North Macedonia
North Macedonia the Republic of North Macedonia, is a country in the Balkan Peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in September 1991 under the name Republic of Macedonia; the country became a member of the United Nations in April 1993, but as a result of a dispute with Greece over the name, it was admitted under the provisional description the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, a term, used by some other international organisations. In June 2018, Macedonia and Greece resolved the conflict with an agreement that the country should rename itself Republic of North Macedonia; this renaming came into effect in February 2019, with a several-months-long transition for passports, licence plates, customs, border signs, government websites, among other things. A landlocked country, North Macedonia has borders with Kosovo to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast, Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south, Albania to the west.
It constitutes the northern third of the larger geographical region of Macedonia, which comprises the neighbouring parts of northern Greece and southwestern Bulgaria. The country's geography is defined by mountains and rivers; the capital and largest city, Skopje, is home to a quarter of the nation's 2.06 million inhabitants. The majority of the residents are a South Slavic people. Albanians form a significant minority at around 25%, followed by Turks, Serbs, Bosniaks and Bulgarians; the history of the region dates back to antiquity, beginning with the kingdom of Paeonia a mixed Thraco-Illyrian polity. In the late sixth century BC, the area was incorporated into the Persian Achaemenid Empire annexed by the kingdom of Macedonia in the fourth century BC; the Romans conquered the region in the second century BC and made it part of the much larger province of Macedonia. Τhe area remained part of the Byzantine Empire, but was raided and settled by Slavic tribes beginning in the sixth century of the Christian era.
Following centuries of contention between the Bulgarian and Serbian Empire, it was part of the Ottoman dominion from the mid-14th until the early 20th century, when following the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913, the modern territory of North Macedonia came under Serbian rule. During the First World War it was ruled by Bulgaria, but after the end of the war, it returned under Serbian rule as part of the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs and Slovenes. During the Second World War, it was ruled by Bulgaria again, in 1945 it was established as a constituent communist republic into the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, which it remained until its peaceful secession in 1991. North Macedonia is of the Council of Europe. Since 2005, it has been a candidate for joining the European Union and has applied for NATO membership. One of the poorest countries in Europe, North Macedonia has made significant progress in developing an open, market-based economy; the state's name derives from a kingdom named after the ancient Macedonians.
Their name, Μακεδόνες, derives from the ancient Greek adjective μακεδνός, meaning tall or taper, which shares the same root as the adjective μακρός, meaning long, tall, or high, in ancient Greek. The name is believed to have meant either highlanders or the tall ones descriptive of the people. According to linguist Robert S. P. Beekes, both terms are of Pre-Greek substrate origin and cannot be explained in terms of Indo-European morphology. Prior to June 2018, the use of the name Macedonia was disputed between Greece and the then-Republic of Macedonia; the Prespa agreement, signed by Macedonia and Greece on 17 June, saw the country change its name to the Republic of North Macedonia eight months later. A non-binding national referendum on the matter passed with 90% approval but did not reach the required 50% turnout due to a boycott, leaving the final decision with parliament to ratify the result. Parliament approved of the name change on 19 October, reaching the required two-thirds majority needed to enact constitutional changes.
The vote to amend the constitution and change the name of the country passed on 11 January 2019 in favour of the amendment. The amendment entered into force on 12 February, following the ratification of the Prespa agreement and the Protocol on the Accession of North Macedonia to NATO by the Greek Parliament. On 25 January, the Greek parliament had narrowly voted to back the agreement, with 153 approving and 146 against. Prior to February 2019, in Macedonian the country name was Македонија Република Македонија. North Macedonia geographically corresponds to the ancient kingdom of Paeonia, located north of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia. Paeonia was inhabited by the Paeonians, a Thracian people, whilst the northwest was inhabited by the Dardani and the southwest by tribes known as the Enchelae and Lyncestae. In the late 6th century BC, the Achaemenid Persians under Darius the Great conquered the Paeonians, incorporating w
Israel
Israel the State of Israel, is a country in Western Asia, located on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. It has land borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan on the east, the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the east and west and Egypt to the southwest; the country contains geographically diverse features within its small area. Israel's economic and technological center is Tel Aviv, while its seat of government and proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, although the state's sovereignty over Jerusalem has only partial recognition. Israel has evidence of the earliest migration of hominids out of Africa. Canaanite tribes are archaeologically attested since the Middle Bronze Age, while the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah emerged during the Iron Age; the Neo-Assyrian Empire destroyed Israel around 720 BCE. Judah was conquered by the Babylonian and Hellenistic empires and had existed as Jewish autonomous provinces.
