Red Stained Red Flag: The Fall of Turkey
The İzmir Plot was made, a plot to assassinate Ataturk. On the 10th of June, the work was complete, and everyone would be put to position on the day. These plans were done in secret.
A few minutes later, Ataturk was on the street. And around 10:25 as legend says, The gun was shot. A moment later the bullet hit Ataturk on the head, cleanly coming out the other side. Everyone was in shock, the news spread fast. Everyone was panicking fast. Soon the news hit everyone. Turkey was in chaos, and no one had any idea who to make Prime Minister next.
A few candidates rose on top. Kâzım Karabekir and İsmet İnönü were leading on the next leader, as there was no official successor to the Prime Minister yet. A vote was put to the Parliament and the results were in the favor of İsmet İnönü. Kâzım was put to replacement if anything went wrong.
The next few days, things settled down and a general melancholy was made. İnönü was a good, probably even a great replacement, someone who could run a country not as a country in war, but rather as a country after a war trying to recover, someone who would continue the ideals of Ataturk. Kâzım was less suited for the job, so İnönü was heavily monitored.
Karabekir was a general and a teacher for orphan children, but definitely not suited well to lead a whole nation. He could make do, but it was clear that any political movement could take him out at any moment.
Soon enough Turkey’s stability was going down, the reactionaries (people wishing to go back to the ottoman regime) and followers of Shariah were getting more and more powerful. They requested free elections, and threatened civil war. Karabekir, trusting in his military experience, declined, and the two main fronts of the rebels opened: “Şeriatçı Kuvvetler “ (Pro-Shariah Forces) [Note: There’s no good translation of “Şeriatçı” in English so this translation might be wrong.] and “Osman Kuvvetleri” (Forces of Osman).
They were active in the eastern parts of Turkey, and eventually the Kurdish people started to riot and make an army, called “Arteşa serxwebûna kurd” (Kurdish Independence Army) [Note: I used google translate since I don’t know any Kurdish, excuse me if it’s wrong].
These three armies were very strong. Surprisingly strong. There was something fishy.
The British and French declined this, and Turkey officially declared war on 12th of April 1928. This was seen as a hyperbolic move by some of the more Left-wing politicians in Turkey, who would rather only fight the funded forces, and maybe of the parliament members were against this move. In Thrace, Istanbul and Balıkesir, these more pacifist politicians decided to hold rallies to stop Karabekir from fighting the British and French, but to no avail.
Some ideas were thrown around, but none came to fruition, except for some small-scale communist uprisings in the black sea coast. This war was going to happen, and it couldn’t be stopped.
At the start, the Turkish Forces were able to hold off the forces, but it was also easy to see that they were taking heavy losses. This would mean that in reality, Turkey only had so much time to hold off. Eventually after a few months of war, Turkey started to take on losses.
Erzurum, Urfa, Maraş and Hakkari were some of the first places to fall to the militias, British and the French. Soon, a great portion of eastern Turkey fell to these forces. The British made an announcement that Turkey was falling.
The Soviet took advantage of this, and took their 1914 borders in war. Officially to “protect the Turkish Population from colonisers” but we all can probably tell the actual purpose. Greece was hesitant to attack Turkey because of their quickly improving relations, but seeing their losing condition, decided to occupy some lands, in an attempt to preserve some of Turkey at least.
The reason Turkey couldn’t hold off these forces is because they had quickly wasted all of their armies in the Southern Front. Turkey was falling and there were only minor victories at best.
Soon, on 20th of July 1930, Turkey surrendered. An armistice was signed on the 1st of August 1930. In the treaty, any occupations of Turkey would keep their occupations until the peace treaty.
And then, on 5th of October 1930, the treaty was finalised. Here is the treaty, signed in Paris and thus called “The 1930 Treaty of Paris”:
TO THE OCCUPANTS:
-Turkey will become occupied by the Osman Kuvvetleri and the Şeriatçı Kuvvetler. They will sort the fate of the government by themselves.
-In the Southeast, Kurdistan will be created, and will become a dominion with special autonomy in the British Empire.
