1.
Istanbul
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Istanbul, historically known as Constantinople and Byzantium, is the most populous city in Turkey and the countrys economic, cultural, and historic center. Istanbul is a city in Eurasia, straddling the Bosphorus strait between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. Its commercial and historical center lies on the European side and about a third of its population lives on the Asian side, the city is the administrative center of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, both hosting a population of around 14.7 million residents. Istanbul is one of the worlds most populous cities and ranks as the worlds 7th-largest city proper, founded under the name of Byzantion on the Sarayburnu promontory around 660 BCE, the city developed to become one of the most significant in history. After its reestablishment as Constantinople in 330 CE, it served as a capital for almost 16 centuries, during the Roman and Byzantine, the Latin. Overlooked for the new capital Ankara during the period, the city has since regained much of its prominence. The population of the city has increased tenfold since the 1950s, as migrants from across Anatolia have moved in, arts, music, film, and cultural festivals were established at the end of the 20th century and continue to be hosted by the city today. Infrastructure improvements have produced a complex transportation network, considered a global city, Istanbul has one of the fastest-growing metropolitan economies in the world. It hosts the headquarters of many Turkish companies and media outlets and accounts for more than a quarter of the gross domestic product. Hoping to capitalize on its revitalization and rapid expansion, Istanbul has bid for the Summer Olympics five times in twenty years, the first known name of the city is Byzantium, the name given to it at its foundation by Megarean colonists around 660 BCE. The name is thought to be derived from a personal name, ancient Greek tradition refers to a legendary king of that name as the leader of the Greek colonists. Modern scholars have hypothesized that the name of Byzas was of local Thracian or Illyrian origin. He also attempted to promote the name Nova Roma and its Greek version Νέα Ῥώμη Nea Romē, the use of Constantinople to refer to the city during the Ottoman period is now considered politically incorrect, even if not historically inaccurate, by Turks. By the 19th century, the city had acquired other names used by foreigners or Turks. Europeans used Constantinople to refer to the whole of the city, pera was used to describe the area between the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus, but Turks also used the name Beyoğlu. The name İstanbul is commonly held to derive from the Medieval Greek phrase εἰς τὴν Πόλιν and this reflected its status as the only major city in the vicinity. The importance of Constantinople in the Ottoman world was reflected by its Ottoman name Der Saadet meaning the gate to Prosperity in Ottoman. An alternative view is that the name evolved directly from the name Constantinople, with the first, a Turkish folk etymology traces the name to Islam bol plenty of Islam because the city was called Islambol or Islambul as the capital of the Islamic Ottoman Empire
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Ankara
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Ankara, formerly known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of the Republic of Turkey. With a population of 4,587,558 in the center and 5,150,072 in its province. Ankara was Atatürks headquarters from 1920 and has been the capital of the Republic since its founding in 1923, the government is a prominent employer, but Ankara is also an important commercial and industrial city, located at the center of Turkeys road and railway networks. The city gave its name to the Angora wool shorn from Angora rabbits, the long-haired Angora goat, the area is also known for its pears, honey, and muscat grapes. Ankara is an old city with various Hittite, Phrygian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine. The historical center of town is a hill rising 150 m over the left bank of the Ankara Çayı, a tributary of the Sakarya River. The hill remains crowned by the ruins of the old citadel, as with many ancient cities, Ankara has gone by several names over the ages. It has been identified with the Hittite cult center Ankuwaš, although remains a matter of debate. In classical antiquity and during the period, the city was known as Ánkyra in Greek and Ancyra in Latin. Following its annexation by the Seljuk Turks in 1073, the city known in many European languages as Angora. The form Angora is preserved in the names of breeds of different kinds of animals. The oldest settlements in and around the city center of Ankara belonged to the Hattic civilization which existed during the Bronze Age and was gradually absorbed c, 2000–1700 BC by the Indo-European Hittites. In Phrygian tradition, King Midas was venerated as the founder of Ancyra, but Pausanias mentions that the city was far older. Persian sovereignty lasted until the Persians defeat at the hands of Alexander the Great who conquered the city in 333 BC, Alexander came from Gordion to Ankara and stayed in the city for a short period. After his death at Babylon in 323 BC and the subsequent division of his empire among his generals, Ankara, by that time the city also took its name Ἄγκυρα which, in slightly modified form, provides the modern name of Ankara. Other centers were Pessinos, todays Balhisar, for the Trocmi tribe, the city was then known as Ancyra. The Celtic element was probably relatively small in numbers, an aristocracy which ruled over Phrygian-speaking peasants. However, the Celtic language continued to be spoken in Galatia for many centuries
3.