The successful Maccabean Revolt led to an independent Hasmonean kingdom by 110 BCE, which in 63 BCE however became a client state of the Roman Republic that subsequently installed the Herodian dynasty in 37 BCE, in 6 CE created the Roman province of Judea. Judea lasted as a Roman province until the failed Jewish revolts resulted in widespread destruction, expulsion of Jewish population and the renaming of the region from Iudaea to Syria Palaestina. Jewish presence in the region has persisted to a certain extent over the centuries. In the 7th century CE, the Levant was taken from the Byzantine Empire by the Arabs and remained in Muslim control until the First Crusade of 1099, followed by the Ayyubid conquest of 1187; the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt extended its control over the Levant in the 13th century until its defeat by the Ottoman Empire in 1517. During the 19th century, national awakening among Jews led to the establishment of the Zionist movement in the diaspora followed by waves of immigration to Ottoman Syria and British Mandate Palestine.
In 1947, the United Nations adopted a Partition Plan for Palestine recommending the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and an internationalized Jerusalem. The plan was accepted by the Jewish Agency, rejected by Arab leaders; the following year, the Jewish Agency declared the independence of the State of Israel, the subsequent 1948 Arab–Israeli War saw Israel's establishment over most of the former Mandate territory, while the West Bank and Gaza were held by neighboring Arab states. Israel has since fought several wars with Arab countries, since the Six-Day War in 1967 held occupied territories including the West Bank, Golan Heights and the Gaza Strip, it extended its laws to the Golan East Jerusalem, but not the West Bank. Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories is the world's longest military occupation in modern times. Efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have not resulted in a final peace agreement. However, peace treaties between Israel and both Egypt and Jordan have been signed.
In its Basic Laws, Israel defines itself as a democratic state. The country has a liberal democracy, with a parliamentary system, proportional representation, universal suffrage; the prime minister is head of government and the Knesset is the legislature. Israel is a developed country and an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development member, with the 32nd-largest economy in the world by nominal gross domestic product as of 2017; the country benefits from a skilled workforce and is among the most educated countries in the world with one of the highest percentages of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree. Israel has the highest standard of living in the Middle East, has one of the highest life expectancies in the world. Furthermore, Israel ranked 11th in the UN's 2018 World Happiness Report. Upon independence in 1948, the country formally adopted the name "State of Israel" after other proposed historical and religious names including Eretz Israel and Judea, were considered but rejected.
In the early weeks of independence, the government chose the term "Israeli" to denote a citizen of Israel, with the formal announcement made by Minister of Foreign Affairs Moshe Sharett. The names Land of Israel and Children of Israel have been used to refer to the biblical Kingdom of Israel and the entire Jewish people respectively; the name "Israel" in these phrases refers to the patriarch Jacob who, according to the Hebrew Bible, was given the name after he wrestled with the angel of the Lord. Jacob's twelve sons became the ancestors of the Israelites known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel or Children of Israel. Jacob and his sons had lived in Canaan but were forced by famine to go into Egypt for four generations, lasting 430 years, until Moses, a great-great grandson of Jacob, led the Israelites back into Canaan during the "Exodus"; the earliest known archaeological artifact to mention the word "Israel" as a collective is the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt. The area is known as the Holy Land, being holy for all Abrahamic religions including Judaism, Christianity and the Bahá'í Faith.
Under British Mandate, the whole region was known as Palestine (Hebre
Iraq
Iraq the Republic of Iraq, is a country in Western Asia, bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Kuwait to the southeast, Saudi Arabia to the south, Jordan to the southwest and Syria to the west. The capital, largest city, is Baghdad. Iraq is home to diverse ethnic groups including Arabs, Assyrians, Shabakis, Armenians, Mandeans and Kawliya. Around 95% of the country's 37 million citizens are Muslims, with Christianity, Yarsan and Mandeanism present; the official languages of Iraq are Kurdish. Iraq has a coastline measuring 58 km on the northern Persian Gulf and encompasses the Mesopotamian Alluvial Plain, the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range and the eastern part of the Syrian Desert. Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run south through Iraq and into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf; these rivers provide Iraq with significant amounts of fertile land. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers known as Mesopotamia, is referred to as the cradle of civilisation.