-In the Northeast, the Soviets will annex to the border of the Russian Empire.
-In the South, France will take Urfa, Maraş, Antep, Hatay, Adana, The Rest of Cilicia, Niğde, Kayseri, Malatya, Adıyaman and Sivas.
-In the South, Italy will take the provinces on the Mediterranean, except for those on the coast of Greece. Italy will also take Konya, Isparta and Burdur.
-In the West, Greece will take İzmir, Aydın, Manisa, Denizli, Uşak, Kütahya, Afyonkarahisar. Greece will also take the southern parts of Balıkesir, Çanakkale and Bursa.
-In the Northeast, the Greeks there will make a Republic, around the Historical Pontus and Trebizond.
-Around the Straits and Marmara, Britain will occupy the lands. The Straits will become an international zone.
-The lands not occupied by Britain in Thrace will be given to Greece.
TO THE OK AND THE SK:
-The new government will not be able to attack anyone until 2020, unless a new state has formed.
-The Caliph position will be given to them, and they will get nominal control of the city of Mecca and Madina, with the holy lands in between becoming co owned between them [note: not very well specified in the treaty, this means that the british lease the land to them, and co-own the land through the month of Hajj.]
In the meanwhile, The Republic of Anatolia and Pontus Joined the Allies. They disliked their comrades, probably more so than any other Allied country, but it was better than being genocided by Nazis.
The war around the world didn’t affect the war in Anatolia that greatly, but Anatolia definitely changed a lot by this war.
In 1940, The ROA (Republic of Anatolia) and Pontus were able to mostly subdue the Ottoman Beylik with their forces, but in the meanwhile, The French colonies in Syria were being occupied by the Germans, which led to a lot of complications. Italy took out southern Anatolia, and Greece was occupied. Eventually Pontus was the only somewhat Turkish state not fully occupied by the Axis. The Soviet and the British sides were working together to preserve Pontus. The rest of Anatolia was mostly occupied.
The Axis committed some of the worst Crimes against humanity seen in modern history. A genocide of the likes of the Holocaust. Around 7 million Turks, Kurds, and Zazas were put to concentration camps in Ankara, Karaman and Adana. Most of them died by horrifying means, and this is one of the defining moments of Turkish History. This is where the name of the flag of the new flag of Turkey comes from. “Red Stained Red Flag”.
By around 1943, Most of Anatolia had been recovered, but the view was horrifying, Most of the cities had been bombed to the ground. The ROA was almost completely bombed and torn down. The total population had halved, around half died, and another half migrated to surrounding Non-Axis territories. Most to Azerbaijan, and Central Asia, but some to Egypt, Algeria and even Europe like France and Moscow. A lot of them tried to migrate to Pontus, and Pontus tried to help, but the treacherous journey, full of mountains meant that most took the safer routes.
By 1945, the war was over, and Turkey needed to be Reconstructed, it wasn’t just The ROA, most of Anatolia had been almost flattened.
The ROA had expanded to own the lands owned by the Italians. These lands would come to be the biggest cities in Turkey, except for Istanbul. Antalya would become second and Adana would be third.
In 1952, France let the Turkish half of Western Levant go, Including Hatay, the most wanted land of Ataturk. Soon, in 1956, The British would let their Marmara Straits lands in Asia go, and Greece would let Anatolia take over their previous lands with a few exceptions in 1957.
In 1961, The US President John F. Kennedy established the “Turkish Reconstruction Fund”, a fund to rebuild Turkey to become a Western Haven, a land which the Soviets couldn’t conquer.
The Soviets puppeted Pontus, but there would be a civil war in Pontus for a long time, with the Soviets failing to occupy the Pontus People until the late 70’s.
Throughout the 70’s Kurdistan got Independence. Turkey didn’t bother ruining relations, and simply decided to make some trade deals, a good part of it relating to oil. Turkey’s situation improved steadily over the 70’s, and factories were made and the first free elections were held. Turkey’s economy had a boom in the late 70’s as factories started to open and workers started working. The funds rebuilt cities with great designs, as cities like Izmir and Eskişehir were built from the ground up. Ankara was conquered, destroyed and then recreated to become the capital again. Turkey established a tourism industry, and with an influx of immigrants to work, Turkey became one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world, resembling something closer to Canada than Ataturk’s vision.