Nationalist Movement Party
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The Nationalist Movement Party is a Turkish far-right political party that adheres to Turkish ultranationalism and Euroscepticism. The party was first formed in 1969 by former colonel Alparslan Türkeş, the partys youth wing is the Grey Wolves organization, which is also known as the Nationalist Hearths. Türkeş, who is revered by Turkish nationalists as the founder of the idealist movement, is commonly referred to as Chieftain by his supporters. After Türkeşs death and the election of Devlet Bahçeli as his successor, the party under Bahçelis leadership won 18% of the vote and 129 seats in the 1999 general election, its best ever result, coming second only to the Democratic Left Party. Since the 2007 general election, in which the MHP won back its parliamentary representation with 14, in the 2011 general election, the partys vote fell to 13% and won 53 seats, though increased to 16. 3% and 80 seats in the June 2015 general election. During an Extraordinary Great Congress held at Adana in Turkey on 8–9 February 1969, the leader of the partys youth wing, known as the Grey Wolves after Turkic mythology, claimed that they had an intelligence organization that was superior to the states own. On May 27,1980, the deputy leader and former government minister Gün Sazak was assassinated by members of the Marxist–Leninist terrorist group Revolutionary Left in front of his home. Many party members joined the neoliberal Anavatan Partisi or various Islamist parties, Party member noted that the partys ideology was in power while its members were in prison. The party later was reformed in 1983 under the name Conservative Party, after 1985, however, the name was changed to the Nationalist Task Party then back again to its former name in 1992. In 1993, Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu and five other deputies separated and founded the Great Union Party, the MHP used to be described as a neo-fascist party linked to extremist and violent militias. Notably, it has moved from strict, Kemalist-style secularism to a more pro-Islamic stance, some scholars doubt the sincerity and credibility of this turn and suspect the party of still pursuing a fascist agenda behind a more moderate and pro-democratic façade. Showing this as a MHP-HDP coalition is a deliberate diversion, in July 2015, inmidst a wave of protests against the Xinjiang conflict, MHP-affiliated Ülkücü attacked South Korean tourists on Istanbuls Sultanahmet Square. In an interview to Turkish columnist Ahmet Hakan, MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli played the attacks down, plus, how are you going to differentiate between Korean and Chinese. The party is headed by Devlet Bahçeli and has 40 deputies, the party has recently been putting a distance between itself and its history of ultranationalism, at occasion asking its members to keep away from ethnic politics. There is an opposition against Devlet Bahçeli led by Meral Akşener, Koray Aydın, Ümit Özdağ, the opposition tries to make a congress and elect a new leader for the party. However Recep Tayyip Erdoğan tries to prevent the congress due to the possibility of his defeat in the elections if MHP joins the elections led by a new leader. The Programme of the Nationalist Action Party, An Iron Hand in a Velvet Glove, Turkish extreme right in office, whither democracy and democratization. Mapping the Extreme Right in Contemporary Europe, From Local to Transnational, globalization and Nationalism, The Nationalist Action Party of Turkey
4.