It was here that mankind first began to read, create laws and live in cities under an organised government—notably Uruk, from which "Iraq" is derived. The area has been home to successive civilisations since the 6th millennium BC. Iraq was the centre of the Akkadian, Sumerian and Babylonian empires, it was part of the Median, Hellenistic, Sassanid, Rashidun, Abbasid, Mongol, Safavid and Ottoman empires. The country today known as Iraq was a region of the Ottoman Empire until the partition of the Ottoman Empire in the 20th century, it was made up of three provinces, called vilayets in the Ottoman language: Mosul Vilayet, Baghdad Vilayet, Basra Vilayet. In April 1920 the British Mandate of Mesopotamia was created under the authority of the League of Nations. A British-backed monarchy joining these vilayets into one Kingdom was established in 1921 under Faisal I of Iraq; the Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq gained independence from the UK in 1932. In 1958, the monarchy was overthrown and the Iraqi Republic created.
Iraq was controlled by the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party from 1968 until 2003. After an invasion by the United States and its allies in 2003, Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party was removed from power, multi-party parliamentary elections were held in 2005; the US presence in Iraq ended in 2011, but the Iraqi insurgency continued and intensified as fighters from the Syrian Civil War spilled into the country. Out of the insurgency came a destructive group calling itself ISIL, which took large parts of the north and west, it has since been defeated. Disputes over the sovereignty of Iraqi Kurdistan continue. A referendum about the full sovereignty of Iraqi Kurdistan was held on 25 September 2017. On 9 December 2017, then-Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory over ISIL after the group lost its territory in Iraq. Iraq is a federal parliamentary republic consisting of one autonomous region; the country's official religion is Islam. Culturally, Iraq has a rich heritage and celebrates the achievements of its past in both pre-Islamic as well as post-Islamic times and is known for its poets.
Its painters and sculptors are among the best in the Arab world, some of them being world-class as well as producing fine handicrafts, including rugs and carpets. Iraq is a founding member of the UN as well as of the Arab League, OIC, Non-Aligned Movement and the IMF; the Arabic name العراق al-ʿIrāq has been in use since before the 6th century. There are several suggested origins for the name. One dates to the Sumerian city of Uruk and is thus of Sumerian origin, as Uruk was the Akkadian name for the Sumerian city of Urug, containing the Sumerian word for "city", UR. An Arabic folk etymology for the name is "well-watered. During the medieval period, there was a region called ʿIrāq ʿArabī for Lower Mesopotamia and ʿIrāq ʿAjamī, for the region now situated in Central and Western Iran; the term included the plain south of the Hamrin Mountains and did not include the northernmost and westernmost parts of the modern territory of Iraq. Prior to the middle of the 19th century, the term Eyraca Arabic was used to describe Iraq.
The term Sawad was used in early Islamic times for the region of the alluvial plain of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, contrasting it with the arid Arabian desert. As an Arabic word, عراق means "hem", "shore", "bank", or "edge", so that the name by folk etymology came to be interpreted as "the escarpment", viz. at the south and east of the Jazira Plateau, which forms the northern and western edge of the "al-Iraq arabi" area. The Arabic pronunciation is. In English, it is either or, the American Heritage Dictionary, the Random House Dictionary; the pronunciation is heard in US media. In accordance with the 2005 Constitution, the official name of the state is the "Republic of Iraq". Between 65,000 BC and 35,000 BC northern Iraq was home to a Neanderthal culture, archaeological remains of which have been discovered at Shanidar Cave This same region is the location of a number of pre-Neolithic cemeteries, dating from 11,000 BC. Since 10,000 BC, Iraq was one of centres of a Caucasoid Neolithic culture (k
Amulet
An amulet known as a "good luck charm", is an object believed to confer protection upon its possessor. The word "amulet" comes from the Latin word amuletum, which Pliny's Natural History describes as "an object that protects a person from trouble". Anything can function as an amulet. Amulets which are said to derive their extraordinary properties and powers from magic or those which impart luck are part of folk religion or paganism, whereas amulets or sacred objects of formalised mainstream religion as in Christianity are believed to have no power of their own without being blessed by a clergyman, they will not provide any preternatural benefit to the bearer who does not have an appropriate disposition. Talismans and charms may differ from amulets by having alleged magical powers other than protection. Amulets are sometimes confused with small aesthetic objects that hang from necklaces. Any given pendant may indeed be an amulet but so may any other object that purportedly protects its holder from danger.