In 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the region occupied by the Soviets was expected to join, but didn’t join, and instead became known as “Kars” or “The Republic of Kars”.
In the 90’s With a civil war in Kurdistan, the Fundamentalists in Southern Kurdistan spilled over to the South of Turkey, and for the first time in 30 years, the Turkish Army was seen as a necessity.
On 22nd of December 2014, Turkey finally got the straits fully integrated into Turkey, with only the condition that ships could pass freely, including the British “Erenköy Canal”. Except for Military Ships which could be blocked.
Turkey’s economy is rising, and it’s people working hard to still improve their country, with people from all over the world.
Turkish people still are the majority in the country, but are slowly melting together to form a new identity called “Yeni Kültür” (New Culture).
Turkey's greatest project right now is the "Marmara Tunnel" Project. It's goal is to make a Tunnel going through the middle of the Marmara Sea.
The capital is Ankara, the Anthem is the “İstiklâl Marşı” (Independence March), just like the old republic. The biggest city is Istanbul, then Antalya, then Ankara and then İzmir. The Population is 59.240.000 (2015 Census). Turkey holds a census every 5 years.
Top 10 Biggest Cities (2015 Census):
Istanbul: 9.530.220
Antalya: 3.630.100
Ankara: 2.410:600
İzmir: 1.940.500
Adana: 1.502.000
Bursa: 1.306.000
Antakya: 1.204.000
Şanlıurfa: 1.050.022
Aydın: 920.600
Eskişehir: 802.600
Prime Minister / Cumhurbaşkanı: The “Leader” of Turkey, not much power, except for the fact that the PM can propose a bill and has 2 votes instead of one.
Co-Minister / Başkan Yardımcısı: The helper of the PM, helps with decisions and can also propose a bill but has only 1 vote.
Deputies / Meclis Üyeleri: The Politicians in Parliament. Can be independent or declare that they’re part of a party. People vote for the proportionality of politicians, but the parties have the power to put the Deputies into the Parliament.
Province Minister / Vali: Vali’s are the local heads of the Provinces, They make decisions about their Province. They have some autonomy, but Turkey is somewhat centralised so not a lot.
District Minister / Kaymakam: Kaymakam are the local heads of the Districts. They make decisions about their Districts. They usually can’t set laws, but rather help with the planning of the District and budget the income.
Locality Minister / Semtçi: Semtçi’s are the local heads of Semts, the smallest official and well-bordered Subdivisions. They lead the Semt. And help with construction in the local region.
Muhtar / Muhtar: Muhtars lead single neighbourhoods, and usually don’t have much power, they can organise meetings and sometimes decide if building are made or not.
Party Ministers / Parti Başkanı: Party leaders are the current Ministers of a party.
Turkey’s major political parties in parliament are as follows:
Gelişim ve Yükseliş Partisi / Progress and Growth Party [GYP]:
The GYP is a Centre-Left Social Democratic party with an emphasis on economic and cultural growth and progressivism. It is one of the most popular parties.
İyi Yaşam Partisi / Good Life Party [İYP]
The İYP is a Centre-Right party which believes in liberalism. With an emphasis of cultural mixing.
Terakki Partisi / Progress Party [TP]
Despite the name, the TP is a conservaitve Right-Wing party, which believe in a stronger army, and more of a Turkish Identity.
Sosyal Kuvvetler Partisi / Social Forces Party [SKP]
The SKP is a Left-Wing party which focuses on worker’s rights. It wishes for a more nationalised industry, and decreasing the wealth gap.
