then on...Another emperor, who had contributed to Byzantium was Theodosius II who had a splendid new cathedral called the "Haghia Sophia" the Divine Wisdom. It replaced a wooden basilica church which had been constucted by Constantine. In the 6C, the city was predominantly Christian...  Another age started in Byzantium with Justin I in 518 which is accepted as the beginning of the imperial era. He was an illiterate soldier and he had to rely on the advices of his young, dynamic and well-educated nephew, Justinian. He slowly climbed the stairs up as being a Consul, Caesar and co-emperor in 527 AD which led the way up to the Imperial Throne...After he became Emperor, he married to Theodora,an old dancer and singer who turned to be a strong believer of Christianity. She influenced Justinian and changed evertyhing suitable for a fully-Christian Byzantium. She had all the Pagan Schools closed and made the Christian tradition stronger.In the year 532, Justinian was overthrown by a revolt in the ancient Hippodrome, called "Nika Revolt" which caused many buldings to collapse and badly damaged including the splendid Haghia Sophia. He ordered a big and beautiful Greek Orthodox Church to be constructed as well as the city to be restored. During his reign, Constantinople was one of the biggest cities in the world.

The history of the Byzantium may last pages and pages.  The history until today is going to be summarized by the author so that it becomes clearer to understand and associate with today's remainings.Even though, no one could consider that such a big empire can collapse, that eventually happened. There are various reasons for that. Firstly, there were internal reasons. These were the fightings between the high ranking officials or for the throne, that is the conspiracy theories to mix the agenda and have superiority over one another. Secondly, there were external reasons. As the empired began loosing its territories in the West, it continously started to defend its borders, so a passage from offensive to defensive position... It was an empire based on lies, conspiracy theories, traps, deceit and mass killings as well as lots of assasinations. There were financial and economic reasons, the public was angry at the Blachernia Palace for not being fair about the distribution of the income.However, in my opinion, the most noteworthy reason for the collapse of Byzantium was the internal reasons, which tore down the balance of power in the Empire...

After Latin Invasions and continuing internal problems, the Empire could not realize the small Turkish Principality which was located in the Southern East of Constantinople, on the other end of Marmara Gulf, so-called the "Ottomans". They were founded in 1299 in a small city Bursa, Sogut and their founder was Osman Bey. His son Orhan Bey enlarged the Principality and his son Murad, went on conquests in Europe, fought the War of Varna. Afterwards Bayezid the Thunder fought many wars and continued to knock the door of Europe. Finally in 1453, 21-year-old Mehmed II(the Conqurer),after years of preparation period, succeeded to conquer the city and the first thing he did was converting Haghia Sophia to a mosque and pray God and prophet Muhammed for his victory...From then on, the name "Constantinople" was converted to "Istanbul" which is how it was called by the Ottomans. is the name of the city and became a Muslim city. The Ottoman Empire adopted the city as the major city and the center for the government. Mehmed the Conqurer also ordered the "Topkapi Palace"to be constructed and this palace constituted the heart of the whole Empire which lasted more than 600 years.The Ottoman Empire reached its peak in the early 16C when they conquered Egypt and had the caliphacy pass over to the Ottomans. It meant that an Ottoman Sultan was to be the highest ranking religious person in the Muslim World. However,when the famous emperor, Suleiman the Magnificient, failed in the Battle of Vienna, he was gone into depression. He was a big leader and failure was not of his style. His dreams of conquering Vienna and becoming immortal could not come true and that was the beginning of the end...The splendid Mosque of Suleiman in Istanbul is from those days

The Ottoman Empire went into a stagnation period in 1699, the Treaty of Karlowitz.. Prior to that time, the empire had continously enlarged its boundaries and was always offensive. This treaty meant that the empire can no way be offensive any longer...That period was followed by a decline and end period. The Ottoman Empire became the "Sick Man of Europe" to be partitioned by the European Powers after the WW I. IN 1919, a young and talented soldier, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, came to the scene and Turkey started defending herself. He was also the commander of Gallipoli Campaign which was fought against ANZAC, British and French Troops in 1915. The Independence War was successfully won by the Turks and then came the revolutions in Alphabet, Dress, Meaurement Systems and abolishment of the Sultanate as well as Caliph System. Everything was replaced by its modern way which led the way to Modern Turkey. Ataturk died in Istanbul, Dolmabahce Palace; a rather modern palace dating back to 1856. He was born in 1881 in Thessaloniki, Greece and died in 1938. There were many more things to do when he left us...Currently, Turkey is a Republic with a National Grand Assembly, a Constitution, flag and national anthem. It is a parliamentary system with 550 MPs, a president and a PM.