Amulets were prevalent in ancient Roman society, being the inheritor of the ancient Greek tradition, inextricably linked to Roman religion and magic. Amulets are outside of the normal sphere of religious experience, though associations between certain gemstones and gods has been suggested. For example, Jupiter is represented on milky chalcedony, Sol on heliotrope, Mars on red jasper, Ceres on green jasper, Bacchus on amethyst. Amulets are worn to imbue the wearer with the associated powers of the gods rather than for any reasons of piety; the intrinsic power of the amulet is evident from others bearing inscriptions, such as vterfexix or "good luck to the user." Amulet boxes could be used, such as the example from part of the Thetford treasure, Norfolk, UK, where a gold box intended for suspension around the neck was found to contain sulphur for its apotropaic qualities. In China, Taoist experts called fulu developed a special style of calligraphy that they said would be able to protect against evil spirits.
The equivalent type of amulet in Japan is called an ofuda. In antiquity and the Middle Ages, most Jews and Muslims in the Orient believed in the protective and healing power of amulets or blessed objects. Talismans used by these peoples can be broken down into three main categories: talismans carried or worn on the body, talismans hung upon or above the bed of an infirm person, medicinal talismans; this third category can be further divided into internal talismans. For example, an external amulet can be placed in a bath. Jews and Muslims have at times used their holy books in a talisman-like manner in grave situations. For example, a bed-ridden and ill person would have a holy book placed under part of the bed or cushion. Amulets are plentiful in the Jewish tradition, with examples of Solomon-era amulets existing in many museums. Due to the proscription of idols and other graven images in Judaism, Jewish amulets emphasize text and names; the shape and color of a Jewish amulet makes no difference.
Examples of textual amulets include the Silver Scroll, circa 630 BCE, the still contemporary mezuzah and tefillin. A counter-example, however, is the Hand of an outline of a human hand. Another non-textual amulet is the Seal of Solomon known as the hexagram or Star of David. In one form, it consists of two intertwined equilateral triangles, in this form it is worn suspended around the neck to this day. Another common amulet in contemporary use is the Chai —, worn around the neck. Other similar amulets still in use consist of one of the names of the god of Judaism, such as ה, יה, or שדי, inscribed on a piece of parchment or metal silver. During the Middle Ages and Sherira Gaon opposed the use of amulets and derided the "folly of amulet writers." Other rabbis, approved the use of amulets. Rabbi and famous kabbalist Naphtali ben Isaac Katz was said to be an expert in the magical use of amulets, he was accused of causing a fire that broke out in his house and destroyed the whole Jewish quarter of Frankfurt, of preventing the extinguishing of the fire by conventional means because he wanted to test the power of his amulets.
The Roman Catholic Church maintains that the legitimate use of sacramentals in its proper disposition is encouraged only by a firm faith and devotion to the Triune God, not by any magical or superstitious belief bestowed on the sacramental. In this regard, scapulars and other devotional religious Catholic paraphernalia derive their power, not from the symbolism displayed in the object, but rather from the blessing of the Catholic Church. Lay Catholics are not permitted to perform solemn exorcisms, but they can use holy water, blessed salt, other sacramentals, such as the Saint Benedict medal or the crucifix, for warding off evil; the crucifix, the associated sign of the cross, is one of the key sacramentals used by Catholics to ward off evil since the time of the Early Church Fathers. The imperial cross of Conrad II referred to the power of the cross against evil. A well-known amulet among Catholic Christians is the Saint Benedict medal which includes the Vade Retro Satana formula to ward off Satan.