Post-Independence Rings of Good
In the early 1920’s, Turkey gained its independence. Ataturk’s attempts at restoring the country were going well. Economic policies were improving the economy and leading to a more nationalised economy, cultural policies were turning Turkey into a modern secular nation. Turkey was improving quickly and steadily. Most people approved of these new changes. Strides were made in education, as Turkey switched over to the Latin alphabet. Literacy rates were going up, and writing was getting easier and more compatible with Turkish.Something Brews in the Background
Just as some people were happy about these changes, some people didn’t like these new changes, especially those who supported the old ways of the Ottoman Empire and people who supported Shariah were active in opposing this new government. There were a few problems before, some rebellions and murders, but nothing major, as everything was put down. But now they were looking for ways to take over the republic that were more extreme. Soon, an idea would come.Threat
On the 14th of June 1926, Ataturk was going to go to İzmir, and some of the extremists wondered if they could assassinate Ataturk. Some people in the Islamist circles opposed this, but they went to a decision: Assassinate Ataturk.The İzmir Plot was made, a plot to assassinate Ataturk. On the 10th of June, the work was complete, and everyone would be put to position on the day. These plans were done in secret.
Assassination & Replacement
On the 14th of June, in the morning, presumably around 10 AM, everyone was in their position, and Ataturk was coming soon.A few minutes later, Ataturk was on the street. And around 10:25 as legend says, The gun was shot. A moment later the bullet hit Ataturk on the head, cleanly coming out the other side. Everyone was in shock, the news spread fast. Everyone was panicking fast. Soon the news hit everyone. Turkey was in chaos, and no one had any idea who to make Prime Minister next.
A few candidates rose on top. Kâzım Karabekir and İsmet İnönü were leading on the next leader, as there was no official successor to the Prime Minister yet. A vote was put to the Parliament and the results were in the favor of İsmet İnönü. Kâzım was put to replacement if anything went wrong.
The next few days, things settled down and a general melancholy was made. İnönü was a good, probably even a great replacement, someone who could run a country not as a country in war, but rather as a country after a war trying to recover, someone who would continue the ideals of Ataturk. Kâzım was less suited for the job, so İnönü was heavily monitored.
New Leaderships
On 17th October 1927, İnönü was diagnosed with a very aggressive cancer tumour. It was predicted İnönü had very little time to live, maybe a few months at best. İnönü resigned and put Karabekir into his place.Karabekir was a general and a teacher for orphan children, but definitely not suited well to lead a whole nation. He could make do, but it was clear that any political movement could take him out at any moment.
Soon enough Turkey’s stability was going down, the reactionaries (people wishing to go back to the ottoman regime) and followers of Shariah were getting more and more powerful. They requested free elections, and threatened civil war. Karabekir, trusting in his military experience, declined, and the two main fronts of the rebels opened: “Şeriatçı Kuvvetler “ (Pro-Shariah Forces) [Note: There’s no good translation of “Şeriatçı” in English so this translation might be wrong.] and “Osman Kuvvetleri” (Forces of Osman).
They were active in the eastern parts of Turkey, and eventually the Kurdish people started to riot and make an army, called “Arteşa serxwebûna kurd” (Kurdish Independence Army) [Note: I used google translate since I don’t know any Kurdish, excuse me if it’s wrong].
These three armies were very strong. Surprisingly strong. There was something fishy.
A Deal with the Devil
Turns out the SF (Pro-Shariah Forces), OK (Forces of Osman) and KIA (Kurdish Independence Army) were all being backed up by the British and French, in a desperate attempt to get rid of Turkey. Karabekir claimed this to be a violation of the Treaty of Lausanne, and Turkey was on the edge of a second Independence war. Karabekir put this proposition: If they stopped funding the militias and rebellions, they wouldn’t declare war.The British and French declined this, and Turkey officially declared war on 12th of April 1928. This was seen as a hyperbolic move by some of the more Left-wing politicians in Turkey, who would rather only fight the funded forces, and maybe of the parliament members were against this move. In Thrace, Istanbul and Balıkesir, these more pacifist politicians decided to hold rallies to stop Karabekir from fighting the British and French, but to no avail.
Some ideas were thrown around, but none came to fruition, except for some small-scale communist uprisings in the black sea coast. This war was going to happen, and it couldn’t be stopped.
At the start, the Turkish Forces were able to hold off the forces, but it was also easy to see that they were taking heavy losses. This would mean that in reality, Turkey only had so much time to hold off. Eventually after a few months of war, Turkey started to take on losses.