Justice and Development Party (Turkey)
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The Justice and Development Party, abbreviated AKP in Turkish, is a conservative political party in Turkey. Developed from the tradition of moderate Islamism, the party is the largest in Turkey, the party held a majority of seats for 13 years, but lost it in June 2015, only to regain it in the snap election of November 2015. Its electoral success has been mirrored in the three elections held since the partys establishment, coming first in 2004,2009 and 2014 respectively. The current party leader Binali Yıldırım is the Prime Minister of Turkey, the party has for a long time been supported by the Cemaat Movement of exiled Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen, whose influence in the judiciary has helped to weaken the opposition against the AKP. Having been an observer in the center-right European Peoples Party since 2005, it left to join the eurosceptic Alliance of Conservatives. Since then, the party has brought about tighter regulations on use, abortion and alcohol consumption, having temporarily blocked access to Twitter. Especially after the government corruption scandal involving several AKP ministers in 2013, the AKP favours a strong centralized leadership, having long advocated a presidential system of government and significantly reduced the number of elected local government positions in 2013. The AK Party was established by a range of politicians of various political parties. The core of the party was formed from the reformist faction of the Islamist Virtue Party, including such as Abdullah Gül. A second founding group consisted of members of the social conservative Motherland Party who had close to Turgut Özal, such as Cemil Çiçek. Some members of the True Path Party, such as Hüseyin Çelik and Köksal Toptan, some members, such as Kürşad Tüzmen had nationalist or Ertuğrul Günay, had center-left backgrounds while representatives of the nascent Muslim left current were largely excluded. In addition a number of people joined a political party for the first time, such as Ali Babacan, Selma Aliye Kavaf, Egemen Bağış. All of these people joined Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to found the new party, although the party is described as an Islamist party in some media, party officials reject those claims. These characterizations do not reflect the truth, and they sadden us, Çelik added, The AK Party is a conservative democratic party. The AK Partys conservatism is limited to moral and social issues, also in a separate speech made in 2005, Prime Minister Erdoğan stated, We are not an Islamic party, and we also refuse labels such as Muslim-democrat. Erdoğan went on to say that the AK Partys agenda is limited to conservative democracy, however, the partys leadership has also rejected this label. In 2005, the party was granted membership in the European Peoples Party. In November 2013, the party left the EPP to join the Alliance of European Conservatives
5.
Censorship in Turkey
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Media freedom in Turkey is regulated by domestic and international legislation, the latter taking precedence over domestic law, according to Article 90 of the Constitution. Despite legal provisions, media freedom in Turkey has steadily deteriorated from 2010 onwards, President Tayyip Erdogan has arrested hundreds of journalists, closed or taken over dozens of media outlets, and prevented journalists and their families from traveling. By some accounts, Turkey currently accounts for one-third of all journalists imprisoned around the world, since 2013, Freedom House ranks Turkey as Not Free. According to Freedom House, The government enacted new laws that expanded both the power to block websites and the surveillance capability of the National Intelligence Organization. Journalists faced unprecedented legal obstacles as the courts restricted reporting on corruption, the authorities also continued to aggressively use the penal code, criminal defamation laws, and the antiterrorism law to crack down on journalists and media outlets. Meanwhile, the government continued to use the financial and other leverage it holds over media owners to influence coverage of politically sensitive issues. In 2012 and 2013 the Committee to Protect Journalists ranked Turkey as the worst journalist jailer in the world, during its 12-year rule, the ruling AKP has gradually expanded its control over media. Today, numerous newspapers, TV channels and internet portals also dubbed as Yandaş Medya or Havuz Medyası continue their heavy pro-government propaganda, several media groups receive preferential treatment in exchange for AKP-friendly editorial policies. Some of these organizations were acquired by AKP-friendly businesses through questionable funds. Media not friendly to AKP, on the hand, are threatened with intimidation, inspections. These media group owners face similar threats to their other businesses, an increasing number of columnists have been fired for criticizing the AKP leadership. Regional censorship predates the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, on 15 February 1857, the Ottoman Empire issued law governing printing houses, books first had to be shown to the governor, who forwarded them to commission for education and the police. If no objection was made, the Sultanate would then inspect them, without censure from the Sultan books could not be legally issued. Between 1909 and 1913 four journalists were killed—Hasan Fehmi, Ahmet Samim, Zeki Bey, during World War II many newspapers were ordered shut, including the dailies Cumhuriyet, Tan, and Vatan. When the Democratic Party under Adnan Menderes came to power in 1950, the Press Law changed, sentences and fines were increased. Several newspapers were ordered shut, including the dailies Ulus, Hürriyet, Tercüman, in April 1960, a so-called investigation commission was established by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. It was given the power to confiscate publications, close papers, anyone not following the decisions of the commission were subject to imprisonment, between one and three years. Freedom of speech was heavily restricted after the 1980 military coup headed by General Kenan Evren, during the 1980s and 1990s, broaching the topics of secularism, minority rights, and the role of the military in politics risked reprisal