This medal has been in use at least since the 1700s, in 1742 it received the approval of Pope Benedict XIV. It became part of the Roman Catholic ritu
Iranian folklore
Iranian folklore encompasses the folk traditions that have evolved in Iran. Storytelling has an important presence in Iranian culture. In classical Iran, minstrels performed for their audiences in public theaters. A minstrel was referred to by the Parthians as gōsān in Parthian, by the Sasanians as huniyāgar in Middle Persian. Since the time of the Safavid dynasty and poetry readers appeared at coffeehouses; the following are a number of folktales known to the people of Iran. Kadu Qelqelezan Māh-pišāni Nāranj o Toranj Sarmā ye Pirezan, a period in the month of Esfand, at the end of winter, during which an old woman's flock is not impregnated, she goes to Moses and asks for an extension of the cold winter days, so that her flock might copulate. Šangul o Mangul Xāle Suske Below are a number of historical tale books that contain Iranian folktales. Amir Arsalān e Nāmdār, a popular legend, narrated to Naser-ed-Din Shah. Dārāb-nāme, a 12th-century book by Abu Taher Tarsusi that recounts a fiction about Alexander the Great and Darius III.
Eskandar-nāme known as "The Persian Alexander Romances", an Iranianized version of The Romance of Alexander. Not to be confused with the classic book of Nezami. One Thousand and One Nights, the frame-story of which derives from the now lost Middle Persian work Hazār Afsān. Samak-e Ayyār, a folktale about an Iranian ayyār, written down during the 12th century. Ayyār, at times synonymous with javānmard, referred to a member of a class of warriors in Iran from the 9th to the 12th century. Šāhnāme, the national epic of Iran, written by 10th-century Persian poet Ferdowsi, based on Xwadāynāmag, a Middle Persian compilation of the history of Iranian kings and heroes from mythical times down to the reign of Chosroes II. Vāmeq o Ozrā, a derivation from the Greek romance of Metiochus and Parthenope, written down by Persian poet Onsori in the 11th century. Arash the Archer, who shot his arrow from the peak of Damavand to settle a land dispute between Iran and Turan; the festival of Tirgan is linked to this epic, besides having roots in the ancient myth of archangel Tishtrya.
Garshasp, a dragon-slaying hero in Iranian legends, now honored as jahān-pahlavān. Gordafarid, praised for her daringly martial role in the tragedy of Rostam o Sohrāb. Rostam, a celebrated marzbān, best known for his mournful battle with his son Sohrab, he was the son of Dastan. Hossein the Kurd of Shabestar, a Kurdish warrior from Shabestar who devoted his life to fighting for justice, representing a javānmard. Koroghlu, a legendary hero who seeks to fight against the unjust, in the oral traditions of the Turkic-speaking peoples. Pourya-ye Vali, a 14th-century champion from Khwarezm, regarded as a role model by zurkhane athletes. Yaʿqub-e Leys, under the court of whom the Persian language reemerged after two centuries of eclipse by Arabic. Molla Nasreddin Dakho Āl, a scrawny old woman with a clay nose and red face who attacks pregnant women when they are alone and interferes with childbirth, it is believed that she carries a basket in which she puts the liver or lung of the mother, although a variety of other descriptions exist as well.
Night hag, a ghost or an evil creature that causes sleep paralysis. It is believed that the creature knows about hidden treasures, one would be told of one of them by grabbing the creature's nose. One can rescue themself from the creature by wiggling their fingers. Himantopodes, an evil creature that uses its flexible, leather-like legs as tentacles to grip and capture human beings; the captives will be forced to carry the creature until they die of fatigue. Demon, an evil being, ogre, or giant. Ghoul, a hideous monster with a feline head, forked tongue, hairy skin, deformed legs that resemble the limp and skinny legs of a prematurely born infant. Genie, a supernatural creature, comparable to the elves and the goblins, believed to be created from smokeless fire and to be living invisibly alongside the visible world. Manticore, a man-eater with the head of a human and the body of a lion, similar to the Egyptian sphinx. Amen Bird, a mythical bird in Persian literature that flies continuously and fulfills people's wishes.