Erzurum, Urfa, Maraş and Hakkari were some of the first places to fall to the militias, British and the French. Soon, a great portion of eastern Turkey fell to these forces. The British made an announcement that Turkey was falling.
The Soviet took advantage of this, and took their 1914 borders in war. Officially to “protect the Turkish Population from colonisers” but we all can probably tell the actual purpose. Greece was hesitant to attack Turkey because of their quickly improving relations, but seeing their losing condition, decided to occupy some lands, in an attempt to preserve some of Turkey at least.
The reason Turkey couldn’t hold off these forces is because they had quickly wasted all of their armies in the Southern Front. Turkey was falling and there were only minor victories at best.
Soon, on 20th of July 1930, Turkey surrendered. An armistice was signed on the 1st of August 1930. In the treaty, any occupations of Turkey would keep their occupations until the peace treaty.
And then, on 5th of October 1930, the treaty was finalised. Here is the treaty, signed in Paris and thus called “The 1930 Treaty of Paris”:
TO THE OCCUPANTS:
-Turkey will become occupied by the Osman Kuvvetleri and the Şeriatçı Kuvvetler. They will sort the fate of the government by themselves.
-In the Southeast, Kurdistan will be created, and will become a dominion with special autonomy in the British Empire.
-In the Northeast, the Soviets will annex to the border of the Russian Empire.
-In the South, France will take Urfa, Maraş, Antep, Hatay, Adana, The Rest of Cilicia, Niğde, Kayseri, Malatya, Adıyaman and Sivas.
-In the South, Italy will take the provinces on the Mediterranean, except for those on the coast of Greece. Italy will also take Konya, Isparta and Burdur.
-In the West, Greece will take İzmir, Aydın, Manisa, Denizli, Uşak, Kütahya, Afyonkarahisar. Greece will also take the southern parts of Balıkesir, Çanakkale and Bursa.
-In the Northeast, the Greeks there will make a Republic, around the Historical Pontus and Trebizond.
-Around the Straits and Marmara, Britain will occupy the lands. The Straits will become an international zone.
-The lands not occupied by Britain in Thrace will be given to Greece.
TO THE OK AND THE SK:
-The new government will not be able to attack anyone until 2020, unless a new state has formed.
-The Caliph position will be given to them, and they will get nominal control of the city of Mecca and Madina, with the holy lands in between becoming co owned between them [note: not very well specified in the treaty, this means that the british lease the land to them, and co-own the land through the month of Hajj.]
A Fallen Republic
The central region would become the Ottoman Beylik, and have I. Aziz as the Sultan, and also the Caliph. This new Sultanate would be extremely Islamist, and Conservative. Any apostate or heretic would become a meat sack if found. It’s economy dead, and it’s people working for slave wages. It is a dictatorship before dictatorships.Blue Saves Red
Greece, which occupied some of Western Turkey let them go, since that was their plan all along. The British and French were a bit shocked by this, but under Greek Protection, Attacking these lands would lead to a lot of Unnecessary Controversy on top of their already extremely frowned upon occupation of the rest of Anatolia. This western state was modern, and a sort of continuation of the previous Republic. This state was called the Republic of Anatolia, It had great relations with Greece, and was slowly starting to tolerate France and Britain. If Turkey was unified, it would certainly be the Republic of Anatolia that would become the nation’s new policies.Britannia Rule The Rock Waves
Britain’s Dominionship of Kurdistan is just another expansion. Kurdistan is practically independent in every front except for International Policies. Many Kurds want independence, but not enough to matter for now.Britain’s Precious
The British ownership of the Marmara is quite controversial, but it is seen as OK because the straits are owned by the League of Nations. Marmara is Used for Transportation of Resources, But Britain plans on making a second Suez Canal here in it’s zone, to cheat the system.A Deeper Red
The Soviets have occupied the lands, and for now it’s pretty much untouched except for becoming an SSR on its own. It’s certain that this place would be independent from Turkey if Turkey became whole again.The French Levant
France finally occupied enough lands to declare Syria to be “Western Levant”. These lands will be deported to Anatolia or the Ottoman Beylik, with choice. Guess who the people will go to. This leads to Anatolia becoming a more diverse country. But it can sometimes cool relations with Greece.Pontus
The Pontus is a strange republic, with a virtually homogenous mix of Turks and Greeks. This means that this republic becomes a Black Sea pearl of Progress.A Fast-Approaching War
By the 1930’s WWII was becoming a possibility. And soon this war would become a reality. Nothing much that bothered the Anatolian Region.World War Two
In 1939, World War Two began. With the 3rd Reich trying to recruit more countries, They found a perfect opportunity in the Ottoman Beylik. The Ottoman Beylik joined the Axis, and the Axis sent the Ottoman Beylik forces and Enough armies to attack the rest of Anatolia and continue South, creating a Middle Eastern fascist state.In the meanwhile, The Republic of Anatolia and Pontus Joined the Allies. They disliked their comrades, probably more so than any other Allied country, but it was better than being genocided by Nazis.