Ephesus was constructed on a river bend, that was eventually dredged into a full harbor near the mount of the Cayster River, on the western coast of Asia Minor (modern Turkey). Along the coastal plain between Smyrna to the north and Miletus to the south, the site is now about six miles from the Aegean Sea. The city shifted in five distinct locations over time, each within a small area. The Apostles Paul and John were familiar with the city that scholars have dubbed "Ephesus III" the largest (in area) of the five.                                                                              

 The areas where Ephesus located on as follows

Ephesus I: Aya Suluk (St. John Area);
Ephesus II: Artemission area;
Ephesus III: Port of St. Paul: base of Mount Koressos;
Ephesus IV: north of Aya Suluk;
Ephesus V: Selcuk area.

Because of the man-made harbor structure and the flow of the river, a backwash flow caused the harbor to frequently silt up (by 449 BCE we already read of problems documented about the silting. Later, Eusebius records that Ephesus honoured Emperor Hadrian for dredging and making navigable the harbor). When cleared, Ephesus was in a location that justified a great seaport. The city sat at the convergence of three land routes with a shipping lane from the north via the channel created by the Island of Chios and an opening facing the cities of Macedonia.
The land routes that converged on Ephesus included:
1) The Colossae / Laodicea road (traveling east),
2) The road to Sardis and Galatia (northeast), and
3) The Smyrna (north) main road.

Ephesus is discovered in Selcuk, Izmir in western Turkey.
Kusadasi is 19 km. far away from Ephesus and Pamucak beach is 5 km far away from Ephesus.

                                             Ephesus               Turkey                                                   

The original site of Ancient Ephesus was most likely established on the Aegean coast, on the shores of that sea which is today located 8 km. away from the archaeological excavations. Over the centuries, in fact, the rubble brought on to the plain of the "Kucuk Menderes" has enlarged the alluvial plain surrounding the archaeological zone, leaving behind in actual fact the shores of the Aegean.In Roman times it was  situated on the northern slopes of the hills Coressus and Pion and south of the Cayster (Kucuk Menderes) River, the silt from which has since formed a fertile plain but has caused the coastline to move ever farther west. In Roman times a sea channel was maintained with difficulty to a harbor well west of Pion. By late Byzantine times this channel had become useless, and the coast by the mid-20th century was three miles farther west.Ephesus (Efes) is close to the town of Selcuk about an hour drive south of Izmir. Kusadasi is the nearest larger town, about 20km from Ephesus.

11th cent. Founded in 11th cent. according to tradition by a son of Codrus [Androklos].
1087 Ephesus was first settled by Greeks, according to tradition.

7th cent. In first half of the 7th century the Cimmerians seized Ephesus.
540 Cyrus' general Harpagus captures Ephesus.
500 All of Ionia gradually decayed after Persia conquered Lydia.
415 Ephesus associated itself with Sparta.
400 Temple was built to Artemis of the Ephesians, called the Artemision.

4th cent. For serious study one had to go to the university towns; Ephesus for medicine.
356 Artemision was burnt down again; deliberate arson by Herostratus.
334 Alexander takes Ephesus.
294 Ephesus enlarged by Lysimachus.
246 Belevi Mausoleum; Seleucid King Antiochus II Theos, died at Ephesus.

2nd cent. Ports such as Ephesus came to life; Ephesus shipped out fine Asia Minor wines.
190 Rome blockading the harbor of Ephesus under Lucius Aemilius Regillus [an idiot].
188 In Seleucid hands.
133 Prosperity began under Roman rule.
84 Survived a sack by Sulla.
57 Ptolemy XII in Ephesus waiting to be restored to Egyptian throne by Rome.
41 From Ephesus Antony proceeded to Tarsus. Cleopatra meets him there.
32 Antony and Cleopatra were at Ephesus, preparing for war.
6 Became the capital of the Roman province of Asia.

CE

52 Second missionary journey; Paul's ship stops at Ephesus; he was not allowed to visit.
53-57 The third missionary journey of Paul.
54-68 The stadium was erected in the reign of Emperor Nero.
81-97 Harbor Gymnasium and Bath neared completion in the reign of Emperor Domitian.
81-96 Temple of Domitian dedicated to the monstrous tyrant Domitian.
98-117 Theatre building was not completed until Trajan's time.
110 Celsus Library was erected.
117-138 Temple of Hadrian was dedicated to the Emperor Hadrian.
150 Vedius Gymnasim erected. Ephesus was most properous commerial centre of that time.
c.350 Ephesus entered into a second golden age which continued until c.527.
431 Shenute... accompanied Cyril to the first Council at Ephesus.
431 Councils at Ephesus in 431 & 449 CE; Egyptian viewpoint on Monophysitism accepted.
At 3rd Council, monophysitism declared a heresy; Dioscorus was sent into exile.