Pari, a type of exquisite, winged fairy-like spirit ranking between evil spirits. The Patient Stone, the most empathetic of listeners, believed to absorb the sorrows and pains of the person who confides in itself, it is said that when the stone can no longer contain the pain it harbors, it bursts into pieces.Šāh-mārān, the intelligent queen of snakes who has human features above her waist and those of a serpent below. Simorğ, a benevolent mythical bird. Takam, the king of goats, in the folklore of the Turkic-speaking people of Azerbaijan. Traditionally, the stories of takam are recited in public theaters by a minstrel called takamchi. Zār, an evil spirit in the folklore of Iran's southern coastal regions who possesses individuals and harms them. Mount Damavand Mount Qaf Paristan Evil eye, a curse believed to be cast by a malevolent glare. To protect one from it, a pendant, gemstone or that depicts an eye is used as an amulet. Another way believed to protect one from an evil eye is to release a
Culture of Turkey
The culture of Turkey combines a diverse and heterogeneous set of elements that have been derived from the various cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean and Central Asian region and to a lesser degree, Eastern European, Caucasian traditions. Many of these traditions were brought together by the Ottoman Empire, a multi-ethnic and multi-religious state. During the early years of the republic, the government invested a large amount of resources into fine arts such as paintings and architecture; this was done of creating a cultural identity. Because of the different historical factors defining the Turkish identity the culture of Turkey combines clear efforts of modernization and Westernization undertaken in varying degrees since the 1800s with a simultaneous desire to maintain traditional religious and historical values. Turkish culture has undergone profound changes over the last century. Today, Turkey may be the only country that contains every extreme of Western culture; the Ottoman system was a multi-ethnic state that enabled people within it not to mix with each other and thereby retain separate ethnic and religious identities within the empire.
Upon the fall of the empire after World War I the Turkish Republic adapted a unitary approach, which forced all the different cultures within its borders to mix with each other with the aim of producing a national and cultural identity. This mixing, instead of producing cultural homogenization, instead resulted in many shades of grey as the traditional Muslim cultures of Anatolia collided with the cosmopolitan modernity of Istanbul and the wider West. A series of radical reforms soon followed, central to these reforms were the belief that Turkish society would have to Westernize itself both politically and culturally in order to modernize. Political, religious, cultural and economic policy changes were designed to convert the new Republic of Turkey into a secular, modern nation-state; these changes were implemented under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. As a result, Turkey is one of the most Westernized majority-Muslim nations. Turkish literature is the collection of written and oral texts composed in the Turkish language, either in its Ottoman form or in less literary forms, such as that spoken in the Republic of Turkey today.
Traditional examples for Turkish folk literature include stories of Karagöz and Hacivat, Keloğlan, İncili Çavuş and Nasreddin Hoca, as well as the works of folk poets such as Yunus Emre and Aşık Veysel. The Book of Dede Korkut and the Epic of Köroğlu have been the main elements of the Turkish epic tradition in Anatolia for several centuries; the two primary streams of Ottoman literature were prose. Of the two, the Ottoman Divan poetry, a ritualized and symbolic art form, was the dominant stream; the vast majority of Divan poetry was lyric in nature: either qasidas. There were, other common genres, most the mathnawi, a kind of verse romance and thus a variety of narrative poetry; the tradition of Ottoman prose was non-fictional in nature. The Tanzimat reforms of 1839–1876 brought changes to the language of Ottoman written literature, introduced unknown Western genres the novel and the short story. Many of the writers in the Tanzimat period wrote in several different genres simultaneously: for instance, the poet Namık Kemal wrote the important 1876 novel İntibâh, while the journalist İbrahim Şinasi is noted for writing, in 1860, the first modern Turkish play, the one-act comedy "Şair Evlenmesi".
Most of the roots of modern Turkish literature were formed between the years 1896 and 1923. Broadly, there were three primary literary movements during this period: the Edebiyyât-ı Cedîde movement; the Edebiyyât-ı Cedîde movement began with the founding in 1891 of the magazine Servet-i Fünûn, devoted to progress along the Western model. Accordingly, the magazine's literary ventures, under the direction of the poet Tevfik Fikret, were geared towards creating a Western-style "high art" in Turkey. Poetry is the most dominant form of literature in modern Turkey. The'folk poetry' as indicated above, was influenced by the Islamic Sunni and Shi'a traditions. Furthermore, as evidenced by the prevalence of the still existent ashik tradition, the dominant element in Turkish folk poetry has always been song; the development of folk poetry in Turkish—which began to emerge in the 13th century with such important writers as Yunus Emre, Sultan Veled, Şeyyâd Hamza—was given a great boost when, on 13 May 1277, Karamanoğlu Mehmed Bey declared Turkish the official state language of Anatolia's powerful Karamanid state.
