A Brief Introduction to Turkey
What does Turkey mean to you? A strange and far-off foreign country? A great place for summer holidays in the sun? A possible future member of the European Union? A sometimes difficult Middle Eastern ally of the United States? The focus of much of St Paul's pioneering Christian work? A modern Muslim democracy? However you see Turkey, spend a minute or two here to discover something of its fascinating history and its unique culture.
The first traces of human beings in Turkey date from 7,500 BC, in the Stone Age. As civilisation developed, many empires came and went: the Hittites; Troy and the beautiful Helen, immortalised by Homer in the Iliad; the Romans, with Anthony and Cleopatra celebrating their marriage in Antioch; the Ottomans, who ruled for over 600 years; and finally, the foundation of modern Turkey as a republic in 1923 by Ataturk. There are many excellent websites giving more details - do a Google search on: history of turkey.
Language is a vital part of culture, and many people do not realise that the modern Turkish language was created by Government pronouncement in 1929. Under the leadership of Ataturk, Turkey effectively turned westwards and away from its Arabic and Persian past. Language reform brought in a Latin alphabet and an evolving vocabulary, dramatically reducing the influence of past tradition. It also greatly reduced the difficulty of reading, spelling, and printing Turkish - so helping Turkey to modernise.
Modern Turkey is a country of over 70 million people - 45 million of them under the age of 25. There are only 4,500 or so ethnic Turkish evangelical Christian believers, spread over some 150 fellowships.
Turkey has a rich early Christian history. Antioch (modern Antakya) was where followers of Jesus ('The Way') were first called Christians. Tarsus was where St Paul was born. The church at Ephesus was important, mentioned first among the seven churches of the Book of Revelation, and also the recipient of Paul's major letter 'Ephesians'. The church at Colossae was the recipient of another of Paul's letters ('Colossians'), though the only trace that remains of that city is a mound (or tell).
Images of ancient Ephesus and Colossae are shown below, courtesy of the excellent website on bible places: www.bibleplaces.com.
The Theatre at Ephesus
The Tell at Colossae