The war around the world didn’t affect the war in Anatolia that greatly, but Anatolia definitely changed a lot by this war.
In 1940, The ROA (Republic of Anatolia) and Pontus were able to mostly subdue the Ottoman Beylik with their forces, but in the meanwhile, The French colonies in Syria were being occupied by the Germans, which led to a lot of complications. Italy took out southern Anatolia, and Greece was occupied. Eventually Pontus was the only somewhat Turkish state not fully occupied by the Axis. The Soviet and the British sides were working together to preserve Pontus. The rest of Anatolia was mostly occupied.
The Axis committed some of the worst Crimes against humanity seen in modern history. A genocide of the likes of the Holocaust. Around 7 million Turks, Kurds, and Zazas were put to concentration camps in Ankara, Karaman and Adana. Most of them died by horrifying means, and this is one of the defining moments of Turkish History. This is where the name of the flag of the new flag of Turkey comes from. “Red Stained Red Flag”.
By around 1943, Most of Anatolia had been recovered, but the view was horrifying, Most of the cities had been bombed to the ground. The ROA was almost completely bombed and torn down. The total population had halved, around half died, and another half migrated to surrounding Non-Axis territories. Most to Azerbaijan, and Central Asia, but some to Egypt, Algeria and even Europe like France and Moscow. A lot of them tried to migrate to Pontus, and Pontus tried to help, but the treacherous journey, full of mountains meant that most took the safer routes.
By 1945, the war was over, and Turkey needed to be Reconstructed, it wasn’t just The ROA, most of Anatolia had been almost flattened.
The Post-War Turkey
Turkey after the war was still divided. During most of the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, money was put to the reconstruction of The ROA.The ROA had expanded to own the lands owned by the Italians. These lands would come to be the biggest cities in Turkey, except for Istanbul. Antalya would become second and Adana would be third.
In 1952, France let the Turkish half of Western Levant go, Including Hatay, the most wanted land of Ataturk. Soon, in 1956, The British would let their Marmara Straits lands in Asia go, and Greece would let Anatolia take over their previous lands with a few exceptions in 1957.
In 1961, The US President John F. Kennedy established the “Turkish Reconstruction Fund”, a fund to rebuild Turkey to become a Western Haven, a land which the Soviets couldn’t conquer.
The Soviets puppeted Pontus, but there would be a civil war in Pontus for a long time, with the Soviets failing to occupy the Pontus People until the late 70’s.
Throughout the 70’s Kurdistan got Independence. Turkey didn’t bother ruining relations, and simply decided to make some trade deals, a good part of it relating to oil. Turkey’s situation improved steadily over the 70’s, and factories were made and the first free elections were held. Turkey’s economy had a boom in the late 70’s as factories started to open and workers started working. The funds rebuilt cities with great designs, as cities like Izmir and Eskişehir were built from the ground up. Ankara was conquered, destroyed and then recreated to become the capital again. Turkey established a tourism industry, and with an influx of immigrants to work, Turkey became one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world, resembling something closer to Canada than Ataturk’s vision.