There are, broadly speaking, two traditions of Turkish folk poetries. Much of the poetry and song of the aşık/ozan tradition, being exclusively oral until the 19th century, remains anonymous. There are, however, a few well-known aşıks from before that time whose names have
Morocco
Morocco the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in the Maghreb region of North West Africa with an area of 710,850 km2. Its capital is the largest city Casablanca, it overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Morocco claims the areas of Ceuta, Melilla and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera, all of them under Spanish jurisdiction. Since the foundation of the first Moroccan state by Idris I in 788 AD, the country has been ruled by a series of independent dynasties, reaching its zenith under the Almoravid and Almohad dynasties, spanning parts of Iberia and northwestern Africa; the Marinid and Saadi dynasties continued the struggle against foreign domination, allowing Morocco to remain the only northwest African country to avoid Ottoman occupation. The Alaouite dynasty, which rules to this day, seized power in 1631. In 1912, Morocco was divided into French and Spanish protectorates, with an international zone in Tangier, it regained its independence in 1956, has since remained comparatively stable and prosperous by regional standards.
Morocco claims the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara Spanish Sahara, as its Southern Provinces. After Spain agreed to decolonise the territory to Morocco and Mauritania in 1975, a guerrilla war arose with local forces. Mauritania relinquished its claim in 1979, the war lasted until a cease-fire in 1991. Morocco occupies two thirds of the territory, peace processes have thus far failed to break the political deadlock; the unitary sovereign state of Morocco is a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. The King of Morocco holds vast executive and legislative powers over the military, foreign policy and religious affairs. Executive power is exercised by the government, while legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the Assembly of Representatives and the Assembly of Councillors; the king can issue decrees called dahirs. He can dissolve the parliament after consulting the Prime Minister and the president of the constitutional court.
Morocco's predominant religion is Islam, its official languages are Arabic and Berber. E; the Moroccan dialect of Arabic, referred to as Darija, French are widely spoken. Moroccan culture is a blend of Berber, Sephardi Jews, West African and European influences. Morocco is a member of the Union for the Mediterranean and the African Union, it has the fifth largest economy of Africa. The full Arabic name al-Mamlakah al-Maghribiyyah translates to "Kingdom of the West". For historical references, medieval Arab historians and geographers sometimes referred to Morocco as al-Maghrib al-Aqṣá to distinguish it from neighbouring historical regions called al-Maghrib al-Awsaṭ and al-Maghrib al-Adná; the basis of Morocco's English name is Marrakesh, its capital under the Almoravid dynasty and Almohad Caliphate. The origin of the name Marrakesh is disputed, but is most from the Berber words amur akush or "Land of God"; the modern Berber name for Marrakesh is Mṛṛakc. In Turkish, Morocco is known as a name derived from its ancient capital of Fes.
However, this was not the case in other parts of the Islamic world: until the middle of the 20th century, the common name of Morocco in Egyptian and Middle Eastern Arabic literature was Marrakesh. The English name Morocco is an anglicisation of the Spanish "Marruecos", from which derives the Tuscan "Morrocco", the origin of the Italian "Marocco"; the area of present-day Morocco has been inhabited since Paleolithic times, sometime between 190,000 and 90,000 BC. A recent publication may demonstrate an earlier habitation period, as Homo sapiens fossils discovered in the late 2000s near the Atlantic coast in Jebel Irhoud were dated to 315,000 years before present. During the Upper Paleolithic, the Maghreb was more fertile than it is today, resembling a savanna more than today's arid landscape. Twenty-two thousand years ago, the Aterian was succeeded by the Iberomaurusian culture, which shared similarities with Iberian cultures. Skeletal similarities have been suggested between the Iberomaurusian "Mechta-Afalou" burials and European Cro-Magnon remains.
The Iberomaurusian was succeeded by the Beaker culture in Morocco. Mitochondrial DNA studies have discovered the Saami of Scandinavia; this supports theories that the Franco-Cantabrian refuge area of southwestern Europe was the source of late-glacial expansions of hunter-gatherers who repopulated northern Europe after the last ice age. Northwest Africa and Morocco were drawn into the wider emerging Mediterranean world by the Phoenicians, who established trading colonies and settlements in the early Classical period. Substantial Phoenician settlements were at Chellah and Mogador. Mogador was a Phoenician colony as early as the early 6th century BC. Morocco became a realm of the Northwest African civilisation of ancie
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