In 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the region occupied by the Soviets was expected to join, but didn’t join, and instead became known as “Kars” or “The Republic of Kars”.
In the 90’s With a civil war in Kurdistan, the Fundamentalists in Southern Kurdistan spilled over to the South of Turkey, and for the first time in 30 years, the Turkish Army was seen as a necessity.
On 22nd of December 2014, Turkey finally got the straits fully integrated into Turkey, with only the condition that ships could pass freely, including the British “Erenköy Canal”. Except for Military Ships which could be blocked.
The Turkey of Today
Turkey today is a major player in European Politics, and a founding member of the EU. It’s president Selim Karagül is a member of the “Gelişim ve Yükseliş Partisi” (Progress and Growth Party), a Social Democratic party with a progressive agenda. Although there’s been some problems with it’s relatively strict internet policy.Turkey’s economy is rising, and it’s people working hard to still improve their country, with people from all over the world.
Turkish people still are the majority in the country, but are slowly melting together to form a new identity called “Yeni Kültür” (New Culture).
Turkey's greatest project right now is the "Marmara Tunnel" Project. It's goal is to make a Tunnel going through the middle of the Marmara Sea.
The capital is Ankara, the Anthem is the “İstiklâl Marşı” (Independence March), just like the old republic. The biggest city is Istanbul, then Antalya, then Ankara and then İzmir. The Population is 59.240.000 (2015 Census). Turkey holds a census every 5 years.
Top 10 Biggest Cities (2015 Census):
Istanbul: 9.530.220
Antalya: 3.630.100
Ankara: 2.410:600
İzmir: 1.940.500
Adana: 1.502.000
Bursa: 1.306.000
Antakya: 1.204.000
Şanlıurfa: 1.050.022
Aydın: 920.600
Eskişehir: 802.600
Politics in Turkey
Turkey is ran by a Parliamentary system, there’s 400 seats, and a single prime minister, with another co-minister. The country votes for the parliament and the Prime Minister every 4 years, and have regional elections every 2 years. There’s a few governmental positions:Prime Minister / Cumhurbaşkanı: The “Leader” of Turkey, not much power, except for the fact that the PM can propose a bill and has 2 votes instead of one.
Co-Minister / Başkan Yardımcısı: The helper of the PM, helps with decisions and can also propose a bill but has only 1 vote.
Deputies / Meclis Üyeleri: The Politicians in Parliament. Can be independent or declare that they’re part of a party. People vote for the proportionality of politicians, but the parties have the power to put the Deputies into the Parliament.
Province Minister / Vali: Vali’s are the local heads of the Provinces, They make decisions about their Province. They have some autonomy, but Turkey is somewhat centralised so not a lot.
District Minister / Kaymakam: Kaymakam are the local heads of the Districts. They make decisions about their Districts. They usually can’t set laws, but rather help with the planning of the District and budget the income.
Locality Minister / Semtçi: Semtçi’s are the local heads of Semts, the smallest official and well-bordered Subdivisions. They lead the Semt. And help with construction in the local region.
Muhtar / Muhtar: Muhtars lead single neighbourhoods, and usually don’t have much power, they can organise meetings and sometimes decide if building are made or not.
Party Ministers / Parti Başkanı: Party leaders are the current Ministers of a party.
Turkey’s major political parties in parliament are as follows:
Gelişim ve Yükseliş Partisi / Progress and Growth Party [GYP]:
The GYP is a Centre-Left Social Democratic party with an emphasis on economic and cultural growth and progressivism. It is one of the most popular parties.
İyi Yaşam Partisi / Good Life Party [İYP]
The İYP is a Centre-Right party which believes in liberalism. With an emphasis of cultural mixing.
Terakki Partisi / Progress Party [TP]
Despite the name, the TP is a conservaitve Right-Wing party, which believe in a stronger army, and more of a Turkish Identity.
Sosyal Kuvvetler Partisi / Social Forces Party [SKP]
The SKP is a Left-Wing party which focuses on worker’s rights. It wishes for a more nationalised industry, and decreasing the wealth gap.